We like Royal Caribbean cruise line and this specific trip included all the things we wanted to see and do. The excursions we took we fantastic especially the white water rafting in Juneau. Suspension bridge and train in Skagway was also excellent. Saw some whales on our excursion at Icy Strait and the excursion-"Lighthouse Totem Poles and Eagles" in Kitchikan was lots of fun especially when one of the crew members broke out in song-A Drunken Sailor". The evening entertainment was way above what we had seen in the past, with the shows in the theater top notch and the performers in the various venues being wonderful. A big plus for us was the offering of pickleball that we got to do three times while cruising. Seeing the Hubbard Glacier with perfect weather was a huge event for us.The land part of our trip was just as good with a most interesting tour guide(Michelle) who kept us entertained throughout our journey. She went out of her way to take my wife and some other other guests on a late night adventure to see the northern lights. We saw Mt. Danali fully which makes us 10% of those that go to see this magnificent mountain. In conclusion I will say this probably was the best ever trip we have taken. Read Less

Arrived one day early in Vancouver. (Make sure you use a no foreign trans. fee credit card. (USA exchange rate automatically calculated.) Took the taxi (2 couples) and fare was $30.00 US currency to Blue Horizon Hotel. Boarding was fairly quick but did involve a lot of walking, but there were no long lines. Only did the dining room once and had no complaints. Regarding formal night - not everyone dresses up and it seems to be a more laid back dress code. We personally preferred the windjammer with all the different choices. All the food in the windjammer was great. Loved the ice cream machine. Make sure you enjoy the windjammer on the last night- Alaskan seafood was fantastic. Pools were heated and were used by many, especially since we encountered no rain during our whole cruise and temperatures were in the 60s and 70s. Solarium does need updating (if they would just get rid of all the fake greenery). All employees were very nice and quite attentive. Evening entertainment was very lacking and mediocre. Most ships have karaoke (which can be quite enjoyable), but not this ship. Be prepared for oldies music sung in the centrum which is ok but not for the whole week. The casino was awful with cigarette smoke, there seems to be no ventilation. The highlight of the cruise was Hubbard Glacier. The captain did an amazing job to steer the ship so everyone had an awesome view. Read Less

My wife started her cancer treatments on 1 August 2018. I told her that she would be done with her treatments and well enough by next year. I booked the trip with a the 2 Aug 2019 sailing (we left the house on 1 Aug 2019). We made it!! We flew into Anchorage with a connection through Atlanta, and straight on to ACH.The flight from from ATL made for a looooong day (7 hours to Anchorage). The hotel in Anchorage (Crown Plaza, booked through Royal) and transfer to the train (transfer through Royal) went smoothly. Having lived in Alaska many years prior, I had the opportunity to drive to Seward. I much prefer the train from Anchorage, as it is very relaxing, and the narration down to Seward was first rate. Dropped our bags, and didn't see them until the ship! We were able to check in to our ship state rooms and get our SeaPass at the train station in Anchorage!!. Thought we were home (ship) free with this. However, when we arrived at Seward, we needed to stand in a long line to get photographed. It would have been nice to get all that taken care of in Anchorage, or just do it all in Seward. Would have made it quicker in Seward. I think Royal needs an embarkation software update so they can complete the ship check in at the train depot in Anchorage. We were on the ship in time to drop our bags in the room, and get to the Windjammer for a quick bite, then to our muster station. About an hour before the drill. The ship was great. Showing her age, but all in all, we were on a cruise in Alaska!! it was great. One of the highlights onboard was the Chefs Table experience. Three hours, and the food and wine parings were excellent. Was able to get the recipe for the smoked tomato soup. Just need to make it for four, not 50 :-0. Would highly recommend that, and do it again. Were with a group of 8 who do that on every cruise they are on. I can see why. The cabin was a good choice, (8598) on the bubble, and very close to the elevators. No noise. We glacier watched, whale watched, Orca watched, Eagle watched, sea otter watched, from the balcony. The day at Hubbard Glacier was nice. The wait staff brought round spiked hot chocolate! We were able to get within a half mile of the face. Those on the $400.00 excursion were able to get about a quarter mile away. Close enough for us to hear the glacier making its groans as if calved. We booked the tram in Juneau. Nice ride and sights. O did I say, the weather was fantastic. No rain until the last sea day, and the port days were in the lower 70's. In Skagway we did the requisite YWPRR train ride, then walked the town. We bused up to Frasier, then took the Train down. That was enough. Our favorite port was was Icy Strait Point. We had booked a tour on our own with Tok River Outfitters for halibut fishing. I gave this place 5 stars, but would have liked to give them 10. We shipped two fish home! Very highly recommended (at least by us, and a lot on Trip Advisor). Off the boat at 6:30, and was fishing by 7:30 am. And back before noon. The port area was also great. Had a fantastic King and Dungeness crab lunch. This port had mostly native wares, just a few "made in china" and no Diamonds International :-) (we did get the charms in all the ports). Ketchikan was a shopping port for us. From Berth 3, the town opened up to us right off the gangway. The final sea day was spent next to the pool playing cribbage and whale and orca watching (from deck 11). We pulled into port and took the take-your-own-bags-off option. Was not too bad, but make sure your suitcase tracks true, We saw a lot of the ship just trying to wrestle one of the bags.. Off in less then 20 minutes once they started the process. We grabbed a rental car, and headed south as the next stop was a family visit just north of Portland. The entire cruise itinerary was just what we had expected; a great time, and a southern Alaska experience. We would recommend this one. Read Less

I cruised this ship for the itinerary and also wanted to try Royal Caribbean for a change. I have been on a short RCCL cruise on a newer ship, and I knew this was an older smaller ship. The ship itself while worn, was very nice with alot of beautiful windows making it perfect for Alaska. The room attendant was amazing, the general service of the bar staff was great. The LIDO/Windjammer was better than the main dining room for breakfast and some dinners. The specialty restaurant chops was amazing. The light bites at Lattetudes and the solarium were not very good at all and the staff at the solarium at night a gentleman there was really rude to people. My biggest complaint was the main dining dinners were extremely over seasoned (salted) and any steak was just completely tough and/or over cooked. So the starters, salads and desserts were great, but most of the main dishes were barely passible. When the LIDO does a better job on the meats and breakfast there is something seriously wrong in your dining room. Entertainment was ok, and just average. The production dance/singers were given old and not to unique shows to do . The nightlife was barely there. A couple of places for music, but nothing really stood out. The magician was funnier than our comedian, the El Gaucho show was funny and very entertaining. Most of the staff were absolutely amazing and this did have one of the best guest services desks I have seen on many cruise lines. Read Less

