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Live Surprise: Radiance of the Seas to Tasmania (Feb 2016)

Sparky74

By Sparky74,
in Australia & New Zealand Cruisers

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GUT2407

GUT2407

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Thursday - Barking Day

 

As I mentioned earlier, I'm a morning person. So, in spite of "lights-out" not being until 2am my internal body clock still had me up with the sparrows. Cathryn prefers to get up at the crack of noon (no judgement here - we're just wired differently) so rather sensibly she was still asleep. I took the opportunity to write a couple of posts for my Cruise Critic not-so-live-but-only-a-day-behind review.

 

After a shower, breakfast of a cold piece of KFC left over from the night before and some time checking Cruise Critic and FaceBook I convinced Cathryn to get up, have her shower and get dressed.

 

The Big Reveal

 

Once she was dressed (this was an important step because I wanted to take some photos) I handed Cathryn a shoebox wrapped in birthday paper. She asked if it was the new joggers I had bought for her last week. As she unwrapped the paper and saw the box she said, "No, it's your new shoes."

 

Inside the box I had placed my new shirt that I'd finished making yesterday, her new blouse which arrived in the post from her mother yesterday afternoon, our passports, our luggage tags and our Set Sail Passes right on the top.

 

Now Cathryn is not the most demonstrative person. That's another way in which we are quite different. I would have been jumping around the room, bouncing off the walls, hooting with excitement. Cathryn, on the other hand took it quite calmly. The conversation went something like this:

 

Cathryn: (calmly and quite matter-of-fact) We're going on a cruise?

Mark: (excitedly) Yes!

C: So you've packed my bag for me?

M: No, we're going on one of those "clothes optional" cruises.

 

(I should mention here that we have joked about "those cruises" with horror and somewhat disbelief. Yes, we know that there are Nudist Cruises and that it takes all types but it is not our scene AT ALL and I'm sure that none would WANT to see us in our birthday suits either!)

 

C: At least I've got two sets of clothes with me.

M: Of course I've packed your bag!

C: Did you pack...

 

And then Cathryn started to list off items to which I was able to answer "yes" except for her board shorts. Now, in my defence, Cathryn purchased two new swim suits on sale a couple of weeks ago. We try to follow the philosophy of "dressing for the body you have rather than the body you want" (a philosophy that some of fellow cruises could do well to adopt!) and so Cathryn's new swimsuits are quite modest and have a skirt attached. So I think I can be forgiven for not packing her boardies.

 

Last Minute Shopping

 

Now, I'm keen to get into Circular Quay and onto the ship as soon as possible but realise we now need to go shopping. We also need to buy sunscreen but I already knew that. So we decide to head to Roselands Shopping Centre after we drop off our key. We head up to the office and the Training Principal is on for a chat. We also meet Clayton, one of Cathryn's "session mates" (they trained in the same "session" of cadets) and he agreed to drop us at the train station when we returned from Roselands.

 

At Roselands we go shopping for sunscreen, shampoo, colouring pencils and coloured pens, chocolates, lollies... Oh and that's right, we also need some board shorts. After checking out Millers and Best & Lest we find some suitable boardies at Target and eventually head back to the college. I'm starting to get a little anxious as we usually like to be on the ship as early as possible and I want to change our dining preference once on board.

 

Transit to the Ship

 

So we get back to the college and of course Clayton is not in his office, he's on lunch. Then I run into Vickie, the college business manager and she's on for a chat. Perhaps I should mention that I'm not bad at chatting myself and I often tell people that when I was a baby I was vaccinated with a gramophone needle!

 

Eventually I find Clayton and guess what? He's on for a chat! No surprise there as Clayton is ALWAYS on for a chat. He drops us at the train station and after we purchase our tickets from a machine a railway employee comes along and (you're not going to believe this) HE'S on for a chat too! There must be something in the water today!

 

We catch the train to Circular Quay Station. Then it's a very short walk to the OPT (Overseas Passenger Terminal) and we catch our first glimpse of Radiance of the Seas, our home for the next week. Cathryn takes the obligatory photo of the ship and comments that we now have lots of photos of ships in port.

