Radiance Thanksgiving Cruise Review

Better late than never...

Photos:

November21st-30th

Background: I traveled with my partner Jimmi (jmcal123). I am a lifelong cruiser (#35) on everything from Crystal to Carnival. While I am not loyal to any one line, I tend to favor Royal Caribbean and Princess. This was my choice for cruises because of the itinerary (two new ports) and ship (new class of ship for me).We also were able to combine my platinum discount with the AZ resident special and the FCC I had, so we ended up with a decent deal with some onboard credit as well. We were joined by a friend that we have travelled with twice on the Caribbean Princess and two of his friends.

While there are many positives about this cruise, there were a few disappointments as well, enough for me to mention them, but not to deter me from Royal Caribbean in the future. We are very much looking forward to our Oasis cruise next September. Fortunately, our biggest issue happened immediately upon boarding the ship and we were able to put it behind us within a few hours. So with that being said, take my opinions with a grain of salt, as you should with any review that you read online.

Pre-Cruise: We drove the 5 hours from Phoenix to San Diego and arrived midday on the 20th. Having been to SD many times, we chose the Sofia Hotel on Broadway about 2 blocks from the Pier. We have stayed at the Sofia before and would recommend it to anyone, especially at the $88/night we found it for on Expedia. It is a steal at that rate. After spending 3 meals on land, I again realized the value of a cruising vacation. Meals are expensive, even when you are paying attention to price. We spent the morning on Mission Beach for a run, before heading to Coronado and then to the ship. We used Mission brewery parking and paid $9/night for the cruise and there was ample service to and from the cruise port.

Embarkation: For those who have not used the cruise facilities in San Diego, they are some of the worst out there. We were docked next to the Oosterdam and there were plenty of people to crowd this area. We had waited until 1 to go and park, so we did not board until 2 PM and it was still busy. Once through the initial chaos, it was easy to actually board. I understand now that San Diego and CCL have invested some money into building a new green pier which should improve this process immensely. Anyone who questions about water and alcohol, we checked a bottle of vodka and a case of water with no issue.

Cabin, the issue, and Sail away: Our reservation for the Radiance was about 16 months old, but did not book the ship until May. Cabin selection was wide open aside from the “bump”, so ended up with an E3 balcony cabin, 7566. The cabin was exactly as expected with typical décor, plenty of room for us and a comfortable bed. The issue we had was with the balcony, more specifically, our view from the cabin. It appears that just about every balcony cabin on deck seven is obstructed by the cover of the life boat. So there is no looking down from your balcony, just looking out. It was funny, when I first went out on my balcony, I was blinded by the reflection of the light off of what I thought was a barge or something next to the ship… little did I know that that was our view. After becoming really irritated with realization that this was our view, we called our travel agent and sent picts to him to describe our balcony. I was going to call guest relations, but wanted to be sure we did not accidentally book an obstructed view balcony. After connecting with RCI corporate, our travel agent was informed that we were in a 100% non-obstructed balcony cabin. She also mentioned that there may be other cabins available and to contact Guest Services as there is nothing that could have been done from the corporate side once we board the ship. On my first visit to guest services, I spoke with a guest service representative about my complaint. Her first and immediate reaction was: “ Just so you know the Radiance of the Seas has been sailing fully booked the past few sailings.” At this point, I was only trying to find out if there was a cabin to switch to like the land representative said there may be. I asked if I would be able to speak with her manager and she walked away into the guest service office and returned to tell me that that her boss had stepped away and that her computer was locked so there was nothing she could do right now. So I asked to be contacted by the supervisor. The woman scribbled my name at the bottom of a loose sheet of paper and that ended our first interaction.

As I walked away, I became extremely irritated with the condescending treatment I received from her and the lack of importance put on my request, being added to a loose piece of paper with everything from beds needing to be put together to a crib being needed did not make me feel like my issue was taken in any regard as important.

