Radiance of the Seas Cruise Reviews - Reviews

We had a great time on Radiance of the Seas. The crew was exceptional. If I could give 4.5 I would. I'm reducing it from perfect because there were a few things they could improve upon. I would have liked a bathrobe provided--that's a pretty major thing to have to bring. They also had trouble providing a decent steak. All of the seafood, pasta, fowl and lamb dishes were perfect but the steaks were rubbery and tasteless.

The stops on this cruise were excellent and we enjoyed three of the ship shows very much (two comedians and a juggler). However, we opted not to attend any performances by the Royal Caribbean Dancers and Orchestra based on their lack luster performance at the first night show.

I felt it was a great trip--just sorry it's over. 

The glaciers, shore excursions, and onboard activities were awesome and the hospitality was exceptional. Better food selections in the windgammer. Food was almost the same everyday and was boring. The same with the hotdogs. They were just Ok.

Favorite part of the cruise included ports and excursions, i.e. Walking on Mendenhall Glazier and ziprider. Disappointed in that we could not dogsled. Previous cruisers need to know that this ship is a smaller ship, thus not having quite as much as a large ship. However, overall for the size, the ship was just fine. Most of the time you were busy enjoying Alaska. The entertainment was of a very high talent level. 

We decided to try an interior room; worked out fine. The room was quiet and comfortable and we didn't miss the port hole but perhaps some day we might consider a balcony room.  The food was usually very good onboard, with only one or two instances of "average" food. The crew was courteous and helpful, dispensing hand cleaner at every opportunity, and thus I think that helped us stay healthy and rested throughout the cruise. The glacier experiences, the Alaskan Railroad trips, and the beautiful scenery were the highlights of the trip and made it well worth the expense (except for a few notable exceptions):

A.  I would have liked the activities to warn us more about the "sometimes HUGE potential for rain", especially at ports-of-call like Ketchikan that receive 180 inches of rain every year. If we had known about that, we would not have scheduled kayaking in Ketchikan; we decided NOT to get drenched in the cold downpour, and instead sat that one out, wasting the $140 fees for that activity;

 B. The internet access onboard was close to NON-EXISTENT, so I regret paying for that as well; neither my partner nor I could depend on getting to the internet reliably, so next time we will not waste the $240 for that service, but instead will perform whatever internet posting we want to do at ports of call; 

C. The room was clean and well-appointed, but the restroom always had an unpleasant "septic-system" smell; the maintenance men basically said that was "normal". 

D. I do not understand how overweight people manage to shower in the tiny shower, but that might be common to other cruise lines as well. We did OK since we were fairly trim, but I still bumped my elbows while showering. 

Everything!!! Can't really pick a favorite part because it all was wonderful.. I would tell people it's a trip of a life time and to make sure this one is on their bucket list...

My wife an I were fortunate enough to cruise to Alaska during clear weather, Alaska is a most beautiful place. Ketchikan was our first stop and one of many places to get great winter gear at a great price. We did Jeep excursion with canoeing and salmon tasting, my compliments. In the Icey Straits Hoonah) another winner Bear excursion, some 14 bears seen, again big thumbs up. Onto Juneau where we booked an independent excursion to helicopter to the glacier....did not disappoint (we had planned a horseback ride from the boat, it was full however)....again beautiful, also grabbed a bite of Alaskan King crab at Tracy's...in town. Onto Skagway where we did the Fijord high speed rafting....looking like astronauts in our orange protective gear...again great, A visit to Skagway wouldn't be complete without a visit to town and eating at Skagways Red Onion Saloon, Next onto Hubbard Glacier beautiful. The next day we disembarked in Seward and spent the night...please do so as they have a world class hidden gem of a restaurant Cookers, we also visited the sled dogs and Exit glacier....once again beautiful.

So the question is why only 4 stars?, unfortunately our cabin (on one side only) apparently did not have any type of noise cancelling material between the walls, we could hear everything: conversations, snoring throughout the night, phone ringing and sounding like it was in our room, actually it was as though the people next store were living with us.  Talking to our Steward, the ships cruise desk, and even e-mailing Royal Caribbean 2 times yielded no results.....still waiting for Royal Caribbean corporate to respond it has now been 10 days. I know this sounds

minor but having cruised many times, this is not the norm and honestly the snoring and TV kept waking us up throughout the night.

In

Great ports!  Great Views! Excellent food! Per Michael Johnson from Nashville TN, service recovery staff member from , I should not book another cruise through this site.  Was informed that we could travel with a birth certificate and drivers license. At the last minute found out must have a passport to enter Canada or forfeit travel (booked 7 passengers over $12,000.00) or leave 2 people behind. Had to drive 6 hours to Atlanta drive 6 hours back then catch a plane 2 and a half hours away. Lost first 2 days of cruise recovering for being up over 36 hours!

A wonderful experience sailing on Radiance of the Seas. Smooth sailing, every port seemed to get better and better as we headed south, and the additional tours were an experience of a lifetime.

The ports and excursions are once in a lifetime and beautiful scenery.  However, Radiance of the Seas was a huge disappointment.  the boat never has a day off and cleanliness suffers.  Passengers depart by 9AM and new passengers can board at 10:30AM.  Although people clean the rooms/bathrooms/etc, it is always a "hasty" cleaning and the rooms/bathrooms smell.  Even though they replaced the carpeting last year.  

Food was terrible....experienced cruisers complained.  Even met people buying food at port and "sneaking" on board for a sick friend.  Service on boat was friendly and helpful.... except for Guest Services.  Conflicting info from various guest service agents and unorganized/unhelpful people.  More help from room attendants and waiters than guest services....recommend bypassing them when you can.

Entertainment was sketchy.  If you attend an event LATE by 5 minutes - you can't participate.  Really?  Need a new cruise director.

