Radiance of the Seas Cruise Reviews - Reviews

We were on the March 29th, 2 night sailing out of Miami. Embarkation was stunningly quick and disembarkation was very painless. We pretty much left the ship after breakfast with no waiting.We were 4 adults in a category D balcony cabin. The room was really nicely decorated, sized right and was very comfortable. We've sailed with Carnival previously 4 times, but this was our first with Royal Caribbean. We enjoyed our Carnival trips, but let me tell you, there is definitely a difference! Every crew member that we walked by greeted us with a smile and said hello (and they all spoke english!!)The ship was absolutely beautiful! The Centrum was magnificent. The Windjammer Cafe was very classy. There were some problems with service in the Windjammer due to the storm we sailed through, but Royal Caribbean certainly made it up to us the next day. The ship was steady as a rock as we went through the storm that night, we watched it all from the Viking Crown lounge.We just can't say enough about this ship, it's really nice; lots of windows, very nice shops, great pool area and solarium, convenient sports bar next to the casino, and my favorite - the Schooner bar. If I had to point out a negative, the only thing would be that I wish the casino was a bit bigger. It got very crowded late at night. The $5 slots were very good to me during our day at sea, so I guess I really can't complain.We strongly recommend this ship to anyone considering it. The ship is just beautiful and the staff is the best we've encountered. Great job Royal Caribbean, we'll be back soon!!!Bob and PaviaOrlando, FL

The entire crew and the outright beauty of the ship made us feel welcomed. Our room was on the 3rd deck with a window and was larger than many small suites we have cruised in. The spa facilities were fabulous, steam room, sauna and the solarium. The rock climbing wall was easy to do, even for a grandma like me! We loved the self-leveling pool table-even though my husband beat me! All of the shows, save one, were fantastic. The staff made me feel like family and went out of their way to help me get into the feel of cruising, despite my rough beginnings. I especially liked the well marked ship location signs on each deck, as they made navigation of the large vessel much easier. The ship is glass dominated, even in the elevators! It was so neat to see where you were going. Large windows were even placed behind the purser's desk. It is a beautiful ship with wonderful people. My 19th cruise and the most beautiful ship yet!

Just returned from 11 night cruise, Vancouver to Honolulu. This was our 27th cruise; 4th on Rccl. We were disappointed in the ship and in the food. The entrees in the dining room "blah"; never a tender piece of beef, fish dry, lots of chicken and turkey, completely lacking in seafood. The service was outstanding though, our waiter was a little embarrassed with the quality of the food. The Windjammer (buffet) however was 5 star; good food, layout terrific so there were no bottlenecks. Even an icecream machine. Other eateries like Solarium Cafe and Seaview Cafe were nice alternatives. We had a balcony of Deck 8, nice room, but the balcony left a lot to desire. On Deck 7 beware, there is a 12 foot canopy over the lifeboats below which extends out so you cannot see. This is most strange.Rooms were comfortable and well laid out, service good.The entertainment was lack luster. The singers and dancers only performed 2 nights, first one "putrid" second one passable. Too, too loud and jumping up and down. The headliners were fabulous, Kenny James of Starsearch, The Diamonds (Little Darling & The Stroll) Embarkation and Debarkation went smoothly.Sure do hope that Royal Caribbean gets the message about the food before they lose a lot of former loyal customers. Regarding excursions: On Kauai take the Na Pali Explorer zodiac raft trip. It was one of the most exiliarating trips you could have.

The embarkation was fairly easy with little lines. The service is the best I have experienced with RCI. No Caribbean staff on this ship. Great entertainment and shows. Great children's activities.I will give you much detail if you e-mail me at eagleclass@hotmail.com