We went with our daughter and her family on this Alaska cruise. Alaska was wonderful, Royal Caribbean was terrible. We have traveled on many cruises, but this was our first Royal Caribbean cruise (and Last). Royal Caribbean does their remodeling during their active cruise trips. Shocking! The carpet in our hall was torn out and replaced with new carpet. The carpet and the glue smell was so toxic our family got very sick. I had a head ache, sore throat and my eyes were burning, for the last two days of our trip. Our daughter was on this trip, in a separate room, she is a type 1 diabetic. Her immune system is already challenged, adding the toxic chemicals made her very sick. She couldn't even get out of bed. Our little grand daughter ended up in the emergency room after we got off the boat. The staff were non attentive. After the trip, numerous calls to Royal Caribbean were not answered. Put on hold and then disconnected after 30 minutes holding, this happened 3 times. I finally got thru, and was supposed to get a call back, big surprise, no call back. We were in a suite and the attention was terrible. No bottled drinking water was available even at our $1,000 per night price. I am surprised this cruise gets any positive feedback, I'm assuming the people that received free trips are the ones reviewing. Save your money and go on a different cruise line.The dining room was ok, food was edible. Not much to do as far as activities.We had 2 days at sea and would have enjoyed something to do with our grandchildren. I heard the entertainment and thought is was karaoke, but it was main singer. Shore excursions were expensive. I tried to purchase online, but Royal Caribbean site showed excursions sold out. I had to call Royal Caribbean site to book shore excursions and paid 30% high to get the same excursion. I have never submitted a negative review. This cruise line was so bad others need to be warned. I wish we had known before we spent so much hard earned money on this disaster cruise. Read Less

Cheap, cheap, cheap! If you want even bottled water, pay up! You can buy different drink packages ranging from about $12-$70/day per person. If you don't, you can have water, tea, lemonade, or coffee. When disembarking on land excursions, there was a cruise employee offering bottles of water......but only if you paid extra for that package. When we were viewing Hubbard Glacier from the stern of the ship it was very chilly outside and a server came around with hot chocolate..........only for passengers who bought the refreshment package for $29/day/person. We chose not to pay these exorbitant prices, and we ended up feeling like have-nots. A person can still buy drinks per item, and my husband paid $56 for four drinks (including the mandatory 18% gratuity). We bought our own wine on board for the above reasons, and sometimes had difficulty getting wine glasses from the bartenders because they were afraid they would run out. Food in the Windjammer cafe and Cascades dining room was mediocre at best; service in the dining room was slow. The dining room employees were always working very hard, so my guess is that food services was not well run. I was told by another passenger the specialty restaurants (for an extra charge) were not very good. There was a speaker on how to get a flatter stomach, but he turned out to be selling his product, so it was really a sales pitch. The onboard entertainment was so-so, nothing great. The exercise room was ok, but some of the machines were broken and the doors to the outside of the ship were often broken. There is nothing state-of-the-art about the ship, except the prices. All of the servers and room attendants were very friendly and helpful. They work 7 days/week and many hours a day. My understanding is their wages are not that high compared to American standards. This means the thousands of dollars we spent are mainly going to the upper echelon employees and not to those doing the hard work. If you call Royal Caribbean customer service, be prepared for a different answer every time. Royal Caribbean did not communicate logistics of the land portion of our tour very well ahead of time. Every time I called to ask a question, I got vastly different answers. So Royal Caribbean is not spending money training and communicating with its customer service reps. Finally, part of our package included a transfer from the airport to hotel on the 1st night of our trip. I called and gave Royal Caribbean our flight info (several times in order to get to someone who understood what I was talking about), and called and confirmed the transfer the day of our flight. Even so, my husband and I were stranded at the airport at 11:45pm as no one showed to pick us up. When I asked the tour director, she was apologetic and called the company to see if we could be comped and was told no - we were listed as a no-show at the airport. Impossible. We looked all over baggage claim both inside and outside, and there was no one holding up a sign and no van that indicated it was part of a tour company. Our belief is that the driver didn't want to be at the airport at that late hour and didn't show, but claimed they were there. It would have cost the company nothing to comp us a couple of drinks, but they didn't. Again, cheap, cheap, cheap! Read Less

This was the first and last cruise I will do with Royal Caribbean. On formal nights very few dressed up mostly people just dressed in jeans and hoodies, one person looked like she had just come from the gym in her workout clothes. We did My Dining, big mistake. I have done a similar dining on other cruise lines and it was a lot better than this ship. My advise do not do My Dining go for the set times of either 5.30 or 8.00. The food in the main dining was awful, it tended to be the same food every night with a couple of variations and it tasted like mass produced frozen food that you can get in frozen food shops. I have been on cruises before the food on those cruises were al a carte and was the best food I have had. Some of the waiters in the main dining room were awful, rude and pushy. The entertainment was diabolical, the production shows were really poor and unprofessional the worst I have seen on cruises. The cabin we had was on deck 7 and was lovely and our cabin woman Maria was lovely and nothing was too much trouble. The excursions were amazing this was the best part of the cruise. Embarkment was a nightmare, it took an hour to get on the ship which was surprising since everything is done online before hand. Once on the ship everything seemed disorganised, no clear instructions on where to go. Everyone just seem to congregate around the centrum and as everyone was sitting around with their hand luggage we assumed we could not get into our cabin as no one had instructed us otherwise. With other cruise lines this was made clear as we embarked the ship. On this ship I had to find someone and ask and this would have been nice to have found out this earlier. Our disembark was good as we had an excursion booked. Read Less

Really like Royal Caribean, only natural to go with what you know. From the moment we entered the ship we were showered with attention, service, courtesy to say the least, our luggage were taken to our cabins right away, we felt like we owned the ship. Food was amazing as well as service throughout, you were greated with a very cute frase WASHI WASHI, quite cute, it became my grandsons favorite the entire cruise. An amaizing experience throughout the whole cruise. Alaska breathtaking place to say the least, all the places we visited were so historic, pleasant lots of stores scenery was gorgeous a must do again cruise in the future. The glaciers were so incredibly beautiful hard to explain, whale watching awesome experience. Overall an incredible time , would do it again as soon as we can. If you have not done it, plan it you will be glad you did. Be Blessed. Read Less

Overall, the trip was great. I'm going to talk less about the excursions (which was awesome), and more about the ship. The cabin was nice. Super small, even for a single person. I had a balcony which was nice as I was able to sleep with the door open for some nice Alaskan air. Service on the ship was spectacular as well. Big shoutout to Vasile (guest services) and the bartenders at Quill and Compass. The gym was old, and dated - some of that equipment could use some attention. From the outside, the ship appeared to be pretty dated. There were visible signs of rust, age... But that's to be expected with a ship quickly approaching 20 years old My biggest gripes with the ship are the following: One - It is impossible to find nutritional information anywhere. I am actively counting calories and macro-nutrients in an effort to lose weight. It is very frustrating not being able to even hazard a guess with some of these meals that were served in the buffet lines. As more and more people are doing specialized diets (paleo, keto, low/high carb, etc), it would be nice to know what we're working with. Two - The late-night entertainment was awful outside of Jack the guitar player. As a single male in his late 20s old traveling with older family, there was not much that catered to my age range that was well attended. I went up to the "nightclub" each night around 11 PM, and there was never anyone else up there. Additionally, the DJ "Bam" appeared to just turn on some Spotify playlist and walk away from his computer for what appeared to be 25-30 minutes at a time. No real mixing or DJing was happening. Maybe that's just my experience being young on an Alaskan cruise. Overall I had a great time. My trip was largely "saved" by the excursions I participated in. The ship-experience left a lot to be desired. I ended up spending most of my time on-board clicking the 'activities right now' button on the screen hoping to find something free that was enjoyable. Read Less

