A bit like a care home especially the lounge areas. A lot of elderly people with their carers on board and ambulance often waiting at the dockside. Some good points and some bad. It certainly would not suit everyone this ship or the type of people. This review in 3 sections. 1. the Good 2. The Bad and 3. Some other general observations GOOD: Classic elegant salons Small ship - easy to get around Good service Uncluttered well designed interior Informative lectures Clear TV screen in cabin Good drinks prices. Good docking locations - due to small ship. Quick and easy to get off Good choice of wines Lovely library Some very interesting Norwegian works of art throughout ship No children Reasonably priced excursions THE BAD Amateurish shows including comedian Bad smells Maintenance work Average food Lack of friendly personable staff - extremely perfunctorily manner. Bored Only Stella lager on tap and Boddingtons beer Extremely unfriendly future sales - some kind of issue here Catastrophic port talks, the worst I've ever experienced Old peoples home atmosphere Very class based - various comments made - I.e. by comedian - reference to 'High Brow’ A Rough old crowd Extremely slow walkers Lack of current and/or forecasted weather conditions on in cabin screen Inaccurate Google Maps weather info on in cabin screen. 2nd restaurant sitting quite late @ 2100 2nd show sitting quite late @ 2230 Library can get very crowded. Strange games being played. Some general Observations: * There was Noise issue during 3 of the lectures which included the game of quoits as general maintenance work. I informed the GS about this in good time but they took a long time to stop the noise. Unacceptable. Even less acceptable was that they repeated the disruption on subsequent lectures and had to go to GS AGAIN to ask them to stop the noise. * Yellow water from taps * Guest Services seemed unable to take decisions or act with efficiency and basically not very happy with their job * Sticky handrails * Coaches not at ship in good time due to security at Casablanca delaying disembarkation. This should have been anticipated. Not good enough. * No current or forecasted weather conditions on TV * Google maps ship locator TV screen showed inaccurate information such as weather * Some girls lack warmth and performed duties with perfunctory boredom. * The port talks extremely poor - the worst I've ever experienced. * Guest Services - somewhat insolent. Not understanding questions. Impatient, tired, unsmiling. * Garden Cafe - matre D very good. But still there's a detectable uneasy malaise * Bookshelf Cafe - surly personal * No apology for maintenance wk * Special mention to staff of Observations bar plus William Rodriguez. Plus Chandra. Read Less

Just back from 14 nights cruise to Lerwick, Faroes Islands (best part) all the way round Iceland then to 3 ports in Norway (why always Bergen?). Rough seas for the better part of the cruise and this is the height of summer. The heavy sky and bad weather was very dramatic in the Faroes. But the rest of the cruise very same. how many times can you see Bergen in a life time? Being a wheelchair user 24/7 I can not recommend HAL ... there wheelchair cabins ..we had 390 on deck 6 is a joke. no gap between end of bed and fixtures, so if you want to use the toilet you have no hope. OK after 6 days Hal changed the bed around but only after writing to the hotel director and having a meeting with him. boy talk about slow. Wheelchair user? forget it, how about disembarkation in a port for Deck 5? boy that is some ramp and steep. Normally Deck 3 is bad enough. Poor planning by HAL. Tolets backed up over and over. Norovirus was on the ship again. It arrived in Harwich for passengers getting on to be given a letter telling them that had just disembarked cases.. now I read that a few weeks back on a cruise review. HAL does not have a handle on it. Wash your hands over and over, But the crew just walk on and off the ship with no hand wash.. I complained, but it carried on. This ship has problems health wise. It is off to P & O soon so it will be there problem then. Good parts? yes the food was very good. the cakes to die for. crew helpful on the whole. But few waiters on the pool area on Ledo deck.. 2 waiters behind bar, but only one coming out to the public... perhaps he does not want to catch anything? The cafe (expensive coffee had the machine down for two days).. but the internet has to be the worse.. worse than Costa or Celebrity.. even had credit when we docked as unable to get connections. Poor tendering in Heimaney in Western Islands, Iceland still issuing tickets at 1.30 in the afternoon for people to get off from arrival at 8 a.m. and everyone back on board by 3.30? some joke. only a limited number of tenders working. Perhaps they do not need that many boats in an evacuation? but at Harwich lifeboat drill you get your cabin number called.. ticked off as present.. but the best bit this is just before sailing and coaches are still