Royal Faulty Towers on the High seas
Radiance of the Seas Cruise Review to South Pacific
9 Night South Pacific (Sydney Roundtrip)
Sail date: December 20, 2013
Ship: Radiance of the Seas
Cabin type: Oceanview
Cabin number: 9556
Traveled as: Family (young children)
Reviewed: 10 years ago
Review summary
~~Faulty Towers on the high seas the conclusion was that we were wanting a family vacation for Christmas but got a poor and mediocre one as well very expensive . If we had gone to Hayman island Resort in the Whitsundays for a week for the monies spent we would have had great holiday. Royal Caribbean Radiance of the seas is not worth the monies that we spent plus ancillary & on board drinks, extra to have freshly squeezed juices US$12.00, no washing facilities but to iron three shirts cost of US $13,95. Windjammer café buffet food for breakfast and lunch was extremely of poor quality, burnt toast sitting under heat lamp hard as a rock, scrambled eggs pre-mixed from large tetra pack, buffet breakfast soft boiled eggs overcooked and cold, the hot buffet most food items were not hot.Drink station in the Windjammer served orange juice concentrate terrible,percolated coffee is barely drinkable, tea bags are of poor quality,Jane had to use several to get any flavour to make her tea. Breakfast when open in Cascades main dinning room renamed Brasserie 30 was good at times; if you order cooked breakfast,it was served hot but otherwise of the same poor quality of food. Specialty restaurants which we paid for extra fees for three persons were somewhat better Izumi was the outstanding one with Japanese fusion inspired, Giovanni's the Italian restaurant was also second best, the food was good for Italian food on a ship, Chops Grille which they call the finest steak on the high sea in the brochure was mediocre unable to cook our steaks the fillet Mignon medium came well done, and the rare fillet Mignon came medium but the least inspiring experience was the Samba Grill the food was mediocre and our son love the light seating on our table for table service with different multi-colour lights. We had problems with our stateroom as we first came on board, the cleanliness and maintenance was poor, soiled pillows, black hairs in mattress & bed linen,the toilets were not working for three days in a row but the problem was attended promptly when we told our room attendant, fecal smells were permeating throughout most of decks.The ship Radiance of the seas is need of a good refurbishment, the only thing new in our stateroom was the flat screen TV as per Royal Caribbean Australian holidays brochure.The experience that we had was very disappointing due the fact our concerns were not met straight away and the guest relations Manager Shawn Jones just paid lip service to us and ignored us, the Hotel Director Mr Alistair Burnett would not see us either and front office Manager Tracey dido. We couldn't wait to get off the ship on Sunday get our flight back home spoke to several other passengers on bus for the transfer to Sydney Airport who had similar concerns and some stated that we would not cruise again with Royal Caribbean.For my view point has an hospitality professional and having worked on cruise ship, they were no standards, no discipline on board especially for safety at sea during our drill in Sydney port, none of the Hotel senior officers could be seen during the busy periods, service was not provided, items on menus and wine list were missing or out of stock such champagnes and wines and many food items in the main dinning room daily menus, security was lacks & extremely poor, rowdy under-age drunk teenagers and adults on board.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
Onboard Activities
Entertainment
Children's Programs
Service and Staff
Ship Quality
Cabin / Stateroom
Ship tip
What was supposed to be a Christmas great vacation on board allegedly a great ship .The experienced on board was mediocre and the ship is need of a refurbishment our stateroom was in tired & worn apart from a new flat screen TV.
Ports of call
Noumea, New Caledonia Did not visit port
Lifou Isle, New Caledonia Did not visit port
Isle Of Pines (Ile Des Pins), New Caledonia Did not visit port