We recently returned from a 12 day Alaska Cruise Tour on the Royal Caribbean's Radiance of the Seas. The whole Alaska experience was incredible offering great views, diverse stops along the way, a friendly crew and friendly travelers. Sadly. Royal Caribbean did not come anywhere near to living up to it's reputation as a first class cruise line.

For the land portion, the accommodations were one star at best. In Fairbanks, the facility at Pike's Waterfront Lodge was reminiscent of a military barracks. The only food offered for meals in the Lodge was from overpriced buffets. The lounge closed at 9:00 each evening. When we walked in the rain to Pike's Landing next door, we found the food pretty much inedible. We were actually told by our waitstaff that the law in Alaska requires that all beef be served well-done. After two days of this, we moved on to Denali and the McKinley Village Lodge.This turned out to be camping with a plasma TV. Our cabin room had only two lights, no closet and was situated mere feet from a highway carrying heavy truck traffic 24 hours a day which allowed for very little sleep for our two days here.

Once we actually boarded the Radiance of the Seas, the food we were served was of incredibly poor quality. The daily menu offered was a lot of repetitive, sometimes renamed dining selections. Though we were in the "Salmon Capital of the World", the one salmon meal they served was far from fresh, overcooked and only 3 inches by 4 inches by 1/8 inch thick. In the main dining room, we never were offered Alaskan King Crab, unless we wanted to pay an upgrade to sample one of their higher level restaurants. The steaks and beef offerings were of poor quality. They were consistently chewy and overcooked. Eating a lobster tail they served was like chewing rubber bands. It became quickly apparent that RCL wants to force customers to pay extra for their more expensive high-end dining venues.