We did the 7 day Land tour before our cruise. With the exception of Denali Village which we found our room not cleaned they moved us to a new room only to open door and find it already occupied. Rooms small had no hot water just a bad experience! Our tour guide Kacie was amazing and tried to resolve everything! She took time and care with each of us and made sure we had the best time! On board the balcony cabin we had was spacious and perfect for to people. The staff from our steward to the bartenders were the best. The food not so much main dining room food was ok but nothing special! We ate at the Chophouse it was terrible both steaks were full of fat and gristle and was unedible! Thankfully the appetizers and salads were filling! The windjammer is same old same old but good for breakfast and lunch! The day of disembarking was a nightmare going into Vancouver airport is an experience let alone with the ship getting you off late shuttle bus lanes are ridiculous we got to the airport 1 hour before our flight and made it to our gate 10 minutes before boarding. My advice do not take shuttle take a taxi! Read Less

Pros: Almost everything Cons: (listed below...) luggage handling, and a couple of technical issues. We were EXTREMELY happy with our recent Alaska cruise on Radiance of the seas. We did the 3 day Denali land tour before the cruise, which was absolutely amazing with the scenery. The hotels picked for us were amazing and very comfortable. Our tour guide was very friendly, informative, and helpful. Once we got on the ship, things went overal very well, too. We had an ocean view cabin, and a week before the cruise, we were emailed a chance to bid for a balcony. We made the minimum bid, and even with an extremely low chance of getting it, we got the upgrade. The balcony was amazing, especially when we cruised past Hubbard Glacier. The cabin was small but had enough room for both of us. Jaya, our steward was amazing. Anything we needed, he was there. The ship itself is a midsize ship. It doesn't have an ice skating rink, or a wave pool, but it doesn't need it. it has plenty of activities that kept us busy for the week. The trivia was fun, the shows were good, lots of places to get something to drink, and my friend had a blast in the casino. We only ate in the buffet one time for breakfast, and the food was hot, tasty, and varied. Most breakfasts, we had in the dining room, and while fewer choices than the buffet, obviously, the choices of omlettes, fruit, breakfast meats, eggs, was plenty to choose from. For dinner, we purchased the premium restaraunt pass. We ate at Chops and Giovanni's multiple times, Samba Grill Once, and Izumi once. My friend was having mobility issues, so Izumi actually delivered room service for us. All the food was amazing. Ports were great. We did a whale watching dinner cruise in Juneau, and a sled dog ride on wheels in Skagway. I did the duck boat in ketchikan, but wasn't really that impressed with it. it did a quick lap of the city, and didn't go very far once it got into the water. Shopping and dining in Juneau, Skagway, and Ketchikan are good. if you get a chance, take the brothel tour in Skagway. it's a fun tour that doesn't glamorize it, but tells the history. On the whale watch in Juneau, our excursion was the last one back, and my friend and I were literally the last two people on the ship. They closed the doors behind us. That's why we ALWAYS purchase the shore excursions from the ship. The few cons we had were in the way they handled things. The first day, they accidentally sent my main bag with all my clothes to the cabin we had BEFORE we got the upgrade, and I didn't get it until almost 11:30 at night. Debarkation day, we had an excursion in vanciouver. They didn't give us luggage tags for the excursion group, and we almost missed the bus. The bus was getting ready to leave, and our luggage still hadn't come out. Somehow, it came out at the last minute, and we made the bus by 1 minute, having to dash through the terminal, my friend being pushed in a wheelchair. As for technichal, my friend's internet worked fine, but mine didn't work at all over half the time. They tied to reconfigure my device, and it worked a BIT better, but overall not good. I had purchased the streaming speed internet, but they gave only the surfing speed internet. The other problem was our TV set. Sometimes our remote wouldn't work at all, other times the TV would just come back on at random. They said they fixed the problem, but they never did. We just ended up turning down the volume and using the TV as a night light. Other than the minor mis-steps, the cruise was awesome!!! Read Less

Ship The Radiance of the Seas is one of the older ships of the Royal Carribean fleet. The condition was good, but the equipment definitely did not meet the standards expected today. Embarking or disembarking worked smoothly. However, we had expected a better service as guests of the suites. Cabin We had booked an Owner Suite. It was very spacious with space. The balcony was a bit small. The bathroom was big and beside a shower there was also a bathtub. Concierge Club Suites guests and very loyal Royal customers were allowed to go to the Concierge Club. There were small snacks and free drinks (soft drinks, water, wine, beer and some drinks) from 16.00 o'clock. Dining We had the greatest expectations concerning the dining. We heard so many good things from Royal and could hardly wait. But our expectations were disappointed. The food never came close to the good quality of the Princess or Hurtigruten shipping company. Entertainment We're not the party people, and we've mostly abandoned here. Service Compared to other shipping companies, the service was "ok", but not as good as suggested by other guests. As a suite guest we were rather disappointed. Ports and Excursions In comparison to other cruises we have booked all excursions through the shipping company. These were more or less well organized, but simply a mass check-in, although they used the more expensive offer. The train trip to the White Pass is very recommendable, even if it is not a mass service. Here you will also find two videos on our YouTube channel "Swisstravellerslife". Read Less

