A Journey to the Last Frontier: Serenade of the Seas Alaskan Itinerary Review

[Travel R]

Before anyone asks why I am posting so much this morning  . . . I have a very busy week at work ahead of me (I actually spent most of yesterday and plan on spending most of today working), so I figured I would just post the remainder of what I had already written in case I do not have the time to do so this week.

 

[Right now I am procrastinating - there is a lot of work, and not looking forward to beginning my day.  But I have to work to make money to go on more vacations.]

 

Yes, I will post the Compass's whenever I get a chance.  It's a PITB to do so from my computer/printer, so I have to use my DD's, and need to find the time.  Sorry for the delay.

Edited August 7, 2022 by Travel R

[Ferry_Watcher]

@Travel R, would you sail out of Vancouver again, or shift to Seattle due to the challenges flying into and out of YVR?

 

[Travel R]

A Short Summary

(Short? . . . Who Am I Kidding)

estions or comments.]

[Travel R]

A. Colorful Commentary

 

Sorry, the review itself is over, so no more colorful commentaries.

 

I enjoyed writing them.  My 9 to 5 is an endless world of non-fiction.  For the most part, this review is non-fiction, and I write a non-fictional blog.  This subsection provided me with a creative fictional outlet. I had begun writing the ultimate fictional All-American novel and have taken it up and put it down over the years – life has gotten in the way.  Maybe one day I can work on it in earnest.

 

What did you, the reader, think of the colorful commentaries?  Did it add to the review or detract from it?  Although the next review on here is a year coming, should I include it in future CC reviews?

 

B. Comparison of this Cruise to Past Cruises

 

A true comparison of this cruise to others would not be very accurate at this time.  Our last cruise was on another line, a much larger ship, and five years ago before COVID was even a warning.  Our last RCI cruise was nine years ago on the Legend (currently employed as the Marella Discovery 2).

 

The food could not positively compare to any cruises we have experienced before due to supply chain issues, staff shortages, inflation, etc. and the entertainment was lacking due to staff shortages and the industry making its way out of the pandemic.

 

When things go back to normal, I will compare cruises.  For now, I am going to let these things slide.

I do want to note that service from all around the ship was just as good as, or better than other cruises we have had in the past.

 

C. If I were to Do it Again

 

One of the major worries I had, caused by several comments on these boards was that I would regret not going to Glacier National Park.  Honestly, I have absolutely no regrets that we visited the Sawyer Glacier (sailing down the beautiful Tracy Arm), we visited the massive Hubbard Glacier, and even have a magnificent view of Mendenhall Glacier (albeit, from afar).  If the same itinerary were to be offered again, I would take it again - - - if no other option were available. 

 

However, if you look at my signature below, I have been on nine different cruises, all with different itineraries and ports. So if I were to take another Alaskan cruise, it would be a different.  If I cruise those waters again, I would like to try a southbound out of Seward (with a few days pre-cruise to visit Denali and other sites), with visits to GNP, College Glacier, Skagway, ISP, and maybe Haines, and disembarking in Seattle – all completely stops and ports than this previous cruise.

 

I was also reading an article about “cruising” the Inner Passage by Ferry. Sounds like a very interesting idea.

 

D. Attitude

 

There are many, many negative reviews by cruise passengers that post on Cruise Critic.  Many are one-and-done that post only once to make their complaints.  A great deal of their bad experiences could have been resolved with a minute amount of research. Others allow one bad moment to define their entire vacation.

