Just like this, the first cruise was almost at an end. This was our glacier viewing day. The glacier on this cruise was Hubbard Glacier, which was new to us. There was some speculation that we would not be able to get close to the glacier due to fog and ice near the glacier. In the end, it was raining heavily, but there was no fog and there was not a great deal of ice.
We decided to stake out a spot in the Schooner Bar. I left Graham at a table near the windows and then I headed upstairs to get some breakfast from the Park Cafe. I got us a ham, egg and cheese muffin each plus a donut and a dulce de leche croissant. Once we had finished our breakfast, I headed downstairs to get an Americano for Graham and a caramel macchiato for me. It was surprisingly quiet that day.
Not long after I came back with the coffees, the naturalist came on the public address system. This was a nice touch. When we did Alaska in 2022, we had a naturalist on Ovation, but not on Quantum. It was definitely nice to have somebody point out some features. Hubbard Glacier kind of creeps up on you. With both Tracy Arm Fjord and Endicott Arm, which we had visited on previous Alaska cruises, you were going down a long and narrow fjord for quite a while before reaching the glacier. Hubbard Glacier is much more open. There were some pretty mountains, but by the time you wonder when you start towards the glacier, it is already there. The advantage of this is that we could actually spend longer looking at the glacier. The captain did two very slow circles and stopped for a while to give both people on the port and starboard side of the ship a chance to have a good look. One of the highlights was a spit of land just next to the glacier that was home to a huge sea lion colony. That was definitely a treat. We had a great view from the Schooner Bar. The photos did not come out too well because of the tint of the glass. Still, once we had completed the first circle, I briefly went up to the pool deck where I took a couple of photos through an open window, and they were not much better. I was not too concerned though as we were visiting two glaciers the following day on a much smaller vessel, and we had another chance to see Hubbard Glacier on the way down.
Shortly after we left Hubbard Glacier, it was time for morning trivia. We scored 12 out of 20 and the winning score was 17. Trivia was very thin on the ground that day especially considering that this was essentially a sea day. They only offered morning and afternoon trivia that day.
Although it was in general slim pickings for activities that took my fancy, there was some that called me. There was a flag parade in the Centrum. Back in our Disney Cruise Line days, I always found the flag parade in the dining room on the last night of the cruise very moving. In the early days of cruising with Royal Caribbean, they had this as well. I am not entirely sure when this stopped, but I have found the recent incarnation of the “show” in the dining room with something like the Macarena or the chicken dance nothing short of irritating. However, I could not resist the temptation of a flag parade. I think doing it during the day in a public venue makes much more sense. With My Time Dining becoming increasingly popular, coordinating something like a flag parade in the dining room very difficult. This was a really nice event. At the beginning of the flag parade, the flag bearers came down the stairs into the Centrum. Once everybody was assembled, the cruise director called out each nation in turn, mentioning how many crew members came from this country and what departments they work in. I am sure the department for each crew member was not mentioned, but it gave a nice overview. I think Radiance had the most diverse crew of all the ships I sailed on. The countries with the largest representation did some kind of dance representing their culture. It was a beautiful, dignified event. I also thought it was a nice touch that they did not shy away from being slightly political. When the crew members from Ukraine came forward, the cruise director made an announcement that Royal Caribbean and the Radiance of the Seas family stands with Ukraine. It was a simple and heartfelt statement.
After the flag parade, I quickly headed up to the cabin to get my iPad. I was relieved when I found our back-to-back paperwork. I had a quick read through and then I rejoined Graham in the Schooner Bar. I read for a while and then we headed up to the solarium for some lunch at the Park Cafe.
My favourite casual lunch dish on Royal Caribbean is the roast beef kümmelweck. This not available on Voyager or Freedom class ships, but is served in the Cafe Two70 on the Quantum class ships and in the Park Cafe in the remaining classes. This normally hits the spot, and we usually have this a few times every cruise where this is on offer. I was actually surprised that it took us nearly to the end of our first cruise to have this. Well, it was once and done for this cruise. The beef lacked flavour and roll it came in could have been fresher. What we had with the roast beef kümmelweck however was a definite hit. Before cruising shut down, there was something called the tutti salad. This was offered in one of the dining rooms on sea days and was a salad bar with every salad vegetable known to humankind as well as a huge selection of proteins, toppings and dressings. You picked your ingredients and the chefs manning the area would turn it into a salad for you. I used to love this, but sadly this never returned after the restart. They did however have a mini version of this at the Park Cafe. They had about 10 different salad vegetables, two proteins, a couple of toppings and 3 or 4 types of dressing. Even with the smaller selection there was plenty to choose from and this was delicious. I realised the second week that they had a DIY version of this in the Windjammer with a slightly larger selection. After this, my lunches became a lot healthier.
We had a cup of Royal Caribbean blend at the Park Cafe and then we headed down to deck 5 to get some fresh air. It was still very wet, and it was also very windy. Even with the shelter of the Promenade Deck, it was not very pleasant out. We did not stay out very long. As we were near the photo gallery anyway, we stopped by and sorted out the photos. I had purchased a 10 prints package, and we also got a free print each. Graham helped me to round up the photos and it did not take me long to pick my prints. We took those back to the cabin. While we were there, we decided to have an afternoon nap.
I had set an alarm. When this went off, we headed down to Schooner Bar for afternoon trivia. We scored 13 out of 20 and the winning score was 15. After afternoon trivia, the pianist Anna was playing in the Schooner Bar. She was very good,and we stayed for a couple of sets. Graham had a couple of Irish Coffees, and I had a couple of desert pear margaritas.
After the second set, we headed back to our cabin and got changed for dinner. We still had some time and decided to finish off the artwork on our deck. We had checked out the artwork between our cabin and the midship elevators as we went along, but we still had the area forward of our cabin and aft of the midship elevators to do on our side of the ship and all of the other side. There were some really nice pieces of art, but unfortunately the artwork on this deck was right by the light fixtures meaning that there was a reflection on most photos. I did get some photos. I also finally got around to taking a photo of the huge hanging sculpture in the Centrum. This spans decks 7 through 11, is a wire sculpture by artists Warren Seelig and Sherrie Gibson. This suspended, triple-arched geometric form, composed of architectural mesh and radiating spokes, is meant to create an emotionally uplifting feeling, according to Seelig. I am not entirely sure if it does this, but it sure is impressive. Once we had completed our loop of deck 8, we went downstairs for dinner.
Dinner that night was the Bon Voyage menu. The menu on the first and last night of a cruise are quite similar. Graham started with the crispy seafood cake with carrot mango slaw and spicy garlic mayonnaise. I had the baked French onion soup. For his main course, Graham went with the autumn turkey dinner with mashed sweet potatoes, apple stuffing with toasted walnuts, sautéed corn and cider gravy. I kept it simple and had the spaghetti Bolognaise. For dessert, Graham had the peach trifle, and I had the warm apple cobbler with vanilla ice cream. We had our usual couple of glasses of Chateau St. Michelle Riesling with dinner. Then it was time to say goodbye to our dining team. They had been redeployed for the second cruise and we would have a different dining team.
After dinner, we headed straight to our cabin. We had an early start and a long day ahead of us. We got organised for the next day and then got ready for bed. It did not take long until we were fast asleep.
Dolphingirl’s Travels 
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