Let’s begin with a photo of Radiance’s bow. Here she is docked in Vancouver with a thousand-person crew awaiting the arrival of two thousand guests. Becky and I had to get permission from security guards to get to the point where we took this photo. Security was pretty tight. We must have passed through four security checkpoints prior to actually boarding this beautiful vessel.

What’s that thingamagig just under the surface in front of the ship? If you know, please me and I’ll add that tidbit to this space.

Here’s a photo of Radiance’s main pool area. Notice the shallow shoulders of the pool. Like on other ships we’ve enjoyed, you can get your feet wet without having to change into a swimsuit. We didn’t swim here even once, though. There’s something about Alaska’s climate that thwarts one’s desire to swim in the open air. We took this photo as Radiance was pulling away from the dock in Vancouver and setting sail for Juneau.

We’d just passed under Vancouver’s Lion’s Gate Bridge in this photo. A handful of pedestrians watched Radiance pass under them. The circular, glass-enclosed structure is the Sea View Café. We seldom saw any exhaust emanating from Radiance’s smokestacks. Radiance is powered primarily by a General Electric gas turbine engine that’s similar the the engines that power the McDonnell-Douglas DC-10.

Here’s a pretty cool shot of Radiance’s atrium. Here you can see the ship’s glass elevators, the very top of her signature sculpture, lots of observation nooks, and a bar at the bottom-right of the photo. I believe the chairs were placed for an art auction. I don’t know what art auctions have to do with sailing, but there’ve been art auctions each of our five cruises. It’s was pretty neat to be able to look down and see the junction of all those decks.

Here’s the glass through which I took the previous photo. Notice the beautiful wood trim. This looking glass is located in the Crown & Anchor Room on Deck Eleven.