Radiance to Alaska?

Has anyone done the Radiance to Alaska? I've got it booked for next August, for me and my ten yr old twins. Any advise? Tips?

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Not yet! Sailing on Radiance this coming Friday! Will let you know how it goes.

Has anyone done the Radiance to Alaska? I've got it booked for next August, for me and my ten yr old twins. Any advise? Tips?

Welcome to Cruise Critic.

You might want to take a look at some Radiance threads here:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/search/royal-caribbean/radiance

Do a dog sled camp! They train and LOVE to pull the golf carts with folks in tow. Later, you get to hold huskies pups!

We've done the Vancouver to Seward cruise on Radiance.

Booked a starboard balcony cabin.

This ship was "born" for this itinerary :)

You'll enjoy it, Bon voyage!

Sailed Radiance Vancouver to Seward May 2015 in an inside cabin. Most of the action is on deck looking for wildlife. I did not miss the balcony. Also everyone at my dinner table said the balcony was too cool to enjoy. Love the amount of glass on this class of ships. The food and entertainment were good.

Sailed Radiance Vancouver to Seward May 2015 in an inside cabin. Most of the action is on deck looking for wildlife. I did not miss the balcony. Also everyone at my dinner table said the balcony was too cool to enjoy. Love the amount of glass on this class of ships. The food and entertainment were good.

Tee, we have cruised to Alaska a few times on the Radiance --- always in balcony. We are considering a cruise in 2018 on the Radiance in the May time frame and would be selecting an inside cabin for that. Do you remember what cabin number you had? Also, did you like the cabin location and was it quiet?

Thanks in advance.

I was on Radiance from Vancouver to Seward in 2014. It was simply amazing. I think Vancouver deserves at least one day pre-cruise. Ketchikan was a fun town to walk around in. Icy Strait Point is good for whale watching (as is Juneau). We used Hoonah Travel Adventures (https://hoonahtraveladventures.com/activities/premier-whale-watch-tour/) in ISP and it was awesome. Lots of options in Juneau - I'd do research to narrow down what you'd like to do. In Skagway we did a 6 hour trip to the Yukon with Frontier Excursions (http://www.frontierexcursions.com/yukon-discovery.html). That was also awesome. I highly recommend, and I remember there being some young kids on our tour so that would be good for you.

Alaska is fantastic. Come back with any more specific questions if you want and I'll try to answer.

Tee, we have cruised to Alaska a few times on the Radiance --- always in balcony. We are considering a cruise in 2018 on the Radiance in the May time frame and would be selecting an inside cabin for that. Do you remember what cabin number you had? Also, did you like the cabin location and was it quiet?

 

Thanks in advance.

I had cabin 3541 - no issues. This was a big vacation for me. My schedule was packed with whale watching, float plane excursion, glacier trekking and more. When I finished my early dining time I crashed most nights.:)

Cruised Radiance to Alaska in 2009. Loved every minute of it. Would not go to Alaska without a balcony. The scenery is amazing. Weather can vary widely on the cruise. We had days with highs of 80 degrees and days with highs in the upper 40s. Used the balcony in all weather - just used more layers on some days.

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I had cabin 3541 - no issues. This was a big vacation for me. My schedule was packed with whale watching, float plane excursion, glacier trekking and more. When I finished my early dining time I crashed most nights.:)

Tee, thanks for the information, I appreciate it. Sounds like you had a great time in Alaska.

Be prepared to spend a ton of money, Alaska is very expensive. But it is worth every penny!

BILL

We did the South bound from Seward to Vancouver. As other poster have mentioned it is incredible and beautiful. We did a helicopter ride on top of Mindenhall glazier. Visited a Iditarod training camp. Did a dog sled ride. Fun and educational. We did see orcas and humpbacks. The ship is a classy lady.

We are looking forward sailing on her again in 2018 repo cruise.

The first time my son and I sailed the Radiance in Alaska he was 10 years old. He will tell you it was his favorite cruise.....until we went back this last year when he was 17! :)

Excursions we did when he was 10 that he really enjoyed....the dog sled camp; lumberjack show in Ketchikan; whale watching; panning for gold; helicopter ride to a glacier.

Your boys will love it! Have a wonderful trip!

Not yet! Sailing on Radiance this coming Friday! Will let you know how it goes.

Likewise here as well. Been on two Radiance Class ships before and they were both great Jewel and Brilliance.

