9 Nights Wasn’t Enough! Radiance of the Seas is a Great Smaller Ship!

Item: Radiance of the Seas
Rating: 4.5
Author: joeberry9871

Radiance of the Seas Cruise Review

joeberry9871

Contributor Level: Purser

285 Days Till Next Cruise

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 3

Overall rating:

4.5 out of 5

9 Night Western Caribbean (Galveston Roundtrip)

Sail date: February 09, 2023

Ship: Radiance of the Seas

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 1510

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 1 year ago

Review summary

Enjoyed daily trivia in Schooner Bar and all food.

Embarkation

5 out of 5

Great new terminal in Galveston. Everyone, and I do mean everyone, had such a great attitude and were very pleasant and the boarding process was a breeze.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5

Sorrento's Pizza

4 out of 5

Park Cafe was the late spot on the ship for snacks, desserts, and pizza. Opened at 9:00 PM and closed at 1:00 AM.

Cascades Dining Room

5 out of 5

Main dining room was great for dinner. Mostly great for breakfast. Average for lunch. Had 5:30 PM dinner reservations and the wait staff was fantastic and the food was delicious. Average time for dinner was 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Windjammer Marketplace

5 out of 5

Never ate dinner at the Windjammer, but the breakfast and lunches were great. The quality of the buffet food has improved on this ship since the last time that I sailed on her in 2019. Ice cream machine worked as it should and was a favorite dessert snack anytime of the day.

Quill & Compass

5 out of 5

Great drink selections, attentive waiters, and the music was some of the best on the ship. Aaron did an awesome job entertaining the crowd every night and the place was packed inside and out each and every night that he performed.

Onboard Activities

4 out of 5

Gift Shop

3 out of 5

Limited gifts. Could use more options and selections.

Solarium

4 out of 5

Nice area, bar, Park Cafe, padded seats. Pool was never overly full. Cons are that it was too warm in there most of the time and there is only 1 small hot tub.

Pool

4 out of 5

Wish the pool was bigger, but knew going in that it wasn’t. Still was able to enjoy it a couple of days, as well as the hot tubs. Surprisingly, didn’t have any issues with getting a reclining chair when I wanted one.

Logo Souvenir Shop

3 out of 5

Was disappointed that the most popular Radiance T-shirt’s only came in small and medium sizes.

Jogging Track

5 out of 5

Great view as you walk around the ship on the 12th deck. Much better than walking on a treadmill.

Dunes Mini Golf

4 out of 5

Fun 9 hole course to play on sea days.

Entertainment

4 out of 5

Cinema

5 out of 5

Watched Top Gun Maverick in the theater and the place was packed. Not a seat was left open. Great set up with the stadium seating, good size screen for the size of the room and good sound quality. Only negative was no popcorn was available.

Centrum

4 out of 5

Mixed bag here. Some of the entertainment was just okay. The Top Notch band was awesome! The games were fun. The staff rock show the last night was outstanding. The captain did a great job singing Mustang Sally, Queen, and Bon Jovi.

Aurora Theater

4 out of 5

Overall the shows were good. The Piano Man was great, the hypnotist was okay, the comedian was okay for first show, and was better for adult show. Missed a couple of other shows due to scheduling. Love and Marriage was great as always!

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Staff was great all over the ship, from guest services, to photo gallery, to NextCruise, to bar tenders, to bathroom attendants. Everyone had such a great attitude. Rosevelt (from India) was our head waiter and stopped by to check on us at least twice per evening to make sure we were happy with our food and service. Sheila (from Kenya) was our waitress and went above and beyond each and every night. Raffy was our stateroom attendant and was funny, quick to help with any issues and did a great job with our rooms.

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

We like this older, smaller ship. Easy to get around the ship and easy to figure out routes to get from point A to point B. We are now empty nesters and don’t need the bigger family oriented larger ships to have fun. We’ve been on this ship before when in Alaska and it was just as much fun for the western Caribbean.

Cabin / Stateroom

4 out of 5

Spacious enough for the 2 of us and we did use the balcony a fair amount. Wish there were outlets at the night stands for charging phones and smart watches. A/C worked good. Plenty of lighting. Wish the shower curtain was upgraded to a door.