Radisson Reality?

[RMS Olympic]

After reading the Mass Market post and a number of other concerns on various responses to this board there seems to be flavour that the Radisson that once was, has changed or is changing. I cant read between the lines and knowing how radically different opinions can be.... I do not know what to expect on the Voyager this December.

It seems that when the announcement of the PG being sold hit...questions of doubt seemed to surface as to the fate of the company. Then with the selling of the Diamond there was a little more gasoline on the fire. Then the reorganization of Corporate personnel, a down sizing if you will....

It was almost as if doubt in the mind of passengers made them more sensative, more critical of their cruise experience....things that in the past might not be noticed all of a sudden became another sign of the line slipping.

Now the PG is still sailing, and I have not read anywhere that the bookings have died, nor that the Parent company has lost interest in their sizeable financial commitment to this cruise line.

So what is reality? Should I expect my December cruise on the Voyager to be a cheap replica of the cruise I took on her 2 years ago. Will this now be a cheap version, less service, less food, less of everything? Or has the line remained the way I experienced it on my three previous cruises with Radisson....and its just the fear of the future that has people looking for just another sign of the "old Radisson" fading away.

Friends are sailing on the Mariner shortly to Alaska and stated they have been reading some disturbing things about Radisson. This is sad becasue the concern could spoil their first time on this wonderful cruise line.

I would like some comments from those that have sailed within the last year. I also would love to get a response from Mr. Conroy as to his opinion on where past passengers might see differences as the line adjusts to personnel changes, escalating operating costs, downsizing of the fleet etc.

If its business as usual.......it might help everyone to sit backand enjoy their Radisson experience which will always have a fault, doesn't everything and everybody?

I await the responses.......what is the real picture......what can I expect on my next trip?

[rfb]

We completed our 16th cruise on Radisson, a 7day Belize/Mexico trip on the Navigator in late March. While we hadn't been on the Navigator in three years we found the ship just as nice and the service just as good as we remembered it from our last experience on the ship. Actually we found the food better. We have two cruises planned, one on the Mariner from Sydney to Auckland and next year on the Navigator from Monte Carlo to Copenhagen. Based on this recent experience I have no concerns regarding the service level on board.

 

My only concern is that with fewer ships the number of itineraries will reduced. For example the New England/Canada cruises are now longer planned with the Navigator in Europe next year to cover the cruises the Diamond had previously scheduled.

 

Since our first cruise with Radisson in 1996 we had seen them grow from two ships, the Diamond and Song of Flower to six ships. Now with the Song of Flower and Diamond gone they are back to four, with the PG questionable.

From previous discussions with Mark Convey on the shakedown cruises and World Cruise, Radisson has had plans to build at least one new Voyager Class ship but the dollar exchange rate has made this more difficult. With the travel and cruise industry back from the 2001/2002/2003 doldrums and prices firming perhaps the economics will be there and Radisson will go forward with their plans. With prices firming it makes planning for a trip further in advance more important to get those early booking advantages. In the last few years the bargains were great. They are becoming fewer and further apart.

 

Yes, Radisson is changing and as with all good businesses will have to continue to evaluate its operations with respect to the industry and competition. But to date these changes have not, as far as I have experienced, made Radisson less desirable.

[MiaPortia]

Mark and I sailed with RSSC twice last year... (Navigator and Mariner) ... and both voyages were stellar examples of Radisson's outstanding cruise experience! We’re eagerly anticipating Voyager’s 12/5 “Chocolate” cruise – and look forward to meeting you onboard, Capt. Tom!

Mia

[WesW]

rfb, mia...good posts based on recent experience thanks, capt. tom was on your favorite ship, the PG, for two weeks in March--all expectations exceeded, service, dining, diving, excursions, etc..exceptional...in the cabin next to ours was hank lewis, the new owner of GCT...who told us GCT had a goal of keeping the PG in FP until at least 2009...we are now booked on the navigator next january and mariner next august...as Mia says, hope to meet you on board too.

 

r/wes

[petlover]

OK, I'm the first to admit that the level of service we received on the World Cruise may not be the norm but from my recent perspective (hey, it's the only one I have after spending almost 4 months) on the Voyager....I did NOT see any decrease in the service or quality received with previous cruises taken a couple of years ago. Yes, RSSC is "restructuring" with the fleet but the ships in service are not suffering whatsoever.

 

I hate to hear all these "what if's" because some time this takes precedence over the what IS! Unless we hear otherwise....why not give it a rest until there really is a noticeable change? (I doubt this will happen!) Until I experience otherwise, my glass will remain half full.