 

My family had experienced a number of these moments, but luckily we were able to let them roll off our sleeves and enjoy all of the great things that this vacation had to offer. The things that happened to us, that some may have let ruin their vacations:

 

·       Extra precautionary measures due to COVID (e.g., testing and posting all the information)

·       Cancelled flights going to Vancouver, leaving on the spur of the moment, and almost not arriving in time for the cruise

·       Food on the cruise ship was much lower than expectations (in addition to the Korean BBQ in Vancouver)

·       Entertainment was lacking

·       The only enrichment speaker cancelling for this cruise

·       Not getting very close to the Hubbard Glacier

·       My long-time friend, my Kindle stop working in the first day of the vacation

·       Hair blower did not work

·       Clouds hanging over us in the mornings for most of the trip, and rain in Vancouver on our last day

·       The elevator incident

·       Wait staff mistakenly served bread with cheese and on another occasion, a on another occasion, a dish that contained cheese

·       It was too cold, wet, or windy to run on deck every morning

·       There was little to no air conditioning on the bus for our outdoor adventure

·       Seeing the homeless situation walking around Vancouver

·       Having to literally run to connecting flight back to NJ (and having to throw out two bottles of drinks I had just purchased at a second security stop).

 

I am sure that there are more, but who cares?  We made it onto the cruise, and everyone was healthy and safe. When it is all said and done, it is the good things that we are going to remember.  In contrast to the above list, there are multiple pages of good, scratch that, great things that happened.

 

E. Reasons for Why we Cruise (Transportation vs. Destination)

 

All of us cruise (or do not cruise) as the choice for our vacations for many different reasons.  While researching our next cruise, one thing really did home for me.  I don’t give a darn about the ship we cruise on (except for looking at demographics, which do not matter as much anymore).  As of now, it looks like we will be on Lady G (Grandeur of the Seas) because of the  itinerary. 

 

I was looking at an extended family trip out of the NY/NJ area.  I saw that the Oasis has a “Perfect Day” itinerary with Florida, Nassau (Bahamas), and CocoCay. I know that people love, love, love CoCoCay, but I would not look to spend money on such an itinerary where I go to Florida (been there a hundred times), Nassau (been there one, not one of my favorite islands), and what I refer to as “Corporate Cay” (to me it is a beach – I spent the summers of my youth on the beach, and can avoid them as an adult). Once again, I know people like it, it’s just not my cup of tea. There are some, like my mom that love, love, love beaches and sitting out in the sun - I guess I just did not inherit that gene.

 

For me (and my family), we cruise to see and experience new places, history, culture, etc., etc., one of the private islands just does not have what we are looking for.  But the cruise would be on the Oasis of the Seas that has all the new bells and whistles, you may say.  It would be nice if the ship had that stuff on the itinerary I would like to sail, but they are things that would tantalize me to sail that ship if it did not have the itinerary I wanted.

 

There are no real right or wrong answers here.  We all like different things and therefore we take different vacations.

 

F. Style, format of this Review

 

Hopefully you have all enjoyed the way I had presented this review in both the writing style as well as the format.  Although writing a day-by-day review would have been easier, I think (and you can tell me if I am wrong), this format (by time of day) allowed me to consolidate all of the information on a specific subject in one post (e.g., all 7 dinners at once, instead of discussing each dinner separately every night).

 

As I stated earlier, I added the “Colorful Commentary” section to begin each topic as an outlet for my own creativity. I know that most of those do not provide any assistance to the reader as far as cruising is concerned, but I believe it alights the reader into a better frame of mind for reading my sometimes-lengthy dissertations.

 

I like the format I used by structuring the beginning of each section with a separate post introducing it with the time and title in a large font, followed by another separate post with a quote related to the subsequent content.

 

Are my posts too long? Probably.  But that is the writer I am (except at work). I want to make sure that you, the reader, receives as much information as possible to better plan your own cruise.

The one thing I am disappointed in myself is with the photos.  I do not believe the quality or photographic artisanship was present for all but the pictures of nature. 

 

Most of my others pictures seemed more like random snapshots than framed photographs.  I also did not like how they were displayed in their own separate post instead of within the proper call-outs after the discussion of said graphic. Visually, it would have also broken up the long segments of text.

 

I should have also re-read some of my posts.  Due to time constraints, and the vast amount of data I wanted to provide, I would usually write during the time I had available, without re-looking at what I had written.  I am not sure how many spelling, grammatical, or other errors there have been – or worse yet, an unintentional word that reverses the meaning of a phrase or sentence. For those mishaps, I apologize.