I had done an Alaska cruise on this same ship a couple of years ago with friends, but this time it was with my mom and SO. TL/DR: * Suites are sweet and you should do it at least once in your life * Royal Caribbean is awesome onboard for special needs, like food allergies and limited mobility * Radiance class ships are the absolute perfect size * RCCL invests in great entertainment * RCCL staff are second-to-none * RCCL does need to invest in refinishing all surfaces, and maybe more durable materials * RCCL should do more communication with people with special needs before cruises * Cruise travel with a service dog is not easy * Vancouver port needs a lot more work to be customer-friendly * Don't count on the same level of onboard activities with the entertainment staff The deets: About my crew: me and my SO are active, 40-ish, and are Emerald Level (I've been on over 12 cruises). I have a capsacin food allergy, which is uncommon and comes up a lot as peppers are in like everything. My mom hadn't been on a cruise in 40 years and is limited mobility, using a walker and a large, 90-pound mobility service dog. She has a black pepper allergy, even harder to avoid. My mom lives in Seattle, and the journey starts there. We took the morning Amtrak Cascades up to Vancouver, which was a perfect start to the cruise. We got into Vancouver in plenty of time to take a cab to the cruise port and get on the ship for lunch. I'm used to walking/public transport to cruise terminals, so it was cool to see the cabs at Canada Place drop you off inside the parking garage (so no worry about weather) and right where the bag porters are. So when we entered Canada Place, we expected the check-in to be right there, and wheelchair valets for folks with disabilities (no such luck). Instead, we were directed to elevators. We probably walked 1/2 mile or more overall, between check-in, customs, and so on before we got to the ship. We even passed wheelchair valets waiting for a call, and no one in the process indicated how long of a walk it may be. With my mom obviously mobility limited, I was surprised at that. Luckily, after several breaks, she managed onto the ship. Once on the ship, she was quickly taken care of for an easy way to get to a sitting spot. This was my first suite (see details below). It is awesome to have a taste of the upper tier. Leaving all that relates to being in the suites in the cabin review below. We ate at the MDR every night. I like that the my time dining has been moved to the lower floor of the MDR so there are more seats and variety of seats. We were able to reserve the same table and same time for the whole cruise. My mom and I both have weird food allergies (above), so it's really important to have consistent dining staff. We did fill out the special needs form beforehand, but you really have to communicate food allergies to the head waiter and your specific wait staff the first meal. I prefer to bring a paper listing all of the foods/types that I can't eat so there's no confusion. Our wait staff were excellent, not only taking care of us for dinner, but passing along meal requests to Windjammer and other venues for breakfast and lunch and special meals. You can't be as spontaneous, since you have to order food the day before, but you have peace of mind. Being as it was early in the season, they had Atlantic salmon on the menu the first few nights, but then had Alaskan seafood near the end once we hit the Alaskan ports. The food was excellent as always, with a broad variety, inventive dishes, fresh, and delicious. The biggest bummer was that the MDR wasn't open for lunch during port days (so most all days). During the day, the stars were the ports. I've done the active shore excursions and the cultural ones, you really can't go wrong. But you have to always plan that your day will contain rain, and book accordingly. We didn't have that problem this particular cruise; all of our days were sunny or partly cloudy and mid 60s. But, if you happen to get back early on the boat or decide to stay on the boat, don't count on a wide variety of entertainment staff activities. Maybe some trivia, games here and there. But they really don't program much of anything, expecting everyone to be out on shore. Note: even though the Icy Strait Point port said we would be tendering, we did dock. Accessibility excursion notes: the Saxman Totem tour was awesome as they set up a smaller bus; you have to be able to board the bus, but it was nice to have the shorter steps and easy seating. The Icy Strait Point whale watching tour was very good on the boat, but because of low tides we had to go to the far end of the boardwalk to get aboard (usually it's on the dock right next to the ship); luckily, they have an electric cart for mobility access. The WP&YR railroad is also great for accessibility, short walk if you can make it; if not, they have a cart--they also have a dedicated handicapped car with a larger bathroom. The ship had just taken on a new dance crew, so we didn't have any production shows. The one night we were to have a production show (Piano Man), the seas were rough and some of the crew were seasick, much less the difficulty of dancing on a rockin' ship. The acts we had were awesome: comedy, magic, juggling, etc. There was always an option of movies day, afternoon, and evening both beside the pool and in the cinema. I was pleased by the variety of movies they showed, from Blue Hawaii to Bohemian Rhapsody to Carmen (the opera). Speaking on onboard activities, the Alaska cruises always have some kind of enrichment speaker. We had a retired mountie who was new,so I'm sure he'll get better as he goes. The couple doing the Alaska history talks were awesome and should be onboard most this season. Ship environment: Radiance OTS was last refurbished in 2016, but honestly, it doesn't look it. There's a lot of wear in the wood and fabrics that make it seem older. However, the ship mechanicals all worked the whole cruise. This ship is a perfect size to have a variety of activity centers, like the cinema, pub, and Starquest lounge, while not being too big for walking (especially if you can't walk far distances). We got to meet most everyone on the ship--you don't get far with a dog without people noticing. Ship accessibility: This was my first cruise where I worried about accessibility. We had a cabin just off the Centrum elevators, so my mom had only a short walk to get anywhere. The longest was a 75 ft. walk to the theater. It was easy to get in and out of and get an accessible seat in the MDR and theater, and you could get into every venue. Handicapped bathrooms were well-placed to the main venues. I could see, though, if there were more than 4-5 scooters or mobility devices onboard, the accessibility would get more frustrating. Where my mom had problems was getting over the thresholds of the exterior doors (i.e., walking to the deck 5 exterior deck). These thresholds need to be smoothed out to meet ADA requirements--she had to physically lift the walker to get over them. Service dog: RCCL did accommodate the service dog, but could have done better. We filled out all of the requisite paperwork, and the ship seemed ready for us. By booking RCCL shore excursions, they passed forward info about the service dog. However, the dog relief station could have been better. It was located right next to the smoking section, on the walk to the helipad. So mom had to endure smoke to take her dog out, and since it is not used to people being around when it uses the facilities, I had to literally stop people coming down from the helipad. The box is 4'x4', with a plywood lid that mom couldn't lift and needed my help when the staff put the lid back on. The box was filled with shavings litter, even though they offer sod on the accessibility form, but the shavings weren't replaced or refreshed the whole cruise. There was a little can beside the box to dispose of poop. We wish that RCCL had been in communication with us before the cruise about the litter box and its location (I had to hunt it down once on board because no one knew about it). If we had known they couldn't provide sod this journey, we could have trained the dog to use shavings. And if we had known the location of the box and the distance from our cabin, we could have trained the dog appropriately. Lastly, let's talk about why to choose RCCL. There's always people that like one cruise line over another for some reason, so here's my spiel for why this line. I've been on all the major lines but HAL. I love the people that cruise RCCL--not too party, not all old, great balance of ages, and not too many kids. And I love even more the staff of RCCL--I've run into staff that remember me 4 years later on a different ship, and there is a loyalty to the cruise line and the customers that I like to come back to every cruise. And you get a great value for your $$. Read Less

We chose this cruise because it was a one way inside passage which meant more time in each port. This was important because the ship doesn't have much to offer in terms of entertainment. We are east coast (4 hours difference) and they frequently wouldn't start activities/entertainment until 10pm (2 am east coast time). When we did go, the shows were nowhere near the quality of the large Caribbean ships. That being said, the food was decent (excellent in the specialty restaurants) and the landscape views were intoxicating. Think of the ship as a nice resort, you eat, sleep, and relax there, but go somewhere else for your entertainment. The long port times (8 to 12 hrs) allowed us to do an excursion and still have plenty of time to explore the towns and have lunch or dinner in a nice restaurant before boarding the ship. We also booked a land tour with RC that continued on to Denali and finished with a train ride back to Anchorage for our flight home. The land tour was so well handled that I was able to turn off my brain and just enjoy myself which is rare for me. Patricia, our tour director was very knowledgeable and easy to talk to. She and our driver Pineck made sure everything went off without a hitch. Keys were handed to us right off the bus so no check in hassles. Luggage was waiting in the room and taken back to the bus magically. optional excursions were handled thru Patricia and there were no unpleasant surprises. This was our first group tour and I would definitely do it again. Read Less

