We were blessed with incredible weather. Alaska with bright sunshine and 75-83 degree weather for 9 of 10 days was incredible. I will skip the pre-cruise travelogue of Anchorage, Kenai, Seward and Whittier.

As an overall note, we had a very good, but not great, cruise. The thing which was most disappointing was that we felt we were paying an ultrapremium price for middle of the road service. There is no comparison between this cruise to our cruise last summer on the Radisson Diamond (and most certainly not to Seabourn).

Radisson has recently made a change from a predominantly European stewardess/bar/wait staff to Filipino as a cost saving measure. This by itself “should” be seamless and of no moment to the passengers. However, many (not all) of the staff simply did not have the ability to comfortably converse in English so service became less cordial and more mechanical. (Sometimes it was just plain frustrating.) Also, private conversations in a foreign language in front of you are just not polite. It was, however, understandable as many of the new staff did have difficulty in speaking English so they really didn’t have much of an option.

I know some people enjoy the less social dealings with the staff (ala Holland America), but for many of us, it is the enjoyment of socializing with the staff and learning about their countries or just having a good laugh that makes a cruise something special. (BTW, Radisson has even incorporated the long established HAL tradition of having a crew show with Filipino crew members singing and dancing in a special show near the cruise’s end. Yes, some passengers seemed to really enjoy it, but it seems misplaced for a 5-6 star line.)

While Reception, Cruise Director, Assist. CD and Social Hostess team (WOW is not enough of a compliment for them!!) and some of the bar/wait and casino staff were great, there were simply too many misses on this point for a 5 or 6 star line. (By comparison, a few of the former Diamond staff remembered us from last summer and treated us like lost family.)

Also, after a very speedy check-in we were a bit taken back by the condition of one of our two suites as it had belongings of a prior passenger in the bathroom and no hangers in the closet. I figured it was a full cruise so the stewardess was simply overworked, so I brought the belongs to reception and took some of the hangers from our second suite. Boy was I wrong. During the cruise there were left dirty glasses, failure to restock the refrigerator, not replacing bar glasses, missing towels, etc., etc. (I won’t bore you with the list.) I figured it was not worth complaining unless we ran out of toilet paper. Guess what? Yep, even that! So I did eventually complain.

I know others loved their stewardesses and we had a bad one, but Radisson should never allow such things to happen so consistently. Where was the training and supervision? This was not a situation where there were one or two hiccups. I know if you don’t complain it can’t be fixed, but I am not one to complain as I am on vacation. But I am also of the opinion that I should not be put in that position in the first place.

I know others have said the Compass Rose was wonderful. We did have a very enjoyable lunch there, but found our dinners to be very cold and rushed…and the full ship made the room very noisy. Dinner in Signatures was very good and the food well presented. I would, however, simply put it on a par with the food and service in the main dining room of the Diamond.

Latitudes was, however, another story. The only truly friendly soul was the assistant waiter…who recommended the fresh Alaskan halibut and told us the venison (which I had inquired about) was nothing special and was actually White Tail deer from Wisconsin. Imagine our faces when we heard the Head Waiter tell the people at the next table that both the halibut and venison was fresh and had just been picked up in Sitka! So, we asked him directly and he told us that it was Black Tail and fresh. So we asked our assistant waiter again, and again he said it was White Tail from Wisconsin. Whatever it was, it was. What was disturbing is that such a thing would occur on a Radisson ship!

While those were the hiccups, the rest of the ship was beautiful and well maintained, the entertainment was excellent, the naturalist was beyond excellent, and the Captain was charming, funny and a true treat. The captain definitely took the time to make sure everyone has a wonderful view of whatever wonderful thing is outside (be it the Hubbard Glacier or whales or bear) and never rushed the ship away from something that might have been of interest.

After all is said and done, I think we had a very nice cruise that disappointed because we know what Radisson is capable of delivering and which we have enjoyed in the past. We are booked on the Navigator for next summer. At this point we can’t say that we are cancelling the cruise, but we are looking at our options to see if the premium price is worth it. (The itinerary is one of the main things that is keeping it on the table, for sure.)


We were blessed with incredible weather. Alaska with bright sunshine and 75-83 degree weather for 9 of 10 days was incredible. I will skip the pre-cruise travelogue of Anchorage, Kenai, Seward and Whittier.

As an overall note, we had a very good, but not great, cruise. The thing which was most disappointing was that we felt we were paying an ultrapremium price for middle of the road service. There is no comparison between this cruise to our cruise last summer on the Diamond (and most certainly not to Seabourn).

