Radiance of the Seas Radiance OTS Review [24Jan – 3Feb 2019] Auckland to Sydney

[mr walker]

Radiance of the Seas Review [24Jan – 3Feb 2019] Auckland to Sydney

 

 

Background: This was our 17^th cruise - mostly on Royal Caribbean. Also cruised twice on Carnival & once on Princess. Started cruising in 2011 & I am in my early 60’s and my wife late 50’s and reasonably active – mostly take stairs and not lifts. On this cruise it was just the two of us.

 

 

We visited Bay of Islands, Tauranga, Napier, Wellington, Akaroa, Dunedin and Fiordland. 

 

 

This was a bit different cruise for us, going straight into 6 port days after departing Auckland ie no sea days to ease into the cruise as we were used to. Also, we had spent 12N on a self-drive tour around NZ prior to the cruise.

 

 

Cruise: Embarking in Auckland was a breeze – we had just a short walk from our downtown hotel to the ship & we were on-board shortly after checking out of our hotel at 11am. Straight after boarding as we explored the ship, we were reminded again why Radiance is our favourite - even after a 6 year absence from her.

 

 

The staff on board were wonderful & everything was shipshape, much as our previous experiences were. I always hear people saying things like the ship is old etc (not just this one) but I do not understand what they are seeing. You can find a bit of rust, and maybe an area of two that needs a paint touch-up, but you must be really looking I suggest.

 

We had a 6D OV Balcony cabin on Deck 8 [8514] which is very forward on starboard side. It is a great location for us. Our cabin steward Sapto was extremely efficient – can only be described as excellent!

 

Our MTD experience was mixed. The food was very good and dining company (we shared tables with others) mostly also. The service was very slow, with dinner taking up to 2 hours. I made a comment on the mid-cruise survey about this, and they clearly read the surveys, as they tried to correct this for us, maybe even a bit too hard. For the first time in almost 200N at sea, we dined 3 times in the Windjammer, partly because of the slow MTD service on the first few nights, but also because we had late return excursions – we enjoyed these dinners. Food in WJ, where we mostly has breakfast & lunch was very good and the staff excellent. Also enjoyed the offerings from the Park Café.

 

The events run by the activities team were well run – we particularly enjoyed Hannah’s Progressive Trivia. The events in the centrum was most enjoyable – the Australia Day party was excellent. Cuddy was ever present as the CD & Captain Marek is very engaging with everyone.

 

We rarely frequented the diamond lounge as we found it crowded during ‘happy hour’, so we mostly got our evening drinks from the Pub and relaxed on our balcony ahead to the shows & dinner – we did have a few daytime visits to get a nice cup of coffee.

 

We enjoyed the theatre shows (production and headliners) – overall the entertainment was really good.

 

Once again I find myself saying “Can't wait until we next board Radiance again”. The Ship of Glass!!

 

 

Cheers

Edited March 1, 2019 by mr walker
typo

[Chiliburn]

Thanks for the good review,to be honest I’ve never been on radiance.they all have their different personalities     ,one day.

As you said the older ships have their appeal,what’s a bit of rust.

 I have never been a fan of the main dining room,to much pomp and ceremony.

Some people like it,just take their time and chat.  but not me.

Two Cruises back we had a grand suite and we usually just got something simple in Windjammers and then went to a bar or such.

About half way through the cruise the boss from the MDR called us and asked why we haven’t been there to eat.As he said it make him look bad.A suite guest.

He invited us for a personal service and apparently you can ask for a Express service ,

I said yes just for you but we ended just walking out halfway through.

 

[sewgood]

We tend to enjoy Windjammers more than the MDR on RC ships.

They do have a wide selection up in the buffet.

Thanks for the review.

Good to hear that the Radiance is still as enjoyable after 6 years.

Will have to try it some day.

[Chiliburn]

8 hours ago, sewgood said:

We tend to enjoy Windjammers more than the MDR on RC ships.

They do have a wide selection up in the buffet.

Thanks for the review.

Good to hear that the Radiance is still as enjoyable after 6 years.

Will have to try it some day.

We did a test, MDR and Windjammer (for research only) the food was the same and fresher in Windjammer 

[MicCanberra]

Thanks for the review Mr Walker. I will get aboard her one day but as she is so popular the prices just never seem to get me excited enough.

[GUT2407]

And ou or the review,