My wife and I began preparing for this cruise 5 years ago when we took our first Alaskan cruise for our 30th anniversary. We had so much fun, and it was so amazing, that we decided we'd do another for our 35th. And this time we'd do our own pre-cruise tour before sailing southbound. I would have preferred to sail earlier in the year this time, but as it turned out it was the same timeframe as the first one, which meant we were cruising over our anniversary again. So that was fine. We arrived in Anchorage on Sunday the 26th. Unfortunately, Delta had fun with our flights a few times and our original 12:30pm arrival ended up being 3pm. With a delay in landing and then waiting for the hotel shuttle, we didn't arrive to the Lakefront Anchorage until about 4pm. Only 15 hours after we had gotten up! Somehow we managed to stay awake until dinner time and we went for a short walk around the area and the lake with all its float planes. But that was the end of Sunday. On Monday we headed for Denali National Park. We made a few stops on the way for some supplies, and we also visited the Earthquake Park. It's always interesting to see something that I've read about in the History books. That Good Friday earthquake in 1964 was something else.. We spent 3 nights at Carlo Creek Lodges in one of their private cabins with a private bathroom. The cabin was cozy, and the bathroom even more so, but it was clean, comfortable and only $124/night. The location was very nice, about 15 minutes south of the park entrance. Fortunately, we had a chance to see Mt. Denalij on our drive up to the Park. Tuesday we took the hop-on/hop-off bus into Denali. The weather was not great, with scatterings of sun, rain, fog, low clouds, etc, so we didn't do any hopping off, hopping on. Wednesday was great weather when we went to the park again This time we started the morning off climbing Mt. Healy. And then it rained as we got within the last mile of the overlook, so we came back down. We went to the Dog Sled Camp later, when the sun was back out. Thursday we drove back to Anchorage. It was a rainy drive, but when we got to Anchorage the rain stopped and we got to explore more of Anchorage. We did some shopping for souvenirs. TIP- we found stuff up in Denali area just as cheap as in Anchorage, so you don't need to panic.. This time we stayed at the Clarion Suites as they had a shuttle to the train station. They take your name for it, but someone we were overbooked. Not sure how that happened, but we got everyone to the station on time. The train ride to Seward was so much fun, and the scenery was great. We paid for the upgraded Gold Star service. The breakfast was great and the dome car was so nice to really see things It helped me spot a family of 3 moose for all to see! We met some great people on the train. As it turned out, the couple seated behind us on the train, was our next door neighbor on the cruise. When we got to Seward, we stopped at Alaska Seafood Grill for some lunch. The chowder in a bread bowl is excellent! We had reservations with Body Abode for massages before the cruise. With arrival around 11, finding lunch, walking to our massages and all that, it was 2-2:30 when we arrived at embarkation. This was the first time that we were the ONLY people in line to check in. It was surreal and, as you might expect, really quick. Best boarding ever. The ship was clean and seemed well maintained. We enjoyed it alot. The Solarium is one of the best I've seen on RC and I've 9 of the ships so far. The Park Cafe was also nice, we ate their a couple of times. We split our time between the MDR and the Windjammer. The only bad time we had though was one of the last nights in the Main Dining room. Our service was just awful. It was the first time ever in the MDR that we had bad service over 10 cruises. It seemed like our waiter and asst waiter were too busy with one of the tables near us to even bother to make sure we had water. In fact, one of the couples at our table asked for water, and they got it. But the other 4 of us didn't, and my wife's glass was pretty much dry. We then had to ask the head waiter for water for the rest of us. (And I must say that the head waiter never actually introduced herself to us at all). They were slow on bringing us our food, especially our desserts. I've never complained before, but we did that night. One of the other couples actually told us that they pulled their pre paid tips from the wait staff. That might have been a little extreme but it was frustrating. The Hubbard Glacier is amazing. We got to within a half mile that day, and we able to see some nice calving. Then they came around with hot chocolate which we could add Baileys to, and that really hit the spot. Man, was it cold there! At Juneau, our only excursion was the twilight whale watch, so we explored Juneau on our own. We walked on the Seawalk to the new Whale fountain. We wanted to eat at Tracy's but the line was sooooo long. We went to Pier 49 and while the food was good, the wait was too long. Especially when people who ordered after us got served before us. Way before us. I would not recommend them. In Skagway we did the Bike ride down the mountain. We weren't able to book the one including the White Pass Railroad, but the ride was fun anyway. Plus we saved about $150. We also visited the local museum and we had lunch at Northern Lights pizza for burgers. Very good. And not an arm and a leg! The only about this soundbouth cruise is that all stops are one right after the other. That makes for some busy days. I would love a Sea Day in the middle to break it up, but that's probably not gonna happen. Icy straight Point is a Hoonah village and I've read where some people don't like it. I think it's great to see how the locals live and to share that experience. Not everything can be packaged and sold to lazy consumers. We just did a hike with a local and it was great. We learned a lot. It 's a nice island. Maybe next time we'll do something else. And finally in Ketchikan, we didn't do any excursions. In the morning it was raining, go Figure, so we walked to Creek Street, went up Married Man's way and saw the Fish Ladder. We went by some shops and we even bought some smoked salmon to send home. Later on, the rain stopped and the sun came out, so we went back to the fish ladder, and explored the city more. We went by Creek street again. We had a late lunch at the Alaska Fish House. seating was limited so we shared a table with a couple who turned out to be the owners of the Crab Fisherman's Experience shore excursion. Yeah, we were eating at a place the locals eat at. My wife had the chowder and I had the halibut fish and chips. I don't even remember the last day at sea, but I think it involved sleeping, reading, hot tubs and eating. When we got to Vancouver, we spent the day there, as we had a train to Seattle at 4:45pm. We went to Stanley Park and visited the aquarium there as well as walking around the flower garden. We spent time along the harbor as well enjoying the float planes. In Seattle we stayed at the Belltown. It was a nice hotel and located near some nice dining. On Saturday, we explored a bit of Seattle. We checked out the sculpture park, and visited Pike's Market again. (We had visited Seattle 5 yrs ago so all the regular tourist spots were already visited). We did go on the Locks Cruise and saw the Sleepless in Seattle houseboat. Our flight home wasn't until 12:30am, but after a nice pizza dinner at Zeeks pizza. Read Less