Radisson has recently made a change from a predominantly European stewardess/bar/wait staff to Filipino as a cost saving measure. This by itself “should” be seamless and of no moment to the passengers. However, many (not all) of the staff simply did not have the ability to comfortably converse in English so service became less cordial and more mechanical. (Sometimes it was just plain frustrating.) Also, private conversations in a foreign language in front of you are just not polite. It was, however, understandable as many of the new staff did have difficulty in speaking English so they really didn’t have much of an option.

I know some people enjoy the less social dealings with the staff (ala Holland America), but for many of us, it is the enjoyment of socializing with the staff and learning about their countries or just having a good laugh that makes a cruise something special. (BTW, Radisson has even incorporated the long established HAL tradition of having a crew show with Filipino crew members singing and dancing in a special show near the cruise’s end. Yes, some passengers seemed to really enjoy it, but it seems misplaced for a 5-6 star line.)

While Reception, Cruise Director, Assist. CD and Social Hostess team (WOW is not enough of a compliment for them!!) and some of the bar/wait and casino staff were great, there were simply too many misses on this point for a 5 or 6 star line. (By comparison, a few of the former Diamond staff remembered us from last summer and treated us like lost family.)

Also, after a very speedy check-in we were a bit taken back by the condition of one of our two suites as it had belongings of a prior passenger in the bathroom and no hangers in the closet. I figured it was a full cruise so the stewardess was simply overworked, so I brought the belongs to reception and took some of the hangers from our second suite. Boy was I wrong. During the cruise there were left dirty glasses, failure to restock the refrigerator, not replacing bar glasses, missing towels, etc., etc. (I won’t bore you with the list.) I figured it was not worth complaining unless we ran out of toilet paper. Guess what? Yep, even that! So I did eventually complain.

I know others loved their stewardesses and we had a bad one, but Radisson should never allow such things to happen so consistently. Where was the training and supervision? This was not a situation where there were one or two hiccups. I know if you don’t complain it can’t be fixed, but I am not one to complain as I am on vacation. But I am also of the opinion that I should not be put in that position in the first place.

I know others have said the Compass Rose was wonderful. We did have a very enjoyable lunch there, but found our dinners to be very cold and rushed…and the full ship made the room very noisy. Dinner in Signatures was very good and the food well presented. I would, however, simply put it on a par with the food and service in the main dining room of the Diamond.

Latitudes was, however, another story. The only truly friendly soul was the assistant waiter…who recommended the fresh Alaskan halibut and told us the venison (which I had inquired about) was nothing special and was actually White Tail deer from Wisconsin. Imagine our faces when we heard the Head Waiter tell the people at the next table that both the halibut and venison was fresh and had just been picked up in Sitka! So, we asked him directly and he told us that it was Black Tail and fresh. So we asked our assistant waiter again, and again he said it was White Tail from Wisconsin. Whatever it was, it was. What was disturbing is that such a thing would occur on a Radisson ship!

While those were the hiccups, the rest of the ship was beautiful and well maintained, the entertainment was excellent, the naturalist was beyond excellent, and the Captain was charming, funny and a true treat. The captain definitely took the time to make sure everyone has a wonderful view of whatever wonderful thing is outside (be it the Hubbard Glacier or whales or bear) and never rushed the ship away from something that might have been of interest.

After all is said and done, I think we had a very nice cruise that disappointed because we know what Radisson is capable of delivering and which we have enjoyed in the past. We are booked on the Navigator for next summer. At this point we can’t say that we are cancelling the cruise, but we are looking at our options to see if the premium price is worth it. (The itinerary is one of the main things that is keeping it on the table, for sure.)


We were blessed with incredible weather. Alaska with bright sunshine and 75-83 degree weather for 9 of 10 days was incredible. I will skip the pre-cruise travelogue of Anchorage, Kenai, Seward and Whittier.

As an overall note, we had a very good, but not great, cruise. The thing which was most disappointing was that we felt we were paying an ultrapremium price for middle of the road service. There is no comparison between this cruise to our cruise last summer on the Diamond (and most certainly not to Seabourn).

Radisson has recently made a change from a predominantly European stewardess/bar/wait staff to Filipino as a cost saving measure. This by itself “should” be seamless and of no moment to the passengers. However, many (not all) of the staff simply did not have the ability to comfortably converse in English so service became less cordial and more mechanical. (Sometimes it was just plain frustrating.) Also, private conversations in a foreign language in front of you are just not polite. It was, however, understandable as many of the new staff did have difficulty in speaking English so they really didn’t have much of an option.

