Radiance of the Seas Review
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We travelled with two other couples and although we had a good time I'm not sure I would choose a cruise again. The food was OK but nothing to write home about. It did get better the second half of the trip. Our wait staff was excellent. Giobeth and Kadek were very friendly and fun and took good care of us. They did not make us feel awkward for bringing our own wine instead of ordering from them. We had the allotted two bottles per stateroom. We uncorked it in our room and brought it with us and they served it for us. We looked forward to seeing them at dinner each night. We even wrote and sang a little song to them on the last night.
The naturalists presentations were not very interesting. His visual aids were fuzzy and hard to make out and he droned on in a monotone voice and did not hold our interest.
The dancers and singers were wonderful and the musical impressionist was fantastic. The piano player (Derek) was a little too abrasive for our taste. We tip well when we think it is warranted but don't like to be badgered into tipping. His piano playing was excellent.
Cabin Review
Large Ocean View Stateroom
Our Room was on the 3rd Floor, starboard side about a third of the way back. It was clean, quiet and well maintained. Very little motion felt. The large porthole stayed very water spotted the whole trip so visibility was not great. Not sure if there was any way it could be better since there was rain everyday. We could look right out on dock when in port so kept curtains closed. Several ladies on our floor hung their lingerie to dry in the porthole and closed the curtains so they couldn't see it. Unfortunately everyone walking on or off the ship could. Mild odor in bathroom. We bought spray to cover it. Plenty of storage. There were little cubbies everywhere. All our luggage fit under the bed although we were lucky that our large bag could be opened in half to fit. Our friends suitcase was too tall to go under the bed but there was plenty of closet room for it. Only one double outlet in entire room and it abutted the desktop which made it hard to plug big things in. The medicine cabinet and shelf under sink held everything and nothing slid around. There was a mini fridge but it was filled with snacks for sale and not turned on. We had hoped to chill our wine in it. It didn't smell very good.
Port Reviews
Juneau
We rented a car for the day from Juneau Car Rental Company. It was an older car and quite a long walk to pick it up and drop it off (about a mile) but was worth it. We drove to Mendenhall Glacier and were able to hike to the falls before the crowds got there and stay as long as we wanted without running back to a bus. We also visited the Salmon hatchery which was very interesting. Parking downtown was not easy and after seeing the price of the Crab dinner we were thinking about we chose to return the car and eat on the boat.
Skagway
The Skagway area is rich in history of the gold rush and we had an exceptional guide with Midnight Sun Excursions who filled us in on the details. We spent the entire day with her and she took us all the way to Emerald lake in Yukon Territory Canada. Just the 6 of us in her large van/mini bus. She hit all the highlights and stopped whenever and wherever our photo crazy group wanted. Her stories and commentary were interesting but not so much that we got tired of listening. We saw moose, several bears, mountain goats, and eagles, as well as incredible scenic vistas which came and went among low clouds. We followed the same path the train took and even stopped to get a picture as the train crossed a waterfall in the distance. The train only went half the distance we went and no-one could get off and look around on it. We definitely recommend a private tour with Raymie!
Make sure to book it through her website. We booked the 7 hour private tour through Alaska Shore Tours. It turns out they are a broker who passed our booking on to Midnight Sun Excursions. Unfortunately the paperwork was not filed correctly. Ramie, owner of Midnight Sun was waiting for us at the dock but we had never been given her info. The only info we had was to meet the Alaska Shore Tours representative and they had no record of our names or reservation. Their representative tried every avenue to figure out the problem and eventually ended up contacting the owner of Frontier Shore Excursions who was going to get a driver and provide us with the private tour we had booked (and already paid for) and work the details out with AST later. As we were in his bus ready to leave the parking lot we turned our phone off of airplane mode and it rang with Raymie wondering where we were. We got out of the bus and into Raymie's van and had a fantastic trip. Thank you to Frontier Excursions for being able and ready to help us out even though we ended up not needing them. As a final note, make sure to give the phone number you will have with you on the reservation and take it off of airplane mode.
Icy Strait
We booked a whale watching trip with Glacier Wind Charters and it was Fantastic! Shawn, Captain of the Kohola got us up close and personal with humpback whales and we also saw Orca's from a little farther away. We also saw sea lions, otters and eagles. Shawn's wife Theresa picked us up at the dock and then gave us a ride back after we had explored the little town of Hoonah. We could not have asked for a better experience.
Ketchikan
We went salmon fishing with Oasis Alaska Charters. Captain Michael did his best but the fish just were not biting for him or any other boats in the area that day. We did bring in 4 pink Salmon to keep and we had to toss back one undersize King and three little buggers the size of bait. It was a beautiful day on the water and we enjoyed ourselves even though we would have like to catch more fish. Alaska Sportfishing Expeditions takes care of the processing and shipping of what we caught. We only received half of our catch and are waiting on them to fix the situation.