Radiance of the Seas Review

Poor Planning

Review for the Western Caribbean Cruise on Radiance of the Seas
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JJLMT
6-10 Cruises • Age 60s

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Sail Date: Jan 2011
Cabin: Superior Ocean View Stateroom with Balcony

To start I must say, we are loyal Royal Caribbean cruisers. I have always had nothing but good things to say about every cruise I have taken with them, that was until I sailed on Radiance of the Seas last week.

Our vacation started the night before with getting a call alerting us to the fact that there was a huge outbreak of Norovirus on Radiance, and therefore the boarding the next day would be delayed while they disinfected the ship. Figuring this isn't the first time this has happened they have it all down pat so it should go smooth. Our flight was leaving in 10 hours at 5:30am. We arrived in Tampa a little after 11am the next morning. We saw some RC reps who said we could leave our luggage with them and RC would transport it to the ship free of charge. Not bad I thought. Meanwhile, we were left to find something to do at Channelside until 4:30pm when we could check in and board. We we hung around the port terminal. At 2:00pm we saw crowds of people around the terminal so we walked down. Thank god we did. little did we know they had been giving out boarding numbers to people, yet we were never told about it. The number we were given was in group 6 to board between 6:30pm to 8:30pm !! Are you kidding me? Why didn't anyone mention this boarding number to us before now. After speaking to one of the workers, we found out because we had priority boarding to start, we were given a VIP paper for 4:30pm. 4:30pm came and we were now shoved in a crowded line of other "VIP" people. The outside of the terminal was packed with very upset people who got no notification of this mess. At any rate, we were allowed to check in. Then we were herded into a seating area only to be told we now couldn't board until 6:00pm. Yippeee. A whole day of travel to sit and wait even longer.

At 6:00pm we were allowed to board the ship, only to be met and told we were allowed to go to the Main dinning room, or the Windjammer only for dinner. We were then told we would not be allowed to go to our cabin until 9:00pm.

Cabin Review

Superior Ocean View Stateroom with Balcony

Cabin D1
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