I know some people enjoy the less social dealings with the staff (ala Holland America), but for many of us, it is the enjoyment of socializing with the staff and learning about their countries or just having a good laugh that makes a cruise something special. (BTW, Radisson has even incorporated the long established HAL tradition of having a crew show with Filipino crew members singing and dancing in a special show near the cruise’s end. Yes, some passengers seemed to really enjoy it, but it seems misplaced for a 5-6 star line.)

While Reception, Cruise Director, Assist. CD and Social Hostess team (WOW is not enough of a compliment for them!!) and some of the bar/wait and casino staff were great, there were simply too many misses on this point for a 5 or 6 star line. (By comparison, a few of the former Diamond staff remembered us from last summer and treated us like lost family.)

Also, after a very speedy check-in we were a bit taken back by the condition of one of our two suites as it had belongings of a prior passenger in the bathroom and no hangers in the closet. I figured it was a full cruise so the stewardess was simply overworked, so I brought the belongs to reception and took some of the hangers from our second suite. Boy was I wrong. During the cruise there were left dirty glasses, failure to restock the refrigerator, not replacing bar glasses, missing towels, etc., etc. (I won’t bore you with the list.) I figured it was not worth complaining unless we ran out of toilet paper. Guess what? Yep, even that! So I did eventually complain.

I know others loved their stewardesses and we had a bad one, but Radisson should never allow such things to happen so consistently. Where was the training and supervision? This was not a situation where there were one or two hiccups. I know if you don’t complain it can’t be fixed, but I am not one to complain as I am on vacation. But I am also of the opinion that I should not be put in that position in the first place.

I know others have said the Compass Rose was wonderful. We did have a very enjoyable lunch there, but found our dinners to be very cold and rushed…and the full ship made the room very noisy. Dinner in Signatures was very good and the food well presented. I would, however, simply put it on a par with the food and service in the main dining room of the Diamond.

Latitudes was, however, another story. The only truly friendly soul was the assistant waiter…who recommended the fresh Alaskan halibut and told us the venison (which I had inquired about) was nothing special and was actually White Tail deer from Wisconsin. Imagine our faces when we heard the Head Waiter tell the people at the next table that both the halibut and venison was fresh and had just been picked up in Sitka! So, we asked him directly and he told us that it was Black Tail and fresh. So we asked our assistant waiter again, and again he said it was White Tail from Wisconsin. Whatever it was, it was. What was disturbing is that such a thing would occur on a Radisson ship!

While those were the hiccups, the rest of the ship was beautiful and well maintained, the entertainment was excellent, the naturalist was beyond excellent, and the Captain was charming, funny and a true treat. The captain definitely took the time to make sure everyone has a wonderful view of whatever wonderful thing is outside (be it the Hubbard Glacier or whales or bear) and never rushed the ship away from something that might have been of interest.

After all is said and done, I think we had a very nice cruise that disappointed because we know what Radisson is capable of delivering and which we have enjoyed in the past. We are booked on the Navigator for next summer. At this point we can’t say that we are cancelling the cruise, but we are looking at our options to see if the premium price is worth it. (The itinerary is one of the main things that is keeping it on the table, for sure.)


We were blessed with incredible weather. Alaska with bright sunshine and 75-83 degree weather for 9 of 10 days was incredible. I will skip the pre-cruise travelogue of Anchorage, Kenai, Seward and Whittier.

As an overall note, we had a very good, but not great, cruise. The thing which was most disappointing was that we felt we were paying an ultrapremium price for middle of the road service. There is no comparison between this cruise to our cruise last summer on the Diamond (and most certainly not to Seabourn).

Radisson has recently made a change from a predominantly European stewardess/bar/wait staff to Filipino as a cost saving measure. This by itself “should” be seamless and of no moment to the passengers. However, many (not all) of the staff simply did not have the ability to comfortably converse in English so service became less cordial and more mechanical. (Sometimes it was just plain frustrating.) Also, private conversations in a foreign language in front of you are just not polite. It was, however, understandable as many of the new staff did have difficulty in speaking English so they really didn’t have much of an option.

I know some people enjoy the less social dealings with the staff (ala Holland America), but for many of us, it is the enjoyment of socializing with the staff and learning about their countries or just having a good laugh that makes a cruise something special. (BTW, Radisson has even incorporated the long established HAL tradition of having a crew show with Filipino crew members singing and dancing in a special show near the cruise’s end. Yes, some passengers seemed to really enjoy it, but it seems misplaced for a 5-6 star line.)

While Reception, Cruise Director, Assist. CD and Social Hostess team (WOW is not enough of a compliment for them!!) and some of the bar/wait and casino staff were great, there were simply too many misses on this point for a 5 or 6 star line. (By comparison, a few of the former Diamond staff remembered us from last summer and treated us like lost family.)

