Farewell to Captain Kent

[Sail With Me]

Today, when the Radiance of the Seas arrived in Vancouver, Captain Kent Ringborn retired. After 10 years with Royal Caribbean and the Master of the Viking Serenade and Radiance of the Seas, he decided it was time to pass the wheel on to a younger Captain and return to his home in Portugal to be with his wife Inge and their variety of animals.

 

We all wish Captain Kent much happiness in his retirement and know that he will be missed by all of us who have sailed with him often. The Radiance of the Seas will not be the same without hearing Captain Kent singing "Welcome to our World" at the Welcome Aboard Party.

 

Godspeed Captain Kent and wherever life takes you may it be filled with good health and Happiness.

[Host Mike]

Some of the old Commodore fans may remember him.

He was Captain of both Enchanted Isle and Enchanted Seas for years.

[Sail With Me]

Some of the old Commodore fans may remember him.

He was Captain of both Enchanted Isle and Enchanted Seas for years.

 

And the Crown Monarch Mike. If you have not seen it, his webiste is http://www.captainkent.com.

[gambler]

We had the pleasure of hearing him sing and dining with him in November of 2003. What a wonderful captain, so friendly and always visable. Enjoy you retirement Captain Kent!!

[KamloopsCruisers]

We had the pleasure of sailing with Captain Kent and his wife, Inge on the beautiful Radiance of the Seas last September to Hawaii. What a wonderful captain he was, and a true gentleman. He was very visible about the ship during our sailing - always taking the time to chat with his staff and passengers, and always with a smile and a twinkle in his eye. It was very evident how much he enjoyed his job, and his crew let us know how much they respected and adored their captain. We were fortunate to listen to him sing "Welcome to My World" at the Welcome Back reception one evening and honoured to be invited to dine with him and Inge.

 

Our cruise to Hawaii exceeded all of our expectations - it was absolutely perfect. The welcoming, warm attitude we received from Captain Kent and his fine crew certainly contributed to our wonderful cruising experience.

 

Our warmest wishes for continued good health and happiness to Captain Kent. We hope he keeps singing - while we won't be entertaining his passengers, we're sure his animals will enjoy listening to him serenade them.

 

Rick & Sue

[maxxboy]

We met Captain Kent on the Radiance in November. We were thankful for his knowledge of the sea and its challenging conditions.

 

We had missed CocoCay (water too rough, as usual), so when we left St. Martin he was going to take us to Nassau to make up for the missed port. Not long after we left St. Martin the seas started getting a little rough. Later that night we were rocking quite a bit (17ft seas if I recall correctly). The TV would keep slamming forward and then back on the track it was on, and I couldn't keep the balcony door opened because it kept slamming open and then shut. Needless to say I didn't sleep well. By morning it was still a bit rocky but not as bad. I also noticed we had slowed down a little.

 

Then Captain Kent announced we needed to go at full power to make it to Nassau, and we would still be late. Plus, we would have to undure the rough conditions we had the previous night. He said it wouldn't be practical to try Nassau, so we went around Cuba and out of the Atlantic. There was another RCI ship near us that morning, and he said they were going to try to make Nassau. Everyone was glad our captain used good judgement and gave us two beautiful days at sea instead. A great end to the cruise. Thanks Captain Kent!

[maxs mom]

Who will be the Captain of the Radiance now?

[driftychick]

Wow, I hope it is Capt, Darren Bowland, sailed with him in '03 on the 15 day Radiance Panama Canal Cruise. He is SUPER!

[sailor moon]

I am sorry that I never got the chance to meet him. Bon Voyage Captain!

[bob brown]

Just returned from my first cruise on the Radiance and it was great! I feel lucky to have sailed with Captain Ringborn and have him autograph our photo together. I also received his CD.

 

Just curious....when airline captains retire, they usually are honored with a water canon salute at the end of their final flight by airport fire trucks. Why isn't this practice done for sea captains by harbor fireboats? There are a lot less sea captains and Captain Ringborn sure deserves such an honor.

 

(if this was done, sorry I missed it)

[Radiance1]

We were luck to have sailed with Captain Kent went he made his first and final voyage through the Panama Canal on the Radiance of the Seas. We wish him & his wife all the best an it definately was a pleasure to sail with such a fine captain.

[SCOOP]

We sailed with Capt. Kent on Radiance in March, I am glad I got a photo with him. He has a presence about himself that few posess. I refered to him as Sean Connery (in the movie The Hunt for Red October)-he reminded me of him.

Scoop