Embarkation and disembarkation were chaos and not relaxing, but enjoyed the rest. Would definitely cruise again with RCL.
Embarkation
2 out of 5
Dropping bags and checkin ok, but once got on the boat all chaos. Sail time was 8pm and we got on boat right before 5. We had made dining ressie at 530 but dining room closed and all waiters blatantly ignored us when we tried to figure out what was going on. Compass said muster at 745 but then started announcing it would be 600 then 615. No staff knew what was going on, and people were still getting on. Did finally get released about 630, but people were still boarding so don't know how that worked. We then headed right to dining room to see if our 530 ressie would be honored or if we needed new ressie, and again chaos as a lot of other people had same question and only 1 staff member out by the line and just kept asking who had white tickets but wouldn't tell us what they were for. Got better after that, just not a relaxing start.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
3 out of 5
Good variety of food, and it was all ok with a few items being really good, but overall pretty mediocre which we expected. Definitely won't go hungry.
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
We liked all the different trivia games and most shows the best. Also did mini golf, rock wall, basketball court, gym, casino, card room, billards room and an art auction. We didn't do any dance parties or use the spa. 11 year old son also used the teen optix center a lot.
Entertainment
4 out of 5
Children's Programs
4 out of 5
Service and Staff
4 out of 5
Surprised with the number of wait staff. Overall everyone very friendly, except for the rude waiters in the main dining room that 1st night.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
We were shocked how clean everything was and there were hand sanitizer stands everywhere. When entering the buffet there was always a staff there actually squirting on your hands so everyone had to get sanitized, which we loved. We frequent Disney World often and feel they are then benchmark of clean, and this was on par with that.
Cabin / Stateroom
3 out of 5
Ship tip
An inside cabin, even with an 11 year old, worked out just fine, so dont be afraid you will be miserable if you choose to save money and go that route.
Loved our tour with ACT from Anchorage to Seward. We stopped at wildlife park, got bag lunch and stopped at Exit glacier. The best part though was the guide was a local and we learned so much about Alaska in general and what it is like to actually live there.
Liked visiting glacier and hiking to nugget falls which is so massive when you are right up by it. Salmon hatchery wasnt anything special. Downtown was mostly just shops.
So so windy. Like crazy windy. Did summit bus tour which was pretty. Town mostly just more shops with same stuff as Juneau. Hiked to cemetary and the falls behind the cemetery which was the highlight.
No excursion here so not a ton to do, but went out on the rocky beach right by the boat and love exploring there, and then went on beach on the other side which was more sand. Husband and kiddo even waded in the water and they loved that. (People thought they were nuts, but 1 other guy gave it a shot too)
Had a lot of shops but seemed the least commercial of all stops. Didn't do an excursion but did the walking tour around town (get a map at visitors center). Also attempted to hike rainbird trail. After the massive climb up the hill, I mean massive, just to get to 3rd st where the trail starts, we were pretty tired out. We did still attempt the trail which said it was an EASY 45min hike, but didnt go to far as it definitely wasn't easy and we didn't want to have it take way longer and miss all call. It was neat seeing how all the houses are built right into the hill.
We did the city tour with airport drop off excursion, just because we had some time to kill before our flight, and it wasn't too much more than a direct airport drop off. Tour was ok and timing worked nice to get a sample of the city views and not have too much down time for our 3pm flight.
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