dagadget

Nice review the Pros are right on the money and the cons also hit the mark. It is after all one of the biggest ships going and as a result has higher visibility. RCCL has to try harder with the Oasis class of ships. Still having 5000 give or take on on ship is going to feel a bit tight.

I think it's great that the ships have 5:30 dining. I wish it was at 5:00 p.m.! I am an early morning person. I eat breakfast at around 6:00 a.m., lunch at 11:30 and dinner at 4:30 to 5:00. If I eat too late (anytime after 7:00 p.m.) I feel uncomfortable and don't sleep well. Just saying that there are folks who really like the 5:30 seating.

I agree that and the fact that the DW is diabetic and controlling her levels are easier if dinner is before 6pm. Granted dinning in the MDR lasts way past 6pm but the later seating's would make the DW have levels well above 200 the next morning. Still we have better control over sugar levels when we are not stressed like on a cruise :)

Hello! I am a diamond member with Royal Caribbean but really like some of the port options for Celebrity. Does anyone have any pros or cons that have taken a trip with Celebrity? Thanks, Susie

Go for it we have sailed celebrity and it was fabulous and even have a review on it as well.

Thanks for sharing this. A very good article! I think it does appear the RCI plans to use this experience as a learning opportunity and improve their weather monitoring capabilities and expand the scope of precautions to include the new shoreside team. Seems like a good response. Clearly she admits it the sailing was a mistake and what I find refreshing is that RCI is not wasting any time looking at ways to try to prevent a reoccurence. As for the Captain, it sounds as if he did an amazing job of managing a very dangerous and scary circumstance. He clearly feels really bad about how things turned out. I hope the current passengers all make it home safe and sound and I hope the next cruise is able to go as planned. Sounds from this article like it will. And likely, as bad as this was, it just made RCI more safety concious and resulted in some positive changes.

Perfect this is the kind of helpful posts I like to see. All of us are human and we all make mistakes. What is most important is that we all learn from them and make improvements. This kind of freak storm is rare and was worse than they thought. Now it is time to celebrate the fact that everyone is alive and will be going home. Lets let the line do their work and we will all hear what we need to soon enough. Let's all hope the next cruise goes as planned and no other things happen.

I have checked a couple of locator web sites one has Anthem in Port Canaveral and others have her at sea. So is she heading back to home port or is she in Canaveral?. I am glad that most on board are safe with only a few minor injuries reported so far and that Anthem is not severely damaged. 100% refund to all on board and a 50% discount on a future cruise. RCCL is trying anyway to make things better for those passengers. In case anyone tries to place blame on RCCL or the captain, Back in 2004 in Florida Hurricane Charlie went from a Category 1 storm to a category 4 storm in a matter of hours. Even the best forecasters can miss the mark and that is what happened this time. All we can do is be thankful that nothing worse than this happened.

Thanks for the reply. Have just booked a 14 night New Zealand cruise on her for January 2017 and was hoping they might be sprucing her up before then.

 

Any idea what kind of work they'll do in the dry dock? She was "revitalised" in 2011 so it's been about 5 years. I haven't read anything about it anywhere.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Normal dry dock includes cleaning and painting hull replacing carpets and worn furniture and in some cases upgrading bedding in the staterooms. I would say in this case Radiance will get a rather good update but not many real changes.

I wish I could say it was a misscommunication, but this isn't the case...

 

I agree with you 100% on planning your own vacation! I've had nothing but problems since booking with a TA and not just with the cruise.

I've travelled a lot, and always do my own planning and plan on it from here on out!!

 

Thanks for your advice:)

We have cruised a lot of times and we NEVER use a Travel Agent. That is just an extra person in the middle to cause problems. We use the onboard reps to book then later select what we want and then do it on the web site and sometimes a call or two as well. Just a case of doing some research. The best travel agent is you once you have all the information needed. I sincerely hope you see that refund today also.

Try an email to mbayley@rccl.com first. The Resolutions Department's phone number is 1-800-205-9812. IO would then call the credit card company next and see what they can do for you. Getting the money and rebooking is a good idea what is not so good is the prices have went up. Perhaps maybe the new Travel Agent can use that information and see if you can get prices closer to the original booking. It will not hurt to try it.

FYI, this is not my first cruise, I am a Diamond member and in fact I have 20+ on Celebrity, but only 3 on Royal. I did not know about the Upgrade choice, and had never had this issue with Celebrity, so I had not made a choice as to upgrading. I have however, now!

 

Also, I did not get my original cabin back. I got another Aft balcony 2 doors down in the middle which I did think was an Upgrade, but would have rather kept what I had and not dealt with the stress. Thank you all!!

Excellent that you got the same area back and if anything an even better aft on the centerline. You are right this had to be stressful but with a little help from another Cruise critic member and reading every post things did go in the right direction. I applaud those that helped you and I am pleased you are back aft.