Several hours later, I again returned to the guest service desk and again asked to speak to the manager. By this time, I had learned who I should be speaking to and asked for her directly. Instead, her assistant came out to “deal” with me. I again explained the issue I had with this stateroom. She told me that the ship was indeed sailing full and that a room change could not happen. We continued this conversation about our room and she continued to say that RCI considers a 100% non-obstructed balcony view a 180 degree left to right view and did not account for moving up or down. That this was a decision made by RCI corporate and that they knew it was an issue and have adjusted their description for it. With this description, I argued and still believe that I did not receive what I paid for. In fact, to be technical, the balconies in between the “bump” and dining room “bump” do not even have the 180 degrees promised because of the “bumps”. My argument was that considering the timeframe I was booked, had I been able to find this information out, I would have either booked a higher category stateroom or lower as I do not feel this cabin was suitable for the description given to it. I further brought to her attention the service we had received earlier in the day with her employee. After about 20 minutes of pushing the blame onto RCI corporate and saying that additional training was needed for her staff, she offered us a bottle of wine for our inconvenience and she said we would be contacted if someone should decide to leave the ship during the cruise. At that point I walked away from the situation, we were sailing and that was what mattered at that point.

It got cold quick and sail away was definitely a little different from a Fort Lauderdale, San Juan, or Miami departure. But it is beautiful and the San Diego skyline is very pretty at night. We stayed out as long as we could and then headed in to the warmth of the ship and we were finally heading to the warmth of the Mexico.

Cruise Critic Get together: We did not have a particularly active roll call, but we had quite a few sign up for the meet and greet. Unlike others I have been to, this one was very organized and led by the cruise director. While it was nice to see him come to the get together, it was a very much sit and listen rather than mingle and get to know your cruise critic members, so we left. I much prefer the casual get together where you chat and not deal with raffles, prizes, etc.

Cabo San Lucas: The tender process for Cabo was long. We waited about an hour to get off. It is surprising that RCCL does not have a priority tendering process for Diamond cruisers. It was just unorganized as we walk all over the ship and there were people cutting in line. I have been to Cabo many times and we just wanted to find cheap beers on the beach. The weather was beautiful… sunny in the mid 80s. We took a water Taxi ($5) over to Medano beach and a short walk later we were at “The Office”... a cute little restaurant with tables in the sand and with decent prices and really good food. We spent several hours here drinking and in the water before heading back. It was a great relaxing way to spend the day. We did walk around the tender area, found $2 Coronas and were one of the last tenders back to the ship. This turned out to be a wonderful day that I would repeat again in a heartbeat.

Mazatlan: Going into our stop at Mazatlan, the city has ranked amongst my least favorite that I have visited. Jimmi has been hounding me to go horseback riding and I did not want to go to the Golden Zone, so we spoke with Randi and booked her Happy Horses. She was easy to meet off the ship and we were on our way to Stone Island. We were berthed with the Oosterdam, so Randi had two groups going out. So we ended up at a restaurant on the beach for about 2 hours before we got to ride. It was a little long as we did not want to get wet by going in the water before the ride. That being said, lunch was fantastic. We rode for about two hours on a deserted beach. It was great. Jimmi had a mishap in that he fell off the horse while dismounting while trading horses at the halfway point. After the tour, we hung out at the closest bar and had Coronas. I had to get my fill so I did not pay $5 for Coronas on the ship. We figure out that we do not need to go horse riding again (OUCH!). But there is still something about Mazatlan that I just do not like. Personal preference I am sure, but I would suggest Randi’s to anyone who enjoys horse riding.

Puerto Vallarta: Our day started out with the Splendor mishap #1. We were fortunate to both have front row seats and not get injured. While running up on the track, we noticed that the Splendor was going to be parking in what seemed to be an impossible parking spot so we walked down to the helipad to watch. It turned out that the spot was too small. We saw the angle and the speed and it seemed inevitable at that point. The railing from the Splendor wrapped around the railing on the Radiance and tore off. Not a big deal really, but the guy standing a foot away from me ended up with the railing in between his legs. It was interesting that RCI had crew waiting for this, almost as it was expected. The screamed everyone to get off and it was over. Shortly after, we hear the now common Echo Echo Echo. The captain then announced what happened and the Splendor tried again. It was announced later that there were 2 injuries onboard related to this accident, but I could not see how as we saw everything that happened.

We had plans to go to blue or green chairs, but just never made it. We walked through town and again found a bar for lunch and beer. Our restaurant featured tableside made salsa and it was excellent. If you noticed, there was a theme in our port stops… find a restaurant and bar, and enjoy the scenery.