It was 3 years ago, so some of the information may be a bit outdated, but here's a link to my blog about our 2013 Alaska cruise on Radiance: SUMMER SOLSTICE IN THE LAST FRONTIER

Amazing trip on the perfect ship for it!

Has anyone done the Radiance to Alaska? I've got it booked for next August, for me and my ten yr old twins. Any advise? Tips?

 

 

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LOL!! I will be cruising on the Radiance to Alaska in June 2017. We are also renting a RV in Anchorage for one week. A bucket list kinda trip!!!!

LOL!! I will be cruising on the Radiance to Alaska in June 2017. We are also renting a RV in Anchorage for one week. A bucket list kinda trip!!!!

Sorry!!! Forgot to mention....I will also be traveling with 10 year old twins.

It was 3 years ago, so some of the information may be a bit outdated, but here's a link to my blog about our 2013 Alaska cruise on Radiance: SUMMER SOLSTICE IN THE LAST FRONTIER

 

Amazing trip on the perfect ship for it!

Thank you for posting this link. I read the blog and loved it! I leave on the Radiance from Seward next Friday, 5/27, with a group of friends. We have a FB group, so I passed on the link to them. Again, thank you - plus your photos are wonderful!

Another vote for radiance to Alaska :). We did it in 2014 with slightly older kids, and we did the RV thing too. Seems a long time ago, but Radiance is actually my favorite ship so far. We never get balconies, except for this Alaska trip, and thought it was worth it for us. I did do a review of trip below.

Thank you for posting this link. I read the blog and loved it! I leave on the Radiance from Seward next Friday, 5/27, with a group of friends. We have a FB group, so I passed on the link to them. Again, thank you - plus your photos are wonderful!

We will pass you on our way to our cruise tour :) Have a great cruise

Did Radiance a few years ago southbound Seward to Vancouver after doing a week

long "do it yourself" land tour. Loved it.

Only problem was we did not want to get off the ship in Vancouver. :eek:

Sooo...this time we are correcting that problem with a B2B and get to stay

on the ship for the turn around. ;)

Once again we have favorite aft wrap cabin #9256 and will enjoy it for both legs.

Love that huge balcony for watching both sides of the ship down the inland waterway. :D

Radiance was an AMAZING ship! We had two inside cabins and I do wish that we would have had OV but this was our last whole family cruise so I was more about having extra cash for the other things instead of where we were sleeping.

We took the trip in August 2015 with our then 22, and 16 year old sons. On board we did somethings together (we spent lots of time at the pool tables :cool:) but they came and went as they wanted. They found 3 or 4 friends that they hung out with a lot.

Unlike a lot of others when we were in port we did no excursions- I did lots of planning ahead of time on the computer and we did a lot of touring on our own. Since I and my DH had been there before I knew where a lot of the places I wanted to go were. We walked all over the towns, we walked several miles to the gold rush cemetery, and up to the waterfalls, we really enjoy seeing the non tourist areas of town too. We spent time visiting with small local shop owners and found a great bar/restaurant in Hoonah- The Office Bar.

We spent lots of time talking to the boys before going and we had came to the conclusion that we wanted a more hands on kind of vacation and for us we had our perfect one. Something we will remember forever.

And on a kind of creepy but special side note; my father had passed away in August the year before and at one of the stops when we were talking about how much he had traveled (he drove truck) and with all the country he had seen he never got to Alaska. And as we were walking back through town and headed to the dock, an elderly gentleman walked by us and looked back at us talking and the guy was my dads doppelganger. Goosebumps even writing this.

My wife & I are booked on the August 14 Land and August 19 Radiance Alaska Cruisetour. Land first, ship second, starting in Fairbanks, on the Radiance in Seward and then ending in Vancouver. Looking for tips and hints on what clothing to bring, what tours to take, what to expect on the land portion of the tour, hotels, food, etc. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks for being there with your ideas.

My wife & I are booked on the August 14 Land and August 19 Radiance Alaska Cruisetour. Land first, ship second, starting in Fairbanks, on the Radiance in Seward and then ending in Vancouver. Looking for tips and hints on what clothing to bring, what tours to take, what to expect on the land portion of the tour, hotels, food, etc. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks for being there with your ideas.

Welcome to Cruise Critic.

With regard to excursions, you may want to take a look at the Alaska port of call forum here:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=55