David

I can't believe that folks are worried that they may get an upgrade!:eek::eek:

Not us. We are doing Alaska on Radiance of the Seas May 20-30 and we are in a Balcony D cabin. If an upgrade was given to a JS we would take it in a second. That being said I have always selected Upgrade on my reservations. But such as it is we have never gotten one. Granted we always pick the size that we need but we once booked a JS (Sovereign of the Seas) when we took our youngest son with us. So if the upgrade fairy visits we will not be upset. But as they say everyone has their own preferences. I am glad OP ended back aft like they originally booked. As for helping other Cruise Critic members whenever possible, that should be in the rules of conduct for these boards. :D

This picture brings back memories of Cliff Richards "Devil Woman" song. Hope that Crystal Ball predicts many more awesome cruises for you also. Empress of the Seas I am going to have to work at convincing Cathy to try a small ship as she is prone to motion sickness.

After your first cruise, do you get any discounts off of cruises being apart of crown and anchor ??? If so, where do you find the codes?

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Did you apply to Crown and Anchor? If so check the Crown and Anchor benefits here http://www.royalcaribbean.com/cas/ I hope this helps. You will be Gold Level so click on the link for that level.

That's some really good news!.....We're sailing her May 20. until. June 3 next year...

We are also sailing the May 20th northbound and doing the land tour afterwards. It will be nice to be onboard just after the maintenance dry dock cycle too.

We have recently returned from cruising on the Radiance. Captain Goran said Radiance was due for its compulsorary 5 year maintenance check next May as previously reported.

He was unsure (or not saying) as to or if there would be any major renovations.

Condition wise, Radiance was still ok but needs revitalising.

We just enjoyed our 7th cruise on Radiance, rough seas but she handles it so well.

Always friendly cruisers on her and a great crew.

The almost 2 week dry-dock gets a lot accomplished. Worn carpeting painting replacing bedding that is worn. All in all the ship stays about the same during a dry dock but worn things get replaced. It is not like a major refurbishment just a little freshening up of what is already there.

The last cruise I see scheduled ends May 1st, 2016 and the next cruise scheduled is May 15th, 2016. I see a two week break in there so that is my guess on when dry dock is for the Radiance of the Seas.

 

We get on it on May 20th, 2016 so I will be looking forward to it.

As are we looking forward to it.

Our Platinum pins were waiting for us in our stateroom on our last cruise. It was our first cruise since attaining Platinum. I tried on the previous cruise to get Platinum perks since we actually turned Platinum during it - they said no :confused:( We did enjoy our balcony discount and robes this time :D

Cathy and I received our Platinum Pins first day of our last cruise. Very nice Little pin and it made a good tie pin for one of my longer ties :) We also enjoyed the robes and will even more so when we do out 10 day Alaska Cruise tour next year.

We have been busy ....moved to Hawaii with hubby's job but we are booked on the Radiance in May. We haven't been to Alaska in almost 20 years. This will be my 18 year sons first trip to Alaska. It will be our 23rd wedding anniversary and we are going with a family couple that it will be their delayed honeymoon. Any suggestions let me know :)

Awesome we are booked on this same cruise and ship :)

Looking at your itinerary, you should have one FN, and I would presume it to be on Day 3, your sea day. Day 2 is traditionally a FN but you are in port until 5:30.

 

Have fun. Brilliance is magnificent. :)

Our Formal night was between Key West and Cozumel on night 3....

Not in our experience,always open.

Ours have always been closed and locked but on Millennium we were escorted to our stateroom and they opened the door for us all others were locked until we used our sea pass.

Here's a link to a story from last year about the various names RCCL has trademarked for future use:

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=5137

 

Quantum and Anthem are obviously known now.

 

The other TMs appear to be dead for now, but who knows if they will be brought back to life for O3, O4 or Q3

Yes we need Seal of the Seas and Manatee of the Seas Next :)

Enjoyed your review, sailing on the 11th. Looking forward to our first time on a Radiance Class ship.

Tom

Cathy and I were on this same cruise and it was very enjoyable we had My Time dining as well and had the same wait staff each night. One the last night some people just walked in and sat where they wanted and that made the wait staff a little upset. But we got the same staff the same anyway. Peter and Francisco were fabulous.

We have booked a cruise from Vancouver in May and we live in Florida then have a cruise tour and will fly out of Fairbanks does anyone have any examples to relate so I can make a good choice on using Choice air or not?

I will be boarding her this Saturday and hope I have good news to report afterward!

We are boarding on the 22nd and we are looking forward to it

17!!!!!!!!:d

32 days plus or minus 1

Just got off the western itinerary yesterday. We had lobster on the 2nd formal evening (Thursday). And yes, it was very good.

Awesome, Lobster is always very good on a formal night, I also like Prime rib if it is available that same night :)