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Royal Caribbean International

MV Radiance of the Seas

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Reviewed by: Richard & Cindy Ritter
# previous cruises: 1
Date of Trip: February 7, 2004
Itinerary: Caribbean - Western

This was a beautiful ship and offered great service from the staff but it did not offer the quality food service I have received on Carnival. Loved the Cinema and Mini Golf, two features unique to Royal Caribbean. Not quite the "Fun Ship" from Carnival but what they do they do very well (except for their food service, more on this later). This ship does seam to cater to an older crowd but they do have plenty of activities for the young and young at heart.

The public areas where very pleasing with a beautiful elegant dicor, not a flashy feeling at all. The one area that didn't fit this dicor was the Sauna, it just seamed out of place with the rest of the ship's look and feel. The main show lounge offered great shows and all seats had good views of the stage. The jogging track was not a dedicated track so you had to deal with deck chairs and guest at most times of the day. I.m spoiled by Carnivals dedicated jogging track. The public areas where kept spotless, a good job here. The Casino was one of our favorite places and we could always find a slot machine to play. Being a musician I always check out the bands on the ships and the groups playing on this ship met all of my expectations. We really had fun dancing at the Captains Reception, a lot of fun.

The food service was the one disappointment to my wife and I. We found a disappointing menu at the casual restaurant and food that been allowed to set out too long. For the most part this restaurant was self-serve and often items were not replaced when emptied. On the Carnival ships I've been on these restaurants had buffet lines with servers and the food was always hot, well presented, and ready to serve. Carnival also offers a more extended menu at their casual restaurant. In the main dinning room we had great meals with very slow service. Dinner always took close to 2 hours to complete. No fault of our servers, they where great. As you might tell this is my first RC cruise and my previous 4 have been with Carnival. RC does a lot of things right but they could take some lesions from Carnival when it come to their food service. One thing is if this was your first cruise you would think this was fantastic I.m sure. I guess to be fair the food was really good and my issues are more service related.

We had an outside cabin with a window (port hole) only. Our next cruise we will have a balcony room. The decor of the room was very nice but the room was small. Again I compare this to the cruises I've taken on Carnival. The bath area shower was also quite a bit smaller that the showers on the Carnival ships. The Carnival showers were much better size wise. The TV selection was the best I've seen and offered a feature we really enjoyed. We could book all our shore excursions right off the interactive TV. Loved the old movies late at night. Just a little more elbow room would have been nice but a nice room all in all. One thing we did notice was the room was very quiet. Heard very little noise from the ship or the hallway itself.

As mentioned earlier we really enjoyed the entertainment on this ship. We had a lot of fun every night. I believe in general all cruise lines do a good job in this area. One thing they where big on was Art Auctions on this vessel. I've seen Art Auctions on other ships but not like I saw on this one. This could have had something to do with the average age of the passengers on this trip. Not sure.

We sailed out of Ft. Lauderdale on this trip and had stops in Key West, Cozumel, Roatan, & Grand Cayman. We found Key West to be the real surprise. What a great port. We snorkeled in Cozmel and that was a blast. Roatan Honduras is very pour but the best prices on merchandize came from there. The city tour of grand Cayman was nice but the next time I visit there I will check out something different. All in all four great ports.

The ship is geared for an older crowd but there is still plenty to do if you're young or young at heart. I saw more motorized carts on this vessel than any ship I've been on. Bottom line is this is a very well designed ship with a great staff other than their food service and if you plan a trip on the Radiance of the Seas you will have a great time. If you like a younger crowd though check out what Carnival and others has to offer.