Also, after a very speedy check-in we were a bit taken back by the condition of one of our two suites as it had belongings of a prior passenger in the bathroom and no hangers in the closet. I figured it was a full cruise so the stewardess was simply overworked, so I brought the belongs to reception and took some of the hangers from our second suite. Boy was I wrong. During the cruise there were left dirty glasses, failure to restock the refrigerator, not replacing bar glasses, missing towels, etc., etc. (I won’t bore you with the list.) I figured it was not worth complaining unless we ran out of toilet paper. Guess what? Yep, even that! So I did eventually complain.

I know others loved their stewardesses and we had a bad one, but Radisson should never allow such things to happen so consistently. Where was the training and supervision? This was not a situation where there were one or two hiccups. I know if you don’t complain it can’t be fixed, but I am not one to complain as I am on vacation. But I am also of the opinion that I should not be put in that position in the first place.

I know others have said the Compass Rose was wonderful. We did have a very enjoyable lunch there, but found our dinners to be very cold and rushed…and the full ship made the room very noisy. Dinner in Signatures was very good and the food well presented. I would, however, simply put it on a par with the food and service in the main dining room of the Diamond.

Latitudes was, however, another story. The only truly friendly soul was the assistant waiter…who recommended the fresh Alaskan halibut and told us the venison (which I had inquired about) was nothing special and was actually White Tail deer from Wisconsin. Imagine our faces when we heard the Head Waiter tell the people at the next table that both the halibut and venison was fresh and had just been picked up in Sitka! So, we asked him directly and he told us that it was Black Tail and fresh. So we asked our assistant waiter again, and again he said it was White Tail from Wisconsin. Whatever it was, it was. What was disturbing is that such a thing would occur on a Radisson ship!

While those were the hiccups, the rest of the ship was beautiful and well maintained, the entertainment was excellent, the naturalist was beyond excellent, and the Captain was charming, funny and a true treat. The captain definitely took the time to make sure everyone has a wonderful view of whatever wonderful thing is outside (be it the Hubbard Glacier or whales or bear) and never rushed the ship away from something that might have been of interest.

After all is said and done, I think we had a very nice cruise that disappointed because we know what Radisson is capable of delivering and which we have enjoyed in the past. We are booked on the Navigator for next summer. At this point we can’t say that we are cancelling the cruise, but we are looking at our options to see if the premium price is worth it. (The itinerary is one of the main things that is keeping it on the table, for sure.)


We were blessed with incredible weather. Alaska with bright sunshine and 75-83 degree weather for 9 of 10 days was incredible. I will skip the pre-cruise travelogue of Anchorage, Kenai, Seward and Whittier.

As an overall note, we had a very good, but not great, cruise. The thing which was most disappointing was that we felt we were paying an ultrapremium price for middle of the road service. There is no comparison between this cruise to our cruise last summer on the Diamond (and most certainly not to Seabourn).

Radisson has recently made a change from a predominantly European stewardess/bar/wait staff to Filipino as a cost saving measure. This by itself “should” be seamless and of no moment to the passengers. However, many (not all) of the staff simply did not have the ability to comfortably converse in English so service became less cordial and more mechanical. (Sometimes it was just plain frustrating.) Also, private conversations in a foreign language in front of you are just not polite. It was, however, understandable as many of the new staff did have difficulty in speaking English so they really didn’t have much of an option.

I know some people enjoy the less social dealings with the staff (ala Holland America), but for many of us, it is the enjoyment of socializing with the staff and learning about their countries or just having a good laugh that makes a cruise something special. (BTW, Radisson has even incorporated the long established HAL tradition of having a crew show with Filipino crew members singing and dancing in a special show near the cruise’s end. Yes, some passengers seemed to really enjoy it, but it seems misplaced for a 5-6 star line.)

While Reception, Cruise Director, Assist. CD and Social Hostess team (WOW is not enough of a compliment for them!!) and some of the bar/wait and casino staff were great, there were simply too many misses on this point for a 5 or 6 star line. (By comparison, a few of the former Diamond staff remembered us from last summer and treated us like lost family.)

Also, after a very speedy check-in we were a bit taken back by the condition of one of our two suites as it had belongings of a prior passenger in the bathroom and no hangers in the closet. I figured it was a full cruise so the stewardess was simply overworked, so I brought the belongs to reception and took some of the hangers from our second suite. Boy was I wrong. During the cruise there were left dirty glasses, failure to restock the refrigerator, not replacing bar glasses, missing towels, etc., etc. (I won’t bore you with the list.) I figured it was not worth complaining unless we ran out of toilet paper. Guess what? Yep, even that! So I did eventually complain.