[freddie]

As I posted on another similar thread, I am quite intriqued by this hysteria about RSSC falling apart. Our cruise on Voyager in the summer of 2004 was entirely consistent in terms of quality with the one we took in late summer of 2003. Lordie, has everything gone to total hell in the last 9 or 10 months??!! Yes, Radisson has sold a ship; and another ship leased by RSSC (the PG, on which we will be spending two weeks later this month) has been sold. But does that mean that the whole line is going the way of Carnivore? We have seen and read almost nothing that would suggest that the Radisson experience as a whole has diminished. Hotel experiences on Tahiti do not determine the RSSC worldwide experience, by any possible measure. (That being said, we hope that we do not have any of the dreadful Meridien sort of stays that some posters have described - our one night pre-cruise is at the Intercontinental Beachcomber; so we may be lucky and avoid the Meridien sort of stuff - frankly, I don't much like Meridien hotels anywhere in the world - they tend to have small rooms and no character whatever.) In any event, it seems somewhat questionable to raise issues about the quality of a cruise by attacking the pre- or post-cruise hotel. That may well be an issue of the total vacation; but it is not properly a commentary on the cruise experience. Perhaps it would be useful for us to focus on the Radisson cruise itself. (Good grief, what a lecturing creature I am!! Please forgive me for my loyalty to RSSC and my desire to engage in discussion of cruise issues, rather than land-based hotel issues.) Cheers, Fred

[ChatKat in Ca.]

I have been on 4 RSSC cruises since 2001 - The Alaska Inaugural, Panama Canal on Mariner and Bermuda and Canada New England last year. I leave for the PG in SIX Days. I did not find much difference in the quality of anything from my first RSSC to the last.

 

I have two more cruises booked for 2006 - one on Mariner (Alaska) and one on Voyager (Dover/Monte Carlo), which should tell you that I have complete confidence in the management of RSSC. I will not say that every thing is absolutely perfect, - but it is quite superioer to any of the other cruiselines that I have been on. Yes, there is slight wear and tear but everything has been kept us to wonderful standards.

 

I suggest that those with the negative viewpoints with out substantial proof do one of two things. Go on a cruise on either RSSC or on one of the Mega Ships and then come back and make a comparison as to quality.

 

We did do that. My husband (before we married) travelled quite extensively on Royal Viking, Princess and others. When we found the inaugural Alaska Itinerary, we went and fell in love with RSSC. We'd cruised for our 1997 honeymoon (RCCL) and took another Mexico Itinerary on RCCL and then we went on RSSC. Heaven! We though it was beyond our travel budget so we went back to Celebrity and that clinched a loyal paasenger for RSSC. There is no comparison. The only thing I found excelled on Celebrity over Rssc was perhaps the entertainment in that there were more passengers to get involved in the group participaton events.

 

I rarely post here now and while I lurk and read what going on here, I have become very tired of this Chilcken Little (The SKy is falling) routine here at CC

[RMS Olympic]

My reason for posting this topic/ question was to get some feedback that the sky is falling attitude or opinion is just that.....an opinion and not fact.

 

I am glad to have received these responses so far.

Mia...look forward to meeting you as well. As for Colonel Wes...why dont you joing us in Dec.......and join the fun...I will Sir you all over the place.....and walk one pace to the rear and one pace to the left as protocol dictates....oooorah!

Long may RSSC sail........and if we are lucky, build a new ship so I can be on the shake down cruise!

Tom

[WesW]

Capt Tom, thanks for the warm invite, however we are booked on the Navigator for Jan...wish I could do two in a row..will have to wait for retirement in a few years...r/wes

[JDRMYS]

We've been on 5 RSSC cruises (a total of 66 days) since 2001. 2 of these have been since November: Transatlantic on the Voyager and the Yucatan on the Navigator. We have booked a 7 day Rome-Athens cruise on the Voyager for this September and an 18 day Auckland to LA cruise on the Mariner in November-December 2006. We will probably book other RSSC cruises while on the Voyager in September. The only other company on which we currently have a reservation is Seabourn.

 

We are very picky people and we have not found any diminution in quality on RSSC ships! Capt Tom, don't worry, you'll have a wonderful cruise.

[Iamboatman]

I think if you read most of the negative posts they relate to the pre-/post- cruise customer service related to issues arising out of the loss of the Diamond, the uncertainty of the PG and the cancellations due to charters. Of course there are a few onboard hiccups here and there, but perfections is not realistic. Overall, those of us that have cruised with RSSC (as opposed to having our cruises cancelled) are very fond of both the amenities and the people.

 

I think RSSC provides a great bridge between say Celebrity and Seabourn, leaning more towards the Seabourn side. (Nothing, however, IMHO compares to Seabourn!).