Manzanillo: This was the ship’s maiden call on Manzanillo and I should have done more research for this stop as the ship did not have much to offer. We originally planned on doing the turtles, but read a couple of things on CC that made us choose not to. I figured I would go down to the exit and find some information about the port. I ran across the cruise director and I asked him what he suggests to do here. He said that the best bet is to walk to the end of the pier and ask the locals. So, apparently he had not done his homework either. We just went down to the shuttle and paid the $4 for the round trip to downtown. We spent a few hours downtown and headed back. There were no beaches close by and not much of anything close to the port area. In hindsight, we should have done the turtle tour.

Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo: What a pleasant surprise this port was. Beautiful beaches and a great market area, the only problem was the limited time we had in port. We had a bad tender spot on our first attempt, so we went down early and were on a tender by 7:15. We walked through the port area and got to see the fish market. We chose Los Gatos for the day and it was a great choice… probably the highlight of the trip port wise. We had chairs at a restaurant and service all day. We did have a little issue with the cabs trying to rip us off on the return to the port area, but went with it… it was $3 to get there and $5 to get back. We had a few minutes to walk though the market area and then it was back on the ship. It was HOT and the tender line was long.

Food: After reading my review of the Emerald Princess I can almost say the same thing here. Again, food is completely subjective and I am trained chef, so can be picky. I found food to be good to very good. The dining room was standard and I thought was significantly better than our Elation cruise in September, but choice wise a step down from the Emerald and Princess in general. I never went hungry in the dining room, but there were a few nights the menu just did not jump out at me. Some of the highlights… the soups were outstanding. The Chilled were some of the best I have had. The Ice Cream was fantastic. I think I had Almond Butter Ice Cream with my dessert 5 out of the 9 nights. We did not care for our Turkey dinner. I wish I had chosen something else. We thought the Windjammer buffet was very good. We ate all breakfast and lunches here and were always pleased with the quality, choices, and temperature. The afternoon snacks were also a very good treat. I like that they have food here just about the entire day. We ran into lapses on the Elation where there was only pizza or sandwiches. Overall we were quite satisfied with the dining options; though looking back our company in the dining room overshadowed our dining experience. Also, the pizza is not very good. Princess blows everyone else out of the water on this one.

Portofino: Portofino has become our favorite dining experience on a cruise ship. The food and service are consistently outstanding. When making reservation, make sure you do not have other plans for the night. All plates are made to order and if you order the same appetizers, you will most likely not get them at the same time, but a different one. We chose just about all of the appetizers on the menu between the 5 of us and the highlight was the lobster risotto. This is one of the best dishes I have had on any ship. The seafood skewer is beautiful and tasty. My favorite dessert is also in Portofino. The White Chocolate Brulee is to die for. It was a 2.5-3 hour dining experience, but it was wonderful.

Dining Room Service: Normally I would group this with service in general, but our dining room service was beyond accommodating and seemed to go out of our way to serve us. We chose My Time Dining and there were five of us. After a member of our party talked to the head Waiter, we were told we can have the same table if we came after 8. With all the kids and families on this trip we were more than happy with this setup. Our servers were great and we had them for 7 of the 9 nights. They even arranged for us to have soufflé on the final night because we missed it when we went to Portofino. As usual, MTD was a success for us and are very happy to see it rolling out to all cruise lines. I have never been a fan of being forced to eat at certain times with people I may or may not like and did not sail RCCL because their lack of this option for years.

Bar Service: Bottom line is that RCI is a bit overpriced. The positive is that they do not measure shots like Princess and Carnival, but you pay extra for that. The fact that on a Mexican Riviera cruise is charging $4.95 for a Corona is ridiculous. I thought that we would try to save a few dollars by ordering buckets, but a bucket of 6 Coronas and they just charged me for $30 plus tip… so instead of saving a few dollars I ended up with warm beers!

Entertainment: If I have sun, pool, ocean, and a good book I am more than satisfied. Throw in a bucket of beers and life does not get much better for me. We did not go to any of the organized entertainment except what we say in the atrium during cocktail hour before dinner. We really enjoyed our company and spent hours just chatting in the windjammer, on the pool deck, or in the dining room and we had a blast. We hope that we get to sail with our new friends again. Because we traveled in a group we did not really meet many new people which is usually the case. Either way, we enjoyed our self made entertainment and laughed until our sides hurt. Pure word of mouth was that the show with the salsa dancing was extremely well done. We stayed out late one night and closed the bar down which was a lot of fun. People tend to stay up late on the formal nights.

