My wife, adult daughter and I sailed on Royal Caribbean’s Radiance of the Sea to the Western Caribbean in January 2023. It’s no surprise to anyone who’s been around cruising that RC has been slipping in quality and service for years. Every cruise gets worse and more perks and amenities are stripped away. Frankly, we only ended up on this RC cruise because of a great price for the Owners Suite. ...
Our original cruise itinerary was changed via Royal Caribbean cuz they decided to take our boat out of service for maintenance. Left with no choice due to the dates we had locked in we were forced to pick this boat.
The crew and staff were beyond great!!
BUT the boat needs to be gutted and completely overhauled. Its old and stinky. Everything smelled like pee. The boat only has 2 bars ...
This cruise was a severe disappointment. The ship itself is ill designed, with no place that is peaceful or quiet. The food in Aquarius ran from mediocre most of the time to a few nearly inedible desserts. Trying Izumi for a change just netted us mediocre sushi at top tier prices. The entertainment in the Masquerade theatre was clearly going through the motions for the paycheck.
Further since ...
We chose this cruise for the port of departure, New Orleans, and ports of call. New Orleans is always a great city to enjoy and explore before or after a cruise. We had sailed on her four years before and were pleased. The embarkation/self assist disembarkation was smooth and organized. We did not view any live entertainment since theater shows are not our first choice. We were very ...
We booked late, and this was what fit our budget. That should have been the first sign.
The ship kept reminding me of "The Love Boat" then it occurred to me that it was almost that old of a ship. The styling, the dance floor, the carpet... It all just seems styled in the 90s. Even though I'm sure the vision has had a refit since.
I'm not a huge participant in cruise activities, and I'm not ...
The boat was smaller and much older than expected, ceiling ripped around the pool sitting area, can lights falling out in the dining room, most windows in the adult pool area are all corroded with salt buildup and rusted shut. Older carpet and furniture in staterooms in need of a refresh. We had metal bits poking through our carpet. The Casino located inside the boat's interior allows smoking but ...
This was my 4th cruise, my first with Royal Caribbean. I had high expectations because of the rave reviews I had received of Royal Caribbean. I know traveling in February would not be a typical "family" crowd but the other cruised I have been on were during the school year and my 15 year old son loved the teen club activities and made great friends on the other cruise lines. He was the ONLY teen ...
Been on a couple RCCL cruises in the last 4 years and our group of 11 opted for this cruise due to the great experiences we had on the previous cruises. I'm sorry to say, to us, it was obvious the services on the ship are sorely lacking, lots of rust on the exterior surfaces showing through the white paint. On previous ships you'd often see workers out with paint and bucket keeping things tidy, ...
I've cruised on Carnival and Celebrity in the past and thought RC's Serenade of the Seas was a couple of steps down from my other cruise experiences. The food was bland and usually overcooked, the port stops were way too short and we missed our private island stop entirely. According to the staff, they had been missing the stop for weeks on end. I wish I had done better research because I would ...
This was my third time cruising and first with my 7-year-old daughter. The other two cruises were with Carnival. We chose Royal Caribbean because it was supposed to be a step up from Carnival (which has been described as the Wal-Mart of cruise lines).
Pre-cruise experience: By far this was as bad as it could possibly be. RCI's website is terrible. In fact, my experience(s) in trying to book ...