Embarkation:  Embarkation was, frankly, a mess - tide issues delayed disembarkation of the previous cruise, creating a two hour delay in EVERYTHING, including the muster drill and depature.  I don't fault RCCL for the delay, but they could have handled some parts better - for example, having staff in the parking garage explaining why there was a line wrapping AROUND THE PARKING DECK and how to safely get a porter to take your luggage with the traffic (vehicular and pedestrian); having all chairs set out in advance in the holding area, rather than putting them up as they ran out, which created issues when they started to call folks in for check in (presumably, given where you were sitting, by when you arrived at the pier).  People's attitudes didn't help much, either.  To the very cranky Diamond cruiser who wanted to jump ahead of everyone else:  was your vacation that undone by the delay?  When they say that embarkation starts at noon, there's a reason.  Don't be cranky if you get there early and have to wait because of an unforeseen problem.

Cabin:  3447, large interior.  The usual oversized walk-in closet RCCL passes off for an interior cabin.  The finishes, while in decent shape, are showing their fashion age and wear - blond woods and faux bronze.  If I were redesigning the space, I would rethink either the shape of the bed or the length of the desk/vanity area - there is not enough space to get around that side of the bed without catching an ankle on the base woodwork - or just push the bed to the side as in the Sovereign class, and admit that it's a small cabin.  As the ship had recently repositioned from Asia, we still had the electric water pots for in-room tea.   LOVED THAT!  That should be standard on all cabins.  However, they should ditch the Lipton version of Earl Grey tea - it's about as Earl Grey as flat diet Coke.   Really missed the interactive TV we had on Jewel (our last RCCL sailing). 

Michael was our cabin steward - friendly, articulate (while we don't make a big deal of the fact that many service staff speak with a heavy accent, having someone who we could easily understand was a lovely plus), eager to please, with great attention to detail.  Apparently, I blew through (no pun intended) enough Kleenex because of my rampant allergies that, our first night, he brought me an additional box of tissues and put them on my side of the bed.  Radiance still has the icky fabric shower curtains that tend to contain the faint whiff of mildew at first, though the smell dissipated during the week: they need to ditch them altogether or wash them more regularly.   Read more