Radiance Alaska Review (WITH LOTS OF PHOTOS)

[DT1304]

We woke up early on Friday 31st May, beyond excited. We were boarding the Radiance today!!!!!!

 

We went downstairs for a quick breakfast before checking out the hotel. I arranged for the hotel to keep all our luggage (because we had a lot of it) and we took a walk down to catch the Aquabus to Granville Island.

 

 

For $5,50 each we got a return ticket (cheaper for the kids) and got on the aquabus for the 2 minute ride across to Granville Island.

 

There is also the False Creek ferries that is about the same price, but we just got the aquabus as it arrived there as we did so we did not have to wait.

 

Of course we had some more great scenery of the city....

 

 

Most of the shops on Granville Island only opened at 9am, which is the time we arrived, so it was pretty quiet when we got there.

 

We took a walk through the public market, bought some over priced fruit and did some window shopping.

 

We then also took a walk through the kids market. From the research that I did, I was told that Granville Island is the number one tourist destination in Vancouver, but I honestly feel that Stanley Park and the Capilano Park were loads better.

 

We still managed to spend a good couple of hours there without being bored at all, and then got the aquabus back and walked from there back to Robson Street so my daughter could go to that shop she had checked out the night before.

 

I left her and my wife to do their shopping, and took the other kids for a walk around the city, just exploring streets and shops that interested us along the way, just to pass time.

 

After an hour we all met up, went back to the hotel, picked up our luggage, and had to take 2 taxis (to fit all five of us and all the luggage) down to Canada Place to check in and board the ship.

 

Okay, so coming up is the moment you have all been waiting for, the cruise part of this review, but first let me give you a brief over view of my thoughts so far.....

 

I love the USA, and have been to quite a few cities on both the East and West coast for vacations in the past. I did not go to LA during the first few days, but stuck to Anaheim because we have been to LA before, and we will spend a day and a half there again after the cruise.

 

I really liked Anaheim. It is full of tourists which is what was expected, especially as I was staying in a hotel right across the road from the Disneyland Gates. I would have liked to see more of the suburbs of Orange Country to see where and how people actually live, but unfortunately did not have the time.

 

As for Vancouver, I had a really good time and think I managed to see quite a lot in my very short time there. I would have liked to go up Grouse Mountain but not only did we not have the time, but the weather was not great so views would have been limited. I also never got to China Town which I would have liked to see.

 

There were however many aspects of Vancouver that I was not too fond of. There were lots, and I mean LOTS of beggers and homeless people on the streets. This is not something I expected, especially with all the media talk about the most livable city in the world etc. But then again this is the media.

 

I am sure that in any major city in the world I would see this, and am pretty certain that if I stayed in a hotel in downtown Melbourne and went walking at night, I would see the same thing.

 

The point is that I dont do that here at home, but I did do it there, and that is what I saw. It was quite sad. It is never a nice thing to see so many people struggling. I guess it puts alot of things into perspective. I did manage to use it as a learning experience for my kids, showing them that they should not take for granted the things that they do have.

 

Anyway, coming up......boarding the Radiance and cruise to Alaska!!!!! Stay tuned!!!

[Lost_in_BC]

I enjoyed your review thus far. We're thinking of taking this cruise in 2015, so I'll be following along on your adventure.

 

Thank you for your honest assessment of Vancouver. While we do live in one of the most beautiful places in the world, we have our fair share of problems. Many underlying issues have created the significant homeless population in Vancouver. I'm sure many larger cities in North America suffer these same issues, however our issues are exasperated by our insane cost of living.

[DT1304]

I enjoyed your review thus far. We're thinking of taking this cruise in 2015, so I'll be following along on your adventure.

 

Thank you for your honest assessment of Vancouver. While we do live in one of the most beautiful places in the world, we have our fair share of problems. Many underlying issues have created the significant homeless population in Vancouver. I'm sure many larger cities in North America suffer these same issues, however our issues are exasperated by our insane cost of living.

 

Thank you. I am glad you are enjoying it so far.