Ship: Aside from the above mentioned issues with the balcony, the ship is gorgeous and I love the size. It should be mentioned that our friends we in a balcony cabin on deck nine and still had the white lifeboats in sight, but had a better view. The ship holds the people well and has activities throughout the ship. We never had a problem finding a chair, and chair saving did not seem to exist. We loved the Solarium pool and napped there on occasion. We did think that the faded fake plants should be replaced with live plants, but we enjoyed the area. The pools were warm after the 1st day and extremely warm on the way back.

Weather: It was just about perfect. Sun was out midday on day two and did not go away until the last day. This is typical for this cruise, but it was HOT in the ports.

Loyalty Program: Aside from the Balcony discount, RCI’s program is just awful. I just turned elite on Princess and the perks you get there are significant compared to the coupon book placed on your bed. I will never cruise a line for a loyalty program, but RCI has not put forth much to change my mind on that.

RCI Response: Upon returning to Phoenix, I wrote a letter to RCI corporate about my experience in my room and with the guest relations department. The woman acknowledged that this is a common complaint and that they were looking into the reclassification of the 7th floor balconies. She offered us a small OBC for our Oasis cruise. I was not looking for anything, but was told that they would follow up when any decisions are made on this. I was pleased with this response and hope that adjustments are made to the guest relations issues we had on this cruise. While it made up a good portion of this review, it did not bother us after 6 PM on day one. I am happy that it was promptly addressed upon returning.

Bottom Line: We seem to be in a Princess then Royal pattern and we like what both have to offer. We are sailing on the Island Princess in March and have the Oasis booked in Sept and we are very much looking forward to both. While we were disappointed in our cabin, I should have done more research and suggest the same for anyone sailing on the Radiance class ships. We still like the Caribbean more than the Mexican Riviera, but with the pricing so low on the West Coast and an easy drive for us, I would do this cruise again in a second. We really enjoyed our trip and the company was very special.

Great review.......we will be sailing on Radiance in 8 days.

The Radiance is a beautiful ship

Kevin.........a wonderful review! Sorry about the way the Guest Services handled you, and unfortunately, 99 percent of the guests that go to the Guest Service desk, have a complaint, and the staff could have better manners. Additional training in that area would be a major help!!:rolleyes:

Rick

Great review.......we will be sailing on Radiance in 8 days.

Wish I was!

Kevin.........a wonderful review! Sorry about the way the Guest Services handled you, and unfortunately, 99 percent of the guests that go to the Guest Service desk, have a complaint, and the staff could have better manners. Additional training in that area would be a major help!!:rolleyes:

 

Rick

If this did not happen, this might have been in the top 2-3 cruises overall.

I train people in customer service and to have these two people both use the "nevers" I teach in customer service only made it worse. I think that was the irritating part, I know what should have been said by them. If they just listened, I would have walked away much happier. I hate defensive listeners. :D

We were on that same cruise a few cabins down from you. We called RCC directly to book and were told it was an " obstructed " view balcony. Perhaps your TA should have told you the same. I was concerned with what they ment by obstructed and searched for pictures of it on cruise critic. As usall our fellow cruisers came through and had plenty of pictures of those deck 7 balconys. Did'nt seem like a big deal to us, but then I knew exactly what to expect ahead of time. Oh, we did do that turtle excursion and it was a lot of fun.

kkorman,do I understand that you were displeased because the lifeboat(s) under your cabin did not allow you to see the water splashing against the ship?

Kevin, I am sorry to hear of your less than pleasant interactions with Guest Relations on board the Radiance.

We did the 11-day cruise which departed on 11/30 (the cruise that followed yours) and I have to agree with you about some of the people working in GR. This was our 12th cruise on Radiance and our interaction with them, at times, was less than pleasant also. I think they took all the good people and transferred them over to the Mother Ship!

