LIVE from Radiance of the Seas...5/11 and 5/18. Alaska!

[bradpole]

Oh wow...thank you so much for doing this!!

 

We are on the Radiance in two weeks... so we'll be boarding as your'e leaving..

 

I'm enjoying it so far! Like the suggestion for the restaurant in Vancouver ..

 

We're flying into Seattle and taking the train to Vancouver on Thursday .. hoping to see a bit of Vancouver!

 

SOOOO looking forward to this thread!

 

Vancouver is a WONDERFUL city. Clean, very easy to get around- excellent public transit and walkable!

 

Not to mention every single person here is SOOO Friendly! I'm used to a cold shoulder not a, "Good morning!, how are you?" from most people!

[bradpole]

Thanks for the review Brad. I'll be on in 42 days. Can't wait to read about the next 2 weeks. Is there a chance you could take pictures of the dining room menus and post them. We are doing northbound and I would love to be able to plan specialty restaurants ahead of time. Thanks again for taking the time to post live. Enjoy your trip.

 

That shouldn't be a problem!

[bradpole]

Hello everyone!

 

We finally made it aboard the wonderful Radiance of the Seas! The plan this morning was to leave the hotel at 9:15, get gas in the rental car, drop the luggage and my mom off at the pier, return the car to Avis downtown, and take the Canada line sky train / subway back to Canada place. Sounds so simple but simple plans can sometimes get complicated. Things got tricky getting gas! Just like europe American credit cards don't work because they do not have the Chip and Pin technology. Thankfully we used an ATM to take out some Canadian dollars the day before some could atleast refill the tank without paying Avis to do it for us. That was the easy part!! When we got to Canada place it was a little confusing at first how to get to the ship drop off. You have to go down the drive way that says public parking, and once going down that ramp you at directed to the luggage drop off. I dropped the luggage off and my mom and made my way back to Avis to return the cat. The downtown location is a little confusing, it is in the parking garage next to the Fairmont hotel,there is a sign but it isn't very big. I parked car and walked to the return desk only to discover a huge line in front of me, they were having computer issues and had to do all the rentals and returns manually...how fun! And for those Avis customers who are "preferred" they don't have a preferred line. After finally returning the car I made my way to the Canada line subway station, and after a quick ride I arrived at the waterfront station, one block away from Canada place. If you are walking to the pier there are two ways to get to the check in. You can either walk down the narrow sidewalk that runs next to the driveway down to the cruise terminal (which I did) but talking to someone else who also returned to Avis they simply walked into the hotel entrance and followed the signs to cruise ship and took the elevator down.

 

Once I finally got reunited with my mom, which due to the delay at Avis was a nervous wreck, she and I expected to be back in 30, 45 minutes max.. It was almost 1 hour and 45 minutes. We easily went through security, then US customs, and sat in a waiting area until the check in desk was ready. Check in began at 11:30, and we were seated in the windjammer by NOON! Not too bad, and we didn't use the priority line, that line was too long!

 

The rest of the day we wandered around checking out the renovations, which look vet nice! Our luggage arrived around 3 and we quickly unpacked. Every time we are on a radiance class vessel we are amazed at how much storage there is in the cabin. We checked our table in the dining room for 2nd sitting, although our TA asked for a small table we had a 10 top...we asked to be changed, and got a 4 top. We prefer a smaller table, some love large tables, we preferr 4 or 6 tops.

 

It is now 5:36 and we haven't sailed, we are still loading supplies. The westerdam, Holland America Line just arrived, talk about a very late arrival! Rhapsody is now sailing, and I took some nice pictures that will post soon. Today had been exhausting, off to the concierge lounge for a beverage and to watch sails way.

 

We had a lovely sail a way..the sail out of Vancouver is so pretty! I took them on my Nikon, so I'll have to transfer them on my iPad of iPhone to post them, I promise to do that tomorrow, for now I'm just too worn out today.

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[BenjiRodney]

Thanks for sharing with us, doing the Rhapsody from Seattle on the 15th of June,

[BecciBoo]

Brad....wakey wakey! Suns up here....oh yeah not there yet:mad:

Hope you had a great sleep and can't wait for the pics. Thanks for your very detailed explanation of where and what to do. It will help next year!!

