North or southbound? Suite?

[ckelly14]

Pretty much decided on the Radiance of my family of four (2 kids, 9 and 10) for Alaska 2015. Getting down to the nitty-gritty and had a few questions:

 

1. North or Southbound?- Looks that southbound spends considerably more time in Skagway and has Hubbard in the afternoon, Northbound in the AM. Any thoughts on this?

2. Considering either 2 connecting balcony rooms or grand suite. Leaning toward connecting rooms, which may have more privacy and are cheaper. Can anyone tell me what the bed situation would be for 4 in the Grand Suite?

3. I also assume that the square footage of the cabins includes the balconies, correct?

Edited March 15, 2014 by ckelly14

[TEXASMUNK]

1. Grand Suite...there is a curtain that can be drawn for privacy between the bed and the general area of the Suite. Which offers privacy to all parties.

2. Alaska..which ever you choose, look for the inside passage

3. Sq Footage. Look on RCI web site, you will find cabin Sq footage and balcony Sq footage. they are separate numbers

Edited March 15, 2014 by TEXASMUNK

[volunteer cruiser]

We stayed in grand suite with 3, my 17 year old daughter had the sleeper sofa, she said is was pretty comfortable. We had no problems sharing the bathroom between husband, daughter, and me. We enjoyed the concierge lounge in the evening for cocktails and lounge has a great view. One of the great perks of staying in a suite. The sofa bed size looked like at least a full. 2 children should have plenty of room of they don't mind sleeping in same space.

 

 

Master bed has a heavy privacy curtain we used.

 

We chose southbound cruise to do landtour first.

[ckelly14]

Thanks. I'm still a little confused, but I guess you are saying that the stateroom number does NOT include the balcony?

 

 

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[ckelly14]

Volunteer cruiser:

 

That's what I was afraid of- sharing a sofa bed will not work with our family. Connecting rooms it is!

 

 

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[comxkid]

Thanks. I'm still a little confused, but I guess you are saying that the stateroom number does NOT include the balcony?

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

 

The square footage listed for the stateroom does not include the balcony.

[VillaHappy]

Thanks. I'm still a little confused, but I guess you are saying that the stateroom number does NOT include the balcony?

 

 

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The state room square footage is listed separately from the balcony square footage. They are never included as one number.

[volunteer cruiser]

Royal states stateroom square footage separate from balcony. The grand suite had 387 sq. feet and balcony 93 sq. feet.

[volunteer cruiser]

Volunteer cruiser:

 

That's what I was afraid of- sharing a sofa bed will not work with our family. Connecting rooms it is!

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

 

 

glad I could help in your decision

[hollon]

I have a question, which is bigger js on radiance or a grand suite, b/c we really don't care about the bar area, I feel that's a waste of space, anybody been in both

[comxkid]

Pretty much decided on the Radiance of my family of four (2 kids, 9 and 10) for Alaska 2015. Getting down to the nitty-gritty and had a few questions:

 

1. North or Southbound?- Looks that southbound spends considerably more time in Skagway and has Hubbard in the afternoon, Northbound in the AM. Any thoughts on this?

2. Considering either 2 connecting balcony rooms or grand suite. Leaning toward connecting rooms, which may have more privacy and are cheaper. Can anyone tell me what the bed situation would be for 4 in the Grand Suite?

3. I also assume that the square footage of the cabins includes the balconies, correct?

 

 

Regarding the itinerary, the Southbound has the best port times in my opinion.

[summersigh]

We flew into Anchorage - 3 days on our own then a 5 day Double Denali/Fairbanks land tour before sailing southbound. We booked port side for the southbound view before entering the Inner Passage.

 

It was relaxing to cruise after a very busy week in Alaska. :)

[ckelly14]

We flew into Anchorage - 3 days on our own then a 5 day Double Denali/Fairbanks land tour before sailing southbound. We booked port side for the southbound view before entering the Inner Passage.

 

 

 

It was relaxing to cruise after a very busy week in Alaska. :)

 

 

Good idea. What company did you book your lab stout with?

 

 

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[Trekker954]

Pretty much decided on the Radiance of my family of four (2 kids, 9 and 10) for Alaska 2015. Getting down to the nitty-gritty and had a few questions:

 

1. North or Southbound?- Looks that southbound spends considerably more time in Skagway and has Hubbard in the afternoon, Northbound in the AM. Any thoughts on this?

2. Considering either 2 connecting balcony rooms or grand suite. Leaning toward connecting rooms, which may have more privacy and are cheaper. Can anyone tell me what the bed situation would be for 4 in the Grand Suite?

3. I also assume that the square footage of the cabins includes the balconies, correct?

 

We did Southbound, arrived the day before in Seward and did a 9 hr Northwestern Fjord excursion thru Kenai Fjords prior to getting on the cruise. They took our luggage when they picked us up and dropped it off around 11 am., and it was in our room when we boarded. That excursion was one of the highlights of our Alaska cruise.