 

However, my biggest disappointment with writing this review is the lack of back-and-forth. If I titled this review in a negative context, such as “Worst Cruise Ever,” I would have 150 members post comments almost instantly. If I wrote “Royal Caribbean is the Worst Cruise Line Ever,” the number of posts would jump at least three-fold.

 

Overall, I enjoyed writing this review.

 

G. Thank you

 

First, a shout out to all the people that work hard every day to make sure tourists like me have a great vacation, from the people at the airlines (stewardesses, pilots, baggage department) to people in the cruise industry (from the captains to the guys that take your bags at the port) to the individuals in the hotel industry, to the people from the farmer to the trucker that brings us our food, and to everyone else I have forgotten to mention. Without every one of you vacations for everyone would not be possible.

 

I once again want to say thank you to all of the readers of this review. My intention was to help others, as I have been helped before on this site; and I hope I have succeeded.

 

Cheers,

 

Travel R and the Travel R Family

 

Up Next . . . . Q&A [I’ll keep coming back to check this thread for any questions.]

 

 

[Travel R]

[Travel R]

[Travel R]

48 minutes ago, Ferry_Watcher said:

@Travel R, would you sail out of Vancouver again, or shift to Seattle due to the challenges flying into and out of YVR?

 

 

IMO, Vancouver provides cruisers with two advantages - the ship sails the Inside Passage and it is closer to the Alaskan Ports. I do not have the Seattle port to compare it to, but even with the masses of people and the additional COVID and other security, it was very organized.

 

Although flying through Canada was a chaotic symphony, I am hoping that in the future (even near future), many of the issues will have been cleared away. The use of the ArriveCAN app was actually very easy to use. The security issues will not go away, but we just got unlucky coming back home, and under more normal circumstances, it will hopefully not be so much of an issue. Even under normal circumstances, there can be delays, backups, and cancellations.

 

[Flashback - for one flight back from Europe we transferred planes in Portugal.  Although we had two hours between flights, the line for security was extremely long and we almost missed our flight (happens a lot to me, doesn't it). Luckily, there was a tour group of almost 50 people also on our connecting flight, also in-line with us.  So the flight was delayed for this large group, and we were just the beneficiaries.]

 

Having been to Vancouver, I would like to visit and explore Seattle. Besides hearing a lot about the city itself, Washington is one of the 5 states I still have not yet travelled (and many places to explore in the great state of Washington as well). If we do take another Alaskan cruise, it would leave out of Seward, but I would love for it to disembark in Seattle.

 

Edited August 7, 2022 by Travel R

[Kathscof]

We also walked down the main Chinatown street and I told my friend “I can’t see many places that I would be comfortable using my credit card” and it was just kinda sketch in general....

 

we even walked up and back before before we realized we missed the gardens! We looked for them, saw them across the street and they looked closed?  Maybe we didn’t inquire enough....

[Travel R]

On 8/9/2022 at 6:33 AM, Kathscof said:

We also walked down the main Chinatown street and I told my friend “I can’t see many places that I would be comfortable using my credit card” and it was just kinda sketch in general....

 

we even walked up and back before before we realized we missed the gardens! We looked for them, saw them across the street and they looked closed?  Maybe we didn’t inquire enough....

 

"Even in the darkness the smallest star will shine"

 

The Chinese Gardens were in this grungy lookin alley-way, which I would not enter if it was dark. Interesting you mentioned them looking closed - we actually thought the same thing. There is a very faded sign on the gate notifying people that the entrance is inside. [Not sure if they are trying to stay low key intentionally or not.] However, we did see two people that looked like tourists leaving the area so we made our way inside. The interior was such a contrast once we made our way inside.