Our family got on this cruise by 'accident'... our Easter-week Celebrity Summit cruise was cancelled because of the ship's propulsion system having problems, and even though we had only one week to scramble for a new cruise, we luckily snapped up someone's cancelled quad room on Deck 7 of the Radiance. We had non-refundable flights to Florida from NY, so we had to buy 4 more tickets from Florida to San Juan, and spent an extra night in a hotel there, which added to our trip cost, but we did what we had to do to get out on a cruise ship with the kids. So, needless to say, by the time we arrived at the pier in San Juan to board, I was a nervous wreck.That was the last of my worries. We were let onto the ship (before regular boarding time, so no lines) and settled into our balcony room, and everything was great from there on in.The ship is absolutely gorgeous, tons of natural light due to everything being made of glass, including the fastest elevators I've ever had on a ship (this was our 3rd cruise, 1st on RCI). Unpacking was the only chore left, and I must say we had more efficient use of space (and a larger quad room) on the Carnival Destiny, but that was the only place where this ship fell short. I managed to find a place for everything (okay, so we dont' pack light, and we bring our own snorkel gear for all four of us, so others might not have this complaint). hahaThe main dining room is gorgeous, and we ate there every night but one, main seating was efficient, and we've never had better service ever! Our first waiter fell ill and was replaced the next night and the new one became our permanent waiter. He was great with the kids, but when my son asked about our first waiter, who had promised to teach him to fold a napkin into a certain animal, that first waiter came by the last night to show him how. I was impressed that they went out of their way like this to please a 7-year-old! Even the assistant waiter was wonderful, and this was the first time I ever MET a head waiter, much less had lengthy conversations with one. He came by every night, which was a huge change over the one on Carnival that we never even got a 'hello' from.The staff on Royal is much more classy.The shows were good, my son got taken up on stage the first night by the juggler/comedian, it was a moment we'll all remember and laugh about for years. My daughter (9) discovered the kids club and once she tried it, considered it a punishment to be taken away from it for the rest of the week! We were delighted that she enjoyed it so much. My son is a little more shy, and spent many evenings watching the shows with us, but once he tried the kids club, he was a convert as well. He also loved the miniature golf, although we didn't get a chance to try the rock wall.If you try this ship, you MUST book a night at Chopps Grill. This is a cozy little place adorned with walls of wine bottles on display, very nice, very romantic. We got to have a night alone there while the kids had a pizza party with the kids club group. We didnt try Portofino's, but the menu selections looked great.We've sailed Carnival and NCL in the past, but we're planning on cruising RCI again next year, this time on one of the 'mother ships', the Explorer of the Seas. We plan to stay with Royal, mostly for the service and for what they offer to families.

The Radiance is a beautiful ship; well planned and easily accessible. I especially liked the amount of glass all around the ship, making for wonderful vistas, especially on the Alaska cruise. This was our 7th cruise with Royal Caribbean, and we took a balcony cabin for the first time. For Alaska, it's definitely worth the extra cost. Shore excursions were very good. Food was good both in the dining room and at the buffets, though I think RC's menus are less interesting than they used to be. Service was generally good; waitstaff, room steward, and Captain were all excellent. We had a problem with tickets for one of the shore excursions which we had booked on the Internet prior to the cruise, and it was more difficult than it needed to be to rectify it. The only bad things on the cruise were embarkation (we got on fine, but some people were still waiting to board an hour after the announced sailing time) and disembarkation. Also, we had to tender in to one port; it looked like Holland America got preferential status in terms of docking space throughout the itinerary. Clearing customs in Vancouver was awful, but that wasn't RC's fault. Overall, we greatly enjoyed the cruise, and the ship is second only to Enchantment of the Seas among our favorite ships we have sailed. Highly recommend this cruise.

awesome trip, great excursions - recommend B.O.S.S to all!

