Alaska on RCCL?

[jobob]

My husband surprised me with my first cruise in 1998. It was a 7 night Alaska on the Rhapsody. She was less than a year old and absolutely beautiful. We entered Glacier Bay around 5am and the Windjammer staff allowed me to sit at the very front windows even though they were closed. The parks service naturalist indicated only a few ships per day were allowed and they had to meet strict standards. All paper products were replaced with glass or cloth i.e., napkins, cups, etc. The captain slowly turned the ship to allow everyone a view of the glacier. The other ports of call were wonderful, too. We booked the Alaska Marine Highway Ferry a few years later and were able to spend 3 or 4 days in each port. Not as luxurious, but absolutely incredible. We are planning a family cruise on RCCL to Alaska this summer. I hope the Rhapsody will be our ship.

[cruisePRN]

I sailed Vision to Alaska and enjoyed the cruise BUT the land portion was awful with the substandard hotels and 21 years old tour guides RCl uses.

[dizbuster]

Our first ever cruise was the Serenade r/t out of Vancouver, and so far, has been the hands down best cruise we've yet taken.

[cctn]

WE will be sailing on the Serenade May 3 2008 on the Serenade and can't wait!! First of all, the Radiance class ships are my favorites! it'll be a 14 day cruise and looking forward to every beautiful sight we will be seeing - our first cruise was on Princess, which was nice also, but since we have been sailing on RCCL since our first cruise in 1988, we tend to favor them. Corkey

[dirtgirl]

We did the round trip Serenade out of Vancouver last August, and the trip was fantastic! I feel I would be way too bored on HAL or X; RCI is the right fit for me.;)

[sagiv666]

After reading around a bit it seems there aren't many people that use RCCL for Alaska cruises. I have to use them as they are the only cruise line I have seen that leaves from Seattle, WA. I am planning for the May 23rd, 2008 Alaska on the Rhapsody? Now reading the endless threads I see bascially 0 that talk about Alaska on this cruise line. I have sailed with RCCl and want to stick with them if possible, but am getting worried now...

 

Do not worry. If you have not read many postings about Royal Caribbean cruises to Alaska, let me assure you they have a very successful program of cruises there. Holland America is considered the No.1 cruise line to Alaska, but Royal Caribbean is becoming a close second. They offer both cruises alone as well as cruise tours. The latter are trips in which seven days is spent cruising, combined with a land tour either before of after the sailing.In September, my wife and I cruised to Alaska aboard the Radiance. The cruise aboard ship, as well as the shore excursions we chose were breathtaking. We had taken a land tour early in the month, after which we flew to Vancouver to board the Radiance for our 14-night cruise. After cruising north for one week, we then sailed south, and while we left from Vancouver, we disembarked at San Pedro (LA). In the days before the cruise ended, we stopped at other cities on the West Coast of the "lower 48" states, including Seattle, Astoria (Oregon), and San Francisco..

As you continue to read the forum, you will find other postings of others who have cruised to Alaska with Royal Caribbean (cruise alone or cruise tour) and, like us, rave about their experiences. :D

[sagiv666]

I spent 2 weeks on Radiance in AK and then another 2 weeks on land earlier in the year. I had a great time doing both. Just some comments for whatever they are worth:

 

> Compared to HAL and Princess and even X, RCI has a relatively small presence in AK.

 

> HAL & Princess have been cruising AK for much longer and both have a significant land presence.

 

> RCI is banned from Glacier Bay, one of the more popular glacier viewing stops.

 

> It's tough for me to recommend the Rhapsody because I'm just not a big fan of the itinerary. You really only get 2 true AK stops.

 

 

> Check on the AK boards about going to Tracy Arm that early in the season. There might be floating ice issues that prevent you from actually seeing the area.

 

> If you really have to sail from Seattle, you might try the NCL Pearl. I am not a fan of NCL at all, but the itinerary is a bit better, and some trusted folks recommend her for AK.

 

In September, we cruised to Alaska aboard the Radiance. We stopped at Ketchikan, Juneau, Icy Strait Point, Skagway, and Sitka, all in Alaska. In Juneau, we chose a tour by helicopter that flew over four glaciers and landed on one; that afternoon, we were on a tour which ncluded a visit to the Mendenhal Glacier in addition to whale watching. One if the highlights of the cruise was a visit by the ship to the Hubbard Glacier.

