Radiance OTS Alaskan Cruise Review, 5/27/16-6/3/16

We just returned Saturday from our Radiance of the Seas Alaskan cruise, Seward, AK southbound to Vancouver, BC, May 27, 2016 - June 3, 2016. We are a family of 3, Barb & Ken, celebrating a late 30th anniversary; and our 17 year old son, George, celebrating his high school graduation. (His Momma is celebrating that as well -- no more policing the school work/homework YAY!!)

Other than using a TA to book the cabins (son needed to be in a cabin directly across from ours), I scheduled most of our travel myself. I enjoy researching travel arrangements almost as much as I enjoy the vacation itself. Almost. [emoji846]

We drove a one-way rental car to Atlanta, GA from our home in east TN to avoid 3 connecting flights to Anchorage. We stayed the night near the airport, then flew out at 7:00 am on Wednesday, May 25. The TSA line was brutal, with over an hour wait in line before being scanned. We had a connection in Seattle, WA, with a 1.5 hour layover, just enough time to grab a quick bite at the airport and locate our gate for the Anchorage flight. We were all excited when we began seeing snow covered mountains and glaciers below us.

We landed in Anchorage about 1:30 pm, and our luggage was there in no time, as Alaska Air promises. Check-in at Hertz for our one-way rental car was painless, and we were headed to the local Costco very shortly (to pick up our 2 bottles of wine). We arrived at the Hotel Captain Cook afterwards, all exhausted but excited.

We truly had a wonderful time on this trip. A couple of others that we met had some issues, but we were fortunate not to experience those ourselves. Only one glitch the entire trip, which I will talk about during the ship review. I will start with the pre-trip activities, then the ports and port activities, and finish up with the ship.

I will try not to take too long, and for convenience, will post cell phone pics as I go along. It could be months before I edit the camera pics (still have to finish editing our November 2015 DC trip photos -lol.)

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I'm looking forward to the review!

I am also looking forward to the review! Do you happen to have the cruise compasses too? Someone on a SB posted some but they were too small to read. We will be celebrating graduation too - just 4 more days to go!

Pre cruise:

In Anchorage, we stayed at the Hotel Captain Cook, on the Captain's Club level, in one of their suites. We opted for the Concierge level for a few reasons. One, our son can eat his weight in food. [emoji846] So, a stay that includes a full breakfast is a good thing for us. Parking is included as well, saving $20 per day. I booked early and got a great rate also. Check in was fast, the staff pleasant, and the car parked quickly. We were up in our room in no time, enjoying the beautiful view of the mountains.

Service was impeccable, and the Captain's Club evening snacks were enough to make a meal of. We had already eaten an early meal at Glacier Brewing Co., so were stuffed. Next time, we will eat a light dinner of soup, salad, smoked salmon, cheese and fruit in the Captain's Club.

The next morning, we had breakfast in the Captain's Club, which affords a gorgeous view of the coastline with a complete breakfast. No one left hungry, including our son. [emoji846] I'm sure they had to restock when he left.

We booked a Flightseeing tour for that morning (Thursday, 5/26) with Rust's Flying Service in Anchorage since we didn't have enough time to do Denali properly. What an adventure! Besides the breathtaking beauty overall of Alaska, this was probably the highlight of our trip. We flew from Anchorage in a 6 passenger plane with a pilot whose family homesteaded property north of Denali. His stories were enthralling. He flew us between peaks, over base camp and other remote camps, and all around Denali (the mountain) trying to see if she would peek out of the clouds. We got to see two avalanches, and landed on a gorgeous lake to stretch our legs after two hours in the air. Denali didn't show herself until the next day, but what we saw was indescribable. I can highly recommend Rust's and Flightseeing Denali. We hope to fly from Talkeetna the next trip, with some time spent at Denali.

After the flight, we grabbed a quick bite at Moose's Tooth. Wonderful family pizzeria. Son got two huge slices, Ken and I each had a slice and a Caesar salad. The food was served quickly, was tasty and filling, and we were on our way to Girdwood in no time.

The drive between Anchorage and Seward has to be one of the most beautiful drives in the world. Gorgeous scenery on the way, and in Girdwood itself, which is a quaint little town.

We stayed at Hidden Creek B&B, and can highly recommend this place. Fresh cookies available upon arrival, a gracious host and hostess, very comfortable beds, and a scrumptious breakfast, made to order. My husband and I were both feeling a bit under the weather that morning, so didn't make it to breakfast, but our teenage son did and loved it.

The following morning we drove to Seward (Friday, 5/27). The astounding beauty was only rivaled by our drive into the Yukon a few days later.

We are so glad we did a one way rental car (Hertz) from Anchorage to Seward. We dropped the luggage for the cruise, and circled by Hertz (right there at the port). They dropped us back off at the ship. We would have walked, but had too much to carry for the distance. I will talk about boarding later, when I cover the ship.

