We just got off Radiance end of January with a large family gathering of about 40 total. This was the first time cruising for most of them. I have been onboard Royal probably 70 nights since covid including a 12 night voyage on Grandeur in November/December which I believe is Royal's oldest ship in service. Is there some wear and tear in some areas? Absolutely. Did it distract at all from the cruise or vacation? No way. I am actually surprised at how many of the family are eager to go on a cruise again and not just for a family gathering, but for their own personal vacations as well. The staff was amazing. We noticed no smells anywhere, and I have smelled the sewage smells on other ships that I will not mention here. There was a small leak from the roof in an area of the windjammer, but honestly did not think much of it or even care when I saw it. It rained pretty heavy our entire trip and barely saw anything from this leak. The only reason I bring it up is that I have read several people mention it as how deplorable the conditions were in reviews before I boarded. I was actually worried that I made a huge mistake while reading reviews leading up to the cruise date as many mentioned the rough shape of the ship. I loved the ship and the facilities. I think it was perfect for our mostly 40+ age demographic. We did have a couple small children(that absolutely adored Adventure Ocean and associated kids areas). Does it have all the bells and whistles of a new ship? No, but that is exactly why I think I loved it. My wife and I are at the age of being empty nesters now and the thought of vacationing with entire armies of children on board is not appealing at this time in life. The facilities take care of the kids on board and offer plenty of fun options for all ages, but it is not "family-centric" like the new mega ships being rolled out year after year these days.
I think people just have to know what they are looking for in a cruise and adjust expectations accordingly. The food and wait service in the MDR was amazing. They catered to our family and put us all together without us even asking. We were kind of scattered amongst an area in the MDR and in the first 15 minutes of day 1 dinner, they realized we were a large group and arranged 4 large tables for us to be together every night. I did not think this was even going to be possible so did not attempt to ask, but they went above and beyond accommodating. The MDR staff even took care of us during a night where we opted to take the whole family to Samba Grill. For those who do not know, Samba grill is normally only accessible through an outside passage on deck 12. When the weather is bad and the winds are high, it is actually quite a precarious adventure as we found out lol! Well our MDR staff found out and specifically requested and met with some of the elderly from our group to give them a special access point through the windjammer area of the ship that is normally crew only I guess. I was amazed when the Head Waiter arranged all of this for a few of our special family members, I mean it is not even their area or close to it.....MDR and Windjammer were 8 decks apart. For her to escort them to the destination really touched our family.
So in closing, I am a huge fan of Radiance of the Seas. Was it it shiny and new? No, but neither am I any more. I like to say I have more character as I get older, and liken the Radiance to the same philosophy.