 

I hear what you are saying about the high cost of living. That is why I reckon we probably have as many problems as Vancouver has, here in Melbourne. It is just that I do not see it first hand here in Melbourne because I am pretty much isolated from it, living out in the suburbs.

 

I realized how high the cost of living is here compared to the USA when speaking with Americans about school fees, looking at property prices etc compared to what we have in Melbourne.

 

Its quite upsetting really.:(

[drarill]

Great review & beautiful pictures!! :):)

[DT1304]

It was 1pm on Friday 31st May, and all was going according to plan. We hopped into 2 taxis for the short drive down to Canada Place and dropped off our luggage.

 

I expected to sit in a lot of traffic, especially as we approached the ship, particularly because there were two ships that were due to sail. I was pleasantly surprised when just a few minutes later we drove right in, offloaded the luggage, and the luggage was tagged and taken away within minutes.

 

Even though I am a compulsive planner, the one thing I did not do was pre print my luggage tags. I did not do it for my first cruise, knowing that I could get luggage tags at the port, and did the same thing this time. I know it probably saves time and effort to have it done before, but I don't like the luggage tags that RCCL sends to print off as I am not big into my origami, so just prefer to rely on the tags that I can get at the pier.

 

I thought things were too good to be true when we arrived there so quickly, and I was right. The lines to go through security were enormous. They moved pretty steadily however, and within about 20 minutes we were through the first security screening, and in line at emigration/passport control.

 

As we have Australian passports we were moved to a much shorter line. It was shorter in terms of the number of people, but moved slowly. By the time we got through here, and made our way to actual check in for the ship, I would guess it had taken us about an hour or so from the time we arrived.

 

Check in onto the ship itself was pretty fast and easy, and we were on board by 2:40pm.

 

For those of you that have not been on Radiance, I must tell you that this ship is amazing. I don't have a point of difference to compare it to because my previous cruise was also on radiance, but from what I have read and researched, this ship is just perfect for Alaska.

 

There are windows everywhere, and floor to ceiling glass panels everywhere so you pretty much always have a great view wherever you are. Whenever we took elevators we always hoped we would get the glass elevators overlooking the ocean, but when those were full and we used the elevators opposite, we had a great view over the Centrum.

 

Here a few photos around the centrum just after boarding...

 

 

 

 

We were pretty hungry after boarding, so we went to the Windjammer to grab a quick lunch. My daughter and I were looking forward to the Honey Stung Chicken since we got on the plane in Melbourne! :D

 

As expected, the windjammer was quite busy, but still managed to find a table quite easily.

 

We were welcomed into the Windjammer by the lady that commonly became known as "The Wishy Washy Lady". She was so funny, had so much energy the entire cruise, and always had a smile on her face and a cheerful greeting.

 

Here she is with my daughter...

 

 

And here are a couple of photos in the windjammer....

 

 

We did not spend much time on the first day exploring the ship. We had been on Radiance only 5 months before so knew where everything was and what was on offer.

 

Just as a side note, let me tell you what happened last time....

 

We were due to sail out of Sydney on 30th December for an 11 night South Pacific New Years sailing. I received a call from a lady on the cruise who I had never met but who I had been communicating with on cruise critic and was to meet at the M & M, telling me that we were not sailing due to a cyclone.

 

I had already checked out my Sydney hotel and was about to board a cab to board the ship.

 

We got there and were told that we were not going to sail due to the cyclone, but they hoped to sail on the 1st January, and we could still board the ship if we wanted. (We could have also chosen to not board, and RCCL were offering some sort of compensation). I don't know what they were offering as we decided to board anyway.

 

We landed up staying in Sydney for the first 2 days (which were supposed to be sailing days) and got to watch the Sydney New Years fireworks from the ship, anchored right in the middle of the harbor. It was spectacular.

 

We eventually set sail at 3am on 1st January, so we woke up on New Years day, looked out over our balcony, and saw nothing but blue seas.

 

I told you that long story, to tell you this.....