 

My pre-vacation idea was to go for some dim sum if we were hungry.  I did not spy upon anywhere I would have felt comfortable taking my family to dine. It is a shame, because in some small way I am contributing to its further decline. [Note: From further reading, the community (and restaurants) have been leaving this area and reemerging in the Richmond suburb of Vancouver.]

 

If you ever get another chance to visit Vancouver again, I would highly recommend the Gardens, if they are still there. Although there were a few people walking around (and a private class on trimming trees being conducted a side room), I am not sure how someplace like that survives. [But maybe take  cab.]

[Travel R]

       INDEX FOR THE REVIEW

Since this is a long review of then CC pages (over 200 Posts), to make it easier to find specific information, I have created the below index. The link goes to the page, but I have included the specific post # where the information appears. [I know I can link to the exact post, but that would require a significant more time to do so.]

 

Please note, I will continue to come back to this thread over the next few weeks, so please feel free to ask any additional questions (there are still a few weeks left to the Alaskan cruise season).

 

A link to the index will appear in my signature, so at least I can find it in the future. However, I know when I post my last word, as this thread moves further back in the forum, it will fade into obscurity. [Yes, I still would like to post the Compass. So this review is technically not over. It' ain't over till there's a mint on the pillow.]

 

Activities, Ships [Post #184]

·       Includes: Bingo, Trivia, Name That Toon, Lounge Entertainers, Art Auction, Pool & Pool Area, Spa, Cinema, Meet & Greet, Sports Activities, etc.

Allergies [Post # 90]

American Dream Mall [Post #73]

Boarding

·       General [Post #11]

·       Boarding Process [Post #75]

Cabin

·       General [Post #11]

·       Balcony [Post #100]

·       Relaxation [Post #196]

·       Shampoo, Conditioner, & Body Wash [Post #188]

·       Shower [Post #100]

·       Stateroom, Details [Post #100]

Check-In Check-in [Post #75]

Compass [Post #124]

COVID

·       General [Post #11]

·       ArrriveCAN [Post #24]

·       COVID Testing [Post #24]

·       Ship’s Protocols and Cleanliness [Post #124]

Cruising

·       Alaskan Cruises vs. Other Cruises [Post #148]

·       Enjoyment of this cruise [Post #11]

Dining

·       [See Food]

Drink Packages [Post #184]

Entertainment

·       General [Post #11]

·       Bar/Lounge Entertainers [Post #184]

·       Enrichment Talks  [Post #163]

·       Evening Entertainment [Post #210]

o   Including: Welcome Show, Comedy Show, Impersonators, Movies, Hush Party, Karaoke, Disco, Casino, Capt’s Talk, Production Shows, Farewell Show

Exercising [Post #90]

Food and Dining

·       General [Post #11]

·       Coffee  [Post #79]

·       Coffee, Premium  [Post #124]

·       Breakfast: MDR, Windjammer, Room Service, and Park Café [Post #108]

·       Dinner: MDR [Post #203]

·       Drink Packages [Post #184]

·       Formal Night [Post #203]

·       Lunch: MDR, Windjammer, Park Café, Mean Queen (Sitka) [Post #177]

·       MyTime Dining [Post #203]

o   General [Post #11]

·       Park Café [Post # 90]

Formal Night [Post #203]

Hubbard Glacier

·       General [Post #72]

·       Detailed Report [Post #163]

Inside Passage  [Post #163]

Introduction [Post #2]

Internet, Cell Phone Signal, and WiFi [Post #124]

Juneau [Post #142]

·       Includes: Whale Watching Excursion and Walk in Juneau

Ketchikan [Post #155]

·       Includes: Shopping in Ketchikan, Driving Jeeps Off-road, Canoeing, Nature Walk

Mendenhall Glacier [Post #163]

·       General  [Post #163]

Northern Lights [Post #11]

Packing

·       General [Post #24]

·       For an Alaskan Cruise [Post #118]

Ports

·       General [Post #11]

·       Sitka [See Sitka]

·       Juneau [See Juneau]