I know others loved their stewardesses and we had a bad one, but Radisson should never allow such things to happen so consistently. Where was the training and supervision? This was not a situation where there were one or two hiccups. I know if you don’t complain it can’t be fixed, but I am not one to complain as I am on vacation. But I am also of the opinion that I should not be put in that position in the first place.

I know others have said the Compass Rose was wonderful. We did have a very enjoyable lunch there, but found our dinners to be very cold and rushed…and the full ship made the room very noisy. Dinner in Signatures was very good and the food well presented. I would, however, simply put it on a par with the food and service in the main dining room of the Diamond.

Latitudes was, however, another story. The only truly friendly soul was the assistant waiter…who recommended the fresh Alaskan halibut and told us the venison (which I had inquired about) was nothing special and was actually White Tail deer from Wisconsin. Imagine our faces when we heard the Head Waiter tell the people at the next table that both the halibut and venison was fresh and had just been picked up in Sitka! So, we asked him directly and he told us that it was Black Tail and fresh. So we asked our assistant waiter again, and again he said it was White Tail from Wisconsin. Whatever it was, it was. What was disturbing is that such a thing would occur on a Radisson ship!

While those were the hiccups, the rest of the ship was beautiful and well maintained, the entertainment was excellent, the naturalist was beyond excellent, and the Captain was charming, funny and a true treat. The captain definitely took the time to make sure everyone has a wonderful view of whatever wonderful thing is outside (be it the Hubbard Glacier or whales or bear) and never rushed the ship away from something that might have been of interest.

After all is said and done, I think we had a very nice cruise that disappointed because we know what Radisson is capable of delivering and which we have enjoyed in the past. We are booked on the Navigator for next summer. At this point we can’t say that we are cancelling the cruise, but we are looking at our options to see if the premium price is worth it. (The itinerary is one of the main things that is keeping it on the table, for sure.)


We were blessed with incredible weather. Alaska with bright sunshine and 75-83 degree weather for 9 of 10 days was incredible. I will skip the pre-cruise travelogue of Anchorage, Kenai, Seward and Whittier.

As an overall note, we had a very good, but not great, cruise. The thing which was most disappointing was that we felt we were paying an ultrapremium price for middle of the road service. There is no comparison between this cruise to our cruise last summer on the Diamond (and most certainly not to Seabourn).

Radisson has recently made a change from a predominantly European stewardess/bar/wait staff to Filipino as a cost saving measure. This by itself “should” be seamless and of no moment to the passengers. However, many (not all) of the staff simply did not have the ability to comfortably converse in English so service became less cordial and more mechanical. (Sometimes it was just plain frustrating.) Also, private conversations in a foreign language in front of you are just not polite. It was, however, understandable as many of the new staff did have difficulty in speaking English so they really didn’t have much of an option.

I know some people enjoy the less social dealings with the staff (ala Holland America), but for many of us, it is the enjoyment of socializing with the staff and learning about their countries or just having a good laugh that makes a cruise something special. (BTW, Radisson has even incorporated the long established HAL tradition of having a crew show with Filipino crew members singing and dancing in a special show near the cruise’s end. Yes, some passengers seemed to really enjoy it, but it seems misplaced for a 5-6 star line.)

While Reception, Cruise Director, Assist. CD and Social Hostess team (WOW is not enough of a compliment for them!!) and some of the bar/wait and casino staff were great, there were simply too many misses on this point for a 5 or 6 star line. (By comparison, a few of the former Diamond staff remembered us from last summer and treated us like lost family.)

Also, after a very speedy check-in we were a bit taken back by the condition of one of our two suites as it had belongings of a prior passenger in the bathroom and no hangers in the closet. I figured it was a full cruise so the stewardess was simply overworked, so I brought the belongs to reception and took some of the hangers from our second suite. Boy was I wrong. During the cruise there were left dirty glasses, failure to restock the refrigerator, not replacing bar glasses, missing towels, etc., etc. (I won’t bore you with the list.) I figured it was not worth complaining unless we ran out of toilet paper. Guess what? Yep, even that! So I did eventually complain.

I know others loved their stewardesses and we had a bad one, but Radisson should never allow such things to happen so consistently. Where was the training and supervision? This was not a situation where there were one or two hiccups. I know if you don’t complain it can’t be fixed, but I am not one to complain as I am on vacation. But I am also of the opinion that I should not be put in that position in the first place.

