Alaska on Radiance

Hello all!

I am ready to book Alaska on Radiance for June 2019. I have sailed Brilliance, so I am slightly familiar with RC and the ship class. I do have some questions though...there are northbound and southbound itineraries. Is one better than the other? We plan on spending 2 or 3 days after the cruise to explore. Also, does this ship have any freestyle soda machines? One more question (for now), if I were to buy my son the soda package, does everyone in the cabin have to buy one? Thanks in advance! Looking forward to hearing any advice people can give me!

No Freestyle machines on Radiance. Royal does not require all in the stateroom to purchase the soda package.

We are doing a southbound Alaska cruise on Radiance next month. We are flying into Anchorage for two days on our own. We are then doing a cruisetour prior to the cruise which starts in Fairbanks, goes to Denali, and then we make our way down to Seward. We want to get the longer flights over at the beginning of the trip and will fly home from Vancouver, after spending a day there after our cruise. We would stay longer in Vancouver if we hadn't been there previously.

Radiance does not have freestyle machines.

Radiance is our favorite Alaska ship (4 times).....We love the northbound itineraries out of Vancouver...sail to Alaska not away from it the scenery just continues to amaze. Enjoy !!

We are also doing Radiance southbound cruise in June, with the three-day family cruise tour up front (9B). We wanted to do land portion first, and then enjoy relaxing cruise.

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Radiance is our favorite Alaska ship (4 times).....We love the northbound itineraries out of Vancouver...sail to Alaska not away from it the scenery just continues to amaze. Enjoy !!

The date for this itinerary fit our schedule better anyway, so I bit the bullet and booked! This is my graduation gift/reward for finishing nurse practitioner school, which ends the day we leave. Now I just have to focus and get through. Grad school is now gonna get in the way of my Alaska planning :) Can't wait to book excursions! Since you have done this before, do you have any recommendations on where to stay for a few days once we disembark in Seward? Should we stay there or go to a different city?

We are also doing Radiance southbound cruise in June, with the three-day family cruise tour up front (9B). We wanted to do land portion first, and then enjoy relaxing cruise.

 

 

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Exactly our thinking too. The cruisetour has lots of early mornings and long days, so will get that done first. Southbound has a sea day first day, with Hubbard Glacier in the afternoon. Will order room service and have a relaxing morning. We finally were able to get our cruise documents on Friday with more details on the cruisetour. At least we know which hotels we are in, though they can change.

We are headed to Anchorage, Alaska this July and sailing Southbound on Radiance. We are doing a three day pre-cruise excursion through RC which we have never done before, and flying home on embarkation day. We have been in Vancouver numerous time and it is a wonderful place.

We have done Alaska on two other occasions, Southbound on Princess and round trip on Serenade from Vancouver. If we had to pick which direction for a one way sailing we would always sail Southbound. We like going from nature's "wild", to the "wild" of the metropolis.

Another reason for us relates to the time spent on travel. With a Southbound cruise on disembarkation day you are closer to home than you would be when ending in Alaska. In all honesty when the cruise is done I want to be home ASAP. Flying home from Alaska VS Vancouver makes a long day even longer, especially when you are least excited to travel.

I will be doing a live review if you want to tag along, starting around July 15.

I will be sailing southbound on the Radiance in June so I can’t answer any ship questions yet.

I have previously sailed both northbound and southbound on a different cruise line. I prefer southbound because in the past the flights back home from Anchorage made for a really long final day if not spending some days post cruise. We were off the ship by 9am and our flight didn’t leave until 1:15am that night/morning. If you are planning post cruise days in Alaska that won’t be a problem.

This time we are doing a few pre cruise days in Anchorage to visit family and a few post cruise days in Seattle to soften the blow of the cruise ending.

We are flying to Anchorage and then DIY up to Denali, then catching the train down to Seward for the s/b cruise in June. Get's the driving over with first and then we can relax on board for the first day before sightseeing starts again. Easier to get home from YVR too.

Have you seen this? It lists the optional excursions offered as part of the cruise tours.

http://www.royalcaribbeancruisetours.com/content/uploads/2016/06/17059544_AlaskaOptionalTours_Update_Doc_v2_LR.pdf

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We did a Southbound on the Celebrity Millennium - same itinerary as the Radiance. Almost went on the Radiance, but the dates didn't work out. We did our own week long tour pre-cruise and then took the Alaska Railroad down to Seward the day before the cruise. In Seward, we did a Kenai Fjords Cruise with Major Marine - so wonderful! Got close enough to a glacier to see & hear it calving. So glad we did because we didn't get close enough to Hubbard in June 2013 to experience that. The Kenai Fjords cruise was also a jackpot as far as wildlife. The day of embarkation we went to the Alaska SeaLife Center and did a Behind The Scenes tour before heading over to the ship.

I looked at the northbound and southbound port times and I think 5 years ago the southbound port times were a little longer (maybe 30 minutes?) and I wanted to maximize our time in that beautiful state. Enjoy your trip. Hope you find time for all the planning. Don't forget to check out the Alaska boards here on CC for lots of great ideas on things to do/see and independent excursions.

Have you seen this? It lists the optional excursions offered as part of the cruise tours.

