Radiance of the Seas

It was a very good cruise. The extra day at sea after Tauranga is absolutely NOT NECESSARY. Being in New Zealand for 10 days it would have been nice to invite a local Maori show on board.

Radiance has a wonderful personality with very helpful and friendly staff. The on board activities are typical for a smaller ship. If the Activity Director, John Blair, performs his salute to Neil Diamond be sure to see this! We ate every dinner in the main dining room because the food and service was excellent. Will definitely cruise on this ship again!

This was our first cruise with Royal Carribean and will certainly be our first choice for future cruises. They did an excellent job in all areas of the cruise. The Entertainment and Cruise directors did an excellent job in making the cruise a really fun experience. Their daily show on the cabin TVs talking about the upcoming activities for the day was really helpful. The Neil Diamond show starring the cruise director was excellent. Hope they make this show a regular part of the entertainment shows. The condition of the ship’s public areas and our balcony cabin was spotless. So impressed by the general condition of the ship. Other outstanding part of the cruise was how friendly and helpful all the cruise staff was in the cabin areas, open bars, the speciality restaurants, and the main dining room. Our table waiters for the main dining room were outstanding. They anticipated our every need and were so fun with their short stories every dining night. Also loved the “towel animals” we had waiting for us on our bed at the end of the day. Very impressed with the efficiency and professionalism of the embarcation and disembarcation processes. Only suggestion would be that two days be spent on Kauai, and eliminate Kona as a stop. Just not that much to experience at Kona. One other thing that would be nice to have on the first day of the cruise would be an introduction to the ship and the facilities as well as a tour of the public areas and main and optional dining areas by the cruise director, similar to the daily compass activities show.

All in all, a nice cruise -- had decent weather, and enjoyed the beautiful sights. The onboard staff was amazing ... and they made a suitable big fuss over my spouse's birthday. Do be prepared for the 18% "gratuity" that is automatically added to your bill ... since the staff was so good, we did not dispute it, but plan on it adding about $30/day to your cost of the cruise (for 2 sharing a cabin).

Our waiters in the dining room were fantastic!!! Angelo & Iwayne were very friendly & took care of us wonderfully. Very professional but very accommodating as well.