I have a thread started that is all about the Radiance that includes numerous pictures from folks, some of which are great shots of the port and starboard side. I think if you would have seen these pictures, especially of deck 7, it would have given you a better idea of what to expect when standing on your balcony.

Overall, it sounds like you had a great cruise.

We were on that same cruise a few cabins down from you. We called RCC directly to book and were told it was an " obstructed " view balcony. Perhaps your TA should have told you the same. I was concerned with what they ment by obstructed and searched for pictures of it on cruise critic. As usall our fellow cruisers came through and had plenty of pictures of those deck 7 balconys. Did'nt seem like a big deal to us, but then I knew exactly what to expect ahead of time. Oh, we did do that turtle excursion and it was a lot of fun.

There is an inconsistency. TA called a second time when we boarded and was given the information that it was "100% unobstructed". Also, the woman I spoke with at RCCL Corporate told me that it is classified as 100% unobstructed, but there have been many complaints about it.

I take blame for this as i did research on everything but my cabin as I have never run across this in my cruising history.

kkorman,do I understand that you were displeased because the lifeboat(s) under your cabin did not allow you to see the water splashing against the ship?

Not only that but there was a hump (top of lifeboats) that was about 10-12 ft. out from balcony and that went up about 1/3 of the glass on our balcony. So, if sitting, you barely had a view.

It would not have been a big deal if I been informed or researched it, but it was unexpected and a disappointment. From the contact I have had with RCCL (which has been really informative and nice) this is a common complaint. I would have certainly booked a different cabin or taken a significantly cheaper inside cabin had I known this.

I have attached some picts.

Kevin, I am sorry to hear of your less than pleasant interactions with Guest Relations on board the Radiance.

 

We did the 11-day cruise which departed on 11/30 (the cruise that followed yours) and I have to agree with you about some of the people working in GR. This was our 12th cruise on Radiance and our interaction with them, at times, was less than pleasant also. I think they took all the good people and transferred them over to the Mother Ship!

 

I have a thread started that is all about the Radiance that includes numerous pictures from folks, some of which are great shots of the port and starboard side. I think if you would have seen these pictures, especially of deck 7, it would have given you a better idea of what to expect when standing on your balcony.

 

Overall, it sounds like you had a great cruise.

What originally was a problem with just a view turned into a customer service issue. That should never happen. I do not understand how you can show so little concern, dare say "just so you know" (how condescending), and then blame corporate RCCL all in 4 hours. You should never do this. That became the issue.

I agree that if I had done the research (my bad), I would have immediately switched... but the point is that I should not have to research that. This was very obviously an obstructed view, without being labeled that.

Not only that but there was a hump (top of lifeboats) that was about 10-12 ft. out from balcony and that went up about 1/3 of the glass on our balcony. So, if sitting, you barely had a view.

 

It would not have been a big deal if I been informed or researched it, but it was unexpected and a disappointment. From the contact I have had with RCCL (which has been really informative and nice) this is a common complaint. I would have certainly booked a different cabin or taken a significantly cheaper inside cabin had I known this.

 

I have attached some picts.

In other words, if you had been two or three decks higher it would not have been an issue. My wife and I are experienced cruisers; and, we always research all of our cruises; hence, we have never had this problem.

We did not have any issues with the desk on our recent cruise other than inquiries into the Luggage Valet procedure.

I found the staff, one had to ask another yet another, about the procedure. No smile and lack of interest in the job.

Many times I walked past the desk I found staff members noticebly arguing with passengers.

I have never noticed this before on any other RCL ship and think the Htel Director on Radience eof the Seas should train the staff better.

I'm sorry to the OP about the cabin choice. In exchange for the view, I believe you did have a bit of an extension on your balcony vs. the other balcony decks.

We just got off the Radiance and I chose a deck 7 forward cabin for the extra extension and I really liked it. Of course the forward cabins don't have the glaring life boat covers to look down at. ;)

I also noticed the guest relations desk to be a bit off. I took my $10 internet coupon to the desk and the officer asked me if I was just going to stand there.:confused: She said it would take her a min to apply the credit, and she no longer needed me. (by the way, I never did receive the credit):( I chalked it up to the holiday stress level.

In other words, if you had been two or three decks higher it would not have been an issue. My wife and I are experienced cruisers; and, we always research all of our cruises; hence, we have never had this problem.