[English Voyager]

On our recent cruise on the Voyager(Ft.Lauderdale/Rome),I met several passengers who stated that the food in all four restaurants was terrible.It made me think that either my tastebuds are shot to hell,or I was eating in a parallel universe.

It only takes those people to post on this site,and others begin to think that Radisson's standards are woefull.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

English Voyager, I agree. We have been on three Radisson cruises so far (about to do our 4th). There have always been a few complainers, people for whom nobody on the ship could do right. I remember one guy on the PG complaining that he couldn't get a decent hamburger!

 

There will be always a few like that. I'm not accusing anybody here of being one of them. And I also believe that legitimate complaints and worries about falling standards are completely valid.

 

I'll report back my b2b PG cruise.

[mike35]

Just my two cents worth re food on our recent fall foliage Navigator cruise. I would rate it good to excellent in most areas. I did feel that a few of the entrees and soups were dull and needed enhancement. We were also disappointed that on this fall foliage New England to Montreal cruise, there was a distinct lack of local seafood (mussels, clams, lobster, oysters). Overall, we find the food on both Crystal and Insignia to be superior, but this won't deter us from future RSSC cruises.

 

Mike

[ChatKat in Ca.]

Mike,

 

I think we were on the same sailing in New England. There was definitely lobster on the menu - twice. And the excursions offered the other seafood, we had mussels and lobster on them as well. So maybe you were in the steakhouse when we were in Compass Rose.

 

One thing I learned for my Cordon Bleu class on the Mariner during the galley tour was that it's RSSC's policy to have all the meat (except for the lamb - New Zealand Lamb is used) and much of the other food USDA approved. The meat is shipped into the ships from home. They usually can provision for weeks at a time. Most veggies and fruits are provisioned based on passeger prefernce. Things that might be bought in the local ports for eating must match the RSSC standards and that is something they try to avoid for fear of sick passengers or quality issues.

[englishlee]

I too was on the Voyager from Madeira to Rome (got off a couple of days ago). As English Voyager indicated, if anyone thought that the food in any of the restaurants let alone all of them was below standard then I would seriously question their tastes - in every sense of the word. My wife and I ate in all of the restaurants at various times and never had a poor meal, or anything other than excellent service. This was our third RSSC cruise in three years and have not noticed any deterioration in any aspect of RSSC cruises.

 

Sometimes you wonder if because there is so little (i.e. nothing)to complain about whether some curmudgeons go out of their way to look for something.

[mike35]

Just wanted to clarify my earlier comments. I was a restaurant critic in New Orleans for several years and published a book on New Orleans cuisine. I'm well aware that individual tastes vary and the enjoyment of fine cuisine is very subjective. We didn't "dislike" any of the food on the Navigator, and I managed to gain my usual 5 - 7 pounds during the cruise! RSSC is a quality cruise line, and we're anticipating a great 4/7/06 Navigator cruise.

 

We sampled local cuisine in Boston (clam chowder, Boston scrod), Halifax (lobster, lobster, more lobster), and Prince Edward Island (best mussels in the world). I understand RSSC's quality and safety requirements, but I still feel that such local cuisine could have augmented the other menu items.

 

Mike

[Marylis]

I don't have any previous Radisson experience to compare it to, but my March cruise on the Navigator was lovely:) - Beautiful room, stellar service, good food, completely relaxing atmosphere. It's been over a month and I still find myself overcome at times with gentle yearnings to be back on the ship.

 

Because of some of the posts I'd read here before the cruise, I was a little sensitive to signs of deterioration, and of course I was able to find them when I was worried about them. But that only lasted about a day, and then I relaxed and had a lovely time.

 

I've noticed that even though there are a lot of worried posts, every review of a recent cruise has been consistently positive. So I've decided not to worry until I start reading actual accounts of poor cruise experiences, and will look forward to my August 06 Alaska cruise unreservedly:)

 

Mary

[Leejnd4]

Just returned from the Voyager 5/1 Funchal-Rome cruise, and it was, in a nutshell, absolutely fantastic! I'll have more detailed reviews later when I catch up, but just to toss my 2c into this discussion, if anything has declined on the Voyager, than I can't imagine how awesome it must have been before. It wasn't *perfect* -- Signatures couldn't seem to produce rack of lamb that was less than medium-well, at least for me -- but any glitches were so minor as to be forgotten almost instantly in the flood of fabulous that followed.

 

I really like Marcie's comments on worrying about all these "what if's" rather than enjoying what IS. What IS is simply...splendid!

 

LeeAnne

[Call me Ishmael]

LeeAnne,

 

Glad to hear that your trip was fabulous.

 

We're leaving in a few weeks to join the Voyager into the Baltics. I look forward to your detailed comments here and elsewhere, especially concerning the other dinner venues on board.

 

CMI