This was our 11th cruise and first on Royal Caribbean. Our other 10 cruises have all been on Princess. As in all cruises there were things that were great and other things that were disappointing. First let me say that the Radiance of the Seas is a beautiful ship and even far exceeded my expectations. We liked all the public rooms on the ship and even felt many were more attractive then Princess [the Schooner Bar, the Atrium, the Sports Bar, and the Movie Theatre were great]I also liked the way the Centrum shops were displayed. The dining room was a pleasant surprise as I thought it was quite pretty being so large. I did not care for the pools as much as Princess. The Solarium was pretty, but had salt water and was always crowded and the outdoor pool and bar area looked old and tired. I also did not care for the lounge chairs that looked old and needed to be replaced. I also felt that there was a definite lack in the number of lounge chairs on the ship as a whole. I have never felt this on Princess and feel they have a greater number of pools, are more attractive and use fresh water. The ship has been well maintained and for a 6 year old ship in most areas looks like new.

STATEROOM We had a Grand Suite 1554 in the middle of the ship and on the rounded part in the middle. We loved this room, the configuration, the size, the bed as well as the couch and chairs were comfortable and the bathroom was great with 2 sinks bathtub shower and lots of room. Everything part of this room looked new. It was good that we had an over-sized closet, since our luggage was too big to fit under the bed. The only disappointment was the balcony that got very little sun due to the overhang from the pool deck and narrowness from being on the bump out. The lounge chairs were also very dated.

DINING We had first seating and really enjoyed our 2 table-mates. The service was outstanding, but the food we felt was the worst of any cruise we have been on.[Bland and poor selection] An 8 day cruise and I only gained 1 lb.and ate steak more in a week then I do in a year because of no selection. We felt the food was like a poor coffee shop. The Windjammer cafe was a beautiful room, but we did not care for the food and the selection remained the same for breakfast and lunch all 8 days. We even tried the dining room once for breakfast with the same menu. This is the area that I felt that Royal Caribbean can't compete with Princess. We ate 1 night in the Pinnacle Grill and it was just a little better. Read more