PLEASE LET ME START OUT BY SAYING THAT THIS REVIEW NO WAY REFLECTS THE STAFF, as the staff was absolutely fantastic and VERY hard working (to work 7 1/2 months straight without seeing family and with no days off seems unfathomable to me). Positives - Our waiter Rajul, and his partner Jorge were fantastic, and I wish I had them with me on every vacation :-). Our steward Franklin was great as well. Negatives - The ship. I'm assuming this ship hasn't been updated since it was built in 2003, as the accommodations were absolutely grotesque. Let me preface by saying that the minute I walked into my room I wanted to cancel the vacation. I didn't sleep for 4 nights because of the lingering musty smell of the room, as well as the lingering smell of SEWAGE throughout ALL of the common areas. I seriously don't know how the poor employees work 7 1/2 months straight in such conditions. Let me also preface by saying I have been on 2 other cruises, a Disney cruise and Carnival. I know Disney is a step above, but after being on a Carnival Cruise YEARS ago, I thought Royal Caribbean was a step above. I guess not? Just to finish up the room. There was trash in a corner from the guests who had stayed in the room the cruise before us (probably only a few hours before), oh, and an old egg salad sandwich in the fridge. We kept smelling urine in our room, and notified our room cleaner, in which he cleaned very well (I saw the poor guy on his hands and knees scrubbing every bathroom around us). Skip 2 days later, we notice our toilet was leaking, so no wonder. Apparently was fixed on our 2nd to last day. The room still stunk no matter how hard cleaned. Again, not his fault, just a dingy old room that needs updating! Common Areas - My 3 1/2 year old son couldn't walk into a bathroom on the ship without holding his nose and saying 'it smells in here.' There were times he wouldn't even go to the BATHROOM! Crazy considering he's 3. There were times I would dread going to the bathroom as I knew I would be gagging throughout. Again, I would see employees cleaning these bathrooms, so I know it's a larger problem and this ship needs a major redoing (if you check out other reviews online of the Brilliance of the Seas.......Something I WISH I did before I booked this cruise.... everyone complains about this same odor). Disembark DAY - We were scheduled to disembark at 930. At around 730 my husband went to use the toilet in our room and it would not flush. We called maintenance in which they said they would send someone down. After waiting a half hour, we asked our steward Franklin, and found out a guest had flushed down an apple, clogging the toilets and shutting them off ONLY on floor 8. We then went up to Floor 11 for breakfast, and in hopes that the toilets were working, unfortunately they were not. For 2 hours, no working toilets, and my son had to pee in a cup. I can't imagine the stench when the people arriving to that decrepit ship smelled upon check-in ONLY a few hours later. Those poor souls. My husband, who had only been on a Disney cruise, won't step foot on another cruise after our lovely Brilliance of the Seas experience. My advice, Sink the ship with nobody on board, or do a complete gut and reno. Read Less

This cruise was my fourth on NCL and was my last. My family and I were so disappointed in almost everything about this ship. As soon as we boarded we asked where Moderno was, and s crew member had no idea what I was talking about. When we got to our cabin, the cabinet was broken as well as the lock on the door. We went to use the safe and it was locked and took almost 24 hours before someone could unlock it for us. As far as the food goes, it was really not up to par at all. The buffet was very small and did not have bacon the first morning at sea. When asked about it, we got no answer again. Our room steward was nice, except we called her many times and got no answer. There wer three of us in the cabin and only two towels were ever put out. The sofa that was to be made into a bed at night, was never made up into a sofa the entire cruise. One good thing was the entertainement. We loved the singers and dancers, alhough the comedian was pretty bad. Our best times were the ports of call. Also, being a silver Latitudes member I thought I got more perks than they gave me. The discount in the gift shop only included NCL items and there were hardly any the entire cruise. I could say more, but I am done with NCL. Read Less

Imagine that you're returning from a lovely excursion in Cozumel and upon reentry to your cruise ship, your sea pass causes the crew-member to utter the scary phrase "You need to report to Guest Services immediately."This happened to me aboard Radiance of the Seas on Saturday, April 23rd. While relieved to hear that I wasn't flagged because of a death in the family, I was forced to process news of a water main break that had occurred in our absence causing flooding in the aft section of Deck 9. We were told not to worry: Our belongings would be cleaned or replaced and during the cleanup, we could take a shower in the spa and have free drinks poolside. The huge, loud fans in the room left it unusable for the remaining 41 hours of the cruise. We were told the flood water was clean but the towels used for soaking up were turning brownish yellow and the smell was sickening...so much so that my husband was given 3 medications by the ship's doctor for throat irritation the following morning(Easter Sunday.) In the lesser affected room of the 2 we paid for, a roll-away cot was set up for my teenage daughter, and my teenage son slept on the couch. There were no other rooms as the cruise was sold out, but the regular room was obviously intended for only two people, as evidenced by the two life vests which we would have needed to share if there was need. As you can imagine, movement through that cabin was difficult and privacy forsaken. We opted not to have our laundry done on board as our neighbors reported having to wait a very long time only to receive it back damp and discolored. While one crew-member assured us this had not happened before, another said their quarters were similarly flooded a few weeks prior. So Saturday at 7:00p.m. instead of attending a much-anticipated show, we went to Guest Services for a pre-arranged meeting. Thanks to an employee there by the name of Kwame, I now refer to it as guest "Dis-Services". His words to my husband were "I don't even know who you are and I'm finished with you!" in a very belligerent tone. We were told by Tanya that our only reimbursement would be a $175credit and 35% off one cabin on a future cruise. What is that? I did not even want to continue to be trapped in a smelly boat for the last two days and nights, so I don't expect there will be another Royal Caribbean Cruise in our future, and those "coupons" will be sent back. As for those "free" drinks they offered us, I was still fighting for a charge reversal at 10:10 Monday morning as everyone else had departed for the airport or parking lot. While at the Guest dis-services desk, I witnessed another passenger in a screaming match with the representative who said she owed for drinks purchased at the last hour. She said she paid $10,000 for her cruise, and now they were making her miss her flight over a charge that was not hers. I'm not looking for a golden ticket here...just reimbursement of a product we purchased (a habitable cabin) that we did not receive. Royal Caribbean may be finished with us but any cruisers who have a choice in ships will be well-advised to steer clear of Royal Caribbean. Read Less

