Our experience echoes earlier reviews. Embarkation at Fremantle was delayed due to cleaning operations and once on board, self-service in the food/beverage areas was suspended resulting in seemingly endless queuing. We too were disappointed that the ship’s management failed to provide passengers with any updates of the extent, if any, of an on-board outbreak of norovirus.

This was our third cruise on the Radiance of the Seas and we too noted how shabby, dated and just plain grubby the ship had become since our earlier cruises. Our stateroom attendant did a fabulous job of the day to day making up of our room but, beyond his control, our bathroom developed a serious plumbing leak that also impacted the adjacent stateroom. From the state of the badly repaired bathroom tiles it was obvious that this was a pre-existing/on-going issue. Mid cruise, fumes entering our stateroom from maintenance elsewhere on the ship caused headaches and nausea forcing us to relocate from our deck 10 junior suite to an inside cabin on level 3. Again not a reflection on our stateroom attendant but the state of the ship in general, I espied a cockroach in our stateroom. An unsolicited offer of a voucher for a discount on our next cruise to compensate us for these inconveniences failed to materialise.

We have, in the past, been big fans of Café Latte-tudes but on this voyage the coffee was undrinkable. Further, apparently Cafe Latte-tudes only sells Tazo tea and Tazo English Breakfast tea was unavailable for the entire duration of the cruise – only fruit teas or cloying Earl Grey, no thanks. Given the plethora of complimentary quality English Breakfast tea available around the ship, this was a truly ‘Fawlty Towers’ scenario. We were surprised to discover, in fact, that the best tea and coffee available on the ship in this instance was from the self-serve machine in the Diamond Lounge. Read more