I do not know if sailings from Seattle cover these ports. I would check the itinerary for all cruises to Alaska, and unless you really have to sail from Alaska, I would consider flying to Vancouver to embark, or meeting the ship at its first port in Alaska.

The presence of Royal Caribbean in Alasksa is growing, because the company is putting more and more $$$ into the ports and hiring many natives of Alaska to explain many sites such as the Hubbard Glacier :)

[sagiv666]

So all Carnival owned lines are allowed? I assume they are the only ones. I smell corruption. :D

 

Holland America moved its offices from New York City to Vancouver in the early 1980's, and they grabbed the no. 1 spot in Alaska cruising. They have been there quite a long time and have had plenty of time to organize their cruises (sea only) and cruise tours (sea and land).

We cruised to Alaska aboard the Radiance in September. By the way, at the Hubbard Glacier, the Captain did not use the ship's horns to cause ice breaking away, because he indicated this was forbidden. The Captain also mentioned that garbage is dumped quite a distance from shore.

[jonnyc020385]

I want to thank everyone for the outstanding response I got from this thread. I also wanted to let everyone know as many have mentioned I am restricted to leaving from a US port and returning to a US port as I am taking my brother on a cruise and he has no choice but to leave and return here. Not to mention I live in Seattle so thats easy :)

[wrp96]

meeting the ship at its first port in Alaska.

 

Flying and meeting the ship at the first port in Alaska would not be allowed as it would be a violation of the Passenger Services Act.

[FirefighterJim]

We are booked on the cruise/tour from July 19 till Aug.1 2008 On the Radiance. We will be doing the land portion first then bording the ship. We start in Fairbanks and debark in Vancouver.

[Majesty Fan]

I have done Alaska 2times and both were on the Vision and one was out of Seattle and the other out of Vancover. One was the first week of July the other the second week of June. We liked the one out of Seattle the best. We paid around $300 for our arifare to Seattle. Vancover was $500. The first cruise we were bused to Vancouver and it took 2 hours and then the lime to get on the ship was a 2 hour wait! We are now diamond so that would not be an issue. Missed lunch we did get a box lunch for the ride up. I used to live in Seattle so I caught up with my firend from 3rd grade. It was a lot of fun. We stayed at the Silver Cloud Lake Union for a rate of $125 with aaa. Plus they offered transport too. We aslo did the Rdie the duck tour, the Boeing tour and the locks too. Hotel took us to the pier around 11am and we were on the ship by 1130am. For the earlier cruise we had much better weather. It was warm each day and no need for heavy clothes. It was a little cold one day and had to bring out the sweatshirt. The other cruise we did the weather rained every day. If you are going to Juneau do a whale watch tour with Capt Larry. it is about $120 but well worth it. Look up under orca enterprises!

Lexi

[sagiv666]

We are booked on the cruise/tour from July 19 till Aug.1 2008 On the Radiance. We will be doing the land portion first then bording the ship. We start in Fairbanks and debark in Vancouver.

 

We did a land and cruise portion on our trip to Alaska in September. We did the land tour first (booked independent of Royal Caribbean) which we also met in Fairbanks, then cruised on the Radiance back to Alaska (we also embarked from Vancouver, debarking at San Pedro in California). When our land tour was ending, the tour leader indicsated she was going to Seward to pick up individuals for the land part of their cruise tour. She recommended always take the land part first; on land, you basically live out of your suitcase and move from hotel to hotel, while at sea you have a chance to unpackage, catch your breath (even with shore excursions), and be pampered.:)

[critterchick]

OP, you might want to check the reviews of the various ships and itineraries, too (upper right hand corner). Rhapsody hasn't done the Alaska route yet, but you can get a good idea of how well RCI does it. We've sailed 3 times, twice on RCI and once on Princess. They both did a great job.

[NancyIL]

I initially booked the southbound Radiance for a June 2007 cruise. After reading on the Alaska board that HAL and Princess do a better job in Alaska than RCI, I switched to Princess. Our cruise on the Coral Princess was fantastic, as was our 9-day independent land trip afterwards. I still like Radiance's itinerary, but I think RCI's roundtrip itinerary from Seattle on Rhapsody is the least impressive of any ship sailing to Alaska. If you want a roundtrip cruise and you're only interested in RCI - then choose the Serenade out of Vancouver. If it has to be a roundtrip from Seattle, then I'd choose HAL Westerdam or NCL Pearl.

