Review of Radiance of the Seas 10/09

We boarded the ship around noon at San Diego and the process was crowded but not disorganized. We took our roller bags to the stevedore who had his back turned to the passengers so we along with others placed our things in the cart and departed without a tip. We had lunch in the Windjammer and then walked off the ship to enjoy San Diego a bit more. We decided to take the ferry to Coronado Island which departs from a dock a few hundred feet from the cruise ship terminal. We returned in time for the lifeboat drill which was handled differently than on other cruise ships. Life jackets were not required and passengers ignored requests to stop drinking and talking on cell phones. Radiance just didn't seem to be taking the drill seriously at least at our life boat station number 9. Eventually, an elderly lady with a cane yelled at everyone to "Be quiet!".

We had been assigned the late seating for dinner but for Eastern Time zone people that just doesn't work so we reported to the "My Time" dinner area where we were informed that this option had to be selected at the time of booking and was now filled. I appealed this decision up three levels without success so we left furious to eat in the Windjammer. Our absolutely top pleasure on cruises is to eat dinner in a main dining room. Also, we were shocked at the inflexibility of this very misnamed "My time" dining option. The following morning I started up the chain of command where I had left off and again got nowhere. If the ship's first stop would have been a US port I would have packed up and left although my dear wife would have probably talked me out of it. Read more