What we would do differently next time (besides give ourselves more time on land in Alaska)? We would drive all the way to Seward, spending just a few hours in Girdwood. That way, we could take the Kenai Fjords boat trip out of Seward. We enjoyed Girdwood, but want to spend more time in Seward on the next trip. Or, we will possibly take the train to Seward, knowing that everything is close enough to get to without a vehicle once we are there.

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I am also looking forward to the review! Do you happen to have the cruise compasses too? Someone on a SB posted some but they were too small to read. We will be celebrating graduation too - just 4 more days to go!

Let me see what I have. I may have all the days. If so, I will post them. [emoji846]

And congrats on the graduation!

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I am able to locate days 1 thru 6 of the Compass. I can post the activities page for each of those days, and maybe someone else has the rest. Below is Day 1. Let me know if you can see it. If so, I will post the rest. This is as large as the app will allow me to make it.

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I'm looking forward to the review!

I'm looking forward to returning! [emoji4]

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I am able to locate days 1 thru 6 of the Compass. I can post the activities page for each of those days, and maybe someone else has the rest. Below is Day 1. Let me know if you can see it. If so, I will post the rest. This is as large as the app will allow me to make it.

 

Perfect!! I am a planner and hate to miss out on one of our favorite activities. I understand there may be some changes but this helps so much!! Thank you! And the pictures are gorgeous!

Day 2, Hubbard, Formal Night

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Day 3, Juneau, Casual/70s attire

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Day 4, Skagway, Casual/Rock & Roll Attire

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Day 5, Icy Strait Point/Hoonah, Formal Attire

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Day 6, Ketchikan, Smart Casual Attire

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If I locate day 7 (Inside Passage), I will add it later. The attire that day, of course, was casual.

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I'm in the wishful thinking phase of looking at an Alaska trip. Looking forward to your review. :)

I posted my review yesterday, be interested to see how your experience may have differed, if at all.

She's fresh out of drydock. Any noticeable differences?

She's fresh out of drydock. Any noticeable differences?

Someone who has been in the ship before can probably answer that better. She was in very good shape. Has some wear, obviously, but our mattress seemed to be new because it was more comfortable than I expected it to be.

Others have written and said that some of the work was not visible, but underlying work they needed to be done.

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I posted my review yesterday, be interested to see how your experience may have differed, if at all.

Read your review last night. Some definite differences in our dining room attendants. We frequented other places during the day, so our experiences were different there as well.

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I'm in the wishful thinking phase of looking at an Alaska trip. Looking forward to your review. :)

We loved our trip. Just wish it could have been longer. I can highly recommend an Alaskan cruise. [emoji846]

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Next up is Hubbard Glacier.

What can I say? The sheer magnitude of Hubbard is staggering. The day was clear and the clouds in and out, but for the most part, it was a sunny, mild day. You will see the change from sunny to the partly hidden sun in the pics. We were there for 2 hours, arriving a bit early, and I could have stayed much longer. We got VERY close to the glacier (some who did northbound the week before said their trip to the glacier was further away). Our captain turned us round and round and round. Everyone had a great view of the glacier.

We were in the Starquest Lounge for part of the viewing (one of our favorite places to sit and look, affording great views off the starboard side). We went back to our cabin and sat in the balcony part of the time as well. We went back to the lounge for the Cruise Critic Meet & Mingle, which entailed quickly drawing names for prizes. We had no problem with rushing thru since they scheduled it for while we were at Hubbard. How silly is that? We did get to meet Gordon and pick up our pins that he had made to commemorate the cruise.

Back to Hubbard. We could hear the rumbling and groaning and cracking, and Ken and I were fortunate enough to see two fairly large calves besides the multiple small calving that took place. Our time at Hubbard tied for our second favorite activity, with the drive to the Yukon. As I mentioned before, Flightseeing Denali has to be #1 for us. But the time at Hubbard was the best we could have hoped for, weather wise and viewing.

Posting cell phone pics, since it will be some time before I get around to downloading and tweaking the camera pics.First pics are arriving at the entrance to Hubbard.

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And more pics, closer to the glacier, and of Hubbard itself.

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Thank you for your review

We will have an Alaska Cruise B2B in 375 days :rolleyes:

Great review and pictures OP! Thanks for sharing! :)

We are looking forward to our repeat Radiance Alaska from Seward this

August. This time doing a B2B so we don't have to get off the ship in

Vancouver. ;)

Thank you for your review

We will have an Alaska Cruise B2B in 375 days :rolleyes:

It will pass quickly! We began with over 400 days.

Great review and pictures OP! Thanks for sharing! :)

 

 

 

We are looking forward to our repeat Radiance Alaska from Seward this

 

August. This time doing a B2B so we don't have to get off the ship in

 

Vancouver. ;)

We hope to do B2B when we are retired. My job can't spare me for more than 2 weeks, and we have to have at least a few days on land. [emoji846]