rolling up dock side full.. perhaps that is were cabin 666 was? still on the coach. not well organised and did not give me a safe feeling. They will say they were checking those late arrivals off..yep OK if that is what they say. Avoid deck 6 Port side.. noise from rolling trollies in kitchen about all day and up to about midnight... of chipping tiles off the floor on deck 7 for 6 hours solid while in Port. painting everything.. good.. but wondered where the hand rails went when taken off at start of cruise never to come back. lots of rope to stop you looking over the Starboard side. Did I mention the food? yes I did, well worth saying again it was good. expensive drinks on this ship. if you can get one... even in the Rotterdam dining room only one wine waiter? never saw him for the start of the food service, arrived about pudding time. Nice mix of passengers, some from Australia, Israel, Far east and of course the USA and the UK... even heard some South Africans. Read Less

We are semi-regular cruisers with RCCL, with Platinum status. We last cruised with them in 2012 (Serenade around the Med). I am mobility disabled and typically travel with my husband. This is a long review, apologies. Ship - I find the Radiance is a good size if you are not a keen walker; you can get from one end of the ship to the other in fairly quick time and everything seems within a decent distance. Usual bars, with the welcome new addition of a pub layout to replace the sports bar, and three included meal locations (MDR, Windjammer and Park Café). Whilst overall the ship was well maintained and very clean, we noticed various areas where the recent "refit" had not had an effect eg damage/peeling paint on top floor of theatre. Cabin - we were in 7114, which is a disabled balcony E3 cabin. Hence you have more space and a walk in shower - this was very helpful. Whilst the cabin was kept very clean and tidy, we did have a couple of small problems - our attendant did not seem confident in her towel animals and we only got two through the whole cruise, plus the balcony door was consistently left closed but not locked. I know these are minor but we look forward to our animals, and it formed part of our overall sense that the quality is being downgraded. Dining - we always did WJ for breakfast and this always had decent choice. Tables always busy but that is nothing new and we often took spaces on the open section. We did MDR most nights for dinner. Service was strong for us, but the choices were disappointing - nothing regional, often repetitive. Most of our table chose the steak more than once, and lobster was never included on our menu without a price supplement. The park café did custom made salads and roast meat rolls, which we had on occasion for lunch. Custom dining - we attended Chops Grille and Giovanni's during our cruise, and enjoyed the extra attention and separate table very much. We did not attend Izumi or Rita's Cantina as it was strongly our view that these should be included in the food price and not charged as extra. Beverages - we elected to take the premium package for beverages. We calculated this as being a couple of cocktails/beers pre dinner, a glass of wine or two with dinner and a closing cocktail. This was the right choice - on reaching the ship, all cocktails advertised were $14. The choice provided in each bar varied dramatically, and the list of "available cocktails" was tiny compared to what is technically available. My husband prefers real ale as opposed to lager, but this appeared to be completely unfamiliar to various staff members (in fact, the ship stocked several interesting varieties if they could be located). It is also definitely the case that, with packages being gratuity included, there is little incentive for pool bar staff to circulate around open areas to earn more tips. We nearly always ended up going to the bar itself if we were on the pool deck, which is contrary to our previous experience. In the Schooner bar and pub, staff were very attentive. Embarkation was organised with military precision - we got to the port for 11.30am, drove to the car park and gave up our bags - which then appeared outside our room before 5pm. Most impressive. Disembarkation was also well organised and the Harwich staff very helpful. Entertainment - we enjoyed the quizzes very much, especially Alison's progressive quiz. The comedy juggler headliner was the best overall, although the comedy singer and the zoots were also good. We were surprised that the Abba experience was put on as we left Denmark, rather than Sweden..... The contortionist/acrobat/strength examples were really unappealing to English eyes, as a fair proportion of their show consisted of videos of other people praising their performance on AGT. All the guest entertainers (ie violinists, pianists, guitarists in the bars and open areas) were excellent. My last point is one which unfortunately coloured our overall view of RCCL and has probably dissuaded us from travelling