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Home from the Radiance...........

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sailinglisa

By sailinglisa
in Royal Caribbean

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sailinglisa

sailinglisa

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And not really happy about it. Overall an excellent cruise with a couple of minor exceptions. I loved the Radiance - the ship is gorgeous! But, the pool area is too small for the number of passengers on board. The Solarium was wonderful! Food was hit or miss for dinner in the dining room - the Windjammer was great for breakfast - never went their for lunch or supper. Seaview Cafe was really good, but could they have put it in a more remote spot (deck 12 aft - only access to it was from the outside in 90+ degree heat and high humidity.) Why put such a gem of a place so far out of the way? Chops was excellent as usual (even if I did get ill between being hurt and the motion of the ocean and miss my dessert.) We went to the Murder Mystery dinner in Portofino's and the food there is excellent also! We paid $49 per person for this, but it was a four hour experience with all champagne and wine included (all you can drink) with a somewhat fixed menu (antipasta platter, Ceasar salad, choice of 3 entrees - chicken parmigiana, fillet of beef or a seafood one and Portofino's version of Tiramisu - excellent!) and the dinner show. The cast asked for audience participation and they got more than they asked for - they will never be the same!

The crew was the friendliest one I have ever seen on any of my 15 crusies - always a smile and a hello, and everyone I encountered once remembered my name from that point on. Everything was "of course!" or "as soon as possible, Miss Lisa!" One exception was our dining room waiter - a bit distant til the last night, but when he finally loosened up a bit, he was great - too bad he wasn't that way the whole cruise. His assistant was a gem - Hi George from Poland - he knew how to take care of a table of 10 women on a girls cruise. My room stewardess, Patricia, was the best one I've had on any of my cruises. Always available; any request was met promptly, and she went above and beyond one night when I was hurt which earned her double the usual tip (more on that later.) Bar tenders and the waiters/waitresses in either of the places I frequented (Schooner Bar and Singapore Slings) were fantastic. I think this all comes down from the Captain - Rune Lokling - what a wonderful person he is! I spoke with many crew and entertainment staff who absolutely love working under him. To a person they say he is fun and caring and has a great sense of humor, but behind the scenes he has the flashlight out and is peeking into the smallest corners and darkest areas to make sure that everything is at it's top form. All I know is that he made our group laugh over and over with his announcements from the bridge............and his cake decorating skills leave a lot to be desired, but his personal interaction with the passengers is tops. The cruise director, Keiron Buffrey, actually had some jokes that I had never heard before (I didn't know Harley made toilets.....) and was most approachable and funny.

I was in a balcony cabin on the hump (9580) and I loved the cabin! Unlimited view forward and a clear view down to the ocean (non-hump balcony cabins on the sides of the ship have a view of the white cover over the life boats.) Very easy access to the centrum elevators and most public areas of the ship. Not noisy at all except for one night when the ship was really rocking - then there was a lot of squeaking and other noises in the cabin - but I expect that in any cabin when the seas are that rough. Room was large with a queen size bed, full size sofa, lots of storage and a bathroom that rivals with Princess for being one of the smallest ever. Oh well, at least my toilet worked the whole week.

Just a couple of negatives - the Radiance has not received the upgraded bedding yet - and it shows! The bed was the most uncomfortable I have ever had - thank goodness my room stewardess found an egg crate topper for me, which helped considerably, but after my last cruise (Carnival Liberty) the mattress and bedding left a lot to be desired. The other negative is that in the Solarium, there is beautiful tiling all around the pool and hot tub area - but it is very slippery. I slipped on the wet tile the first full day of the cruise and ended up not just with bruises and scrapes, I pulled a ligament in the back of my left knee. It was one of those injuries that when it first happens, you think everything is ok (scrape and bruise - I can live with that), but about 4 hours later my leg started hurting and I could barely straighten my leg out after sitting for any period of time. I went to dinner and ended up leaving because my leg hurt so much - I went to the purser's desk and Steele took my report and then called my room stewardess. Well, she showed up as soon as I got back to my room -she brought me plastic bags, and kept refilling the extra ice bucket - she checked on my hourly til her shift was over. By the end of the cruise, I was/am 95% recovered. My only suggestion to RCCL would be to place some non-skid strips on the tile near the hot tubs and solarium pool. If they had been there, I would not have slipped and fell (and it was my fault - turned to fast on the tile, but the strips would have prevented my feet from sliding so much.)

This was my 3rd RCCL cruise and my 15th overall. I will cruise with RCCL again - but never on anything larger than the Radiance class. We were in three ports with the Freedom and it is just TOO BIG!

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Lisa63

Lisa63

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Welcome home, Lisa. Sorry to hear of your injury. I've found that some lines handle the areas around the pools well, but others tend to ignore it. It's so hard to see the slippery spots when you're walking. Hope you're back to 100% soon.

And, thank you for the review. Excellent tips on cabin selection, by the way.

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