The bottom line is that we loved Alaska, loved our cruisetour, and loved the Radiance. It was a fabulous vacation! Because I was dealing with a first time cruiser and two elderly people, I wanted everything to be as easy as possible so we chose to do a pre-cruise tour with Royal Caribbean (the 1B Wildlife Express). And I'm not gonna lie, it was a great choice! Everything ran smoothly, we had great weather, a wonderful guide and driver and there was nothing I could fault. Getting there was rough (hello 2am) so I definitely recommend going in a day before the day before (we had some folks who didn't join us until Denali!). Arrival and getting to our hotel could have been better and I blame RC for not communicating with us what we needed to do even though we specifically told them we were arriving the day before. Luckily the local folks who work for the other cruise lines (and maybe RC?) were extremely helpful and got us to our hotel relatively quickly. The Anchorage Marriott is a beautiful hotel in downtown and within walking distance to pretty much everything, but wi-fi is not included and the options for food and drink are limited. Luckily, so many better options are within walking distance. I do think there are better values to be found, especially if you opt for something outside of downtown. For us, I'm glad it was part of the package. We ate a late lunch on the patio at the 49th State Brewery. The food and drink were plentiful and very good and the view was fabulous! After meeting our tour guide and getting the scoop on our land tour, we did a mini pub crawl hitting two nearby places, both of which were worth the stop. Humpy's Great Alaskan Alehouse had a Belgian flight with good beers and tasty appetizers. We then went across the street to Williwaw Social to sit on the top deck and watch the sun go down. The next morning we boarded a large, chartered bus and set off. I think there were about 20 of us altogether, so it didn't feel so much like being in a herd. I'm really glad we started with the bus and then got to board the train in the middle instead of the other way around. The Wilderness Express train ride was a highlight with a bright sunny day. It was almost hot in the upper deck with all that glass warmed by so much sun. We definitely got to take the "better half" of the train ride, from Talkeetna to Denali instead of from Anchorage to Talkeetna. And it was gorgeous scenery. Breathtaking. Eating lunch on the train was a plus. In Denali Park Village we were put up in the Miner's Village in relatively new rooms. Great location in the large complex. Then we opted for an excursion to visit sled dogs. The RCI tour took us to Jeff King's place and it was informative and fun. Who doesn't love active, happy puppies and dogs? The next morning was the trip into Denali itself. It was raining, but that didn't lesson our enjoyment of it, especially as it wasn't overly cold. The half day tour was plenty since the Denali buses are pretty much basic school buses and my parents really didn't need to ride for eight hours on one of those. Then we were back on our charter bus and headed back down. We stopped in Talkeetna to stay at the Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge which was beautiful. It's a wooden lodge with a huge indoor fireplace and large outdoor terrace with a breathtaking view. The town of Talkeetna is tiny and unique. We had one of the best meals I've ever eaten at Wildflower and I managed a very rapid shopping stop. Then we enjoyed the rest of the evening watching the sunset from the lodge. Wonderful! The next day was a fairly long bus ride from Talkeetna all the way to Seward to embark on the ship, but it was broken up with an early lunch stop in Anchorage and then a visit to the Wildlife Conservation Center which was the only place we could see bears and moose up close. Worth a stop! Embarkation was smooth and quick. Because it was already after 4pm, our rooms were ready and most of our bags had already arrived. My parents were in a balcony while my brother and I were in an inside cabin. Because I'd been on two of the Radiance's sister ships, I knew what to expect and nothing was jarring. We had anytime dining, but requested the same table every night as the service and attention we received was outstanding. We all enjoyed every meal there. I know the radiance class ships don't have all the "activities" that the larger ships do, but there's something about this class of ship that, to me, makes it almost perfect. It manages to be completely full yet never feels crowded or hemmed in. It's definitely "sea" focused with most everything having views of the water. And the service just seems to be that little bit friendlier and attentive. The Radiance's itinerary and size made it perfect for Alaska. The ports were the reason we were there, so I don't have that much to say about the on board entertainment. The disco was dead every night and a couple of the broadway style shows were so-so. I didn't really like the comedian at all. The jugglers/comedians were funny. We had nice long days at every port. And I noticed that other cruise lines would be there and gone while we still had hours to explore. That's why we came to Alaska and this itinerary really delivered. We had an incredible day to see Hubbard Glacier. It was sunny and relatively warm and we were so very close to the glacier. It was so cool to see it calving. In Juneau we took a Harv & Marv's whale watching excursion and had a fabulous day on the water. It was sunny and mild and it was a delight to see the whales and sea lions all while surrounded by mountains, sky, water, and even views of few glaciers. Then we had to eat at Tracy's King Crab Shack! It was amazing and an experience worth standing in line for. Lastly we took the tramway up the mountain to see the views. All in all, Juneau was a great first stop, with twelve hours in port and incredible weather. Skagway was the next stop and we did a Chilkoot Rail tour. We opted to take the train down so had a "short bus" on the way up. It was nice to be in a smaller group. We could stop more often and didn't have to dodge crowds for photos. Again we had incredible weather, a sunny warm day, and the train ride down was breathtaking. Plus, because it was the end of the season we made out like a bandit on souvenirs. The town itself has a lot of character with a lot of old buildings preserved for the tourists. In Icy Strait Point, the day started foggy and drizzly, but it all burned off into another beautiful day. We did a ship tour which was informative about the local culture and entertaining. This was an early departure, especially compared to any other port, but we still had plenty of time to see what we wanted to. The port was especially nice since they had these little extended golf cart shuttles for those who needed extra help getting into the port proper (which is a bit of a walk). Last port was Ketchikan and rain. But it dried out and the Saxman village was interesting and it was great to learn about the totem poles and Tlingit culture. We spoke to a famous carver a little bit before shopping, which was a great place to get Native souvenirs. Lastly, Vancouver Port was the nicest, most efficient port I've ever arrived in. Seriously, we were off the ship, turned to our left and there were our bags. A porter arrived a minute later and the next thing I knew we were loaded onto the bus for the airport! All in all it was worth every penny. Everyone had a great time and we'd definitely do it again. Read Less

We were celebrating our 30th wedding anniversary. Everything about this trip was perfect!! We brought our 3 grown children. We had 3 days in Anchorage. We stayed at an airbnb, which was great. We did get 2 rental cars outside of the airport to save $$$. We hiked Flattop Mountain and Winner Creek Trail. We even made it to the State Fair! We took the Alaskan Railroad to Seward. We upgraded to Gold Star. I definitely recommend upgrading! Totally worth it. When we got to Seward we went right to the ship. No need to eat lunch elsewhere!!! We all got the drink package ahead of time which saved us $$$. Again totally worth it. My husband and I had an aft extra large balcony and the kids had to slum it with an inside cabin. LOL I actually loved the ship. Super clean and our service was awesome!!!! We dined in the dining room every night. Fabio and his team went out of their way for us!!! Our drinks were great at all of the bars but especially at the Champagne Bar!!!! The excursions were great too!!! I honestly do not have one negative thing to say about anything!!!! Read Less