with them again. We understand from more than one of the guest entertainers onboard that, in addition to their musical responsibilities, they were now also being asked to don gloves, pick up a sponge and assist in cleaning the ship (theatre, etc). We were shocked to hear this, as we know from our own friend circle that the role of musician involves a material investment of time and training - it seemed that RCCL did not value this. Presumably the Captain and officers will not be using their own downtime to scrub the cabins? Although we did see the officers running "celebrity" casino tables on some nights, so perhaps anything is possible! In short - we liked the ports very much, we liked the ship for size, we liked our cabin but overall we felt that we were constantly being nickeled and dimed. It seemed that RCCL aimed at the lowest price for the simple cabin but then tried to get every last cent out of you through pushed extras, which was distasteful. Read Less

Visiting Iceland was on my bucket list. Being on a ship under code red for two weeks wasn't. We knew the Ryndam was an older ship and that is was already sold - we did not expect it to be in such disrepair as we found it. We have been on over 20 cruises and have a lot to compare this to. We have been on several Holland cruises in the past and thoroughly enjoyed those experiences. Embarkation: The check in area was a zoo. In our case, we were able to bypass most of the wait because my husband has a medical issue necessitating that he not stand too long Stateroom: Our stateroom attendants were very nice and hardworking. They had a lot of extra work because of the rampant norovirus on board. It was obvious that the cabins were "tired" - our toilet leaked all over the bathroom and onto the carpet, our carpet was very loose (a trip hazard). General areas: The staff were very focused on wiping everything with disinfectant but they were not focused on general cleanliness - we saw dirt and crumbs in many public areas. We also saw that repairs/replacements were not ongoing, a prime example was a glass table in a bar area that was taped because it was broken. Dining: We ate breakfast in the main dining room almost every morning. Service was spotty at best. One morning my husband got his food a full 30 minutes before me! We only got our food at the same time once. We ate dinner in the dining room the first night and in the Lido every other night, though we usually prefer the dining experience on other ships. We ate in the Lido because we disliked the food so much that we chose to "pick" at the buffet. We found the food way, way, way too spicy for us. I went through a lot of antacids during this trip. Room service with special diet needs was very difficult to obtain - likely due to the sheer numbers of requests. Another disappointing thing was that food was on the menu and, when requested, the staff frequently had to go looking for it. Entertainment: This was a bright spot - we really enjoyed the house entertainers and the visiting entertainers (though several got sick and couldn't perform). We thought the cruise director was a non entity, rarely seen. Computer training was really appreciated and helpful Disembarkation: The ship got back to port a day early because norovirus was not under control. We were to be put up in a hotel for one night and received a letter with the assignment. The day prior to disembarkation, we got letters assigning my husband to one hotel and me to another - which we had to spend time correcting. The day of departure, we were put on a bus and sat there for one hour before someone got on the bus to tell us which hotel we would go to and then we sat for another half hour before the bus started moving. Arrival at the hotel created a line that went out the door - and could have been managed much more efficiently. The dinner meal at the Renaissance hotel was better than anything we had on the ship. Medical staff: They were definitely challenged with the number of noro cases, plus normal medical problems on any ship. They were extremely professional and helpful. The Captain did reinforce hand washing but he should have stressed the numbers of cases every day so the passengers would truly appreciate the incidence level. Ports: The Captain chose to skip two ports and we missed two more because of illness (yes, the bug hit us though we are obsessively compulsive about hand cleaning). The ports that we saw were very nice. I was very impressed with seeing so many snow/ice capped mountains and waterfalls. The scenery was everything we had hoped for. Overall: Holland has offered us discounts on a future cruise and that is tempting - BUT - we will think long and hard about it, and definitely will look for a newer ship. Unfortunately, of the 20+ cruises we have done, this is way down at the bottom of the list. Read Less