[NancyIL]

Holland America is considered the No.1 cruise line to Alaska, but Royal Caribbean is becoming a close second.

 

HAL and Princess are the top two in Alaska. Each has 8 ships that cruise there and a lot of clout, compared to 3 each for Celebrity and RCI.

[GMoney]

We are booked on the cruise/tour from July 19 till Aug.1 2008 On the Radiance. We will be doing the land portion first then bording the ship. We start in Fairbanks and debark in Vancouver.

 

Just a gentle suggestion to consider rethinking doing the land portion independently. You could end up having a better experience, more time, more flexibility and save money.

 

Nothing wrong with a cruisetour - just make sure you've weighed both options and know the pros and cons of both. Stop by the AK board if you want to know more.

[Onessa]

We've done AK several times -- first time 20+ years ago on a line long since defunct! More recently we've done RCCI on the Radiance (twice) and HAL. Some relatives did Princess last year.

 

Although we primarily choose our cruises by itinerary -- I really loved the RCCI/Radiance cruises the best. I don't know about Rhapsody, but the Radiance was built for the AK "inside passage" cruise. So much glass, so many great places to take in the views!

 

We've seen Glacier Bay as well as Hubbard -- and both are awesome (the real sense of the word, not the pop-culture version). HAL, Princess, et.al. sell their ability to cruise Glacier Bay as a competitive advantage, and some pax have bought into this and like to make their cruise seem more special since THEY went to Glacier Bay. I'm no glacier expert, but both seemed almost unbelievable to me.

 

Evaluate the itinerary, how each cruise fits your schedule and your budget and decide primarily based upon that. Many of the people who will chime in on the AK boards have only done the one cruise up there and cannot speak from experience when comparing lines.

[NancyIL]

Since this is a Royal Caribbean board, I'll assume that many have chosen to cruise with RCI to Alaska because of good experiences on past RCI cruises. Having cruised once on Jewel of the Seas, I agree that the Radiance-class ships are beautiful. For some - the ship is the most important thing, and the itinerary is secondary. Those folks are in luck because both Radiance and Serenade have good itineraries. Rhapsody out of Seattle would still be a very distant 3rd, in my opinion, but if that's the only way some people will cruise to Alaska, then by all means go!

 

Perhaps I caved too soon to the "Princess and HAL do Alaska better" chanters on the Alaska board. However, I don't regret anything about our Princess ship that replaced Radiance to Alaska. Princess does indeed do a good job in Alaska, and I'll find out next July about HAL's expertise there. Glacier Bay and College Fjord were beautiful, and I am looking forward to seeing Hubbard Glacier and 2 different ports in 2008.

[Cruise_Couple]

There is nothing better than Alaska on a Radiance Class ship!!!

[GoofingOff]

Keep in mind that a round-trip out of Seattle means you're likly to sail on the west side of Vancouver island. That means sailing in the open ocean so there's a lot less to see being much further from land, and there'll be more motion.

 

Leaving out of Vancouver, you'll be on the inside passage the entire time.

 

We took the NCL Pearl round-trip out of Seattle this year and got lucky - the ship stayed in the inside passage northbound. Going back - southbound - we were on the outside and it wasn't the same.

[jonnyc020385]

GoofingOff,

 

I looked at the Itenerary for the May 23rd cruise we will be going on and it shows it going on the est side of Vancover Island so I hope that means we will be closer to land, but either way I love open ocean so that won't be a problem.

 

Very stupid question most likely but Rhapsody is a Radiance class ship correct?

[GMoney]

 

Very stupid question most likely but Rhapsody is a Radiance class ship correct?

 

Rhapsody is Vision class...

 

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/findacruise/ships/home.do;jsessionid=0000L7h6NDiak2Qb0tErHGsl3Dv:12h3g0fq2?cS=NAVBAR

[jonnyc020385]

Ahhh yes...this is the time where I wished I was ablr to delete my own posts :)

 

Thanks for the information. It is a tiny ship...my last ship I sailed on was the NOS which is a big ship so yeah.

[permanentlyengaged]

Don't worry your little head in the least. I took an Alaskan cruise on RCCL out of Seattle last May with my best friend. It was SOOOO fabulous, within a few weeks of returning home, I booked another Alaskan cruise for my SO and myself for May of 2008 out of Seattle. Loved every minute of it.