Radiance of the Seas Review
Rating by category
Additional details
Overall, it was a good cruise. Alaska is very beautiful, and I'm glad we had this experience (I'm a Caribbean girl, so it was nice to come back home to the heat after a week of chill and rain, but Alaska is very striking). I love cruising, and I love RCI; I honestly think it is the only way to go if you want to stay in a beautiful hotel that takes you from one wonderful place to another.
I had no idea that Alaska would be so mountainous and green. It rained most of the week while we were there, but apparently, that is typical, since the areas that we were visiting were in the middle of a rain forest (I had no idea!). Seeing the Hubbard glacier was pretty awesome, but it was over and done with rather quickly - I would estimate we were actually going around in the bay for only about an hour. If you happened to oversleep, you would have missed it. Our temperatures were mostly in the low to mid 60's (though in the previous weeks it was mostly rain-free and warmer). We didn't need our gloves, but you really should bring waterPROOF clothing; water resistant clothing is insufficient because the rain will eventually soak through, and you will be miserable. Be prepared for wet hair if you go on any of the tours.
I usually take notes while we are on the cruise of things we like and things we don't so that I can remember them. Here goes:
Cabin Review
Superior Ocean View Stateroom with Balcony
Our cabin attendant, Darwin, was awesome!
Our cabin was of ample size for the three of us, though we weren't crazy about the small balcony (which had more to do with the overall ship size than our room category because they all looked as though they were the same size). The balcony size would have been more of an issue on a Caribbean cruise where we would be out on it more. It was sufficient to watch the glacier or the mountains.
There was a very slight sewage-like smell on our floor and in our room for the first day or so. Our cabin attendant was very concerned and involved the head of housekeeping who said that they would also involve the plumbers. My husband and daughter didn't notice it at all (I'm the one with the super sense of smell), but I heard others talking about it when walking down the hallway. Whatever it was, they fixed it right away, and I appreciate the genuine concern from everyone and the ability to get it resolved quickly. I don't want to give the wrong impression - the smell was very slight and not really all that bothersome; it was just something I noticed.
There was some slight wear that we noticed in the cabin, but it wasn't significant. Our bed was comfortable. My daughter slept in the pull-out bed in the couch, which could have been made into a single or double bed. She said it was very comfortable as well.
Port Reviews
Vancouver
We stayed at the Fairbanks Hotel at the Vancouver airport the night before. The room was expensive, but nice. The food prices at the hotel restaurant were astronomical (a family of three could easily spend $100 on breakfast). And, if you touched anything in the courtesy bar, you were charged for it (literally, if you picked it up, a sensor automatically added it to your bill). Fortunately, we had a discount off the prices because of the exchange rate, Canadian to U.S. dollars, and we weren't charged for the courtesy bar items (since we hadn't actually consumed them; we just looked at them). They also didn't charge us for a steak that my husband ordered that came out cooked less thoroughly than he would have liked, even after he'd sent it back.
There was a great outlet mall that had opened the day we arrived in Vancouver. It was crowded, but the tram ride there was free and I was able to buy a couple of new pairs of shoes. The prices were kind of high, but they had a buy one, get one for 50% off, and we had the benefit of the exchange rate discount between U.S. and Canadian dollars.
We had no instructions regarding where to meet the RCI staff for the transport in the morning, and it took several tries before we found someone at the hotel who could direct us. This was surprising, considering that this was the only airport hotel and it's hard to believe no one else ever stayed there before a cruise. I do think that was RCI's responsibility, not the hotel's, and it was fortunate that we found the one bellman who knew the answer to the question in the morning.
There were no scheduled boarding times for this cruise (as there are for the Caribbean cruises). This resulted in a longer wait time for boarding than on our last cruise, but it was more annoying than awful. We probably waited about 15 minutes to before we were able to get to an agent.
At some point in our boarding process, someone handed me a coupon book (not a cruise-sponsored coupon book). I'm glad I accepted it, because there were some great deals inside, and we used it a lot!