Alaska is beautiful but Radiance of the Sea could be better
Radiance of the Seas Cruise Review to Alaska - Inside Passage
Contributor Level:
Purser
Cruises: 2-3 cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 25
7 Night Northbound Alaska & Hubbard Glacier (Vancouver To Seward)
Sail date: May 06, 2022
Ship: Radiance of the Seas
Cabin number: 9604
Traveled as: Couple
Reviewed: 2 years ago
Review summary
We have cruised with Viking before, we will probably go back with them. The RCC was a good price and we gave it a try, we were patient and knew it was the first sail. Had I paid a premium price for this trip I would have been very disappointed.Embarkation
Getting on the ship was a little bit laborious mostly because of Covid Protocols but RCC made quick work of the different stations we had to go through
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
Food was not very good, mostly cold and slow to come to the table, the self serve was a little bit better but was not very appetizing. Horrible dessert options at the self serve, thought I was at the low scale American buffet at the old folks home. All staff was new on this first sailing of the year and still being trained. Not enough bar staff, you had to wait forever to get a drink, especially if it was non-acholic, they only wanted to wait on the people who were really drinking heavily, if you had the soda package you could wait all day to just get a soda. There was only one place to get self serve water on the cruise and it was only open in the late afternoon. We ended up filling our water bottles and make it last until we could find some more. We ended up ordering water bottles for our room. I had purchased the soda package, I think I drank 3 sodas all week because every time I wanted a soda I had to find an open bar, not all bars are open, only one or two for the whole ship per day, and then wait until one of the staff took a break from serving alcohol customers first then help me, was a waste of my money.
Onboard Activities
Enjoyed Mini Golf, movies and playing bingo but bingo was expensive so only did it once, $50 for 3 games only. Walking tack was nice and the Egg Drop challenge was fun! Pool and outdoor movies were closed mostly due to storm.
Entertainment
Just OK at best, some nights there was no entertainment in the theater at all. The couple of shows they did have we enjoyed but again 1st shows after 2 yrs of covid, figure they will get better with time, why they didn't have any entertainment the few nights was curious. The comedian was good, they actually had him come on an extra night to fill in.
Service and Staff
I Hate to be the downer here too but they are very understaffed for sure. Everyone was talking about it and how this RCC didn't really seem up to par with other RCC they had taken in the past, this was our first cruise with RCC. Our room attendant was awesome! But the wait staff was undertrained and trying desperately to learn on the job, too many bosses and not enough workers, they were scrambling around like crazy, forgetting drinks or desserts, bosses telling workers to go this way and that and getting them confused. One night the waiter insisted two tables give him their order before he would put it into the kitchen, weird. We asked for hot tea with our dessert, it would arrive long after the dessert had arrived, when the waiter finally noticed we hadn't eaten our dessert he asked if it tasted bad, we said no, we were waiting for our drink to go with the dessert, he had totally forgotten. They would only fill the dining rooms half way and shove people all in one area because they didn't have enough staff, this caused a back up in the line of people trying to get in with their reservations. The guest services people were short staffed as well, long lines and when you did get to the counter you could tell they were over it and didn't really want to help you but just move you on out of the way.
Ship Quality
The Ship was very clean and maintained, it's an older ship with a little older decor but kept up, our balcony unit was clean and comfortable. The decks kept clean and the tables in the windjammer self serve were cleaned quickly. Layout was good, we stayed on the 9th floor close the center of the ship, close to evaluators and our room was always quiet and restful. Balcony was great to watch the scenery from.
Cabin / Stateroom
We had a larger balcony room, it was perfect size for 2 people with a king bed and a loveseat. The cabinet and closet space were good enough for two people and we didn't feel like we were tripping over each other, there was space on each side of the bed to get out and walk comfortably around. Bathroom was decent and not too cramped compared to others, shower was manageable but if you have to shave your legs you might need to be very flexible to not get water everywhere. TV worked great and there is a desk/vanity area to get ready at. The hair dryer can NOT be plugged in the bathroom it's self so you have to use it at the desk area( Bring an extra outlet box if you want to plug in more then one thing at a time, ie curling iron or cell phones) NO plug next to bed for phones or other devices, only at the desk area . Curtains were good block out and the A/C, heater worked well.
Ship tip
Don't over pack! Mostly casual wear on Alaskan cruise.
Thumbs up
0
Ports of call
Vancouver (Canada Place), British Columbia
We went on a Pre-cruise excursion thru the city in the morning before heading over to our check in time at 2pm, they keep our bags with us and dropped us right off at terminal. Got to see lots of the city.
Like everything else it was first time opening form many business at this port. We did a trolley ride and totem pole. It was ok, guide was not really that informative. I talked with others that had much better time doing other things that day. The little town is nice to walk around it, we had lunch at Annabelle's which was very good although pricey for a pub style restaurant.
Smaller more scenic town, we went whale watching with Whale Songs Expeditions , we booked all our own excursions. Neal was fantastic and so was Brian they found us Whales and were SOOOO informative about the surrounding and the sea life would highly recommend! The Catdaddy is the name of his boat. There is a free shuttle to and from the main part of town directly from the cruise ship, this was a great service!
Loved this port, mostly because we booked the BEST tour to go into the Alaskan/Canadian Yukon. Chiltook tours, book directly. The train is only going half way and coming back the same direction and track, many were disappointed, We spent about 5 hours with our very informative guide driving and stopping a lot to take pictures and we got to eat lunch(included) in CarCross. Our guide has been working with the company for 25 yrs and it shows amazing trip and only a little over $100 each including lunch. The town has lots of small cute shops as well.
Our ship cruised very early into this area....6AM... by 8:30 we had passed the glacier. It was not announced that were were close and a lot of people missed the opportunity, the ship did not double back and sail the other side of the ship back like they said they would, we just took the open sea back towards Vancouver. No big ice burgs to see on this trip, this is not the trip for that if that is what you had your heart set on like me.
Disembarkation
It was ok, they tried to stagger people leaving but they weren't ready so when people arrived at their given time to leave the ship we all bunched up.