[LBumb]

good review

[Arkansas mema]

Brad, thanks so much for your live postings! We're on the Northbound out of Vancouver on July 6th...can't wait for today's report!

Arkansas Mema

[bradpole]

Hello and Good morning from the beautiful Radiance of the Seas!

 

We are currently sailing somewhere in the inside passage, having left Vancouver last night just before 6. Not a whole lot to report, from last night to this morning.

 

We enjoyed a couple of pre dinner drinks, and conversation with some other guests in the Concierge lounge last night while also taking in the incredible views. Moving the concierge lounge to the old "Hollywood Odyssey" Lounge was a very good move. The room is lovely, has great views, and even has a small walled off private patio. It truly does not get any better!

 

Last night there was one show only for all guests at 7:45, "Staring the comedy of Ed Regine." We decided to skip the show and continue to take int the views!

 

This morning the seas are calm, with just a slight pitch of the up and down, just enough to remind you that we are at sea. The weather overall is wonderful for an Alaskan cruise. It is bright and sunny, a light chilly breeze on the open deck but overall not too chilly, which I'm quite happy about. Not a whole lot planned today, actually for me I do have a ton planned. My normal routine is breakfast, retire to the viking crown to read the kindle, lunch, retire to viking crown to read kindle... repeat :-) There is horse racing at 11:30 and a port history talk on Ketchikan at 12:15. I know the horse racing is corny, but I can't recall a ship doing the horse racing in several years, so we'll go and watch for a few minutes.

 

Tonight there are two shows, 9 and 10:45, headliner showtime, I already tore the front page off the compass and I can't remember who it is. I'll double check and post the name of the entertainer later today. I keep forgetting that the name and description of tonights show is on the page of the compass that I don't carry with me. Since there is a show after dinner for 2nd sitting we'll probably go see it. We usually don't attend many pre dinner shows, we prefer a show after dinner. Hopefully this week and next there will be several opportunities for after dinner shows.

 

As I type this the lovely and peaceful viking crown lounge, with its wonderful views, is currently being transformed for this afternoon's garage sale (aka art auction). I may have to move next door to the diamond lounge, or the concierge lounge once the continental breakfast is finished being served in the those lounges. I'm thankful that RCL gives me access to two wonderful lounges up here on deck 13 that have great views, but you'd think there could be someplace else to hold the art auctions. OH Well, if that's all I can find to complain about than it is a good day! :-)

 

Almost forgot, I walked through the park cafe (old solarium bistro) on the way to the windjammer and noticed that they serve a nice breakfast there as well. There are bagels, pastries, smoke salmon, breakfast quesadillas, and a couple of breakfast panini's that also look very tempting!

 

I forgot to bring from the cabin my iPad camera connection kit, I wanted to post a couple pictures of Vancouver as we sailed, those will have to wait until later. Although I do have one picture on my iPhone of Rhapsody of the Seas as she departed.

 

One tip for iPad/iPhone users. When you log onto RCL's wireless network you get a quick little popup telling you to bookmark a link to allow you to sign off the network, it flashes way to fast to be able to read or actually bookmark the site. For Enchantment of the Seas I had a bookmark already created that was given to me by "Radio" but Radiance uses a different address. The WiFi logoff logout link for Radiance is currently http://appdb.rccl.com/

 

I just tap that bookmark and it disconnects me from the wifi and tells me how many minutes I used.

 

Until later!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[bradpole]

Picture of rhapsody sailing from Vancouver

 

 

More to come once I move pics from my camera to the iPad

[flames]

Brad, I will be following you on this cruise as we are doing the Alaska cruise on the Radiance in Sept 2013 ~ I have been on Radiance before but I want to see the new make over:cool:

Thank you for doing this for us, have a great cruise;)

Carol:)

[bradpole]

Hello again!

