Radiance of the Seas Review
Rating by category
Additional details
My companion and I are very active seniors who decided to take a cruise as our first "serious vacation" together after dating for a year. I need to say up front that we had a great time on the ship thanks to the variety of entertainment and the nice people we met.
As background, I haave traveled quite a bit during the past 10 years....always independently, not on cruises and not on organized tours. My companion had not been able to travel but had taken a caribbean cruise on the Radiance 10 years ago. I was "Cruise Averse" as a way to travel...he was not. He wanted to see Alaska....I didn't care one way or another.
I utilized TA quite a bit to select the ship, excursions, hotels and itinerary....thank you to the experts.
Cabin Review
Deluxe Ocean View Stateroom with Balcony
Cabin 8030 was extremely well located in terms of convenience, noise and comfort.
The cabins are small, particularly the bathrooms, but laid out well, clean and convenient.
A major problem was the smell of sewage from our bathroom which permeated the room.
This did not seem to be a problem throughout the ship. Engineering attempted to resolve the problem but was not very successful.
Port Reviews
Ketchikan
We took a shuttle to the end of the line. Upon arrival, the shuttle driver guided us to a bridge on the left where the salmon were concluding their upstream journey. Hundreds of salmon....it was amazing. We toured the Totem Pole Museum, walked into town along the creek, walked along the old street, into town, went to another museum and had a very nice lunch at Annabels.....best clam chowder on the trip!
We did all of our "family gift" shopping at the Tongass Center. As noted elsewhere, this was the easiest and least expensive place to get this project done!
Juneau
In spite of the fog, we went up the tram just to "do it". It was very early in the morning, the rain hadn't gotten too bad yet and we were not "socked in". There is not much there but we purchased a combo ticket with the bus to Mendenhall so, as seniors, it was only a few dollars extra to say we did it!
From there we took the bus to Mendelhall. It was really rainy and cold but we bought ponchos and took the walk out to the Glacier and waterfall. In spite of falling into the brook off the rocks on the way over...it was so gorgeous to be so close.....I didn't mind the wet feet....
I especially forgot the cold once we got to the Red Dog Saloon for a "Duck Fart" shot, lunch and delightful entertainment from the 70+ year old codger on the piano!