I know others have said the Compass Rose was wonderful. We did have a very enjoyable lunch there, but found our dinners to be very cold and rushed…and the full ship made the room very noisy. Dinner in Signatures was very good and the food well presented. I would, however, simply put it on a par with the food and service in the main dining room of the Diamond.

Latitudes was, however, another story. The only truly friendly soul was the assistant waiter…who recommended the fresh Alaskan halibut and told us the venison (which I had inquired about) was nothing special and was actually White Tail deer from Wisconsin. Imagine our faces when we heard the Head Waiter tell the people at the next table that both the halibut and venison was fresh and had just been picked up in Sitka! So, we asked him directly and he told us that it was Black Tail and fresh. So we asked our assistant waiter again, and again he said it was White Tail from Wisconsin. Whatever it was, it was. What was disturbing is that such a thing would occur on a Radisson ship!

While those were the hiccups, the rest of the ship was beautiful and well maintained, the entertainment was excellent, the naturalist was beyond excellent, and the Captain was charming, funny and a true treat. The captain definitely took the time to make sure everyone has a wonderful view of whatever wonderful thing is outside (be it the Hubbard Glacier or whales or bear) and never rushed the ship away from something that might have been of interest.

After all is said and done, I think we had a very nice cruise that disappointed because we know what Radisson is capable of delivering and which we have enjoyed in the past. We are booked on the Navigator for next summer. At this point we can’t say that we are cancelling the cruise, but we are looking at our options to see if the premium price is worth it. (The itinerary is one of the main things that is keeping it on the table, for sure.)


We were blessed with incredible weather. Alaska with bright sunshine and 75-83 degree weather for 9 of 10 days was incredible. I will skip the pre-cruise travelogue of Anchorage, Kenai, Seward and Whittier.

As an overall note, we had a very good, but not great, cruise. The thing which was most disappointing was that we felt we were paying an ultrapremium price for middle of the road service. There is no comparison between this cruise to our cruise last summer on the Diamond (and most certainly not to Seabourn).

Radisson has recently made a change from a predominantly European stewardess/bar/wait staff to Filipino as a cost saving measure. This by itself “should” be seamless and of no moment to the passengers. However, many (not all) of the staff simply did not have the ability to comfortably converse in English so service became less cordial and more mechanical. (Sometimes it was just plain frustrating.) Also, private conversations in a foreign language in front of you are just not polite. It was, however, understandable as many of the new staff did have difficulty in speaking English so they really didn’t have much of an option.

I know some people enjoy the less social dealings with the staff (ala Holland America), but for many of us, it is the enjoyment of socializing with the staff and learning about their countries or just having a good laugh that makes a cruise something special. (BTW, Radisson has even incorporated the long established HAL tradition of having a crew show with Filipino crew members singing and dancing in a special show near the cruise’s end. Yes, some passengers seemed to really enjoy it, but it seems misplaced for a 5-6 star line.)

While Reception, Cruise Director, Assist. CD and Social Hostess team (WOW is not enough of a compliment for them!!) and some of the bar/wait and casino staff were great, there were simply too many misses on this point for a 5 or 6 star line. (By comparison, a few of the former Diamond staff remembered us from last summer and treated us like lost family.)

Also, after a very speedy check-in we were a bit taken back by the condition of one of our two suites as it had belongings of a prior passenger in the bathroom and no hangers in the closet. I figured it was a full cruise so the stewardess was simply overworked, so I brought the belongs to reception and took some of the hangers from our second suite. Boy was I wrong. During the cruise there were left dirty glasses, failure to restock the refrigerator, not replacing bar glasses, missing towels, etc., etc. (I won’t bore you with the list.) I figured it was not worth complaining unless we ran out of toilet paper. Guess what? Yep, even that! So I did eventually complain.

I know others loved their stewardesses and we had a bad one, but Radisson should never allow such things to happen so consistently. Where was the training and supervision? This was not a situation where there were one or two hiccups. I know if you don’t complain it can’t be fixed, but I am not one to complain as I am on vacation. But I am also of the opinion that I should not be put in that position in the first place.

I know others have said the Compass Rose was wonderful. We did have a very enjoyable lunch there, but found our dinners to be very cold and rushed…and the full ship made the room very noisy. Dinner in Signatures was very good and the food well presented. I would, however, simply put it on a par with the food and service in the main dining room of the Diamond.