·       Ketchikan [See Ketchikan]

Pre-Cruise

·       Air2Sea [Post #58]

·       ArriveCAN [Post #24]

·       COVID[See COVID]

·       Check-in [Post #75]

·       Flights, Cancellation [Post #58]

·       Flights, To Montreal [Post #63]

·       General [Post #24]

·       Montreal Layover [Post #67]

·       Packing [See Packing]

·       Royal App [Post #124]

·       Shuttle Transfer Check-in [Post #75]

·       Vancouver, Arrival [See Vancouver]

Post Cruise

·       Disembark [Post #215]

·       Return Flight Home (“The Sprint”) [Post #222]

·       Tipping [Post #215]

Royal App  [Post #124]

Serenade of the Seas

·       General [Post #11]

·       Boarding [See Boarding]

·       Cabin [See Cabin]

·       Casino, Hours [Post #30]

·       Capacity [Post #11]

·       Compass  [Post #124]

·       Dining [See Food and Dining]

·       Elevator Incident [Post #75]

·       Elevators [Post #124]

·       Entertainment [See Entertainment]

·       Exercising [See Exercising]

·       Food [See Food and Dining]

·       Helipad [Post #124]

·       Internet [See Internet]

·       Navigating around [Post #124]

·       Outward Facing [Post #124]

·       Park Café [See Food and Dining]

·       Photographer, Ship [Post #124]

·       Royal App [Post #124]

·       Royal Shops [Post #124]

·       Running / Jogging [See Exercising]

·       Ship Services [Post #124]

·       Staffing [Post #11]

·       Stateroom [See Cabin]

·       TV, Ship [Post #79, and Post #124]

Sitka [Post #137]

·       Includes: DIY Tour (with map); Harrigan Hall, Sitka Historical Museum, Russian Bishop’s House, Sheldon Jackson Museum, Sitka National Historic Park, Raptor Center, Lunch, [Fortress of the Bear], Return to Ship

Summary and Conclusion [Post #229]

Sunsets [Post #210]

Table of Contents [Post #16]

Teenagers [Post #196]

Tracy Arm & Sawyer Glacier

·       General [Post #72]

·       Detailed report [Post #163]

Vancouver

·       Arrival [Post #74]

·       Hotel [Post #215]

·       Sites of Vancouver  [Post #215]

o   Including: Steam Clock, Police Museum, Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Chinese Garden, and Dinner

Weather, Alaska [Post # 11]

Whale Watching [Post #142]

Wildlife, Alaska

·       General [Post #11]

·       Raptor Center [Bald Eagles, Owls, etc.] [Post #137]

·       Whale Watching Excursion (incl. bears, porpoise, and sea lion] [Post #142]

Young Adults [Post #196]

 

As I have been told in the past, the Index is a great idea. However, it seems like a lot of work for the three people that are going to actually use it.

Edited August 10, 2022 by Travel R

[justKirbo]

Travel R, I have really enjoyed this review and your writing style. Thank you for taking the time to share it with us. We're on the Ovation in a month and our itinerary and ship is different, but you've gotten me quite excited. 

[Travel R]

10 hours ago, justKirbo said:

Travel R, I have really enjoyed this review and your writing style. Thank you for taking the time to share it with us. We're on the Ovation in a month and our itinerary and ship is different, but you've gotten me quite excited. 

 

Thank you, and I appreciate the feedback.

 

I believe that Skagway is on your itinerary - which is one of the ports I have heard many great things about it (If, no when, we get back to Alaska, I am going to try to make sure Skagway is one of the ports we visit). You are also on a beautiful ship. I hope you enjoy (and sure you will).

[dstein]

Thanks for the great review!  I think you and I would get along great - we share VERY similar attitudes around food, appreciating the good things one experiences and not dwelling on the minor nits...and neither one of us is worried about brevity in our writing!  You one-upped my review with your index, however.  I'm oddly jealous.  (Our trip was in 2016, and I documented it here.)