 

Boarding

 

We dropped our luggage at the drop off point and entered the OPT building. There was no line so we were directed straight up the escalator. As we have cruised with Royal Caribbean before we are now Diamond members of their loyalty program, the Crown & Anchor Society. There was a special line for Diamond C&A members and before we could fill out our medical questionnaire (about half a dozen yes/no questions) we were at the desk and then we were on the ship. This has probably been the fastest and smoothest boarding experience we have had to date.

 

We're off to trivia now; I'll write more this afternoon.

 

 

Had o laught at the thought of two Salvo Officers on a nudist cruise. There may be some, just not the ones I know.

 

Sorry just doesn't seem to fit.

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cruise love

cruise love

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Thank you so much for doing a live review, I know how time consuming that can get. My DW Marie and I will board Radiance when it arrives in Honolulu so I am glad to hear how the ship is doing now. :)

 

 

I am on this same cruise in late March

 

Ist time on Radiance so looking forward to the cruise

 

I booked this one for myself - an 'O' birthday and anniversary so just DH and myself going

:)

Cruise Love

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GUT2407

GUT2407

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I am on this same cruise in late March

 

Ist time on Radiance so looking forward to the cruise

 

I booked this one for myself - an 'O' birthday and anniversary so just DH and myself going

:)

Cruise Love

 

When is it in March?

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Sparky74 "Live from...." Rare

Sparky74

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Thursday - Barking Day continued

 

On Board

 

We usually get on the ship much earlier than 1pm when the cabins become accessible but today it was about 1.30pm when we boarded so Cathryn went straight to the cabin to drop off her handbag and err... "powder her nose" while I went to see if I could change our dining arrangements.

 

A word of explanation about dining for those who haven't cruised before:

 

There are quite a number of places on the ship where you can eat.

 

Snacks and light meals are available at the Park Cafe located in the Solarium (indoor pool area).

 

There is a casual self-serve buffet called the Windjammer Cafe (I call it the "Food Jammer" sometimes) on deck 11 near the pool.

 

And there is Cascades Restaurant (aka "the main dining room" or MDR) which is a bit more formal. You are waited on and order off a menu which changes daily. Traditionally there are two seatings in the MDR and on this cruise they are at 5.30pm and 8pm. With traditional dining you sit at the same table with the same table mates and the same waiters every night. Many cruise lines have introduced a more flexible arrangement where you can make a reservation for a time that suits you or just turn up and wait for a table to become available. Royal Caribbean call this flexible arrangement "My Time Dining".

 

There are also a number of "specialty restaurants" which encour an addional fee. Cathryn and I tend to avoid these places as we reckon we've already paid for our meals in our cruise fare.

 

Dining Alterations

 

Cathryn and I prefer the flexibility of My Time Dining but it wasn't available when I booked and I had issues trying to get us added to a waitlist online prior to the cruise. So once we boarded I joined a queue to see the maitre d'. Unfortunately she said that they were fully booked for My Time but she added us to a wait-list.

 

Minor Lunch Disappointments

 

Cathryn and I went to the Food Jammer for lunch and here met with a few very minor disappointments. I'm a bit reticent to mention these because they really are minor but I know that some people who read these reviews will be interested.

 

On previous cruises there has been a fantastic display of carved fruit and vegetables in the Windjammer, especially on the first day. Watermelons and pumpkins intricately carved, fruit cut into the shapes of flowers etc. Such a display was conspicuous by its absence.

 

I follow a tradition held by many RCI (Royal Caribbean International) cruisers of having honey stung chicken for lunch on the first day but there was none. :eek: I did have a piece of fried chicken that was quite nice but it's not the same thing.

 

During lunch I managed to knock over my glass of lemonade. (Not fizzy drink but what we would call "lemon cordial" in Australia) and as rivulets flowed towards the Asian ladies sharing our table. We mopped it up as best we could but there was no staff in sight. I ran (well, walked quickly) and fetch a couple more napkins but still couldn't find a waiter/busboy to clean up the table.

 

As I said they're minor things but they wouldn't have happened on a RCI cruise a year or two ago.

 

Lunch

 

I must remember to start taking photos of our meals. I had some veggies and salad with my piece of fried chicken. Cathryn had some pork casserole on rice and some chips (fries) and we both had dessert.