To be honest I do not know how I overlooked this, I very actively plan our vacations and have been on enough that I just did not think it would be an issue. I have never been on a ship shaped like this, but know now that the Celebrity Solstice class has similar issues as well as HAL Vista class. Hindsight I suppose.

The higher decks would not have been an issue. As well, if we picked a forward balcony.

I still do not think I should have to research this and there is an obvious issue, but that is hopefully going to be addressed. We will see. The woman I spoke with promised to connect when anything is decided to change or to just stay the same.

 

I also noticed the guest relations desk to be a bit off. I took my $10 internet coupon to the desk and the officer asked me if I was just going to stand there.:confused: She said it would take her a min to apply the credit, and she no longer needed me. (by the way, I never did receive the credit):( I chalked it up to the holiday stress level.

Holiday or no holiday, these blaring issues should not be issues.

In all fairness to RCI and their description of what is defined as obstructed view and what is not.............

Cabins 1598 and 1098 on Deck 10, 9252, 9254, 9652, 9654 on Deck 9 and 8058, 8060, 8162, 8164, 8662 and 8664 are defintely listed on the website as " partially obstructed views" because of that ladder which is housed in that location when not in use. That ladder definitely obstructs the view for those folks when standing on their balcony.

Even though the canopy that covers the life boats does not allow for folks to look directly into the water from their balcony............it really is not obstructing their overall view.

In all fairness to RCI and their description of what is defined as obstructed view and what is not.............

 

Cabins 1598 and 1098 on Deck 10, 9252, 9254, 9652, 9654 on Deck 9 and 8058, 8060, 8162, 8164, 8662 and 8664 are defintely listed on the website as " partially obstructed views" because of that ladder which is housed in that location when not in use. That ladder definitely obstructs the view for those folks when standing on their balcony.

 

 

Even though the canopy that covers the life boats does not allow for folks to look directly into the water from their balcony............it really is not obstructing their overall view.

If you are sitting down it does. It is a bump and not a flat surface. If it was flat, it would be less of an issue.

Also, RCI has flat out told me it is an issue, that they are not addressing, so they are not being fair.

We have cruised about six times on the Radiance, always in a D-1, with the large balcony. As a result, I didn't really appreciate your problem with this cabin. However, after viewing the pictures and comments of Jim, and also refresing my recollection of this very nice ship, I have concluded that your "problem" with this balcony should simply been nothing more than a non-issue. If my wife and I were in this smaller venue, we would never have complained.

We have cruised about six times on the Radiance, always in a D-1, with the large balcony. As a result, I didn't really appreciate your problem with this cabin. However, after viewing the pictures and comments of Jim, and also refresing my recollection of this very nice ship, I have concluded that your "problem" with this balcony should simply been nothing more than a non-issue. If my wife and I were in this smaller venue, we would never have complained.

Well, the balcony issue, did become a non-issue, the guest relations became the issue. That being said...

I am not looking for any sympathy or justification as I loved the Radiance and the cruise and just brought this issue up to inform others. I felt like I felt and you can feel like you feel, you were not in the same situation I was in. When I went to the guest service, it was to inquire about a room change (that I was told may be able to arranged) and nothing else, that visit is what made this an issue. Would I book this cabin again, hell no! and I would not recommend it to anyone else. I still do not think it is 100% unobstructed, by neither Royal Caribbean definition nor by someone standing on the balcony. From my conversations with the guest service staff and with Royal Caribbean I am not the first one to bring this to their attention, so I think my complaint is valid (even though it became a complaint about service). I have cruised 35 times with half of those being in balconies and never had an issue with my room or view. In fact, this is the first time I was compelled to write something to corporate that was negative. It is over and we had a great cruise.

We have cruised about six times on the Radiance, always in a D-1, with the large balcony. As a result, I didn't really appreciate your problem with this cabin. However, after viewing the pictures and comments of Jim, and also refresing my recollection of this very nice ship, I have concluded that your "problem" with this balcony should simply been nothing more than a non-issue. If my wife and I were in this smaller venue, we would never have complained.