 

I'm still catching up on the time changes, my brain hasn't fully engaged yet! :-) I forgot to tell you about dinner last night! After we finished lunch yesterday in the windjammer we went down to deck four to check our table. Our travel agent per our normal preference requested a small table for 2nd sitting. As per normal, our "small" table was a table for 10. I'd hate to see RCL's definition of "large" :-) a quick visit to the maitre de and he re assigned us to a table for 4. We enjoy dining with other people, but prefer a smaller table, we find it just too hard to have conversations or get to know the other diners when the table size is 8 or 10. Last night we meta very nice couple from California, sadly they said they probably won't be back, they are trying to switch to first seating. I took a picture of the menu and will post a hi res version when I get home to a fast (free) internet connection. I ordered my first night traditional favorites, Vidalia onion tart (basically quiche), and prime rib. Both were excellent! As much as I would have loved to order dessert I'm trying my best to only order a few the entire two weeks!

 

Last night I took pictures of the full menu of both Rita's and Izumi, both of which I tried to find online before coming onboard but couldn't find current versions for Radiance.

 

Tonight is the first of two formal nights this week, and for those of us doing the b2b, it is the first of 4!

 

It has been a busy morning (for me)! We went and watched the horse racing this morning at 11:30, and learned something new about the horse racing. They are now donating a certain percentage of the proceeds to the make a wish foundation, which I think is very nice. After that we went to the port lecture on our first port Ketchican. We're not sure if we'll go to any of the future talks. The talk was informative, he had lots of pictures and information on the different attractions, (Saxman totem pole, creek street, and other museums) it was perhaps a bit dry. We went to lunch in the Windjammer and after a small salad enjoyed a hotdog from the new boardwalk hotdog. I had the Sicilian dog, and it was tasty, and the roll tasted freshly baked. It was a nice change from the buffet in the windjammer, next up will definitely be one of the roast beef sandwiches from the park cafe!

 

Sadly the viking crown today has become the home of the art auction, so I've moved into the concierge club across the hall. Although we're not participating in anything else this afternoon there is a fully loaded schedule for those who wish to participate!

 

Attached are a couple of photos from the sail away from Vancouver yesterday! (I finally remembered to go back to the cabin and get the camera connection kit for the iPad).

 

Until later...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[bradpole]

Brad, I will be following you on this cruise as we are doing the Alaska cruise on the Radiance in Sept 2013 ~ I have been on Radiance before but I want to see the new make over:cool:

Thank you for doing this for us, have a great cruise;)

Carol:)

 

The new venues are very nice. It is great that they added so many new additional dining venus. I probably won't utilize them all, but it sure nice to have the options!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[flames]

The new venues are very nice. It is great that they added so many new additional dining venus. I probably won't utilize them all, but it sure nice to have the options!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

Brad, could you please let us know what restaurants you go to and how the food is there, and take pictures of the food, also I like to know what they serve in the dinning room on formal nights:cool:

Thanks again;)

Carol:)

[scrappygirl]

Brad, does Rita's have a fiesta dinner deal. I read about on the Oasis ship. You get 3 margaritas and a meal for 20.00. Just wondering.

 

Thanks,

Carol

[flames]

Brad, does Rita's have a fiesta dinner deal. I read about on the Oasis ship. You get 3 margaritas and a meal for 20.00. Just wondering.

 

Thanks,

Carol

 

Carol, Rita,s is on the Allure they have a Seafood restaurant on the Oasis but that is a good question:cool:

On the Allure they have a Fiesta night and I hear the 3 margaritas are really good, so if they have that on the Radiance I do want to go:eek:;)

Carol:)

[BecciBoo]

I'm sure the same program is available at Rita's on Radiance, it looks like from the deck plan that it was put on the starboard side of Windjammer. But why wouldn't they have the Fiesta deal? That is something we Texicans will be wanting to do also:p:D

[bradpole]

Good morning from semi sunny Ketchikan!!

 

A few pics before we head out to explore

 

 

[bradpole]

Brad, does Rita's have a fiesta dinner deal. I read about on the Oasis ship. You get 3 margaritas and a meal for 20.00. Just wondering.

 

Thanks,

Carol

 

That is a good question. I know they are pushing combo packages hard onbard , chops Giovanni's and samba grill for one price. I'll find out

[bradpole]

Brad, could you please let us know what restaurants you go to and how the food is there, and take pictures of the food, also I like to know what they serve in the dinning room on formal nights:cool:

Thanks again;)

Carol:)

 

This week we are mostly planning on the Main dining room for dinner except tonight we have samba grill!!!! Next week are doing chops!!!