 

A couple of other differences in the Foodjammer were that instead of a staff member standing there instructing everyone to apply hand sanitizer as you entered the staff member was handing everyone a wet wipe (moist towelette) instead. Also a staff member was operating the soft serve machine instead of it being self service.

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Sparky74 "Live from...." Rare

Sparky74

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Thursday - Barking Day continued

 

Unpacking

We returned to our cabin and I discovered one of our cases in the hall. The larger one which contained the things I packed for Cathryn. It's usually my job to do the unpacking and putting away on a cruise. The first thing I pulled out of her bag was a sun hat and I modelled it for Cathryn. I offered to do a fashion parade of everything I'd packed for her but she said not to bother so I just showed her everything as I put it away. All good! She said that I packed more smart casual clothes than she would have but that was intentional in case there was something she didn't like or that doesn't fit.

 

Having not had much sleep we decided to lay down for a rest when there was a knock at the door. It was our room steward with our two remaining (small) bags. She introduced herself as "Pinky" while waving her little finger. She then started to give us a run down on the cabin and the service she provides. Mid sentence she glances at her passenger list and says, "Oh, you're diamond!" referring to our C&A status. After she left I unpacked the rest of our luggage before having a short rest.

 

Muster Drill

The mandatory safety talk know as Muster Drill (or Mustard Drill if you have a warped sense of humour like me!) was scheduled for 5pm. At 4.30pm Cathryn decided she wanted some photos so we headed up to deck 12 and had only taken a couple of snaps when a crew member directed us down to deck 5 for the drill. (Our Mustard Station is in the theatre and this is where we are supposed to go if the Captain decides to show off to his Italian girlfriend or if we hit an iceberg!)

 

As a result we were already comfortably seated in the theatre and ticked off (the roll) when the alarm of 7 short blasts followed by 1 long blast sounded. Once they dismissed we had time for a quick wander around the outdoor promenade on deck 5 before heading to the MDR for our 5.30pm dinner.

 

Dinner

In the MDR we are seated at a table for 12 with 3 other couples. Cathryn had no one beside her and the seats across from us were also vacant. Terry and then his wife, Robyn, from Geelong were seated by me and we really couldn't converse with our other tablemates at such a large table. Terry happily told me all about his work in state disaster recovery and about how Robyn is his second wife and about his grandson... but I note that he didn't ask us about what we did or our family life. I was OK with that but cruising is a great opportunity to study human nature.

 

Our choice of appetiser were Fruit Medley (M) and Chilled Watermelon & Raspberry Soup ©. Cathryn was pleased that the soup was able to be served without the Mojito Foam. Our mains were Steak (M) and Pork Chop © and Cathryn said it had to much herbs for her palette. She also requested some carrots on the side. Dessert was Peach & Blueberry Crumble © and Butter Almond Icecream AND Raspberry Sherbert (Sorbet). On a RCI ship vanilla and chocolate icecream is served everyday and they have another flavour and a sherbert (sorbet) which changes from day to day.

 

The meal was quite pleasant and after bidding our table mates farewell we came back to our room for a snooze, setting an alarm so that we'd be awake for the Welcome Aboard Show at 9.45pm.

 

Welcome Aboard Show

 

For new cruisers:

On RCI ships there is a live show in the theatre every night. Sometimes this is a "headliner" act that has been brought onto the ship and sometimes it's a "production show" by the Royal Caribbean Singers and Dancers who live on the ship for months at a time. Usually each show is repeated a few hours later EXCEPT for the Welcome Aboard Show on the first night - it's only performed once so if you want to see it you need to make sure it doesn't conflict with your dinner time but on this cruise it was quite late (for us) 9.45pm!

 

Tonight's headliner was a comedian, Sam McCool. The Cruise Director (CD), Steve Davis, started to warm the audience up. He asked where are all from and we learnt that of the 2,147 passengers on board, there are 1,304 Aussies, 340 Americans and 50 something Canadians.

 

There are also 55 people from South Korea, most of whom are travelling together in a group and were seated in front of us. This afternoon we had arrived at the OPT just as they were getting off their coach and we managed to avoid them. Not because they are from South Korea :eek: but just because we didn't want to get caught in the large group when trying to check-in.

