Review on our Alaska Cruise aboard the Radiance

[jennat]

Hey Jen, Macy here! You're doing a great job on this review! You'd have had a whole lot more fun in that bar if the rest of us Freedomflyers had been with you. :D Ya know what I mean???? Butch says hi. Can't wait to see what all you did. We loved Alaska more than anywhere else we've been. Hi to the family! (I can't believe how OLD T and N are!)

 

Hi friend. That was certainly a great cruise. We need to plan it again. Some of the stuff we did, esp at the end was crazy, once in a life time stuff. Can't wait to share it, but we have to go in order!!!

 

I know about T and N....T is 5'10 and N is 5'4. Crazy. Also T is a wonderful (not) 15yr old. Good times!

 

Hope all is well with you two!

[jennat]

Macy, r u sure you don't want to switch to the Oasis on 10/16? we would love it.

[Gig103]

The bath is a typical cruise bath but it is the smallest shower ever in the history of the entire world.....this is not over stated.

 

Loving the review so far! I was wondering if you have any photos of the bathroom to help visualize the tiny size? I'm not a tiny man, is why I ask! The rest of the room seems like a good space.

[CoronaCRZR]

Jen, thanks for the detailed review along with pics. It helps visualize how our upcoming trip (July 8) on Radiance may feel and look.

It is our first Alaskan cruise, and by your words it sounds like one we will remember for quite some time.

Can't wait to see and read more.

 

Ted

[wolfcathorse]

love your style of writing! Great review so far, please call in sick at work so you can just sit down and post the whole thing now!!!

[thshhh]

Great review Jen, looking forward to meeting you on the Oasis in Oct!!!!!!

 

Tina

[negc]

I guess I said that because I felt it was kind of out of the way. You are right, you do see it going to the theater but you are usually on a mission to get the theater at that time. I can't remember ever having to walk through the casino to get to anything before and honestly I try to avoid that area because of the smoke and the fact that for me gambling is no fun because it is over before it begins. Not luck in game!

Also, I think because the area outside of the pub that I mentioned before has no pictures or anything so it seems abandoned or something, that combined with the fact that it was always empty, probably contributed to the abandoned feeling for me. Like I stated earlier, I can only give my impressions, I'm glad you feel differently because I definitely want to see it succeed. Love the pub concept on the ships.

There are still tvs in the pub, didn't count but in my brain there were 4???

Also, there is a dart board. BTW, the entertainer in there was very nice and good.....just wondered if someone with more personality would have drawn a bigger crowd.

I suspect that you might be right and also many passengers may not yet be familiar with the fact that there is now a pub in place of the sports bar. Four TVs is quite a drop from the many that lined the walls of the sports bar, but they may be enough depending on the capacity of the bar.

[CVU]

Great review and pictures.

 

Sorry to hear there isn't a beverage/coffee station outside the WJ!!!

 

The stateroom upholstery looks pretty bad!!! Maybe if they took away just one of the new restaurants they would of had enough money for upgrading the staterooms!

 

Keep the pictures and review coming!!! ;)

 

***

Where do you get a coffee etc. after the WJ is closed? We often stopped there in the evening.............that is why we love the promenade on the other bigger class ships.

 

We are on ROS for a long time this Fall and we sure want to be able to sit with a tea/coffee in the evening.............? [Not in our room calling room service.]

[jennat]

Inside passage cont.

 

We spent the afternoon playing pool on the "self leveling" pool table. Well, let's just say there was a glitch. It was hilarious and I'm pretty sure it totally helped my game.....the balls would all go rolling one way and then the other. Often times during your shot the ball you were aiming at would move (which is when i normally hit it). The error (or whatever) light was on and we didn't bother letting anyone know. we just went with it. It was fun.

No critics on my shot or stance allowed!!