 

I had never experienced a sailaway (other than from port visits) and had been told by friends and family, as well as read on these forums, that sailaway from Vancouver is nothing short of spectacular.

 

I am happy to say that I can confirm all these reports. It really was spectacular.

 

Okay, I am jumping the gun.....

 

After lunch we went past the cabins to drop off our carry on, and were pleasantly surprised to see our luggage there waiting.

 

I had originally planned this trip for later in the season, but had to bring it forward, so only confirmed my booking in mid February. By this time I was not able to get the exact cabins I wanted, but managed to get 2 cabins on deck 7. They were not as close together as we had hoped, but it really was not an issue for us.

 

We met our cabin attendants and started unpacking. Then decided not to waste time unpacking and get moving about the ship.

 

I had sent an email to RCCL requesting a table just for my family alone as I found this was a good bonding time together, which we would have lost if we were seating with others. I had confirmation of my table number long before the cruise so knew that was sorted. I also requested the same waitress as we had before, and headed down to the MDR to check if that was done. Unfortunately they were busy preparing for early dinner so we could not check this.

 

By now it was time for the Muster drill, so we made our way to our muster station in the Aurora Theatre, and went through the quick, painless drill....

[PathfinderEss]

Already enjoying your cruise, looking forward to more of it.:)

[DT1304]

As mentioned before, our cabins were on deck 7. Last time I was on deck 10.

 

The balcony on deck 7 was double the size and it was great for us, because we enjoy sitting there as we leave ports and just relaxing. I asked the cabin attendant if he could arrange 2 extra chairs for our balcony, which he did with no problems.

 

The only balcony issue we had was that our neighbours were chain smokers and my wife and kids could literally not sit out there when the neighbours were there due to the constant barrage of smoke that hit us.

 

I tried not to let it bother me because they were such a nice couple that I enjoyed sitting out there and chatting with them.

 

 

We made our way up to the pool deck for the sailaway, and it really was amazing. The views of Vancouver as we sailed past Stanley Park and under the bridge were superb.

 

Darren, the activities manager, tried his best to create a festive, party atmosphere, but to be honest, I think the fact that were sailing past such fantastic scenery, with such great expectations of even more to come over the next few days, that most people were just relaxing on the loungers or peering over into the distance in amazement.

 

I was considering sailing out of Seattle, but was advised on Vancouver mostly because of the sailaway, and I was not disappointed.

 

 

 

 

 

[DT1304]

A couple more pics from sailaway....

 

 

 

My first Alaskan Pale of the cruise.....

I really could not understand why everyone was wearing jackets or coats. It really was not cold at all...

 

 

 

 

and of course the obligatory wake shots.....

 

 

Mini golf at sea.....

 

[Dreamer115]

WOW! Can't wait for more

[Tkaklita]

So loving this review!!!! We will also be doing the Vancouver Northbound Itinerary next June and this is awesome to see and get photo ideas!!! Great review on all your stops and really enjoy your sense of humor and adventure, definitely staying tuned for more.

 

Thanks for the wonderful pictures and comments!!

[DT1304]

So loving this review!!!! We will also be doing the Vancouver Northbound Itinerary next June and this is awesome to see and get photo ideas!!! Great review on all your stops and really enjoy your sense of humor and adventure, definitely staying tuned for more.

 

Thanks for the wonderful pictures and comments!!

 

I am glad you are enjoying it.

 

I took over 1500 photos, but mostly of scenery during our port visits, and will post some of them, but for obvious reasons I have to be selected. (I don't want to be like the annoying cousin that comes over and makes everyone sit through thousands of family photos)

 

There is so much to see and do on this itinerary that you will be spoilt for choice of photo opportunities.

[DT1304]

After sailaway we pretty much just relaxed.

 

We went back to our cabins to complete the unpacking and just wandered about the ship taking it all in.

 

We were completely hooked on cruising after our first experience a few months back, and we could see why. We were just loving life!!!!

