currently onboard the Radiance in Alaska

[flsun]

Hi All,

 

Just wanted to let you know that the weather has been beautiful (60-70 degrees each day). Capt. Darin and the 1st officer say it has been this way for weeks. Bring different kinds of clothing (you will still need that jacket for the Hubbard Glacier viewing). Pack a little lighter than you might think...

 

Mt. Roberts Tram worth it (same price onboard and in town now - $23.95).White Pass Rail - amazing. Hubbard - incredible! Taking lots of pictures... Ketchikan tomorrow - more on that later.

 

Had a great Meet & Mingle onboard! Lots of fun. RCCL had raffles for us, too; very nice. We'll all be back on Sat. and will post here soon.

[buzzandjulie]

Thanks FLsun

We will be on our way to the Serenade by time you return. Will compare ships then. Hopefully our weather will be as wonderful as yours. We are also planning on Mt. Roberts tram and train so glad to hear it was great

 

Julie

[Tofutti]

We're sailing on Radiance Saturday. I hope we have beautiful weather too. The 10 day forcast is rain everyday...so we'll hope for the best. Keep posting!!!

[Happy2Cruz]

We're going on Radiance on 6/25, thanks for the info....will be looking for your review! Enjoy!!

[flsun]

Our forecast said rain every day, too, but we haven't had a drop - not even in Ketchikan today! Staff says the weather has been good all season thus far. It did get cold this afternoon, though.

 

Having a great time. Forgot to mention that Portifino is worth EVERY penny. A must for all RCCL passengers. We're going again tomorrow night!

 

Also, shopping not as good in Ketchikan than we thought. Found better quality in Juneau and Skagway. Look for the coupon book in Vancouver (they handed them out while we waitied for US Immigration to arrive.

 

More Soon,

the 31 from Roll Call

[cruisegirl1]

The Radiance is a great ship. I’m glad you are having nice weather. We sailed the May 21st and also had (mostly) beautiful weather. It can really make a difference in the trip.

 

I agree with your recommendation of Portofinos. We found the Portofinos (on the Radiance) to be excellent and better than Chops.

 

Marci

[mtownginn]

I'm liking what I am hearing. I'm sailing out on the Radiance on 6/25 with a group of about 30 people...can't remember if it is more or less. I have been worried the most about the rain, but hopefully we will be lucky as well. Thank you for posting while you are there....it's been a great reassurance!!!!

Chris

[flsun]

There was one terrific store in Ketchikan. Forgot to mention it before. It's called Chinook Jargon; it's in the coupon book. Their staff was amazing, and I found the store to be the nicest in town. Cute scrapbooking stuff, nice little cookbooks. Only place in town that we bought anything in.

 

--Pam

[kendy]

Did you have the in the stateroom internet service.

 

If so, how was it? and how easy? and how much money???

 

We will be bringing our laptop for July 2nd and we are really thinking about getting it.

 

Thanks

[flsun]

I just used the ship's computers. We had the laptop, and they do have "hot" spots on a few decks, but I didn't use them. I heard the connection was slow, though. We also heard that AOL people could not get on all week.

 

Standard rate is 50 cents per minute, but on port days, they lowered it to 25 per minute for a few hours. We had coupons in our Crown & Anchor books, so I had $15 worth of credits. You can buy pkgs ($25 and up) and get the rate down to about 7-8 cents per minute. On Explorer, they had a plan that gave you unlimited access for $100.

 

Also, we had great cell phone reception in both Juneau and Ketchikan. I was "local" w/Sprint in Juneau and on 'roaming' in Ketchikan.

 

--pjh

[slh2412]

Thanks for the info. Will be traveling on the Radiance as well. Glad to know about the cell phone reception with Sprint.

 

What deck were you on? I will be in a D1 cabin on the 10th deck. A little concerned that the cabin may have a restriced view. Are you familiar with this deck and rooms in the 1088 to the 1090 range?

 

Thanks,

[kendy]

What do you mean by Hot Spots?

 

Are these areas free if you have a laptop? OR ?

 

Thanks

[tiggerbelle]

I was on Radiance on the May 14th sailing.

 

I brought my laptop and was disappointed to find out they were upgrading their internet server so we had no in-cabin service at all that week. They were trying to bring it up later in the week, but I was never able to connect.

 

There are several Hot Spots for wireless connection using your laptop. I saw a few people using it during the last few days of the cruise. There is an option to sign up for this on the ship's computer terminal. I read through part of the instructions and you have to set up a login and there is a fee, but I don't know how much it is.

 

I ended up taking my laptop off the ship in Ketchikan and going to an internet cafe. The cost was $5 for one hour of high speed internet. It was well worth it and was a life saver for me. I saw a lot of people from the ship there checking e-mail. If you go without your laptop, you can use their computer for $5.30 for one hour.

 

The ship's connection is not very reliable. They use a satellite and in some areas of Alaska with the mountains and all that, they get no signal at all. There were times I went to use the ship's computer and the system was down.

 

Hope this information is helpful.

[flsun]

We had 3 different D1s on deck 9 and 2 in the back on deck 8. RCCL can tell you if you have an obstructed view; just call their 800# and ask.

 

No one on our cruise had trouble with the hot spots (where you can pick up a signal w/a wireless card) but did find the connection a little slow. Again, you could pre-pay for pkgs. which reduced the per minute charge. Many liked sitting down in the Colony Club (deck 6) with their PCs.

 

Great idea for the Internet Cafe in Ketchikan. I've used them in the Caribbean and found them more reasonable.

 

FYI - Royal Caribbean will have cell towers on every ship starting in Jan. '06!