Radiance of the Seas Review

Not what we expected from Royal Caribbean

Review for Hawaii Cruise on Radiance of the Seas
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TheCruisingQueen
6-10 Cruises • Age 50s

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Sail Date: Apr 2014
Traveled with children

Reflecting on this cruise, I must say that my family and I are never sailing on the Radience and are skeptical on even sailing with Royal Caribbean again. We are Platinum members of the Crown and Anchor Society, and found that there weren't many perks offered other than a few invitations to a gathering for all members. On other lines, such as Celebrity, being apart of the Captain's Club gives you many exclusive offers. The embarkation process was mostly smooth, we boarded later in the afternoon as the ship was not leaving Honolulu until 10 pm. First appearances of the ship were nice of the lobby, however the Windjammer seemed a little outdated and most areas of the ship seemed dirty or grundgy, shocking to us as the ship had just seen a refit in 2011. We had a junior suite that was nicely sized however the couch in the room which turned into a bed at night definitely needed replacement as there were many stains on it, it was worn out, and it seemed dusty. The pool area was one pool and two hot tubs outdoor, which was alright, and for cooler days there was the solarium consisting of a few hot tubs and a main swimming pool with warmer water. However on the cooler days if you're not there early enough people will start reserving chairs at 6 am . We enjoyed the Chops Grille restaurant, as well as Giovanni's table, and Izumi. We found that these restaurants were not as good as what we had on the Allure of the Seas. Since the crowd was mostly older retired people, with a mix of adults and children/teens, most of the lively areas at night were dead. I assume that this would depend on itineraries and on shorter cruises is when you'd find more younger people to fill these areas.The shops and casino area were decent, however I found not much activities on board to keep people entertained, especially on the five sea days we had. Cruise director was hardly to be seen. I used the spa a few times as well, nice treatments but quite pricy. Staff were a mix between friendly and caring, to the downright rude. We found staff, such as officers, were the rudest of all. At the end we are the guests and the paying customers and the way they treated us, like we were in some jail, was ridiculous and RCCL will be hearing from me about that. We liked the ports selected on this cruise, and one day would sail to Hawaii again in the long term future. Overall I would rate the cruise experience a 2/5, and you'll never find us on the Radience again, as well as we will not be sailing on any Royal Caribbean ships other than the Freedom and Oasis Class.

Cabin Review

Needs a refit.

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