We ate dinner tonight at Chops steak house at 8pm

When we were being sat, we noticed a lot of activity out in the ocean. There were tons of dalls porpoises out there. There were also whales. It was so fun to watch them frolic and play. The show lasted for quite some time. When we finally sat down we waited 20 minutes for water (or anything) She kept saying, I will be right with you but it was kind of ridiculous. I always feel like I am happy to wait if my drink is full. To her credit, she did look busy but I found my self coveting other people's waiters (and drinks). I think in retrospect it might have been because of all the displaced people from the dining room. You know how normally Chops is only half full (or is that just my experience). This rest was really full. The steak and sides were very good. I had the creme brulee which they brought flaming to the table and all in all it was a great experience. The price is now $30 pp. Am I right in thinking this went up for $25?

 

 

 

By the way, Chops is located, along with Giovanni's table off of the Schooner bar.

 

Later that night we decided to try Matt Yee's adult sing along. Imagine an Asian of homosexual persuasion entertaining a group of people. Actually the "queen" act may have been just that, an act but he was super funny and very entertaining. He said lines like (spoken in choppy Asian english )....you no sing, I see you, I have Asian eyes.....everybody now has to drink" "Give me an Oye, give me an oye, oye, now give me an oye, oye, oye.....ummmmm!" Kind of loses something in translation.

Very entertaining though.

My only problem with his show, and it is kind of a big problem is that it is pretty much the same show every night. The diva show shouldn't be Diva's part 2 it should be same diva show, different diva night. It was kind of irritating because you wanted to be there and sing with him but the songs and antics were even sometimes in the same order so you knew what was coming next. This was a big deal on the ship....lots of people attended. I just think he could come up with different material. Did anyone else experience this? I know it wasn't just me because we were talking about it with several other couples.

[klingoncruiser]

Wonderful review. Vancouver is a really great town. Can't wait for more. We are in Kamloops B.C. and headed north outselves to catch the Alaska Ferry out of Prince Rupert and then on to Sitka, Juneau and Ketchikan for two weeks in Alaska. :D

[jennat]

We woke to grey skies, rain and serious clouds blocking the mountains. Oh joy, today was our Misty Fjords flight seeing adventure. Didn't look like we were going to be doing a lot of "seeing".

We had booked with Tanquan Air. Let me take a moment to say that I bought a Toursaver book for $99 and saved $720 on excursions. It was quite a deal. The coupon for this excursion was B1G1 so it saved us $160. Therefore, it doesn't take a math genius to figure out that we spent $160 for two of us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They had sent us an arial map as to where to meet them and we headed out and got there 15 minutes early. We didn't see anyone so we called the main office. She informed us he wasn't there yet. So we waited and waited.....finally a port guy came up and asked who we were waiting for. We told him and he said I saw them over there. we walked over and got in. The driver said, he was glad he didn't have to leave us. I thought, yeah, me too since I was in the right meeting spot and had let the office know we were waiting. He, however, doesn't answer his phone, he informed us, so she couldn't have gotten a hold of him......huh?

well, it worked out fine but if anyone is taking this excursion beware that the meeting spot is not necessarily the meeting spot......

He drove us to their offices which were very professional looking.

 

we watched a safety video and we were off. There were four of us in our plane plus the pilot.

 

[jennat]

We flew over the town and the ships and across the island to Misty Fjords. It took about 30 minutes to get there. We caught a glimpse of a rainbow on the way.

 

 

 

 

 

I sat in the back on the way there. The doors weren't sealed well at all and it was freezing! On the way back I switched places with my husband who was in the front. Much better! My only regret is that I didn't take any motion sickness medicine. This would be a reoccurring theme in my vacation. I am apparently a very slow learner. But I get ahead of my self. We flew into the fjords......misty as their name stated but beautiful. It turned out to be a lovely day and we got to witness the cliffs and tributaries in all their glory. About half way through the pilot made a smooth water landing and we all got out on the pontoon and spent a moment taking in the magical site.

 

 

[jennat]

The return trip was very long. About 4 days....or maybe that is because I was eyeing the air sick bags, wondering when was too soon to grab them. I stared at the horizon and brought my lamaze breathing into play......I knew that class would come in handy at some point in my life. I was starting to turn as green as kermit the frog and understood intimately what he was trying to say in his song "It's not easy being green"....It's really not.

