Royal Caribbean Alaska Crusing Altered One Day Earlier than Embarkation

Royal Caribbean’s Radiance of the Seas has had a rocky begin to this yr’s Alaska cruise season. Propulsion points already pressured the favored cruise line to cancel its 7-night Alaska cruise scheduled for April 26, 2024, and now the next crusing, embarking on Might 3, 2024, has gotten an surprising itinerary change.
As an alternative of calling on Skagway, Alaska, the initially deliberate port for Might 8, the Radiance-class vessel will go to Haines, Alaska. The remainder of the itinerary is so far unaffected and future cruises, which typically all comply with the identical itinerary, are nonetheless scheduled to name on Skagway.
“We’re sorry for any inconvenience brought on by this alteration. However, we’re excited to go to a brand new port with you!”, Royal Caribbean wrote in a letter to impacted friends.

The one-way cruise will start in Vancouver, Canada, earlier than crusing to Alaska to go to Juneau, Icy Strait Level, Sitka, the newly added Haines, and Hubbard Glacier, earlier than concluding in Seward on Might 10. The subsequent crusing will then start in Seward, Alaska, additionally on Might 10, and can conclude in Vancouver every week later, with the two,143-passenger vessel persevering with to travel between the 2 ports all through the Alaska season.
The rationale for the one port cost has not been confirmed. Whereas it may probably be as a result of ship’s propulsion points, it appears extra doubtless that the change was made as a result of Skagway Cruise Port is working with one much less berth than regular whereas it waits for a brand new float for its ore dock to reach – and the comparatively small port solely options three distinct docks to start with.
With Norwegian Cruise Line’s Norwegian Encore and Holland America Line’s MS Noordam additionally scheduled to go to Skagway on the identical day as Radiance of the Seas‘ scratched name, it’s potential there simply wasn’t sufficient room to accommodate the Royal Caribbean ship.
Learn Additionally: Royal Caribbean’s Radiance of the Seas: Overview and Issues to Do
Norwegian Encore and MS Noordam will every be crusing on their very own 7-night Alaska cruises, each of which embark on Might 5. The Norwegian ship can be crusing round-trip from Seattle, Washington, whereas Holland America’s vessel can be cruising round-trip from Vancouver, Canada.
Radiance of the Seas Is Again In Enterprise After Technical Difficulties
On April 23, 2024, whereas Radiance of the Seas was in the course of a repositioning cruise to formally start her Alaska season, an issue with the ship’s propulsion got here to mild.
As a result of technical problem, the ship couldn’t sail at her regular pace, forcing the crew to chop ports with the intention to full the voyage from Los Angeles, California, to Vancouver, Canada, on time.
The subsequent crusing, which was imagined to depart from Vancouver on Friday, April 26, was impacted as properly. The 894-person crew welcomed friends onboard as deliberate on April 26, however made preparations for the modestly sized vessel to remain in port an additional two days to endure repairs.


Passengers loved the ship’s facilities throughout a kind of staycation. Beneath the brand new plan, the ship would embark on April 28 with a revised itinerary. However finally, the repair took longer than anticipated and this cruise was cancelled.
Fortunately, the propulsion subject has now been mounted, with Royal Caribbean updating friends in current days that the Might third crusing (and subsequent cruises after that) would be capable of go forward as deliberate. The information comes shortly after Radiance of the Seas was noticed crusing via the Port of Vancouver, presumably to check the propulsion capabilities.
“We’re completely happy to share that our groups are ending up the technical work onboard proper on schedule and we’ll be able to welcome you on Might third, as deliberate! Thanks in your continued endurance and understanding as we work to get the ship into tip-top-shape for you,” the cruise line wrote in an electronic mail.
Past sharing that the difficulty impacted the ship’s propulsion, the character of the mechanical drawback has not been launched. That stated, these occasions really feel fairly just like earlier issues Radiance of the Seas had with its propulsion lower than a yr in the past in August of 2023.
These technical challenges resulted in a number of cruises being cancelled on the final minute, leaving some to marvel if the difficulty has been totally addressed and if it may occur once more sooner or later.