 

http://www.royalcaribbeancruisetours.com/content/uploads/2016/06/17059544_AlaskaOptionalTours_Update_Doc_v2_LR.pdf

As if I had not already spent enough on shore excursions you have to post this.

LOL, I better go find a money tree.

Since you have done this before, do you have any recommendations on where to stay for a few days once we disembark in Seward? Should we stay there or go to a different city?

I would spend the day in Seward, perhaps book a full day tour which will take you to Exit Glacier, to a kennel where you will do a wheeled cart dog sled ride, lunch, see some salmon etc and then drops you back in Seward to get the train at 6pm to Anchorage.

Don't think I am allowed to mention the name of the company I used but pretty easy to find online with a quick google search.

We did a Southbound on the Celebrity Millennium - same itinerary as the Radiance. Almost went on the Radiance, but the dates didn't work out. We did our own week long tour pre-cruise and then took the Alaska Railroad down to Seward the day before the cruise. In Seward, we did a Kenai Fjords Cruise with Major Marine - so wonderful! Got close enough to a glacier to see & hear it calving. So glad we did because we didn't get close enough to Hubbard in June 2013 to experience that. The Kenai Fjords cruise was also a jackpot as far as wildlife. The day of embarkation we went to the Alaska SeaLife Center and did a Behind The Scenes tour before heading over to the ship.

 

 

 

I looked at the northbound and southbound port times and I think 5 years ago the southbound port times were a little longer (maybe 30 minutes?) and I wanted to maximize our time in that beautiful state. Enjoy your trip. Hope you find time for all the planning. Don't forget to check out the Alaska boards here on CC for lots of great ideas on things to do/see and independent excursions.

Did the same tour 2 years ago. Highly recommended.

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Are there excursions that can be booked for Day 1 in Seward where you can dump all your luggage with RCCL and then go on the excursion and then just board the ship and begin your 7 day southbound cruise??

Following - I have a southbound trip on Radience in June 2019

I was on the Radiance last June to Alaska. Loved it. It was my 2nd time to do Northbound, beginning in Vancouver and ending basically Anchorage. What I liked the most was after all the beautiful places, the cruise last place to see is the Hubbard Glacier. Ending the trip on a high note for sure.

I will tell you that 99% of flights from Anchorage take off late at night. Makes for a long day, once we rented a local hotel for the day and slept, ate etc.

Enjoy your trip. If you are there for the Summer Solstice you are in for a treat. So much daylight, hard to force yourself to go to bed at a normal hour.

As if I had not already spent enough on shore excursions you have to post this.

 

 

 

LOL, I better go find a money tree.

Yes. Luckily, there are not that many that we could actually do for our cruise tour...lol

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We are sailing NB on Radiance in August this summer. Flights from ANC home to MSP (Minneapolis) were either 12:30pm or 9:30pm. We would not make the 12:30 flight on disembarkation day and had no desire to leave at 9:30 at night and arrive home with the time change and 5+ hour flight at 7am the next morning, especially since we will be traveling with 3 kids and my 70-something year old mother. We are spending an extra night in ANC so we can leave the next day on the 12:30pm flight. Just another option if you want to go NB.

Yes. Luckily, there are not that many that we could actually do for our cruise tour...lol

 

 

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Sadly, only the mild to uber expensive tours work with or land tour. We have tour 1B, and it works with almost all of them in the brochure. We already have a chopper, float plane, zip line etc excursions booked.

What is next, panning for gold while strapped to a back of a whale, while watching glaciers calve? This is going to cost more than Star Class at New Years.:eek::');p

Sadly, only the mild to uber expensive tours work with or land tour. We have tour 1B, and it works with almost all of them in the brochure. We already have a chopper, float plane, zip line etc excursions booked.

 

What is next, panning for gold while strapped to a back of a whale, while watching glaciers calve? This is going to cost more than Star Class at New Years.:eek::');p

lol... or, build a cabin to stay in before the bears come around at night - for the adventure seekers [emoji6]

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If any one is considering a one way it might pay to check airfare first. When we looked the Northbound was cheaper but to fly our of Alaska would have taken us almost 24 hours to get back to NV. Going Southbound it was only a quick plane ride on Alaska Air. Made a huge difference in which way to go for us.

lol... or, build a cabin to stay in before the bears come around at night - for the adventure seekers [emoji6]

 

 

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Or wear a suit of salmon (like Lady Gaga’s meat dress) and walk out into the forest. :eek:;p

Hello all!

 

I am ready to book Alaska on Radiance for June 2019. I have sailed Brilliance, so I am slightly familiar with RC and the ship class. I do have some questions though...there are northbound and southbound itineraries. Is one better than the other? We plan on spending 2 or 3 days after the cruise to explore. Also, does this ship have any freestyle soda machines? One more question (for now), if I were to buy my son the soda package, does everyone in the cabin have to buy one? Thanks in advance! Looking forward to hearing any advice people can give me!

Hi there! We cruised Alaska in Aug of 2017. Here is a link to what my husband wrote and shared here on Cruise Critic. A blog from our ship Radiance! https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2613346. If I did not paste this right it is called Our Alaska Trip by W2N. We did pre-cruise and southbound cruise all thru Royal. All hotels were amazing and great tours. We were glad we did land tour first. By the time we got on the ship it was nice to relax the rest of the way. All the ports were great to. Have fun. Any questions feel free to ask.