Finally we landed, hallelujah! Lord have mercy! I would have kissed the ground but we landed on water so I refrained.

 

 

 

 

 

My, or I should say our, overall thoughts on this excursion.....it was fine. It was worth $160 not worth double that. Once again, this is just my opinion. Other people think this is the best thing since sliced bread so it may be the perfect choice for you but for us, it was fine. We live in Colorado and have been to Hawaii, etc, so maybe that is why I wasn't blown over by the scenery. It was just fine. I thought Tanquan Air did a great job and would highly recommend them. My only complaint (besides almost being left) was the lack of seals on the door. But it was a very professional company. They drove us back to the port after the excursion.

 

We headed into town to look around after the flight. We saw the first of many eagles. That was fun. They were in all the trees.

 

 

we got some incredible shots of them.......aren't I just amazing. Just kidding, while there were lots of eagles wayyyy up in the trees, this one was tethered in town. A bird rescue group takes donations for photos.

[jennat]

 

 

 

 

we got all dressed up before we went into town so we had a photo taken in our Alaska town attire. Don't we look pretty.

 

Here is us with another eagle

Edited June 24, 2011 by jennat

[CVU]

It certainly was the “nicest” city I have ever been in. Both in friendliness and cleanliness. It was gorgeous and very safe feeling.

 

This is so nice to hear in light of the fiasco of the Stanley Cup. I'm so glad that was your encounter. We are really a great bunch of people if I may say so myself :p And I love Vancouver - One of my favorite places to go every year as a child.

 

Thanks for the kind words!! :)

There was an idiot group that disgusted all of us Vancouverites and we hope a riot never ever happens again!! It was a 1 night crazy and we are back to normal now and welcome everyone to come see our beautiful friendly city!!!:)

 

I don't use Sweet n Low or sugar, sweet already!, so can't help there as to why we don't have it? Coffee shops, like Seattle, we have!!

 

The Sky Train got the name from the other trains in town and to suburbs that are off the ground. They have 'Line' names but are lumped together as a Sky Train.

The 'Canada Line' you took is above ground for a short bit and then went underground so it is faster! It is a great way to get from YVR to the pier or other areas of town.

 

A cab would be $35+ CA from YVR but a cab can be better with more people. As $8 per adult adds up......and the cab takes you right to the check in area, which is a walk from the Waterfront Station with luggage, to the garage area under Canada Place.

 

Glad to hear that there is coffee.tea station etc. in the Solarium!!! for after WJ hours.:D

 

Enjoying your review very much!!!

[jennat]

We also headed to Creek Street (formally filled with brothels, now filled with touristy shops) By the way, if you need a Christmas ornament (we buy one from every place we go) don't fill pressure to buy the first one you see. They are everywhere and they are CHEAP (like $2 cheap). We ended up buying 3 because we kept finding ones we liked better than the ones before and they were so cheap we threw caution to the wind a went a little crazy: )

 

 

 

 

We then walked to the Arctic Bar (home of the happy bears) on a quest to find out just why these bears are happier than all the other bears. Never could figure it out. (wink)

 

But with a little Alaskan Amber and a nice view of the ship, we knew we were happier.

 

They had a lovely mural in the bar also.

This is just part of it.

Edited June 24, 2011 by jennat

[CVU]

We sailed out before the riots, I was sad to hear about them but hey, there's one in every crowd, right......

 

We were down watching your sail away? But because you were so late we left to get home to watch the Game. There were horrific traffic jams that night, a lot of streets were blocked off for the Huge Screens for the people to watch the Game downtown. Hence too many, 100K, people in one place, win or lose, it lead to a nasty night!!!:(

We felt the ship was waiting for more passengers as they would be really delayed trying to get to the ship with all the traffic and road closures.