 

Its a very port intensive cruise if I recall, so I'm not sure I would care or not to be in a suite. We had a corner aft, which by the way, we declined an upgrade to a JS when RCI called us six months out. We loved our corner aft and saw lots of whales right from our balcony.

 

I recently had two balconies on another trip and enjoyed when we opened up the screen between the two.

 

If the free drinks at night is meaningful, go for the Grand Suite. If space and comfy beds for all is important, I'd go for the two balconies. Or look at the two bedroom suite.

[fischymom]

One thing that they told us is for Northbound cruises they have just restocked all supplies- southbound has what is left from northbound trip. They told us that they may run out of things like fresh berries, some fruits, etc before you get back to port.

[karmacats]

Pretty much decided on the Radiance of my family of four (2 kids, 9 and 10) for Alaska 2015. Getting down to the nitty-gritty and had a few questions:

 

1. North or Southbound?- Looks that southbound spends considerably more time in Skagway and has Hubbard in the afternoon, Northbound in the AM. Any thoughts on this?

2. Considering either 2 connecting balcony rooms or grand suite. Leaning toward connecting rooms, which may have more privacy and are cheaper. Can anyone tell me what the bed situation would be for 4 in the Grand Suite?

3. I also assume that the square footage of the cabins includes the balconies, correct?

 

If you're really interested in seeing the glaciers, I'd do the itinerary that has Hubbard in the morning. Often by afternoon there's so much ice in the water due to calving etc that you cannot get close.

 

I'm all about cruising in suites, but if DH and I were sharing with kids or other family, I'd do 2 connecting rooms for sure. Everyone gets a real bed, and you'd have two bathrooms. For Alaska, I'd spring for the balconies.

[ckelly14]

If you're really interested in seeing the glaciers, I'd do the itinerary that has Hubbard in the morning. Often by afternoon there's so much ice in the water due to calving etc that you cannot get close.

 

I'm all about cruising in suites, but if DH and I were sharing with kids or other family, I'd do 2 connecting rooms for sure. Everyone gets a real bed, and you'd have two bathrooms. For Alaska, I'd spring for the balconies.

 

Well I bit the bullet and booked two connecting balcony staterooms on a southbound itinerary in July before seeing the last few comments. The Grand Suite is a no-go due to the bedding.

 

I was surprised how many staterooms were already taken so I ended up booking today. For example, there were no connecting balcony staterooms available on the portside for any of the July sailings in either direction. I booked 8618 and 8620, since I wanted mid-ship and away from the elevator.

If you have any comments, let me know. Plenty of time to switch or cancel. What side are the outdoor smoking areas?

 

The booking is actually 2 reservations because of the 2 staterooms, which will be kind of annoying in the future making reservations, etc.

 

Trekker945- was that excursion through Royal?

[Debitoo]

I have a question, which is bigger js on radiance or a grand suite, b/c we really don't care about the bar area, I feel that's a waste of space, anybody been in both

I've been in both. I actually prefer the JS. I like the room config better.

[summersigh]

Good idea. What company did you book your lab stout with?

 

What's a lab stout??

[ckelly14]

What's a lab stout??

 

 

Land tour. Combo of bad typing and auto correct!

 

 

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[summersigh]

Land tour. Combo of bad typing and auto correct!

 

We did our land tour through the cruise company - I tried and found I couldn't book the same experiences any cheaper than the cruiseline's "Cruise Tour". We did ours with Holland America as that's who we were sailing but all the major lines do them. It was worry free and we totally enjoyed ourselves.

 

I copied the following from the RCCL website:

Choose from 9 Alaska Cruisetour packages, which combine a 7-night sailing aboard Radiance of the Seas with an additional three to six night land tour adventure that can be taken before or after your cruise. Royal Caribbean takes care of all the planning, transportation on our deluxe motorcoaches and luxurious glass domed traincars, as well as lodging on fully escorted, multi-night land tours that spend at least one night in Denali National Park and have at least one leg on the Wilderness Express®, Royal Caribbean’s plush, glass-domed train cars that offer panoramic views of the grand Alaskan frontier.

[summersigh]

For Denali National Park - choose a tour with the 7-8 hour Tundra Wilderness Tour. It was one of the most beautiful, fantastic tours we've ever gone on.

 

We saw bear, mamma wolf and her pups, Dahl sheep, golden eagles, a herd of caribou running across the tundra and foxes strolling down the middle of the road. The make stops for pictures and potty and provided box lunches.:D

[Big_G]

What's a lab stout??

 

Land tour. Combo of bad typing and auto correct!

 

 

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I think I like lab stout better than land tour. Makes me think Guinness. :D

[shopper77]

We flew into Angorage, rented a car and did a 10 day land tour ourselves. There is basically only one highway. Stopped at Walmart for some supplies. Also use the Alaska toursavers book. http://www.toursaver.com/ it is a great deal with 2 for 1 deals, including hotels, helicopter rides, rafting. You don't want miss Delani national park, take the all day tour. We than boarded and took the southbound Cruise. Have fun, you will love it.