We arrived in Harwich at the same time as the world and his wife. I am expecting to have a hip replacement so was very wary about standing a long time in the very long queue. A girl noticed I was having to use a stick and she invited me to sit inside. Whereupon my husband & I by-passed an equally long queue inside the building and were taken to a priority desk and were seen straightaway. I so appreciated the kind consideration shown to me, and would like to give my grateful thanks to those concerned. We got to the ship and managed the stairs down to deck 3 where we were met by 'welcome back, how nice to see you again' We were last on the Spirit in 2011.Turned out she was our cabin stewardess then, & now. We tried some of the trips most described as 'easy walking' My favourite was the' Dolphin watch' Magical. Far too short a visit though. There were four days at sea, so we attended as much of the entertainment that was put on by the excellent team. Two or three plays were put.on 'Educating Rita' was superb. Well done Richard and Ashley., as for the lecturer, Rod Taylor, he was hilarious telling anecdotes of Morecambe & Wise, Tommy Cooper etc. Brilliant. The Broadway shows were excellent, but the High Spirit game shows were now out of date and not to our taste likewise the so called comedians, some people seemed to like them though. Only 3 of us did the napkin folding demonstration. Wonder why that was! The food was excellent, the singing waiters were fun.Thanks must go to Richard for directing the Cruise so well. He was everywhere! The sun shone every single day except when we got to the airport at Dalaman It rained, also on arrival home. Again I was offered assistance whilst in the check in queue Grateful thanks once more are due. We had a super time on our favourite Cruise ship. we will be back Read Less

Well this was our first experience of a Celebrity cruise. We have cruised many times with Princess, RCL, Holland America, P&O (just once) and Scenic Tours. Up until now, our worst cruise was with P&O on the Oriana, but this comes a very close second. It was advertised a an Immersive Wine Cruise. That was of little interest to us, but we needed an accessible cabin with a twin next to it and this was the only option at the time of booking. I was assured that Celebrity was 5 star and we would have a great time. I would firstly like to say what was good about the cruise: Embarkation was speedy and efficient and we were in the buffet with a cup of tea in hand within 45 minutes of arriving at Harwich. We found all of the staff amazing. Without exception, they looked after both my disabled son and daughter and myself and partner. The staff in the buffet couldn't do enough for us and always had time to speak to my son and daughter and ask about their day. The cabins were adequate. We had two inside cabins on deck 3 and the beds were very comfortable, although the cabins were 'tired' and our valance was ripped and stained. I have to say that a plastic shower curtain sticking to your legs did not seem 5 star to me. Our two cabin stewards did their job, just, but we have had much better. On two occasions, the sheet on our bed was not even straightened and we had to pull the bottom of it down and tuck in ourselves before getting into bed. Guest relations were extremely helpful and we have no complaints at all with their friendliness or service. Now onto things that were not good; Firstly, I have never been on a ship where there were so many extremely rude and arrogant guests. There are always a certain number of people with no manners, but I would say 80% were positively Neanderthal! I cannot believe that people could stand at the buffet demanding omelettes, pastas, stir fry's etc without so much as a please or thank you! Shame on you. Unfortunately, I would rate the food in general as poor. We did eat mainly in the buffet as the restaurant did not have suitable choices for my son. The emphasis seems to be an Asian cuisine with and without the grill station, we would have been lost. The grill station was also the only way of getting hot food. The temperature of the food on the general buffet almost cold. The cleanliness of the ship also left a lot to be desired. I ran my finger along some of the chrome work in the buffet area and had to go and wash my hands. There was far less evidence of ongoing cleaning than on any other ship we had travelled on. Entertainment was generally good in the theatre, with the exception of the magician, who we watched pulling things out of his coat. The entertainment around the ship was not so good with the female resident singer being positively out of tune on every song....... not good for the ears and to be avoided at all costs. The shops sold very little that well travelled folks would want, mainly what we refer to in the UK as junk. To top it all, one of our cases was ripped on disembarkation. As we had to wait for our cases to be found, we didn't check them over. My new Antler case now has a two inch rip in the underside and apparently we cannot claim from Celebrity because we did not notice until we arrived home. I have to say that I am now worried as we booked with Celebrity for next year at the same time that we booked this cruise. We are doing 3 b to b's on the Eclipse, a total of 37 days. I hope that someone will tell me that the standard is going to be an awful lot better than the Infinity. Read Less