 

One of my families favorite spots was the Park Cafe, and we would spend a good deal of our time over the next few days watching the world go by over a cup of coffee. I also spent a fair amount of my time chatting with the bar tender at the Solarium Pool bar. We had lots in common - I enjoyed drinking the beers and he enjoyed serving them to me!! :D He remembered me from the December cruise so that was a help.

 

After a Summer holiday cruise, with about 800 kids on board, something that was weird was the complete lack of chair hogs at the pool on this cruise!!

 

 

Yes, that is my crazy kids in the hot tub. They are heated, but my crazy kids used the pool too.

 

Something that was really good, even though there were much less kids on this cruise, was that the indoor, adults only Solarium Pool had from 10am till 12pm and from 2pm till 4pm every day as "family time" so my kids could use this warm pool. It is good to note that the times were also strictly enforced so adults were not left exposed to noisy kids that were not their own.

 

The solarium pool.....(Notice the families welcome sign with pool hours)

 

 

Another favourite hangout for my youngest daughter is to be found just outside of the Windjammer....

 

 

That night was our first dinner in the MDR.

Now there have been numerous comments on these forums about the quality of the food in the MDR, or about the Speciality Restaurants being the way to go rather than the MDR.

 

I have only got experience of 2 of the specialty restaurants, Choppes Grille and Izumi. They were both really, really good. Having said that, we LOVED the MDR on our previous cruise, and if you ask my kids, even the 6 and 10 year old, what their favorite part of the cruise was, they both say dinner time in the MDR.

 

Needless to say, for this cruise being only 7 nights, I did not even book any specialty restaurants, and decided we would eat in the MDR every night.

 

As I said above, I made a request for the same waitress that we had in December because she was so amazing. Well as we walked in to the dining room she recognized my kids and came over to greet us. Such excitement from my daughter when she remembered us. My daughter had been speaking about her for months.....

 

 

We were seated in a different section, and for a moment we were a little disappointed she would not be our waitress. Then we met Stanley and Menerd, our waiter and assistant waiter. They were beyond exceptional. They made meal times such a pleasant experience. My kids still have the same attitude about the cruise. Dinner time was their favorite time on board.

 

They kept us entertained with stories and jokes all the time, showed us magic tricks, and were just really good people.

 

These are balancing on tothpicks, which are in turn, balancing on toothpicks....

 

 

They had started with a new menu in the MDR this cruise. The food was still excellent, but I must say that I think it was probably a notch below the standard that they set on my December cruise.

 

The waiters ensured we overate. We would order what we wanted, then they would bring us a couple of extra starters and a couple of extra mains, and then to top it all off, a couple of extra deserts. They wanted us to try everything.

 

Their comments were "Don't worry, you are on vacation. You can jump on the treadmill when you get back to Australia"

 

Tomorrow is a sea day. In the next post I will put a couple of picks around the ship and some food porn!!

 

I am not going to post too many pics of the ship, because there are some other reviews with heaps of pics of the ship, and most of the photos are better than I can ever take. (The OCD Planners review springs to mind as a review with superb photos)

[DT1304]

as promised, some food porn....

 

 

 

 

Our waiter Stanley.....

 

And assistant waiter Menerd...

 

 

This last pic before we start on the ports was taken after dinner, at about 10:30pm. As we got further North, it stayed light later. I can only imagine what it must be like for those of you that go much later in the season.

 

 

Tomorrow we start with our first port, Ketchikan.... Stay tuned.

[jennyau]

I am loving reading your review. My family are booked on our first cruise ever on the Radiance 3rd Feb from Sydney for 11 nights. I'm getting a real sense of what the ship is like. We also have balcony cabins on deck 7.

 

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[DT1304]

I am loving reading your review. My family are booked on our first cruise ever on the Radiance 3rd Feb from Sydney for 11 nights. I'm getting a real sense of what the ship is like. We also have balcony cabins on deck 7.

 

Sent from my GT-I9100T using Forums mobile app

 

You in for a treat jenny.

 

Our first cruise was also out of Sydney for 11 nights so you will probably be doing a similar itinerary. Vanuatu, New Caledonia etc.

 

The only problem you will have is that after the cruise you wont want any other holiday.

