Radiance of the Seas Review

4.0 / 5.0
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Review for Hawaii Cruise on Radiance of the Seas
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stormystar
6-10 Cruises • Age 60s

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Sail Date: Sep 2013

We chose this cruise from Vancouver to Honolulu to celebrate our 35th wedding anniversary due to timing and embarkation port (we live in Vancouver). Embarkation was very quick. We arrived at the port by provate vehicle around 10:30 a.m. and were on the ship just after 11:00 a.m. It was our first time cruising with Royal Caribbean. We have cruised 5 times with HAL and once with NCL. We had a balcony cabin on the "hump" which was wonderful. The 5 sea days crossing the Pacific Ocean had some rollers, but neither my husband nor I were affected by them, but there were a few "dot people" observed around the ship. We purchased the Premium Beverage Package and it was a great deal for us. We tried a few different libations that we otherwise would probably not have ordered. The bartender in the Champagne Bar (Adam) was exceptional...we enjoyed his conversation and we had a real group of regulars who would come together at the bar for pre/post dinner cocktails.

We did not use the Casino so am unable to comment on it other than to say that the smoke kept us away from it. One thing that was a negative with RCL is that robes are not included with every stateroom. I believe if you are a regular cruiser with RCL then you get them for free, otherwise, if you want one, you have to buy it for $50 (approx.). Who wants to purchase a robe if it is going to take up room in your bag going home, not to mention the extra weight? As we were approaching Hilo after 5 days at sea, I got dressed and went out on the balcony just after 6:00 a.m. to watch us approaching land, only to see a fellow on the balcony one deck above me IN HIS UNDERWEAR! Really? Also, we would order coffee from room service to enjoy on our balcony, but would also have to get dressed before opening the stateroom door. On both HAL and NCL, the robes are included in every stateroom, as they should be in my opinion. The only other negative from our stateroom, was a noise that our toilet made for a couple of nights. It would be fine during the day, and then at night (12:00 - 2:00) it would make a horrendous noise. It took two nights for them to fix the problem, but they did.

The buffet in the Windjammer Café was not bad, HAL is better, in our opinion. The dining room was good for the most part, however, I did order a Caesar Salad with chicken that was under the entre section and it was pathetic...romaine hearts still with the stock attached, a small piece of breaded chicken and a drizzle of dressing. Is it too tough to cut up the lettuce and toss it with the dressing? We bought the Dining Package which included Chops Grille, Giovanni's, Izumi & Samba Grill. Chops Grille was excellent, and the only Specialty restaurant we would bother with again, should we cruise with RCL again. Giovanni's was not great...my husband had lamb chops of which 2 out of the 4 chops were so tough, he couldn't eat them. I was disappointed to hear the waiter after dinner, tell us that they serve lasagna on the menu for lunch, as that was what I would have preferred to order for my dinner. Izumi was just OK for us. My husband enjoyed the sashimi, but the "Hot Rock" where we had to cook 2 chicken kabobs and 2 beef kabobs on the rock wasn't great. We had to take the morsels off the skewer in order to make sure the chicken was cooked through. Samba Grill was way to much meat. They serve 9 different courses of meats but we had to quit after 6.

Cabin Review

We had an E2 Balcony cabin on the "hump" which was mid ship deck 7. We had a bigger balcony than most, and had an awesome view facing the bow. The shower was pretty small, but was OK. We had a problem with our toilet making a horrendous noise in the middle of the night for a couple nights, but maintenance was able to fix it eventually. We only got "towel animals" every other night, whereas we have had them every night on NCL and HAL.

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