I have been on 7 cruises as find them relaxing for both myself and my husband who uses a wheelchair with an attachment that makes it into a motorised trike, anyone on the same cruise I am sure will remember him zooming around the ship and ports with me usually trying to catch up. As we only live about 2 hours away from Harwich it is perfect to get to and very quiet when you get there so onboard with 30 minutes, nice lunch in buffet then into cabin. Had sky suite 8127 this time but although the butler Edwin was very attentive I do not think I would book a suite again as most of the disabled cabins are large enough for us and I did not need the extra food that came at tea time or the canapés in the evening. Enjoyed the lounges and no where felt crowded even during sea days, casino kept calling us but did not win much which is the name of the game. Did not go to any shows or talks but felt others onboard enjoyed them. Did not feel the food in the MDR was as good as on Eclipse but did enjoy the Qsine and the breakfast buffet the Eggs Benedict were amazing. Did not see children around so either they were not onboard or they are well looked after. Did not go on excursions as prefer to make our own arrangements for wheelchair, however did you shuttle in Bergen which was like having a private van as no-one else on it. No problems disembarking and taxi waiting as soon as we got off. Would recommend both ship and port to anyone and looking forward to going again soon. Read Less

There were four of us in two Balcony Staterooms on the 9th Deck. Three of us had sailed with RCI before; two of us had been on Brilliance, which is the same class ship as Jewel. So, how did this cruise and ship compare to our previous outings with RCI? First, embarkation. We shipped out of Harwich. The two of us living in England did not have to fly to our embarkation point - turned out to be a good thing because the Icelandic volcano was threatening flight interruptions. We were met at the dock and our bags were taken immediately. The line to get into the ship was huge, but my cabin-mate, Pam, who was on a mobility scooter, and I were at the disabled check-in counter; the other two in our party were at a regular check-in desk. All went fairly smoothly, and my friend and I went up to entry deck level in the lift (aka elevator). When we arrived at the terminal, we had hoped to find refreshments after our long ride from the West Midlands area. But no, nothing. When we embarked from Venice in 2009 we had been provided with lemonade or iced tea and cookies - BIG thumbs up for that. A "could do better" for Harwich. The ship itself was as expected - clean and attractive. Our cabin was fine, and our steward was just lovely. Since we had less space because of keeping Pam's scooter and wheeled walker in the cabin, our steward kindly kept our luggage in his storeroom for us. Shortly after arrival we had the usual fireboat drill, but for the first time we did NOT have to don our life jackets. We had early dining, not Anytime Dining; we enjoy getting to know new people yet keeping the same dinner companions throughout the cruise. We made a table of eight very nice and interesting people. We enjoyed our waiters, and the food in the dining room was good with many choices. One night I tried the Chops Special of Filet Mignon (saves $10 over going to Chops Grill), but I was disappointed that my requested medium rare filet arrived medium to well done instead. Our Maitre d' offered to get me another, but I refused as the steak was perfectly edible, if not quite to my taste, and I did not like the idea of wasting a good piece of meat. The Windjammer was as expected - reasonable food with plenty of choices -- very good for a cafeteria feeding hundreds daily, really. At breakfast the eggs cooked to order were fresh and well prepared, as usual -- the cooks do make a mean fried egg over easy. Crowding there, especially on sea days, is always a problem, but manageable, especially if people are considerate and don't linger too much after their meals - and it can be an opportunity to meet new people. Entertainment. We went to the ship's Russian show our first night in St Petersburg. The troupe was small and I have heard and seen better Russian singers and dancers, but the show was still enjoyable. If you don't opt for one of the Russian shows available as an evening excursion (whether from RCI or a private tour company), then do go see the ship's show. We also went to the magic show, a husband and wife team, who were pretty amazing. They did a second show our last sea day which included a lot of audience interaction. This show was in the Safari Club, and it was PACKED - so get there VERY early for best seats and view. The