[jennat]

We got back on the ship and tried to watch the NBA finals. The signal was pretty sketchy but we watched what we could. Later we went to dinner in the main dining room. Our table mates looked spiffy as their luggage had arrived that day. I'm sure that was a relief.

Dinner was fine. I had Chicken Marsala and Mike had a steak from Chops ($14.95). Mine was nothing outstanding, just good company and good service.

We finished dinner really late and lamely headed to bed.

 

Tomorrow is Icy Point....

[Oscar_the_Grouch's_Sis]

Thanks for the kind words!! :)

There was an idiot group that disgusted all of us Vancouverites and we hope a riot never ever happens again!! It was a 1 night crazy and we are back to normal now and welcome everyone to come see our beautiful friendly city!!!:)

I can't wait!!

 

A cab would be $35+ CA from YVR but a cab can be better with more people. As $8 per adult adds up......and the cab takes you right to the check in area, which is a walk from the Waterfront Station with luggage, to the garage area under Canada Place.

 

 

Hi CVU

 

I HATE to hijack this thread but your comment got me thinking about my own cruise I will be taking ... I will be staying in a B&B right next to Granville Island. The Sky Train doesn't really go there ... would it be cheaper to take the closest Train and then Taxi or just a taxi from YVR? I usually stay in the West End (last time was when they still had the airport shuttle bus)

 

Jennat, if it isn't too much trouble, could you please post the rest of the Compasses? I love looking at them. THANKS

[Harrieta]

Hi Jen,

Thanks for taking the time to write your wonderfully detailed and entertaining review. We are from Melbourne Australia. We are going on the Radiance next year from Australia to Hawaii, Hawaii to Vancouver and then on a cruise around Alaska. We are planning on spending some time in Vancouver at the end of the Alaskan cruise, so your review has been very interesting and useful. I especially enjoyed seeing your photos of the Radiance, we haven't been on it before (our only RCI cruise so far has been on the Rhapsody) so it is great to be able to get an idea of what the Radiance is really like!

[bonniesmum]

Hi Jen,

Thanks for taking the time to write your wonderfully detailed and entertaining review. We are from Melbourne Australia. We are going on the Radiance next year from Australia to Hawaii, Hawaii to Vancouver and then on a cruise around Alaska. We are planning on spending some time in Vancouver at the end of the Alaskan cruise, so your review has been very interesting and useful. I especially enjoyed seeing your photos of the Radiance, we haven't been on it before (our only RCI cruise so far has been on the Rhapsody) so it is great to be able to get an idea of what the Radiance is really like!

Hi Helen & Jim,

We, (my dh and I ) are leaving Brisbane in 7 weeks time, to do Alaska, and then do the reverse on the Radiance, 28 nights from Vancouver to Sydney, watch for our review. Cant wait...

Cheers, Kris :D:D

[Harrieta]

Hi Helen & Jim,

We, (my dh and I ) are leaving Brisbane in 7 weeks time, to do Alaska, and then do the reverse on the Radiance, 28 nights from Vancouver to Sydney, watch for our review. Cant wait...

Cheers, Kris :D:D

Hi Kris,

Have a lovely trip - lucky you that you don't have to wait as long as we do. I will be looking forward to reading your review!

[cruisenfever]

Where do you get a coffee etc. after the WJ is closed? We often stopped there in the evening.............that is why we love the promenade on the other bigger class ships.

 

We are on ROS for a long time this Fall and we sure want to be able to sit with a tea/coffee in the evening.............? [Not in our room calling room service.]

Jen mentioned in one of her posts that there is now a coffee station where the Park Cafe is in the Solarium. It was not fully functional during their trip.

 

Did you forget that you can also get coffee all day and night in the DL and the CL.:)

[jst4fun715]

This is a great review, and I love your style of writing...and your humor!:p I'm just having a hard time visualizing the new pub. I know where the sports bar was but I think you mentioned that you could go outside from the pub? Is there an entrance from outside?

[chill47]

Love your review and the comments. Sorry you weren't going with us next week. Love your humor.