Enjoyable itinerary, but not without issues. Would do it again, but Royal Caribbean is not making me happy with the poor quality in the main dining room. Next time, I'll book Chops for lobster night and just pay extra for the lobster because buying the "filet" was a waste.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
The folks at Seward were pleasant and efficient
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
Somehow between our first Royal Caribbean cruise (2010) and the last the main dining room has forgotten how to cook a steak. Spend the money for the specialty restaurants or eat at the Windjammer.
Chop's Grille
5 out of 5
We were lucky... had the same excellent waiter for all three of our visits. Food was done right, meal was well-paced.
Giovanni's Table
4 out of 5
This would be a five star review if we had the same server for all three of our visits. Sadly, the last visit, our server was a dud and that brought it down a star. Great food, though.
Onboard Activities
3 out of 5
Didn't really do anything other than shoot some bad pool and play minigolf
Entertainment
5 out of 5
Excellent rock tribute band and Captain marek even hopped on stage to perform Enter Sandman
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Waiters at Giovanni's Table and Chops were excellent. Main Dining Room and Samba Grill? Not so much. Yoga, the cabin steward, was awesome. Room was impeccable and he was very good at learning our schedule.
Ship Quality
4 out of 5
Design is OK, one elevator was stuck all cruise and there were a few spots where you could tell it was almost 20 years old.
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
Stateroom was small. Bed was not quite high enough to store a suitcase under, but if you lifted it, it was possible. Bed was typical RCCL... felt like I had a hip pointer after about three nights. Storage was a challenge, mainly because it's hard to pack for Alaska since you never know what the weather will be like. Room was super clean, but I credit that to Yoga, the steward. He took great pride in his work and it showed.
Just listening to the glacier as it calved was something I can't describe. Captain was very good at rotating the ship so everyone could get a food view and plenty of photos. Also saw some seals.
Really liked Juneau. Took a whale watching excursion and visited Mendenhall Glacier. Saw several humpback whales as well as a pod of orcas in the distance. Glacier was pretty awesome. Could've used a little more time there, but that's just nitpicking. Great microbrewery in town called Devil's Club with excellent selection and good food.
Loved this little town, but there was a problem with our shore excursion which was supposed to include the White Pass Railway. There was a mechanical issue on the train, but RCCL refunded part of the cost and the bus driver just did a round trip so we were able to see a lot of the pass. Two excellent microbreweries.
Really didn't enjoy this port. Hoonah is a fishing village and kind of sad. Did the Alaska's Wildest Kitchen excursion and while it was interesting, it was way overpriced. Were we to stop here again, would consider the zipline or the ATV adventure.
Charming town, nice brewery. Took an excursion to the Silverking Lodge for an old-fashioned seafood boil that was off the hook. Knowledgable tour guide and even got the chance to see a group of harbor seals sunning themselves. Would do again and the lodge is so lovely, I want to go back just for salmon fishing.
This was super peaceful and as we were sitting in the Schooner Bar just relaxing, saw two juvenile orcas swimming alongside the boat. That alone made for a 5 star day. The bottomless galley brunch was hard to like. Poorly cooked steak, plus not being able to hear the guide was annoying.
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