[familycruzinnewbie]

I have made my way through your review and probably have some things to add but one left finger typing sucks.

in Vancouver the pic was not a abortion ruling protest, it was a Residential school memorial. It was originally 215 pairs of children’s shoes for the possible 215 sets of children’s remains found at the site of a former residential school (2021) More unmarked graves kept being found at others sites (ground penetrating radar). Originally our flags on federal buildings were set half mast for so many minutes per child from first site and then they were down over 6 months until we came to a resolution/path forward. There are displays or some sort all across Canada 

[familycruzinnewbie]

I enjoyed your review - interested in what you would do for part two. We didn’t take kiddos 19 and 22 this time but I think they would enjoy Alaska. I had looked at one way options in the past. They can be sold at a cheaper price at times cause hard to get airfare cheap to Alaska particularly with short notice. However I’ve heard you need to give lots of time for Denali particularly if DIY. Glacier bay for sure on that list if we go to Alaska again. 
 

I believe the homeless situation in Vancouver became worse during covid as people felt unsafe in shelters. Also I think Vancouver is a bit of a dumping ground for homeless people from other provinces, due to its better climate. We visited china town etc but our two scariest encounters were a guy pulling a knife down as we were gathered near steam clock and we had a very uncomfortable situation on the Canada. Line from our hotel near airport to cruise ( all precruise - we spent 2 nights at Hampton inn, close to Bridgeport stop, so airport shuttle to hotel but then sky train Saturday to sightsee and Sunday to get to port)
We stayed downtown post cruise and it was different vibe with the huge crowds for pride parade and our hotel (Sheraton wall center) had a pride event on their lawn with loud music until 9pm or so. We did Stanley park after we dropped luggage and were back to parade when it started. We actually walked from cruise to hotel and one thing neat about Vancouver is that while you may run into stairs connecting side streets, everyone is accessible with ramps (unlike the backwards city I  live in)

[Travel R]

On 8/14/2022 at 12:05 AM, dstein said:

Thanks for the great review!  I think you and I would get along great - we share VERY similar attitudes around food, appreciating the good things one experiences and not dwelling on the minor nits...and neither one of us is worried about brevity in our writing!  You one-upped my review with your index, however.  I'm oddly jealous.  (Our trip was in 2016, and I documented it here.)

 

Yes, we may be of the same mind, especially after reading the following:

 

“I have CDO.  It’s like OCD except the letters are in alphabetical order…LIKE THEY SHOULD BE!”

 

I stayed offline this past weekend, so only took a quick look at your review, but like your reading style (and trying to write a review that is off-kilter from the rest is not an easy task, but half the fun).  I will take a good read-through - although an Alaskan review, we will eventually do a southbound w/ Denali pre-cruise, so it will be worth my while.

 

[Travel R]

18 hours ago, familycruzinnewbie said:

I have made my way through your review and probably have some things to add but one left finger typing sucks.

in Vancouver the pic was not a abortion ruling protest, it was a Residential school memorial. It was originally 215 pairs of children’s shoes for the possible 215 sets of children’s remains found at the site of a former residential school (2021) More unmarked graves kept being found at others sites (ground penetrating radar). Originally our flags on federal buildings were set half mast for so many minutes per child from first site and then they were down over 6 months until we came to a resolution/path forward. There are displays or some sort all across Canada 

 

Thank you very much for the clarification. As Americans, when we saw this, the first thing we had thought was the very recent US Supreme Court ruling, although yes, we were in Canada, we had thought that there was some outrage by our northern neighbors.  Either ethnocentricity or nativity on our part (or both).

 

Just read about this . . . . very, very sad.

 

Thank you for bringing this to my attention.

 

[Travel R]

16 hours ago, familycruzinnewbie said:

I enjoyed your review - interested in what you would do for part two. We didn’t take kiddos 19 and 22 this time but I think they would enjoy Alaska.

 

Thank you.