bad news for non-smokers is that the Congo Bar is a smoking area, so do not sit near there. Also, the smokers at the bar were there to drink and smoke, not for the show, so they talked through the performance, making it difficult for those of us nearby wanting to see and hear the act. The musical groups that appear around the ship were the usual mixed bag. Some seemed pretty good, some not so - but that is very much a matter of personal taste. Amenities I went to the spa - first time for me. I indulged in a half-priced massage, which was very nice indeed. However, the Elemis items the masseuse pushes gently for your aftercare are very EXPENSIVE. But it is my own fault for succumbing and buying the package. Disembarkation. Surprise! We just walked off the ship, got our bags, and then went to our transportation. NO CUSTOMS anywhere in sight! Ports. Overall, we had cloudy/rainy weather nearly everywhere. We lucked into sunshine in a few places. Copenhagen - We did it on our own. We got off the shuttle at King's Square and meandered down the main shopping pedestrian area. Impressions: crowded, lots of bicycles, under construction, EXPENSIVE lunch (4 "smushis" or miniature sandwiches, 1 Schweppes tonic water, 1 bowl soup = 250DK c. $45.00 -- all the krone we had). We did get lovely sun in the afternoon. Stockholm - Some sun and showers. We went on our own, using the Hop-on Hop-off (Ho-Ho) Water Taxis. Be careful, there are TWO Ho-Ho companies, so be sure you know which one you have tickets for. Walking around Gamlastan (Old Town) was interesting, and we managed to catch the changing of the guard at one of the palace guard posts. DO NOT MISS the Vasa Museum - fascinating, amazing archeology, and a good little cafe, too. Helsinki - We did the ship excursion that included Porvoo, a charming old fishing town filled with interesting shops, colorful wooden houses, a boat ride to a nice lunch at a lovely old mansion that is now a spa hotel, and finally a ride around Helsinki with stops at the Rock Church and the Sibelius Monument, among others. Helsinki is not very old and is filled with Jugenstil architecture (similar to Art Deco). A very good tour. It was raining hard by the end of the day though. St Petersburg - Because one of our group had mobility problems, we booked a private, less strenuous tour with DenRus. We highly recommend them -- excellent service. A superb guide, Mikail, and very skilled driver (the traffic there is horrible), Daniel, were with us both days. We were only four, six counting Mikhail and Daniel, so were travelling in a van and not in a huge bus group. (We highly recommend going as a small group - the flexibility that provided alone was worth the money.) We had a whole boat to ourselves for our canal trip (in the rain). We were very lucky and had a gorgeous, sunny afternoon for our walk through the gardens of Peterhof, with all the fountains spouting in full glory. The old city is spectacular where it has been renovated. The golden spires and early 18th Century architecture provide stunning views along the Neva River. Time only allows a small taste of the treasures of the Hermitage, both as a royal palace and as an art museum. The Cathedral on Spilled Blood is truly amazing; the colors and richness of the mosaic decorations are spectacular. We had been warned in the ship's shopping briefing that Russia does not allow export of large fur items (eg coats) or old icons, any purchased in the city would be confiscated by customs before reboarding. However, we were docked at the new port, and there were NO CUSTOMS there at all. Entering and exiting the ship was simple and quick as long as you had the correct paperwork. Tallinn - To us, this was the surprise of our cruise. Tallinn is a colorful, delightful ancient town with architecture ranging from the ancient castle walls through medieval to 18th and 19th Century houses up on the top of the hill. Although the day was gray and drizzly, we had a wonderful walking tour (the ship's excursion) with an excellent guide (Miina). There are cafes and interesting shops, but there are also signs posted warning of purse snatchers and/or pickpockets. Gothenburg - Two of us took the city tour, and two took the canal boat ride excursion. My friend and I were on the city tour, which included a stop in the old town area along picturesque canals, a stop at the Poseidon Fountain, a stop at the Masthugget Church with its Nordic decorations inside, and a visit to the Botanical Garden. Summary - we all enjoyed the cruise. The crew were always friendly and helpful, which is what we expect from RCI. Our cabin stewards were excellent. Yes, RCI charges for a lot of extras, sometimes at fairly high prices, but all are optional and it is possible to enjoy the cruise without spending too much more than the fare. The excursions seem expensive, but the guides in our experience were all very good and a lot is provided by an excursion that is difficult to get just going on your own. Read Less