This was a fantastic cruise to Alaska.  I have been to Alaska several times on business but I had never taken a cruise through the inside passage.  What a spectacular place.  The cruise was very relaxing and the tours we took were all after 10AM, so there was no rushing to get somewhere.  The crew were all very nice and the ship was beautiful.  We saw so many beautiful places, got to play with the musher dogs and ate incredible food.  It could not have been a better trip.

my husbands first cruise and it's been a long time since my last cruise. Food in the dining room varied from ok to pretty good. We did not eat in the specialty restaurants. The crowd was older(so are we) so no problems . The Windjammer buffet was perfect for breakfast and lunch. Excursions were well defined and security checks were efficient. Some of the ships trim(walls baseboards) were scuffed but the ship seemed clean. RC did everything they could to provide hand sanitizer to passengers. Express walk off was a great option for us. 

Cruise was very enjoyable, start to finish.  We liked the ports and shore excursions (sea plane with landing and take-off), whale watching, Icy Strait tours (and a cute brew-pub), and helicopter to glacier. Dining room food was good but not overly exciting.  We ate in the specialty restaurant Chops and that was excellent.  Service was good. 

Taking a cruise is the perfect way to experience different Alaskan ports in a short amount of time.It is in a sense a floating hotel room that moves from city to city.The only thing I think can improve is elevating the food experience. For those who live by buffets and dinners that are banquet/wedding quality, this trip is perfect. Over the course of the week, the only time I had a higher quality of food was in a port restaurant. A speciality chef with food prepared from scratch daily would have made it exceptional.

The cruise hits all the best ports along the way. Juneau was very nice. Seen lots of wildlife including Eagles, whales( Icy Strait), moose, and bear( white pass). Take the railroad back to departing airport. Beautiful scenery.

We've cruised with Royal Caribbean since the late 1990's, and have always loved the recognition we've received as loyalists.  We were greatly disappointed on this cruise after finally obtaining the Diamond Plus status.  The Loyalty Ambassador was flippant, and didn't seem to care that we didn't receive the perks that we had obtained at this level.  We had to go all the way to the Captain to get any sort of recognition, but we did (eventually, after attempts with the Concierge, loyalty Ambassador, Front desk, and then finally talking directly to the Captain at the "top of the Tier event" that we didn't get invited to).  Fortunately, the Director of Hospitality did reach out to us and seriously worked to resolve everything to our satisfaction.  It did unfortunately leave a sour taste in our mouths, which ultimately resulted in us cancelling two cabins in December with RCL.  As a RCL loyalist (we've paid for seven cabins on RCL this year alone), I'm now questioning the service, dedication to loyalists, and concern that RCL has to their frequent cruisers.  

Our room was tremendous, but the food in the Windjammer was of questionable quality, and disappointing in the formal dining room.  On the plus side, however, dining in the  specialty restaurants has NEVER been a disappointment.  I remember the days when the food in the formal dining room was as good as it is in the specialty restaurants without the added costs.

Gratuities are an additional expense that seem to keep going up and are almost as expensive as the cruise itself, so watch for those hidden extras if you are a first time cruiser.  

We were greatly pleased with the com booking website and the ease in booking as well as the additional perks that we were provided with.  This was our first booking with them after being loyalists to another travel agency for the past 15 years.  We are pleased to say that we are looking forward to having them as our new travel partner for future reservations with whichever cruise line we decide to book with.  We loved the shipboard credit, and spa credit that they offered for booking this cruise.  We will definitely use them again for future bookings.!

What an adventure! 

Despite some overcast weather the cruise great.  Staff was friendly and food choices were plenty.  If younger cooler weather in the summer this is perfect.  

The destinations and port schedule were great, so was visiting Alaska at this time of year. The Radiance of the Seas was a very tasteful, clean and modern ship (except for the jungle pool area which could use some fresh air).

Food was okay but not exceptional. The ship has a lot of private dining experiences which is unfortunate because we had a nearly empty table of 10 every night in the formal main dining. If cruise lines are going to promote restaurant dining packages so heavily, then they need to implement impromptu or mixed seating. So many tables around us were only partially full all nights. The atrium entertainment was great to watch, and the theater shows were okay. The onboard daily schedule pages were not the easiest to read of the several ships/cruise lines I've sailed with, so pay attention to the small print and read everything. Also, they say they have Starbucks coffee but they're definitely not trained baristas, even at a la carte pricing.

The improvements would be with BJ's we were a group of 14 and we were separated on everything in the trip, flights, rooms, bus tours etc. we don't understand why that would happen when we all booked together, also several calls were made to Lynette by several in this group and calls were not returned promptly. Also when the Delta crash happened we would have appreciated a call to help us find a place to stay and get rebooked for our flights etc. we had to get it taken care of ourselves.

As far as the cruise itself we don't have many complaints, the food was good, plenty to choose from, the wait staff was very pleasant and courteous, the stateroom could have been a little better kept but was ok, excursions were easy to book, the shows were entertaining.

activities very well planned.

kids had special activities and were able to see some family activities. food was excellent: always an indian dish available.

tours were great offshore..

the performances by the band, dancers, Jamie were fabulous.

the rooms were always cleaned. maintenance group did follow up quickly, on my call for fixing problem.

what more can I say? it was a lifetime experience to see the Glacier so close. the ship cruised without any turbulence whatsoever making our stay comfortable throughout. thanks for the whole team, including the travel agent from and the travel agent on the ship.

the Radiance of the Seas was very disappointing. 

Dirty

Odors

Poor quality food

i was very very disappointed. 

Alaska was a once in a lifetime visit, for me. Once off the ship, everything was wonderful, wild life, scenery, whales, seals, sea lions. Loved it all.