Radiance deserves its name
Radiance of the Seas Cruise Review to Caribbean - Eastern
Contributor Level:
Deck Hand
Cruises: 1 cruise (first)
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 2
Sail date: January 01, 2008
Ship: Radiance of the Seas
Cabin type: Balcony
Traveled as: Couple
Reviewed: 16 years ago
Review summary
The cruise was amazing. Pretty much from the day we got back my wife and I have been wanting to go on another...but it's kinda hard to work and cruise at the same time. We cringe every time we see a Royal Caribbean commercial come on because we want to go back so badly. We enjoyed pretty much everything. The massive amounts of windows and observation areas were really nice to look out of. The ship wasn't as lit up at night as the Carnival ships so stargazing on the Helipad was a frequent must. The wait staff was probably the best I've ever had in my life. Add to that, the people we got to sit with during the dining period were really great. We still exchange e-mails with them. All of the excursions we went on were enjoyable and shopping in open air markets on St. Maartin was fun. The most enjoyable excursion by far though was the Dolphin Encounter in the Bahamas. It was very awesome and we were smiling for the rest of the day. It's a smaller ship than the newer Royal Caribbean ships and that was nice. We never really felt overcrowded and enjoyed the anonymity afforded by the cruise. We developed little routines like Sudoku time (sadly RC didn't provide Sudoku one day) and midnight brownies (I gained 7 pounds...oops). I wasn't really ever affected too terribly by the movement of the ship, but one night was pretty bad when we were traveling flat out on the first cruising day. I thoroughly enjoyed the entertainment and the cruise director was always good fun. The Radiance of the Seas made a believer out of me and I would definitely reccomend it to anyone wanting to go on a cruise. Our ship seemed nicer than any of the ones we encountered at ports (except for maybe the Disney ship which had a massive TV on the deck that we could watch from our cabin) and if not nicer then more homey. We got to see the Liberty of the Seas and I looked at some of the stuff online about it. It's a crazy ship that was MUCH larger than the Radiance. 4000+ compared to our 2300. So I was really pleased with the feel of the Radiance. It got to feel very comfortable, everyone was nice, the environment was nice and the size was just right.Ship experiences
Food and Dining
The food was great. There were plenty of choices wherever you went. Some nights though the Dinner in the Cascades wasn't quite enough, but that's okay because the cafe had MASSIVE brownies to fill me up.
Entertainment
Cruise director did an amazing job of coordinating, informing, and entertaining all at once. Simon, even though he's from England, is an incredible personality.
Service and Staff
The staff was amazing. The wait staff was the best I've ever had. If you get the opportunity ask for Nina and Lun. Great people.
The stateroom attendant was also incredible with ninja like skills to clean up the room and clown like skills to make towel animals.
Ship Quality
The ship was incredible. The views were constantly awe inspiring and the ship soon felt like a home away from home. There wasn't enough time in the 8 days on the cruise to fully enjoy all of the fun to be had on the ship.
Cabin / Stateroom
Excellent stateroom quality for the size, but we knew about the size of the cabin rooms beforehand and there was plenty of room to do everything we needed in there. The only complaint is that the shower curtain was basically tissue paper and let water through very easily. Other than that our stateroom attendants were very nice and probably had spy cameras in the hallways to see when we would leave.
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