[bradpole]

We had a time chance last night and are a full 4 hours behind eastern.

 

This afternoon I'll type up and post last night in the dining room, and our day in port.

 

Off to explore ketchikan!

[bradpole]

Hello again! Just a couple of quick pics from ketchikan

I can't believe the weather today, sunny!! This is a town that measures rainfall on feet not inches and it is sunny

 

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[bradpole]

[flames]

This week we are mostly planning on the Main dining room for dinner except tonight we have samba grill!!!! Next week are doing chops!!!

 

Brad, we also want to do Samba Grill, they say lots of meat there:eek:

My favorite is Chops:cool:

Have a great day;)

Carol:)

[bradpole]

Hello and Good morning Everyone!

 

I am typing you live from the Viking crown lounge over looking the scenic city of Ketchican Alaska!

 

We have been incredibly lucky weather wise today in Ketchican, it is partly cloudly, not too windy and 47 degrees... not too bad!

 

We were off the ship around 9 this morning, walked around town, dis some shopping with the coupon book you pick up in Vancouver just before you are boarding the ship. There are some good coupons for each port. For example from the Tongass Trading Company here in Ketchican there are coupons for free reusable tote bags, free coffee mugs, free hats, and discounts on other merchandise. (just a tip if you or someone you know is a shopper and plan to take advantage of the coupons you don't have to rip them out of the book for Tongass Trading, they just stamp them that they have been used)

 

After that I walked up to creek street, took a few new photos. The last time we were here it was overcast and the pictures of course i'm sure look better with a blue sky. I then walked up the Married men's Trail to the fish ladder. It is of course WAY TOO Early in the season for the Salmon to be migrating up stream, but it was a nice walk. I then wanted to hit the post office to buy some stamps, but forgot today was Sunday!...whoops!

 

Frequent RCL cruisers will of course say, "how could he not know it was Sunday? Didn't he look at the floor in the Elevator?" The answer to that question is nope! I am trying my best to never use the elevator. My last cruise in March on Enchantment I did the same thing and during those 12 nights I think I only took the elevator 4 times (and two of those times were the first day and last day when I had my hand luggage to tote around). I tend to be a forgetful person, so I am getting plenty of exercise. For example, I got up to the viking crown, I left my bluetooth keyboard in the cabin, down 10 decks, back up 10 decks.

 

The first time we came to Ketchican a few years ago we did the Lumber Jack Show, Saxman Totem village, creek street, and some shopping. If you haven't done the Lumber Jack show, it is fun. It is pretty affordable, I think through the ship the ticket is less than $40. Is it touristy? Sure! but it is entertaining none the less. Saxman Totem village has a large collection of totems to see, and you may luck out to see a totem being carved.

 

Last night's show was Headliner, the Coasters. It was an after dinner show and we thought of going, but wanted to be up early for Ketchican. Tonights show is a production show "City of Dreams" (I kept the cover on the compass this morning so I could remember the show and type it here!) Show times today are 7 and 9. Too bad the production show wasn't last night we would have gone!..oh well! Yesterday evening we spent a couple of hours in the concierge lounge enjoying the views, even saw a whale! Sadly the photo I got was just a tip of a flipper...but we saw a whale none the less! We then made our way to dinner in the dining room for the first formal night. The featured entree last night was Filet of Beef, and our waiter suggested that we not order it because it tends to be served Medium well, so we ordered the alternate/free Steak that is on the menu each night. Sadly although we ordered it rare it came out tough and almost well. Our waiters of course offered to replace it but weren't that hungry anyway. For dessert I had the sugar free coconut cake and it was very good!

 

Tonight we have dinner booked in Samba Grill... we are greatly anticipating this! Living so close to Philadelphia we actually have 3 Brazilian steak houses, that we know of, in the city. Two are chains, and one is a small restaurant located in North Phlily owned and operated locally, and patronized by the local Brazilian community. The food is wonderful, it is BYOB, and only $20! The pictures I've seen on Samba Grill online look wonderful! I'll let you know tomorrow how it is!

[Ashland]

Sorry to get a little off the question flow..but where is the DL and have you had a look at it ??..My last time on Radiance they used the Hollywood Odyssey for the D nightly event which is now the CL..Thanks so much for the answer :)