My wife, daughter, and I were looking to do something different. My wife can't take much sun in the summer and was tiring of Nassau. My in-laws had sailed twice to Alaska. So we thought this might be a nice change. Was it ever! They had been on two cruises to Alaska. One was with Princess and the other with Royal Caribbean. They hated Princess and loved Royal Caribbean. After checking out their children's activities, our daughter is ten, we decided to go with Royal Caribbean. After reading reviews on the Cruise Critic web site we decided last June to book a cruise for June 2003 on the Radiance of the Seas. Let me share with you some of the highs (lots) and lows (few) of our trip.
EMBARKATION DAY
We decided to fly the same day as we were to set sail. Don't! The time changes will really hit you and you will miss so much on board this beautiful ship. We arrived in Vancouver around 11:30 their time. No one from Royal met us so we went to customs and baggage claim. As we are waiting at the carousel, I noticed people holding up Radiance signs that also said AVON. It turns out that half the ship was booked as an AVON rewards cruise. Then we heard over the loudspeakers that Radiance passengers could proceed directly to the ship, where their luggage would be. So out we head for the busses. We had paid for transfers to and from the airport. We would have probably been better off getting a taxi. The bus took 45 to get to us and then took us on a tour of Vancouver. We arrived at Ballantyne Pier at 1:30. By this time, they were doing check-by groups of 25, every half hour. We were in group number 27. They had just taken group 21. We didn't board until 4 p.m. So much for lunch and touring the ship!