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Radiance of the Seas Cruise Review to Alaska - Gulf of Alaska

Cruises: 2-3 cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 44

Overall rating:

3 out of 5
Radiance of the Seas

7 Night Alaska Hubbard Glacier Southbound (Seward To Vancouver)

Sail date: June 24, 2016

Ship: Radiance of the Seas

Cabin type: Inside

Cabin number: 2007

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 8 years ago

Review summary

The ship was recently dry docked and underwent some maintenance and repairs.  The ship seems to be in good condition and well kept.  After cruising on Carnival two times prior to this cruise, in my opinion, I'd say Royal Caribbean and Carnival are pretty equivalent.  The Radiance of the Seas is decorated nicely and kept very clean.  The buffet hours seem a bit more open on the Radiance opposed to Carnival ships.  The entertainment onboard the Radiance is much better than Carnival.  The buffet on the Radiance was less than pleasing.  The quality of the food is about as low as it gets.  I can see that Royal Caribbean does this as part of the package for a reason...they want to up sell you on one of their restaurants on the ship.  The Samba Grill and the Chop steakhouse are both amazing!  The Samba Grill was simply incredible!  Amazing food!  The service on the ship was great! Every staff member was wonderful.  I'd say my biggest complaint with this cruise on the Radiance of the Seas is the buffet and the noise on the ship.  Like I mentioned before the buffet food is terrible.  The noise we experienced from our room on the 2nd floor came from down below.  Clearly a repair or maintenance was being made overnight.  Grinding and pounding for hours at a time late at night until early hours the next morning.  This happened 3 nights out of the 7.  After complaining after the 2nd time with no resolution, I was pretty upset.  The ship sits in port ALL day.  Unless that ship was about to sink or this repair was an absolute emergency that pounding and grinding noise was inappropriate.  All in all, I'd recommend this cruise to Alaska on the Radiance of the Seas.  Make sure you bring warm clothes. It's cold in Alaska!

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

3 out of 5
The buffet is terrible but the restaurants onboard are amazing!

Onboard Activities

5 out of 5
Steve our cruise director did an amazing job keeping the ship entertained and busy.

Entertainment

3 out of 5
Not at broadway quality but better than Carnival's shows.

Service and Staff

5 out of 5
Every staff member we interacted with was amazing!

Ship Quality

5 out of 5
Ship seemed to be well cared for. Our room was cleaned twice daily. I found a couple hairs on the sink when we first arrived. After a couple days of them just sitting I finally cleaned them myself. Good service but I think they should make a stronger effort at cleaning the room.

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5
Typical room. Nothing fancy but clean and the furniture and decorating were good.

Ship tip

Samba Grill are amazing! Check them out!

Thumbs up

Ports of call

Seward (Anchorage), Alaska

5 out of 5

Cruise Hubbard Glacier

5 out of 5
Absolutely beautiful!
Thumbs Up

Juneau, Alaska

5 out of 5

Skagway, Alaska

5 out of 5

Icy Strait Point (Hoonah), Alaska

5 out of 5
My favorite stop on the cruise!
Thumbs Up

Ketchikan, Alaska

5 out of 5
Very commercialized near the cruise ship area but a very nice area!
Thumbs Up

Cruise Inside Passage, Alaska

5 out of 5
Absolutely beautiful!
Thumbs Up

Vancouver (Canada Place), British Columbia

5 out of 5
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12 Comments

zmastr28    8 years ago

Radiance of the Seas also has a lot of glass. I read somewhere this shop has the most glass in the Royal Caribbean fleet.
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mutandshel    8 years ago

Taking Alaska cruise in 2018. Right now scheduled to sail on royal Caribbean radiance of the seas. Wondering if we should take celebrity or princess. I'll be looking to hear about everyone's experiences
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auroracruiser1954    8 years ago

Thank you:) I will watch for your reviews and pics in August..have an amazing time !
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brendaholman    8 years ago

s4SOJWAMZruVnjcmvFIYOVZc, from what I read on RCCL, the Radiance class ships gave a lot of glass walls too, to revel glaciers and landscape. Including outside glass elevators.
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auroracruiser1954    8 years ago

Looking forward to your review Brendaholman!
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brendaholman    8 years ago

It's exciting this is my first time in Alaska
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auroracruiser1954    8 years ago

Heard from others that Princess Cruises to Alaska were amazing! Their ships have glass all around to see the glaciers. We booked on Radiance for 7/17....now wondering if we should cancel?
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shellyz    8 years ago

My experience onboard with the buffet has been wonderful. We rate this well above the other cruise lines and are going on her again in January around Australia. Love Royal Caribbean😊🏖🍧
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marrowbar    8 years ago

My experience of the buffet on Radiance and other RC ships is that the food was varied, plentiful and good quality. My cruises have all been in the South Pacific though. Of course Windjammers is not the only complimentary dining. You can have breakfast, lunch and dinner in the main restaurant which provides excellent food and service at no extra charge
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brendaholman    8 years ago

Aug 5th south bound
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rann    8 years ago

We sail on it August 12th! :-)
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brendaholman    8 years ago

Thank you for the revue. I'll be on Radiance in just 4 weeks.
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Other reviews of this sailing

Very good vacation