 

I don't know what your family is like, but they have a great kids club on the Radiance.

 

My kids never used it at all. I booked my younger ones in last cruise, but they never used it and this time I dd not even bother booking them in.

 

But I have only heard good things about it, and when going and looking, it looks fantastic.

[jennyau]

Sounds like the same cruise (south Pacific?). We're already looking at our second one before we've done the first! Family = me, hubby Dave then daughter and SIL and their two kids (8 and 6 by then). Any more room photos would be awesome! We're in 7062/64.

 

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[Yillup]

Sounds like the same cruise (south Pacific?). We're already looking at our second one before we've done the first! Family = me, hubby Dave then daughter and SIL and their two kids (8 and 6 by then). Any more room photos would be awesome! We're in 7062/64.

 

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Hehehe, I'm Jennyau's daughter, Kylie. I'm loving reading your review. I know the food was a step down from what you'd experienced in Sydney last cruise, but just seeing your photos has put my mind at rest that it's not really horrible food. If you read most Cruise Critic reviews you'd be led to believe the food was almost inedible!

 

Looking forward to reading more, and I echo what my mum said, some room photos would be awesome!

 

Thankyou so much for taking the time to do the review... :D

[Keith1010]

Nice review and photos.

 

Keith

[masonpips]

We are flying into Vancouver one week from TODAY! Loving your review and so excited to see the rest of it and ALL OF IT LIVE myself! GIDDY

[kruzinkel]

You did???

 

Hopefully just passing by or at the M&M, and not during my embarrassing performance during the Quest show. :eek:

 

PS. To those of you that are reading this review, don't expect too many photos from the Quest!!!

 

we were behind you and your family getting back on the ship (juneau i think) and i was on Team 1 at Quest. My friend let you wear her necklace!

[DT1304]

Hehehe, I'm Jennyau's daughter, Kylie. I'm loving reading your review. I know the food was a step down from what you'd experienced in Sydney last cruise, but just seeing your photos has put my mind at rest that it's not really horrible food. If you read most Cruise Critic reviews you'd be led to believe the food was almost inedible!

 

Looking forward to reading more, and I echo what my mum said, some room photos would be awesome!

 

Thankyou so much for taking the time to do the review... :D

 

Hi Kylie,

 

I am glad you enjoying the review.

 

As for the food, it really was still excellent, so no issues there. I would however suggest you book for a couple of the Speciality restaurants for your cruise. I think an 11 night cruise, eating in the same dining room every night, may get a little boring. (Although we ate there every night except one on our 11 night and loved it)

 

Below are a couple of room photos. Sorry for the bad lighting in the one photo.

 

 

 

FYI, some info regarding the rooms. The rooms you have booked are above the casino. There have been comments on these forums that you may hear noises from the casino such as bells ringing etc as the casino runs till the early hours of the morning. Perhaps bring some earplugs if you are a light sleeper.

 

I have never had a cabin directly above or below a public area that would be open at night, so I can not comment on the accuracy of this concern, but just thought I would let you know.

 

I was in 7018, so was right up front with the theatre below me.

 

On my last cruise I was up on deck 10, and was also up front. I had the salon above me, which only opened long after I was awake, and closed long before I went to bed, so noise was not an issue.

[DT1304]

we were behind you and your family getting back on the ship (juneau i think) and i was on Team 1 at Quest. My friend let you wear her necklace!

 

Ahh, yes, that necklace. I remember her well.

 

If I say so myself I think I looked quite good with lipstick, a bra and woman's jewellery.

 

My daughter was dying of embarrassment!!!!

[emdia43]

It is Thursday evening, 8.35pm here - what time/day is it where you are ?

[DT1304]

It is Thursday evening, 8.35pm here - what time/day is it where you are ?

 

Friday morning. 10:45am.

[Tkaklita]

It is Thursday evening, 8.35pm here - what time/day is it where you are ?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Friday morning. 10:45am.

 

Too too cool :) Love the time-warp sensation, Lol!!

 

 

 

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