We went with seasoned cruisers daughter and husband. This was our first and probably only cruise experience. The best scenic part of the cruise was Hubbard Glacier. The rest of the ports were sort of ho-hum and it appeared that some were trumped up for the cruise industry. We didn't go on any of the expensive tours such as a bear tour that out daughter went on in Icy Strait that was a futile experience. Our cabin was OK but showing signs of wear from the dowdy looking "sofa chair", the sagging vanity chair and the BAD BEDS with sparsely cushioned springs that guaranteed hip aches all night. Attendant did a good job and all of the help we encountered were helpful and courteous. The photographers and their helpers corny bear type costumes were very pushy and a fight to get through to the Windjammer buffet, where the food and offerings were no better than the average mass buffet outfits found around. Tricky to find seating tables if you were not innovative. We had reserved tables in the Dining Room and were seated promptly on our arrival. The staff was courteous and fairly efficient but the "recommendations" were not necessary and were hard to understand with old ears. Annoying was the added "gratuities" of 18 per cent to any wines or drinks, especially with the mandatory $150.00 gratuity included in the ticket. The dining menu was somewhat repetitious with the offerings nothing special. Most of the food was rather bland. Maybe they were designed that way to steer you to the pricey specialty restaurants where more gratuities were added. Trying to find a quiet spot to read or play cards around the central lounge was impossible because of the BLASTING noises from aspiring (but amateurish and uninspiring) musicians..The sounds resonated to the top of the ship. We enjoyed the abundant windows for viewing the magnificent scenery of the coast. We walked out of one show with amateur performers, but did enjoy the two comedy shows presented. Boarding and leaving the ship ran smoothly, including customs in to Canada. None of the activities listed seemed interesting enough to check out. All in all we did enjoy the ship, but found it rather ordinary in all respects. Best ti check out all reviews before booking tours. Read Less

This was it first cruise and is likely to be the last. We left 4 hours late and traveled the inner passage at night, couldn't see anything. The ship is fundamentally a shopping mall - hotel on floats with gambling room, and an incredible assortment of bars (who drinks $60/day of alcohol?) Aside from one glacier view nothing but far land on one side and empty ocean on the other. We were transported from one tourist trap to the next, with villages doubling or tripling population as the ship comes in. A hassle to get in and out with security and room card (I understand they don't want anyone left stranded, especially those who drink $60/d alcohol!!) The presentation on board were poorly presented with low quality visuals. One experience was enough. Not interested in social games, bingo, arcade game or whatever. Very few opportunity for photography. Incessant push to buy non sense watches and the likes. Too much smoking! The good thing about such an enormous ship is that it is very stable and food was good. Otherwise a miserable experience Read Less

We left August 10th on Radiance of the Seas. Our plane was late but we booked our travel through RC so they waited for us, several were on our particular plane. Embarkation was great as we were rushed onto the ship. We researched the ship prior to our cruise and saw quite a few negative comments. We were pleasantly surprised by the ship and the crew. From our room stewart to the wait staff in the main dining room to most all the crew we encountered, everyone was pleasant and very helpful. The ship is older, yes, but it is not falling apart. It was clean everywhere. We booked a junior suite and had plenty of room. The closet was large and the room was big. The food in the MDR was good as well as, of course, Chops Grill. We were not impressed with Giovanni's or the brazilian steakhouse, Samba. That might just be our personal taste. There was not too much in the way of entertainment but we usually do not attend to many shows. We did go one night to a comedian which he was very good. Most people on the ship were 40-50-60ish but there were also a lot of kids and younger adults. We had booked all our excursions prior to boarding the ship so we did get them at a discount. One excursion, dog mushing, was cancelled due to weather and no snow on the glacier but we rebooked at the dock to another helicopter onto a glacier which was awesome. All our other excursions were great too. In Ketchican, we went on a boat ride and after had a delicious lunch of all you can eat dungeonous crabs. We definitely recommend this excursion. Next stop was Icy Straight Point where we went out on a boat for whale watching. We did see whales and orcas. Then Juneau where we went up on the glacier. Next was Skagway where we enjoyed a wonderful salmon bake. We ended in Seward and continued on to the land tour. Starting in Anchorage we boarded the Wilderness Express train to Talkeetna for one night, then onto Danali by train for two nights and finally by a third train to Fairbanks for two nights. Although we thoroughly enjoyed all the sights, we wish we had had the itenerary for this land tour ahead of time. No food or extra excursions along the way were included in the cruise price. And food is VERY expensive in Alaska. Plus in some of the places you are very limited on places to eat. You are also very busy everyday especially if you went on the extra excursions that were not included in the price and were also expensive. Plan on spending about another $2000 on food and excursions. That doesn't include any souveniers you may want to buy. The three train rides were fabulous and most all of the excursions included in the price were great except for the salmon bake in Fairbanks. Of note, the bus ride into Danali National Park was long, about 8 hours, and was on a remodeled school bus. The only time you could get out of the bus was on bathroom breaks. You could only take pictures from the bus windows and on the bathroom breaks. We did see some wildlife but mostly from very far away and you really needed a long range camera len to get close up pictures. We absolutely enjoyed our cruise and land tour and would recommend it to anyone wishing to go to Alaska. It is a bucket list place. Read Less

Radiance of the Seas was one the best experience of my life. I met so many new people at Optix, I had fun with my family, so many beautiful views too! The cruise directors were amazing but my favorites were Kassy and Vinni who worked at Optix. They had so many adventures on board with my friends and I. The food and waiters were also amazing. Namely Sean and Supaphan were my favorites. The food was always amazing. Our housekeeper Ferdinand was amazing he is one of the nicest people I have ever met. He always smiled and always waved whenever we saw him. The on board activity’s were all very fun and kept me busy when I had nothing else to do. The rooms and everything else was very clean. It was all amazing everything that I saw. The rooms were very clean and had just enough room for my family and our stuff. I fully recommend going on Radiance of the Seas to anyone looking to have a good summer. Read Less

We were on a pre cruise and post cruise trip for the Alaskan trip. The ship was average, dining room service was awful. The waiter constantly brought the wrong food, under cooked food or failed to bring the items we ordered. Everyone we talked to on this cruise said they had same issues with the dining room service. Each night there were only two optional entrees to order, the rest were the same items every night. The room was fine, everything worked properly Room steward was good, nothing above average.Entertainment was average. The captain did a great job communicating and showing us an awesome view of Hubbard Glacier. Embarkation and debarkation was average.We generally like the larger ships but we took this cruise for the itinerary. We took a Baltic cruise in May on the sister ship Brilliance and found everything on that cruise to be exceptional. The friendly staff added to the cruise. Can't say the same for the Radiance Crew. Read Less