 

And thank you for your input!

 

My DDs 17 and 22 loved Alaska. But sometimes it is also good to get away with your significant other sans the "kids."

 

16 hours ago, familycruzinnewbie said:

I had looked at one way options in the past. They can be sold at a cheaper price at times cause hard to get airfare cheap to Alaska particularly with short notice. However I’ve heard you need to give lots of time for Denali particularly if DIY. Glacier bay for sure on that list if we go to Alaska again. 

 

Denali would be the reason for us to do a southbound.  Although the planner in my head has a whole sub-trip planned DIY, including flying into Fairbanks, driving to some of the smaller enclaves near Gates of Artic further north. At Denali, I would also probably take a bus so I can see the full park. If in Rome, when taking whatever ship south, I would prefer to visit GNP.  But we shall see, a lot of other things on our plate that is taking precedent.

 

16 hours ago, familycruzinnewbie said:

We visited china town etc but our two scariest encounters were a guy pulling a knife down as we were gathered near steam clock and we had a very uncomfortable situation on the Canada. Line

 

Whoa - a knife? 

 

16 hours ago, familycruzinnewbie said:

We stayed downtown post cruise and it was different vibe with the huge crowds for pride parade and our hotel (Sheraton wall center) had a pride event on their lawn with loud music until 9pm or so. We did Stanley park after we dropped luggage and were back to parade when it started. We actually walked from cruise to hotel and one thing neat about Vancouver is that while you may run into stairs connecting side streets, everyone is accessible with ramps (unlike the backwards city I  live in)

 

The Pride Parade must have been fun.  The Pride Parade is NYC is one big, long party, with everyone just letting themselves be themselves.

 

Luckily, handicap accessibility is getting better as time moves on.

 

 

 

 

[Just Jo]

Wow!  I've never read such a thorough review.  I've gleaned so much information (loved the tips and "Did you know"s) for our first Alaska trip next year.  Fantastic read - thanks for sharing!

[Travel R]

17 hours ago, Just Jo said:

Wow!  I've never read such a thorough review.  I've gleaned so much information (loved the tips and "Did you know"s) for our first Alaska trip next year.  Fantastic read - thanks for sharing!

 

@Just Jo - Thank you. Glad my review was of assistance. Please let me know if you have any questions.  I've learned so much from other people's reviews on Cruise Critic over the years that I am happy to pay it forward.

 

Out of the corner of my eye I saw "Royal Majesty" in your signature and looking further, it was in 1996 - the same year we sailed her.  I consider our sailing on the Royal Majesty my first "real" cruise. Loved it and is where I fell in love with cruising. As far as cruise experiences are concerned, it is my standard of comparison for all subsequent cruises. 

 

 

[Just Jo]

Royal Majesty (with my mother) was my first cruise.  She was a heavy smoker and back then you could smoke in the cabin (and everywhere else), and since we shared a cabin that part was awful.  Everything else was terrific though and like you, I was hooked.

[WeMissSeaView]

1. Royal cancelled Tracy Arm Fjord this morning at 6:00am due to heavy fog.  We will now arrive in Juneau at 9:00am instead of 1:30am.

[Travel R]

32 minutes ago, WeMissSeaView said:

1. Royal cancelled Tracy Arm Fjord this morning at 6:00am due to heavy fog.  We will now arrive in Juneau at 9:00am instead of 1:30am.

 

That stinks, but you will have more time to enjoy Juneau!

[familycruzinnewbie]

We missed Tracey arm due to fog and cloud as well. But Juneau was great and the we had perfect time at Hubbard glacier

[Travel R]

18 hours ago, familycruzinnewbie said:

We missed Tracey arm due to fog and cloud as well. But Juneau was great and the we had perfect time at Hubbard glacier

 

It's always a crap shoot with Alaska. Accessibility to the Arms/Glaciers changes week to week.  Although we saw both, your sailing navigated a lot closer to Hubbard than we did (due to too many icebergs).