70sGringo

Here is a snapshot of the other cruise ships today, Sat.. 9/16/2023 (marinetraffic.com) Grand Princess/18.2 knots destination Whittier Niew Amsterdam/17.6 knots destination Glacier Bay Norwegian Sun/13.3 knots destination Glacier Bay Volendam/10.8 knots destination Haines Carnival Miracle/5.5 knots destination Skagway Quantum of the Seas/18.3 knots destination Victoria Norwegian Jewel/18.7 knots destination Ketchikan Seabourn Odyssey/14.1 knots destination Misty Fjords Brilliance of the sead/16.7 knots destination Vancouver Celebrity Eclipse/17.4 knots destination Vancouver Celebrity Solstice/16.6 knots destination Ketchikan Ovation of the Seas/21 knots destination Juneau Crown Princess/12.8 knots destination Hoonah Viking Orion/14.2 knots destination Vancouver Why these ships are on the move and Radiance is not? Seriously, just trying to make sense of this.

Wow, flyswatter15. What a bummer. I am sorry that RCL turned your cruise into a "revenue sea trial". I thought our experience of Sept 1 was bad enough. This seems worse. 50% refund of what? Not your real hard-earned money you plunked down up to a year ago, but onboard credit? How many over-priced hot stone massages can one have in seven days? One port visit instead of five? I do not envy the Guest Services people who will be working the counter for the next few days. More passenger meltdowns coming! I would be spending the next 3 days while tethered to Seward, negotiating my exit back to ANC-to-home and alternate compensation deals. I was thinking... have passengers ever picketed a cruise ship? If RCL is wise, they would be re-opening the free booze to keep the passengers from organizing. Seems like RCL kept the truth out while they allowed everyone to show up on "embarkation" day. Another black eye for this company. Best of luck to all onboard. I hope they can get this ship fixed eventually, but the optics look bad. RCL, my opinion is that you can do better, especially with being upfront and honest to your Sept 15 passengers. Sorry, sorry, sorry

Open letter to RCCL company- Hello. We delighted to know that you have now fixed the Radiance of the Seas propulsion issue and have restored its ability to be revenue-positive for the company again. Woohoo! Now it is time for the company to step up and follow through on your promises to your cancellation-affected customers. We are still waiting for the "100% refund including taxes and fees, pre-paid packages and gratuities..." and Alaska-to-home return airfare that was promised by letter in our stateroom, on September 1, 2023. This would go a long way for your customers to feel better about a bad experience. We understand that RCCL is still within the 14 business day window of refund, but this does not sit well with us (and other posters) who are waiting for some of the thousands of dollars to "go the other way", back to us, the customers. Thousands of dollars which RCCL has held for months. RCCL was perfectly punctual on charging for the two days of gratuities for the time we spent on board, going "0" knots in Seward. It only seems fair, that with a few more button pushes, RCCL could have issued the refunds while charging for those two days of gratuities. We also had problems initially, with submitting the charges for the return airfare. We had to resubmit because RCCL had problems with "the format" of the original Alaska Air email receipts. We have ZERO dollars in reimbursement, so far. With regard to the "100% Future Cruise Credit", it is going to take some time to decide if we even want to exercise these credits, based on the ordeal after we left Seward. We personally had a terrible night in Anchorage at an awful fleabag highrise hotel (I don't need to name it here. Just read enough Google reviews and you will find it!. My bad). Future cruise consideration will also include reading detailed reviews of the balance of the RCCL fleet. Perhaps due to our own recency bias, we will NEVER set foot on a Radiance-class ship again. We feel that we are at a crossroads with RCCL. The next few days/weeks may determine whether we ever set foot on another RCCL ship (FCC credit or not). This is starting to "feel" like all of those Covid-19 era gripe stories of customers not getting any response from cruise companies that were on the brink of survival while their ships cut figure-eights in the ocean for months. So, please consider our story. Future customers may read this letter. Thank you- 70sgringo

Sorry.... I meant to say.... "ACT bus from ANCHORAGE"

Hi, from Seward. We are currently on the Radiance about to end our 2 day "cruise to ... Seward" (humor intended!). We understand last bus to ANC is 2pm today, Sunday 9/3/23. We have heard a lot of speculation in the last 48 hours about (a) what happened to the ship near Hubbard glacier and (b) what will happen to the ship to be repaired. Keep in mind that NONE of this info has been verified by any crew member "of standing", so it is wild speculation and treat it as such. Ironically, if RCL would be a little more forthcoming with info, we all wouldn"t have to wonder how much of what I am about to say is true or pure fiction. The fact is I do not know for sure. (A) What happened? The best credible story I heard was that one of the azipods collided with ice near Hubbard. The story after, deteriorates into fiction about the ship needing to go south to Victoria BC to get repaired. I find that part of the story has holes. I don't think a Victoria repair sounds credible. It's a great place to have High Tea, but I question it being a repair center for a cruise ship! (B) What will happen? This part may more credible (coming from our stateroom attendant). We were saying our goodbyes minutes ago and he stated that a repair ship is coming to Seward. He was told to be prepared for 15 days of downtime. So if you are on the 9/8/23 sailing or the next one after, my suggestion to get on phone with RCL and talk about how they will make you whole. We look forward to our promised total refund, compensation of RCL-covered flights home and "100% future cruise credit" to be used next Sep 2024. - Hope this helps

We are on the Radiance right now (Sat 9/2/23). RCL did not inform us until about 4pm Friday, so we were already on the ACT bus from Seward. We have until noon Sunday to depart and RCL is comp'ing guests and calling it a "hotel experience", with free bus service back to Anchorage leaving at multiple intervals including today. We look forward to RCL following through on their promises of travel compensation and future sailing credit. The crew is doing the best they can under the circumstances with some amenities open (dining) and others (shops) closed. Guest services has been packed since we boarded and I noticed some people virtually melting down over their predicaments. I also have not encountered any credible explanation of what the exact mechanical problem is, nor do I think I will get any. My advice to people on the Northbound trip (Vancouver-Seward 9/8/23) is to call RCL EARLY and get their best idea for disruption mitigation. FYI, we decided to stay in AK for the balance of the week and self-fund some land based stay and travel. Not sure if we have any recourse to recoup any of that portion. Whale watching in Juneau (Harv n Marv) and Ducks tour Ketchikan quickly refunded our money, which is above and beyond their printed policies. Kudos to them for prompt responses. We look forward to the next "adventure". : ^ )