We did our first cruise over Christmas 1999 on Grandeur of the Seas (Eastern Carib), then two on Princess (Alaska & Southern Carib), so my husband and I (61 and 55) decided to try RCI again for the Western Carib route. Overall, we had a fabulous time!

Radiance is indeed "radiant" - very pretty ship, but could tell that it's ready for some refurbishing. Chairs in some of the public areas are quite worn, and there were a number of nicks on our stateroom vanity (as could be expected). We were told that it's going into drydock at the beginning of April, hope they also are going to replace the outdated draperies so they match the clean-looking (and comfortable) bedding. We really liked the dEcor in the Centrum and Colony Club, as well as the other public areas, along with all the glass everywhere. We thought the outside elevators were very cool, but could see that anyone who has trouble with glassed-in elevators would have to take the forward elevators (or stairs) to get anywhere on the ship. The Solarium was relaxing and the outside pool area a fun place to people-watch.

Our balcony stateroom was all we expected. We were on Deck 8, port side, 2nd stateroom aft of the Centrum. Did not get any noise from the elevators or stairs, or from the stateroom connected to ours. We loved the location, and, because we were at the end of the "hump", had a little bigger, pie-shaped balcony. We spent time out there playing cribbage in the afternoons. We were reminded how efficiently RCI makes use of storage space in the staterooms, particularly all the shelving around and next to the vanity. Had plenty of room to spare for the two of us. Our attendant, Henderson, was unobtrusive, but very efficient (the room was spotless) and responded quickly to the requests we made (e.g., robe for my husband, pool towels, ice). Read more