 

Anyway, Sam comes out and starts his routine. He was actually quite good but it was a really tough crowd. The material for the first part of his routine was based on where people are from and this was unfortunate because the CD had just gone through that with us. Sam worked really hard but having lost the audience from the get go he never really got them back. I felt for him because he was working really hard and actually a talented comedian.

 

After the show we dragged ourselves back to our cabin and tumbled into bed, ready to be gently rocked to sleep as the ship slowly wends its way to Newcastle.

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Sparky74 "Live from...." Rare

Sparky74

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Day Two - Newcastle

 

Rise and Shine

 

We awake on Day Two of the cruise and it's Friday. I know this because in the wee hours some magical elves come out and change a tile on the floor of the lifts (elevators). So if you're on a RCI ship and want to know what day it is all you need to do is to go and read the floor of the nearest lift. I know some people who could do with one of these at home and I'm not talking about the residents at the aged care facility!

 

When I say "we awake" I really mean that I awake while Cathryn sleeps on. She's an owl and I'm a fowl.

 

For new cruisers:

On RCI ships a newsletter called the "Cruise Compass" is delivered to your stateroom each night. It's your indispensable guide to what is happening on the ship the next day: meal times, show times, extra activities etc. It's printed on a folded A3 sheet but really the back page is the most important bit.

TIP 1. The Compass is perforated down the fold so you can tear off the back page and fold it to fit in your pocket.

TIP 2. You can pick up an extra copy of the Compass from Guest Services (the Purser's Desk) on Deck 4.

TIP 3. Bring a highlighter to mark the things you want to do.

 

Vitality Stretch and a Morning Walk

 

After collecting my extra Cruise Compass from Guest Services I headed up to the gym on deck 12 and waited for something called a "Vitality Stretch". This consisted of about a dozen menopausal women and me lying on mats on the floor while a hunky South African instructed us to hold almost impossible poses.

 

I think there must be something wrong with my watch. At home it usually runs fast of a morning. I can spend 2 minutes checking Cruise Critic or FaceBook and look at my watch only to find that almost an hour has elapsed and now I'm running late for work. I had the opposite problem with my watch this morning. I'd been contorting myself into knots for what seemed a couple of hours and yet my watch insisted that only 5 minutes has elapsed! :eek:

 

About half way through the session we were sitting on the floor with our legs spread at about a 90 degree angle and leaning forward, stretching as far as we could. Mr South African Hunk says, "Stretch it out as far as you can. Put your forehead on the floor." At this I burst out laughing and some of the ladies around me giggled as well.

 

EVENTUALLY, after the longest half hour of my life (or the cruise at any rate) the Vitality Stretch was over. I didn't stick around for the next session which is called "Fab Abs" and is hosted by another Adonis as I had arranged to meet Cathryn on the walking/jogging track on Deck 12.

 

On other cruises there has been signage and arrows to indicate that we should progress in an anticlockwise (counterclockwise) direction on the track. Sadly these are not currently present on Radiance of the Seas and one man had decided to jog in the opposite direction to everyone else. You've gotta wonder sometimes!

 

Breakfast

 

After half an hour of walking laps we decide to head to the Foodjammer for breakfast. Cathryn starts with sugar coated cereal while I go straight for the good stuff: baked beans, sausage, English bacon, a poached egg with hollandaise sauce and a couple of pieces of black pudding. I also had some Bircher muesli and fruit and Cathryn had some fruit too.

 

For new cruisers:

There are 2 or 3 varieties of bacon available on RCI ships. "Bacon" is served extra crispy. I mean, really crispy. Not blackened but totally dried out. I think it would make good tinder for the BBQ or fireplace. Then there is "English Bacon" which is mostly eye muscle and only lightly cooked. No crisp or crunch what so ever. On previous cruises I've come across something called "Canadian Bacon" which almost defies description but I'll try. It appears to be strips of striped luncheon meat which have been fried until crisp. I haven't seen any on this cruise yet but I haven't particularly looked for it either.

 

The one Bacon that I've never seen on a ship is "Kevin Bacon" but I'll be sure to let you know if I see him.

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