Latitudes was, however, another story. The only truly friendly soul was the assistant waiter…who recommended the fresh Alaskan halibut and told us the venison (which I had inquired about) was nothing special and was actually White Tail deer from Wisconsin. Imagine our faces when we heard the Head Waiter tell the people at the next table that both the halibut and venison was fresh and had just been picked up in Sitka! So, we asked him directly and he told us that it was Black Tail and fresh. So we asked our assistant waiter again, and again he said it was White Tail from Wisconsin. Whatever it was, it was. What was disturbing is that such a thing would occur on a Radisson ship!

While those were the hiccups, the rest of the ship was beautiful and well maintained, the entertainment was excellent, the naturalist was beyond excellent, and the Captain was charming, funny and a true treat. The captain definitely took the time to make sure everyone has a wonderful view of whatever wonderful thing is outside (be it the Hubbard Glacier or whales or bear) and never rushed the ship away from something that might have been of interest.

After all is said and done, I think we had a very nice cruise that disappointed because we know what Radisson is capable of delivering and which we have enjoyed in the past. We are booked on the Navigator for next summer. At this point we can’t say that we are cancelling the cruise, but we are looking at our options to see if the premium price is worth it. (The itinerary is one of the main things that is keeping it on the table, for sure.)


We were blessed with incredible weather. Alaska with bright sunshine and 75-83 degree weather for 9 of 10 days was incredible. I will skip the pre-cruise travelogue of Anchorage, Kenai, Seward and Whittier.

As an overall note, we had a very good, but not great, cruise. The thing which was most disappointing was that we felt we were paying an ultrapremium price for middle of the road service. There is no comparison between this cruise to our cruise last summer on the Diamond (and most certainly not to Seabourn).

Radisson has recently made a change from a predominantly European stewardess/bar/wait staff to Filipino as a cost saving measure. This by itself “should” be seamless and of no moment to the passengers. However, many (not all) of the staff simply did not have the ability to comfortably converse in English so service became less cordial and more mechanical. (Sometimes it was just plain frustrating.) Also, private conversations in a foreign language in front of you are just not polite. It was, however, understandable as many of the new staff did have difficulty in speaking English so they really didn’t have much of an option.

I know some people enjoy the less social dealings with the staff (ala Holland America), but for many of us, it is the enjoyment of socializing with the staff and learning about their countries or just having a good laugh that makes a cruise something special. (BTW, Radisson has even incorporated the long established HAL tradition of having a crew show with Filipino crew members singing and dancing in a special show near the cruise’s end. Yes, some passengers seemed to really enjoy it, but it seems misplaced for a 5-6 star line.)

While Reception, Cruise Director, Assist. CD and Social Hostess team (WOW is not enough of a compliment for them!!) and some of the bar/wait and casino staff were great, there were simply too many misses on this point for a 5 or 6 star line. (By comparison, a few of the former Diamond staff remembered us from last summer and treated us like lost family.)

Also, after a very speedy check-in we were a bit taken back by the condition of one of our two suites as it had belongings of a prior passenger in the bathroom and no hangers in the closet. I figured it was a full cruise so the stewardess was simply overworked, so I brought the belongs to reception and took some of the hangers from our second suite. Boy was I wrong. During the cruise there were left dirty glasses, failure to restock the refrigerator, not replacing bar glasses, missing towels, etc., etc. (I won’t bore you with the list.) I figured it was not worth complaining unless we ran out of toilet paper. Guess what? Yep, even that! So I did eventually complain.

I know others loved their stewardesses and we had a bad one, but Radisson should never allow such things to happen so consistently. Where was the training and supervision? This was not a situation where there were one or two hiccups. I know if you don’t complain it can’t be fixed, but I am not one to complain as I am on vacation. But I am also of the opinion that I should not be put in that position in the first place.

I know others have said the Compass Rose was wonderful. We did have a very enjoyable lunch there, but found our dinners to be very cold and rushed…and the full ship made the room very noisy. Dinner in Signatures was very good and the food well presented. I would, however, simply put it on a par with the food and service in the main dining room of the Diamond.

Latitudes was, however, another story. The only truly friendly soul was the assistant waiter…who recommended the fresh Alaskan halibut and told us the venison (which I had inquired about) was nothing special and was actually White Tail deer from Wisconsin. Imagine our faces when we heard the Head Waiter tell the people at the next table that both the halibut and venison was fresh and had just been picked up in Sitka! So, we asked him directly and he told us that it was Black Tail and fresh. So we asked our assistant waiter again, and again he said it was White Tail from Wisconsin. Whatever it was, it was. What was disturbing is that such a thing would occur on a Radisson ship!

While those were the hiccups, the rest of the ship was beautiful and well maintained, the entertainment was excellent, the naturalist was beyond excellent, and the Captain was charming, funny and a true treat. The captain definitely took the time to make sure everyone has a wonderful view of whatever wonderful thing is outside (be it the Hubbard Glacier or whales or bear) and never rushed the ship away from something that might have been of interest.