wonderful with great friendly staff , would highly recommend

We booked a four stop Bahamas cruise that got re-routed for potential bad weather to a Mexico, Honduras, and Belize cruise that we could have booked at a fraction of the cost. The night before the cruise when we found out, we tried to cancel and refund our trip as the new itinerary wasn’t safe for cruising with kids if we wanted to get off the boat at the ports. Royal Caribbean wouldn’t refund us our cruise or even pay us back the difference in cost for a Bahama’s cruise as compared to the one they changed it to. We had originally chosen a cruise that was safer to walk to beaches and booked one excursion with kids. The new itinerary, we were told wasn’t safe to venture outside of most of the ports and didn’t allow children on most of the excursions. We did book one excursion on a port that had one kids could go one, but paid way more for it as we were paying a premium since we had to book it during the cruise. As a result, we were stuck on the ship for most of the cruise with very limited activities. We reserved 5:00PM seating right when we booked the cruise due to having young children who’s bedtime was during the later seating, but when we showed up for dinner they said our reservation wasn’t until later seating. After discussing it with them to no avail, we went and found the originally confirmation of our early seating and talked to another staff who did eventually get us seated and told us they would fix it for other nights. They never fixed it but after talking with different staff we got it fixed eventually. The food offered in the Windjammer was less than satisfactory. They offered the same choices almost every day for breakfast and lunch. The food wasn’t very good or seasoned. They didn’t even have barbeque sauce for chicken nuggets, but thankfully one of the food workers was kind enough to go all the way to the main dining room to grab some for us. We requested more towels three times through the QR code they said to use. We never received any of them. We had a lifeguard tell us our kid couldn’t be in the pool because she was not potty trained when she was actually potty trained. Even when we explained the situation they still refused to believe she was. The entertainment/shows were also a disappointment. The theater productions were fine, but the comedy and juggler were so terrible people sitting beside us left three minutes into the show with many following for the remainder of the show. We were disappointed there weren’t shows offered every night. We booked a room for four people and gave the ages of our children for a room that showed a king bed and pull-out couch and we were going to use a crib for our youngest. When we called to reserve the crib, they told us that our room did not have a pull-out couch but had beds that folded out from the ceiling. This is not what was pictured online when we reserved and not ideal for a two-year-old’s safety. They told us there was no other options so we had to put the two-year-old in the bed from the ceiling. When we got on the ship we were told by the room steward and supervisor that they didn’t allow children under six on the pull-down beds from the ceiling. At this point we had no other option but for our two-year-old to use this bed. Royal Caribbean knew the ages of the kids so we are not sure how this didn’t get flagged when we reserved that cabin that they switched us to one with fold-down beds without our knowledge. The best part of the cruise was definitely the staff. Our main dining room servers and they were great and helped make it a pleasant dining experience even with two young children. They went above and beyond to make sure our kid's favorite appetizers were waiting for us when we arrived to our table, and brought out extra food when they heard our kid talking about his favorite types fruit. They also brought out extra deserts to accommodate dietary restrictions. Our room stewardess was always friendly and seeking to meet any needs we had. The issues we previously discussed about trying to get towels were not her fault as she was off-duty at the times we requested so she was unaware.

Itinerary is fair. Long time to get there and back but we knew that. Ship was a big disappointment, very outdated. Staff were great. Awesome customer service. Folks with respiratory issues cannot visit the casino or reach the Aurora Theatre's (where nightly shows were presented) without dealing with the smoking in the casino. Guests should not have to be exposed to smoking.

Overall it was a great experience highlighted by the Panama Canal Transit.

Overall a very nice cruise. Excursions in Sitka, Icy Point Strait and Ketchikan were excellent. Seafood feast, salmon bake and crab feast on excursions were all excellent. Small breakout if GI issues affecting mostly guests and only 3 staff. Extra cleaning and service protocols were immediately implemented. Issue was clearly communicated by the captain. Ship is older but well maintained and clean.

We took the North bound cruise and then the South bound cruise. We feel we saw everything worth seeing but the weather limited some. If you're going to spend the money to get to Alaska we think you should spend at least two weeks there

Great experience, 3rd alaskan cruise. Land portion gave us a viewpoint of Alaska we had not seen before, saw the northern lights on the land portion and many wild animals which was great to see. Denali National Park is a must see. Aging boat with great staff that are friendly and caring

We had a wonderful time. The things that were problems were small and didn't affect our happiness. We love Royal and would cruise with them again.

Cruised with my Parents, Brother and Sister in law, Cousin and his girlfriend, and our friend. The experience was what we have come to expect from Royal Caribbean, and Alaska also did not disappoint! The Radiance is one

We had the opportunity to cruise NCL Jewel from VC to Seward, spend a few days inland and then cruise down on RC's Radiance. We feel to be in a great position to compare and contrast Norwegian vs Royal experiences on a nearly identical itinerary sailing days apart. Royal wins hands down. Rather than focus on what ncl did wrong, please allow me to share what RC did right. Radiance is properly staffed with caring and considerate staff which results in consistent service. All the food was superior from the buffet to main dining to specialty dining. Royal got preferred docking at ports where other lines had to use tinder boats. The casino fairness was much better! The entertainment was great. The ship never felt crowded. All the elevators work. The wifi was even working well. No comparison, Royal Caribbean knows how to cruise Alaska well and comfortably and safely and economically. Highly recommended!

Glad we planned all the excursions, we avoided all the main drags with their touristy shops and went straight out to the wilderness, water, flora and fauna.

Overall a wonderful cruise, the only issue was the day there were only two functioning elevators to get off the ship in Sitka. This was challenging with a wheel chair.

This was our bucket list cruise to Alaska. We enjoyed this cruise. It lived up to all the hype I have heard about a cruise to Alaska. It was beautiful. The ship was great and the only issue we had was not enough to ruin our cruise. If you have not taken an Alaskan cruise, put it on your list.