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Currently sitting in the Colony Club Lounge on the last night of a 16 night cruise Sydney - New Zealand - Sydney. 26 degrees c, clear blue sky, virtually moored alongside the Sydney Harbour Bridge on one side with the Opera house on the other. Absolutely the most outstanding view and a fitting end to a great experience on Radiance of the Seas.
The ship was dressed for Xmas with highlights on every deck, a two deck high Xmas tree was a feature of the Centrum - The Yanks sure know how to do Xmas, except they still do mashed spuds for Xmas dinner!
The ship is in great condition following a recent update. All our previous cruises have been with Oceania with much smaller ships and we were intrigued to see how we would react to a much larger ship with lots of children. It was not a problem even during extended time at sea.
The Xmas and New Year events and activities were a great success and it would appear to be a great option for many families. Royal Caribbean seems to agree as next year they are introducing a larger Voyager class ship for this cruise.
Generally a great experience, excellent food in the main dining area, a bit of a bun fight in the buffet, Windjammer, with average food selections. The big problem is embarkation, it is an absolute mess and for a company that must have a lot of experience boarding large ships their Sydney effort was awful - 3 hours standing in a queue,mostly in the open, will be a total nightmare if it rains. Boarding time was extended by two hours after a similar experience a month earlier but did not seem to make any difference. Big tip for any boarding in Sydney - don't even think about turning up until the last half hour.
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