After all is said and done, I think we had a very nice cruise that disappointed because we know what Radisson is capable of delivering and which we have enjoyed in the past. We are booked on the Navigator for next summer. At this point we can’t say that we are cancelling the cruise, but we are looking at our options to see if the premium price is worth it. (The itinerary is one of the main things that is keeping it on the table, for sure.)


We were blessed with incredible weather. Alaska with bright sunshine and 75-83 degree weather for 9 of 10 days was incredible. I will skip the pre-cruise travelogue of Anchorage, Kenai, Seward and Whittier.

As an overall note, we had a very good, but not great, cruise. The thing which was most disappointing was that we felt we were paying an ultrapremium price for middle of the road service. There is no comparison between this cruise to our cruise last summer on the Diamond (and most certainly not to Seabourn).

Radisson has recently made a change from a predominantly European stewardess/bar/wait staff to Filipino as a cost saving measure. This by itself “should” be seamless and of no moment to the passengers. However, many (not all) of the staff simply did not have the ability to comfortably converse in English so service became less cordial and more mechanical. (Sometimes it was just plain frustrating.) Also, private conversations in a foreign language in front of you are just not polite. It was, however, understandable as many of the new staff did have difficulty in speaking English so they really didn’t have much of an option.

I know some people enjoy the less social dealings with the staff (ala Holland America), but for many of us, it is the enjoyment of socializing with the staff and learning about their countries or just having a good laugh that makes a cruise something special. (BTW, Radisson has even incorporated the long established HAL tradition of having a crew show with Filipino crew members singing and dancing in a special show near the cruise’s end. Yes, some passengers seemed to really enjoy it, but it seems misplaced for a 5-6 star line.)

While Reception, Cruise Director, Assist. CD and Social Hostess team (WOW is not enough of a compliment for them!!) and some of the bar/wait and casino staff were great, there were simply too many misses on this point for a 5 or 6 star line. (By comparison, a few of the former Diamond staff remembered us from last summer and treated us like lost family.)

Also, after a very speedy check-in we were a bit taken back by the condition of one of our two suites as it had belongings of a prior passenger in the bathroom and no hangers in the closet. I figured it was a full cruise so the stewardess was simply overworked, so I brought the belongs to reception and took some of the hangers from our second suite. Boy was I wrong. During the cruise there were left dirty glasses, failure to restock the refrigerator, not replacing bar glasses, missing towels, etc., etc. (I won’t bore you with the list.) I figured it was not worth complaining unless we ran out of toilet paper. Guess what? Yep, even that! So I did eventually complain.

I know others loved their stewardesses and we had a bad one, but Radisson should never allow such things to happen so consistently. Where was the training and supervision? This was not a situation where there were one or two hiccups. I know if you don’t complain it can’t be fixed, but I am not one to complain as I am on vacation. But I am also of the opinion that I should not be put in that position in the first place.

I know others have said the Compass Rose was wonderful. We did have a very enjoyable lunch there, but found our dinners to be very cold and rushed…and the full ship made the room very noisy. Dinner in Signatures was very good and the food well presented. I would, however, simply put it on a par with the food and service in the main dining room of the Diamond.

Latitudes was, however, another story. The only truly friendly soul was the assistant waiter…who recommended the fresh Alaskan halibut and told us the venison (which I had inquired about) was nothing special and was actually White Tail deer from Wisconsin. Imagine our faces when we heard the Head Waiter tell the people at the next table that both the halibut and venison was fresh and had just been picked up in Sitka! So, we asked him directly and he told us that it was Black Tail and fresh. So we asked our assistant waiter again, and again he said it was White Tail from Wisconsin. Whatever it was, it was. What was disturbing is that such a thing would occur on a Radisson ship!

While those were the hiccups, the rest of the ship was beautiful and well maintained, the entertainment was excellent, the naturalist was beyond excellent, and the Captain was charming, funny and a true treat. The captain definitely took the time to make sure everyone has a wonderful view of whatever wonderful thing is outside (be it the Hubbard Glacier or whales or bear) and never rushed the ship away from something that might have been of interest.

After all is said and done, I think we had a very nice cruise that disappointed because we know what Radisson is capable of delivering and which we have enjoyed in the past. We are booked on the Navigator for next summer. At this point we can’t say that we are cancelling the cruise, but we are looking at our options to see if the premium price is worth it. (The itinerary is one of the main things that is keeping it on the table, for sure.)