Overall great time. We'd cruise to Alaska a third time! In my opinion, the best time of year to go seems to be mid to late July / early August for best weather.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Once we were dropped off at the terminal, it was literally smooth sailing through the process!
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
We mostly ate in the main dining room (early seating) and always had a good selection of options. Our wait staff (Diondek & Renmon) were great! Very friendly, attentive and efficient. We never had a bad meal or bad time. We also normally ate breakfast in the dining room instead of Windjammer buffet. The buffet...was a buffet. Ok selections but usually cold by the time you sat down (once you found a decent table). We did not eat at a specialty restaurant.
Onboard Activities
3 out of 5
We attended the art auctions (which seemed to start late & run past the scheduled end time), did some of the trivia games, watched some karaoke. We did not participate in rock climbing, swimming, fitness center or flow rider.
Entertainment
3 out of 5
Stage shows were ok. Most not really my style but I know they have a wide variety of people to please. Ice skating show was very good, tbough. I was very disappointed in the "piano entertainment' venue. I was really looking forward to a fun piano bar atmosphere like I've experienced on Carnival cruises, but what was available was VERY different and not appealing to me at all.
Children's Programs
1 out of 5
We did not use the childrens program because we had no kids with us, but this survey won't accept my "N/A" response so I'm giving 1 star.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Our main dining room wait staff (Diokman and Renmon) were wonderful! Prompt, friendly, efficient and a pleasure to dine with. Our room steward (Iputu) always had our room ready throughout the day and responded quickly when we had a small issue with a cabinet. He was never intrusive and friendly when we talked to him. Rest of the staff around the ship were all polite and friendly.
Ship Quality
3 out of 5
Ship cleanliness was fine, no issues at all. I was not thrilled with some of the ship layout though. Especially the "Promenade Mall" on deck 5. The way they had tables & chairs crammed in made it extremely hard to walk through the gauntlet because it was so crowded. But most of the shops weren't that appealing anyway. Several of the activities & venues didn't seem to go together based on size of room, seating available and number of people. And again, piano entertainment venue was disappointing.
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
Good sized window. Bed was more comfortable than I expected. Felt roomy enough. A coffee table might have been nice, although it would have taken away from the openness. Bathroom & shower were fine. I did like the shower doors better than a curtain. Everything seemed to be kept clean.
Ship tip
Take advantage of the dining room and the opportunity to try new foods. If you really don't like something your waiter is happy to bring you something different.
Our excursion was the rafting trip through the Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve. Second time for this excursion and we still loved it. Shopping in town in the afternoon.
We did a Hop On Hop Off double decker bus tour and harbor boat tour. We purchased round trip shuttle tickets, but it would have been nice if we were told when the last shuttle run was as we just missed it and ended up having to pay extra for a taxi in order to make it back to the ship. The harbor boat tour portion was a waste of time & money . Bus was ok. These were not excursion purchased from RC (they had nothing that interested us).
Luggage valet program is awesome! So glad Southwest airlines is now a participant. It called us to disembark early and not worry about luggage as the cruise line checks you in at the airline, delivers boarding passes & luggage tags and ships your luggage directly to the airport. This allowed us to spend another morning in Seattle before heading to the airport.
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