We took a Royal Caribbean Alaska cruise about 16 years ago, departing from Vancouver. It was wonderful and especially memorable was the Hubbard Glacier. The ship spent the day there, up close and amazing, and it rotated 1/4 turns every few hours so everyone got spectacular views. This glacier is miles long and absolutely breathtakinging beautiful. You get to see the calving of the ice, there are icebergs floating all around the ship, many with seals and sea lions lolling about! It also sailed through the inside passage, which to my knowledge was the only way to go. Wrong! On this trip we took our adult children. Our son was reluctant as he gets seasick. We explained that the inside passage is just that...no open ocean, so smooth ride. Being as we've seen Vancouver, we all decided to depart from Seattle, which was a big mistake. It actually leaves the inner passage and travels through rough ocean for 2 days. Also there is no view of any scenery in the ocean, and to make matters worse, the 'glacier' viewing of the cruise was a cruel joke. The itinerary stated gorgeous glaciers, but neglected to say that the ship went through that area at 5 a.m. It was dark and foggy...hardly a reason to get up. No glaciers, no icebergs. At 9 a.m. and thereafter that day, there was nothing of interest to look at...just empty shoreline. Wasted days ar sea (ocean) inside of visiting towns.

Being Emerald members, we've traveled RC often enough to be very disappointed in the itinerary, the lack of shows, which RC is known for. The entertainment was horrible and we left every show except for the Ice Skating Spectacular which was amazing.

The food and the wait staff were great. Our room steward was invisible and we had many problems, still ongoing, with their Photography Department. Read more