I would never have thought I would be writing a review on a site like this, but I can't let this go by. I took my wife and our 2 teenagers on a Spring Break, Easter cruise on the Radiance of the Sea. I have been a huge fan of Royal Caribbean and have booked away from other cruise lines. I have always told family and friends just how much I have enjoyed Royal Caribbean on past cruises. Never again! I don't know where to begin so I will start where all the problems began. When getting back on the ship from a day at the beach in Cozumel, we were "flagged" and instructed to see Guest Services. We were told there was an accident and our rooms were flooded. I say "rooms" because we booked 2 cabins. There was one cabin between the two we booked. We were escorted to our 9th deck hallway to be overwhelmed by a disgusting odor. Walking towards the aft portion of the ship, where our cabins were, the smell became increasingly worse. Not to mention the carpet was now squishing under foot as if walking on a soaked sponge. The sound of shop vacs and blower fans screamed in the background. We get to our cabin and thank goodness someone had the foresight to put our belongings up on our beds. We thank our cabin attendant for his diligence. This would be a good place to mention there were a few individuals that were very courteous and went out of their way to apologize for this situation. "Few" being the operative word here. One of our cabin's was completely uninhabitable. Strong pungent odor and carpeting was drenched. We were told it would be replaced, it never was. We moved all our belongings to the cabin that was the lesser of the two evils. Thinking we may possibly be able to use our other cabin at some point, as they told us we would. The stains on the towels they had put down made us realize that staying in this one cabin would not be possible. Even if you could handle the industrial size blower fans that were placed in the rooms. Evidently, for the NEXT cruise. There we are, back from a day at the beach, and the water, the shower, and the toilets are not working. Dinner in less than an hour so we were instructed to shower at the spa and use the public bathrooms. It is never my desire to use a public toilet on board a ship that has been at sea a couple of days. That was our only option. So we got ready for dinner at the spa and get back from dinner to find a note saying how sorry Royal Caribbean is and please accept $175 for the inconvenience. A nice start we thought, considering $175 is a day at the pool for a family of four. I should also mention here that when our rooms had no water or toilets, we were offered to go to the pool bar for free drinks. We were instructed to use our sea pass and the charges would be deducted. I have had tooth extraction that was easier than getting the $100 taken off our bill prior to leaving the ship. Information came painfully slow. What are we to do? Is there another room we can move to? The smell is making us all ill. The ship staff was having a meeting to decide what to do with the 20 or so people this affected. We thought, "thank goodness, something will be done." It never was done. The ship was completely filled with every cabin taken. The next day our eyes were so watery, and throats so sore from the pungent smell of a damp, dank carpet that we were concerned about what was seeping in to the carpet. We were told fresh water. The smell made us think otherwise. I asked if anyone else was having symptoms of sore throats, itchy, and watery eyes, and it was requested that we visit the ship's Dr. I don't see a Dr. for the sniffles, but now I am concerned about what these fumes and odors are that we have been breathing in for the past 15 hours. The Dr. prescribed us steroids and benadryl and told us to stay out of the sun for these make one photo sensitive. SO with two more days, we are told not to spend any time in the sun. We were also asked by the Dr why we would stay where the fumes were making us this sick. Again, the ship was full, and our one cabin that was not totally sopping wet was our only option. He offered us a bed in the sick bay. In hindsight, maybe that would have been more comfortable. The 4 of us camped out thinking that a line with the reputation of Royal Caribbean would certainly make things right. Meaning giving us what we paid for. I regret to say, that has yet to happen. Not only has that yet to happen, it may take legal action to even get something other than what was already offered on board. I should mention we also have been offered 35% off a future cruise if taken within a year. I'll say here that some in Guest Services were just out right rude and nasty when we protested our treatment. One manager elevated the situation and proclaimed, "I'm done with you!" I have never been treated with such contempt by someone in the service industry. The cruise industry is thriving. The ship must have been testing its pipes while the majority of passengers were off ship. The pressure caused a major malfunction in our section of the ship, and we are pushed aside with $275 for this "inconvenience." It ruined our vacation. The insult to this injury is to be so loyal to Royal Caribbean only to be treated so rudely. I am disputing the charge through my credit card, am writing a letter to CEO Adam Goldstein, and will report back on how this situation is handled. For now, they have created a public relations nightmare that would have been very easily fixed on board the ship before we disembarked. As I said, we were 4 of about 20 people this affected. Some worse than others, I am sure. I would go in to detail about the other friendly personnel on board, but a favorable review of the entire experience is not possible. It would be like asking President Lincoln's wife "other than that Mrs. Lincoln, what did you think of the play?" I hope Royal Caribbean learns a valuable lesson here. I know I sure have. I will never cruise on this line again. I'm afraid this is a sign of our times. There is someone else behind me to take my place if I don't book on this line. They know that, and they are treating me like this. They have become just like the other lines that I would have never considered booking with. Just with a higher fee. Read Less