Hi, Seem like you missed the point here Jack. Out of all that was written in that review, you had to focus on the one small "disappointment" we had when we got into our cabin. I think you have this idea that we went running to guest services to go bitch. On the contrary, we went to simply see if they would be able to change our room. The "problem" was the level of service we received that turned this into an issue! We are not the types to complain about things, and that was not our intention here. I don't disagree with you that this is a beautiful ship, I agree with that 100%.

Regarding research, we did research,however angles of photos on this ship do not show views from inside your cabin, and what you can see from your balcony so our PROBLEM was with the fact that RCCL does not mention this and considers this a 100% Unobstructed view.

This review was to be helpful to other travels to make a more informative decision when sailing on a Radiance class ship from our point of view. In order to do that yes we explained what happened. This was not written to bash anyone. Its a REVIEW. If you cannot read the review and process in a normal way then maybe you should write your own review rather than bashing us for our perception.

This is not Obstructed?

Two years ago I cruised a B2B on the Radiance and because of availability both weeks we decided on cabin 7592. It is the first cabin at the bump and the curved roof over the lifeboats obstructs your view looking downward. I have been on this class of ship a couple of times before and honestly totally forgot about the 'obstruction' until a couple of weeks before boarding. At the time I discovered this it was too late to change rooms. I agree totally with you that there should be a description of this 'obstruction'. I was quite ticked off at myself for not catching it sooner, but I eventually dealt with it.

It would be such a simple fix for RCL to mention it in their brochures. And one other point, the definition of an obstruction should be defined by the guests and not by 'corporate'.

I hope you don't find any unadvertised obstructions on the Oasis. We leave on the Oasis in a week and I am having second thoughts about my boardwalk balcony cabin selection, because of the noise obstruction :(. Oh well, c'est la vie.

Thanks for the review.

Two years ago I cruised a B2B on the Radiance and because of availability both weeks we decided on cabin 7592. It is the first cabin at the bump and the curved roof over the lifeboats obstructs your view looking downward. I have been on this class of ship a couple of times before and honestly totally forgot about the 'obstruction' until a couple of weeks before boarding. At the time I discovered this it was too late to change rooms. I agree totally with you that there should be a description of this 'obstruction'. I was quite ticked off at myself for not catching it sooner, but I eventually dealt with it.

 

It would be such a simple fix for RCL to mention it in their brochures. And one other point, the definition of an obstruction should be defined by the guests and not by 'corporate'.

 

I hope you don't find any unadvertised obstructions on the Oasis. We leave on the Oasis in a week and I am having second thoughts about my boardwalk balcony cabin selection, because of the noise obstruction :(. Oh well, c'est la vie.

 

Thanks for the review.

Exaclty, and the good thing is, it didn't consume our vacation at all. We only spent a little time on the issue of the obstruction, but when we found out there was nothing we could do, we just dealt with it and we really did enjoy the rest of our cruise. We had a wonderful time, and the ship is just wonderful.

Oasis is going to be great. I am so looking forward to this ship. It's size is a little scary because after being on small ships for the last few cruises, this might be a shock to be on a big ship again. Bigger than we've ever been on. Oh and oasis does have some lifeboats that hang over the edge and the floors above them will have some obstruction it seems. We have checked the photo and tried to figure out where we are and it seems we will be good.

I hope you have a great time on your Oasis cruise! Have fun!!!

Check out this angle of the Oasis and you can see the lifeboats might be an issue for the 6th floor cabins.

Two years ago I cruised a B2B on the Radiance and because of availability both weeks we decided on cabin 7592. It is the first cabin at the bump and the curved roof over the lifeboats obstructs your view looking downward. I have been on this class of ship a couple of times before and honestly totally forgot about the 'obstruction' until a couple of weeks before boarding. At the time I discovered this it was too late to change rooms. I agree totally with you that there should be a description of this 'obstruction'. I was quite ticked off at myself for not catching it sooner, but I eventually dealt with it.

 

It would be such a simple fix for RCL to mention it in their brochures. And one other point, the definition of an obstruction should be defined by the guests and not by 'corporate'.

 

I hope you don't find any unadvertised obstructions on the Oasis. We leave on the Oasis in a week and I am having second thoughts about my boardwalk balcony cabin selection, because of the noise obstruction :(. Oh well, c'est la vie.

 

Thanks for the review.

Check out some of these high resolution photos for Oasis of the Seas.