We chose this cruise due to the itinerary being one way inside passage, giving longer time in ports. Also, we have sailed Serenade, Radiance's sister ship and it was out favorite ship with its glass and window-filled areas. It's perfect for viewing Alaska. It's not too small nor too big and it goes to Icy Strait Point. We had read Icy Strait Point was amazing and it was our favorite port. We had sailed RCI on 4 previous cruises. We knew to expect good service, entertainment and food. This cruise was incredible, though we learned things along the way. I would definitely do this cruise again, but would probably do southbound instead of northbound just to get thr longer time difference out of the way. It was a struggle to resume EST. We spent 3 night in Vancouver precruise flying from Baltimore to Toronto and Toronto to Vancouver. Air Canada was wonderful and the extra legroom seats well worth it. We got in around 2:30 PSt and got a cab to the Auberge Vancouver Hotel. We had stayed there before and returneddue to its wonderful location. We had a 2 bedroom suite and my family had single rooms. Or room and bathroom were apparently nicer than our family's. We previously stayed at the Auberge 2 years prior and prefer to grab breakfast at Starbucks across the street and eat at the cruise terminal just a couple blocks away. There were new ships each morning. The first full day we rented hybrid electric bikes and biked Stanley Park It was our favorite thing we did in Vancouver. In the afternoon, we went to Queen Elizabeth Gardens, which were spectacular! The next day, we did Capilano Suspension Bridge and Grouse Mountain. More to continue Read Less

Always wanted to go to Alaska, so when our first cruise to Puerto Rico got cancelled due to hurricanes, we decided to go to Alaska instead. Now mind you, RCI was not too easy to get them to change our cruise even though our flights and hotel were cancelled but eventually we managed to get them to see it was impossible to get to Puerto Rico in Oct 17. We went to Alaska for a few days early and traveled around and the sights are breathtaking. We boarded Radiance and were immediately treated like royalty. If you have been on a few cruises then you qualify differently (i.e. Gold, Platinum, etc). You then can skip the line on boarding and they get you right on the ship. The people complaining about the ship being old..... If I'm going to spend more than a couple hundred dollars I'm usually going to at minimum do a google search. Right there pops up ship was built in 2001 on Wikipedia. Ship is 17 years old, I also learned it was dry docked in 2016. We had an extended balcony oceanview. The views are amazing, the balcony was decent sized for two people and includes chairs and table. The inside of the room has been updated, with new TV's and some cabinetry but the bathroom, couches and beds do not appear to be replaced. No matter, they were okay. The beds arent the most comfortable, which is my only gripe of this trip. My wife loved them as they were very supportive, however I want to sleep on a cloud. We did all sorts of different dining; Giovanni's italian which was absolutely amazing. We did Chops Steakhouse which was again off the charts. And our waiter told us about a package they do three of the restaurants for a deal. Normally its around $30 a person extra for this but they did three for $74/person. So our third we did a galley tour where we see everything behind the scenes and they feed you. Word of the wise, get the picture package. They have photgraphers EVERYWHERE. Take a bunch of pictures and spend the $225 on the package. Youll have well over 100 pictures if you spend 10 minutes a day taking them. It sure beats spending $15 per picture and having to decide on 2-3. Just figure out when the pictures are being taken and follow them for 10 minutes before dinner. Boom, done. Casino wasnt a big hit on this cruise, dont think anyone won. I was out a few hundred and started to look around and didnt see many people winning. But, thats whats it there for....to make money. The dining room staff was very good. They are polite, very well trained and can answer any question about your meal. My wife has an odd allergy and they were able to answer questions about everything and if they didnt know a head waiter would come over and make everything so easy. The ship appears to have the main public bathrooms redone, some of the public areas, etc. It really is a beautiful ship, some parts are older but its so well kept its insane. Every port you stop at before your even off the ship there are people already working on parts of it trying to keep up with upkeep. The cruise director was okay on this ship, he was fun and outgoing. Not the best for sure we've definitely had better on Enchantment of the seas but he was still good. I get the drink package and wasnt charged for anything, 15 year scotch, frozen drinks, beers, etc. Its worth it in my opinion. I tipped a bartender $5 on the first day (even though tipping is already included, this was extra) he couldnt do enough for me the rest of the cruise. And they move around (i.e. in the day he was at the pool at night hes in a bar). Was a great guy was nice to hear about his home and family. The ports are amazing. They get you right up to the glacier, there was one port that was boring but we just went back on the ship and had a blast. Its their rainy season, but in the two weeks we were there it rained once, Im told the weather we got was unheard of. Read Less

This was our second trip on this same ship and route, this time we brought the family. We decided on this ship because we had such a wonderful experience the first time. I read the reviews previous to our departure and was a bit worried as the negative reviews listed the age of the ship and rude staff. However, my wife convinced me to just focus on the great time we had in 2016 and the pure joy our kids (13/17) would have going on their first cruise. We were pleasantly surprised when we boarded and our room was no disappointment. We also enjoyed the many staff who made sure we had everything we needed. The problem primarily focused on the lack of security or rules enforcement throughout the week. There are designated smoking areas at various locals about the ship but it seemed those patrons that chose to smoke took liberty as where they smoked...which was about anywhere. Every single night we smelled smoke from the staircases and when I did finally complain, I was told the wind was at fault for carrying the smoke. We did not have this issue in 2016 and I'm pretty sure the wind blew then too! While the itinerary sheet reflects a $250 fine for those breaking the smoking rule, no one seemed to have concern for that regulation being enforced. One morning later in the week we even smelled marijuana from our balcony. I'm an easy going redneck and enjoying the break from our Oklahoma allergies was a welcomed thought if not for the nasty cigarette smoke. You couldn't leave the main dining hall without getting blasted by the smoke. Another issue was the change in dining experience. We had no issues during our 2016 cruise but they evidently changed the format. We were faced with long lines at each meal and DO NOT expect very many diners actually dressing up during the established formal nights. While signs list no flip flops, tank tops or ball caps, we had just that very thing seated next to us. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not a big fan of the dressy lifestyle nor was my 13 year old, but we did just that for my wife and it was more than annoying that I had to suffer through a dinner jacket and tie next to bubba in a glorified wife beater! The Windjammer cafe was also habitually crowded as well and we always had to take our plates to a different dining ara just to get a place to sit. Another sign that was liberally ignored was the use of the billiards tables. My eldest and I wished to play and walked to the tables several times each day, not one time did we find them available because there were small children camped out with no adults in sight. The one time we decided to wait, we leaned up next to the "Adults Only" signage and waited for their 45 minute game to end. The issue with unsupervised kids did not end there, we felt we were on a Disney Cruise due to the number of unsupervised kids running about. While some were well behaved, there were plenty that raced down halls, knocked on doors and just created havoc for some people. And lastly, the daily itinerary lists "Saving of seats is strictly prohibited and will be enforced" in reference to the theater, but this was absolutely not enforced and staff regularly walked by rows that were covered by various jackets, shoes, and other personal effects that cruisers placed ahead of time to secure their spot. This was ultimately disappointing to me though by boys had a wonderful experience. I can appreciate the reference to being a "Crown and Anchor Society club" member but I am not sure of the benefits other than a little quicker check in process. I found out that while there are a few perks (less so than in 2016), one has to actually notify the staff upon making a purchase to receive the benefit. You'd think maybe the sea pass card would be colored or possibly reflect that the holder was a C&A Society member so we wouldn't have to beg for the limited perk. One such perk change was the fact that we used to get a $5 credit in the casino but that was changed to one spin! Whew! Game changer! Read Less