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Concern about Carnival Radiance?

jojolee1968

By jojolee1968,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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HectorAchilleus

HectorAchilleus

Posted
Posted

I am. I foolishly booked a transatlantic  (which is filled with sea days) on this ship in June. I actually thought it was a new ship when I booked it. I am not looking forward to being crowded together with less space for 13 days. I swore I would never sail the Sunshine again, but I am hoping that they will learn from their mistakes on the Sunshine and Sunrise.  

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jimbo5544 "Live from...." Rare

jimbo5544

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Posted
3 hours ago, HectorAchilleus said:

I am. I foolishly booked a transatlantic  (which is filled with sea days) on this ship in June. I actually thought it was a new ship when I booked it. I am not looking forward to being crowded together with less space for 13 days. I swore I would never sail the Sunshine again, but I am hoping that they will learn from their mistakes on the Sunshine and Sunrise.  

We are on the TA also.  I have zero trepidation about sailing on the Radiance.  Not sure whether you think she is new or an expensive overhaul has to do with how many people will be on it.  The TA will be totally different experience.  

 

That said, they did not think they did anything wrong.  They learned plenty from the Sunshine and improved on the Sunrise (different shipyard and work company) and there are different features.  Relax, we will have a blast.  Have you joined the roll call? 

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jimbo5544 "Live from...." Rare

jimbo5544

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, fyree39 said:

After the Sunshine reviews, and now the Sunrise, I'll only book one of these refurbished non-NEW Carnival ships if my other half insists on it. Carnival has so many wonderful cruise ships to choose from, so I'll go with something a bit different from the non-NEW ships (who was it that always talked about the NEW Carnival Sunshine?).

I am not sure I get your point about the Sunrise, are you implying it is not new?

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mets123

mets123

Posted
Posted

If you enjoy a crowded lido marketplace, more crowds, less public places, a smoke filled casino, and a very warm and crowded comedy club, then this is the ship for you. All of these problems have been well documented on the Sunrise, and I would expect them to carry forward to the Radiance. This is not hearsay on my part, I experienced it  on the Sunrise this past June..

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PhillyFan33579

PhillyFan33579

Posted
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My guess is if you don’t like Sunshine or Sunrise, you won’t like Radiance. On the other hand if you like Sunshine or Sunrise, you will like Radiance. 

 

I have not sailed on Sunrise, and Jimbo mentioned Carnival learned from Sunshine and improved Sunrise. However, the comments I have read online concerning Sunrise on this and other sites sound very similar to reviews concerning Sunshine.

 

From my perspective the Sunshine class of ships are very polarizing. It appears the majority of people either love the ships or dislike the ships, with a much smaller percentage of people falling some where in between. 

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jbethel11

jbethel11

Posted
Posted (edited)
39 minutes ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

My guess is if you don’t like Sunshine or Sunrise, you won’t like Radiance. On the other hand if you like Sunshine or Sunrise, you will like Radiance. 

 

I have not sailed on Sunrise, and Jimbo mentioned Carnival learned from Sunshine and improved Sunrise. However, the comments I have read online concerning Sunrise on this and other sites sound very similar to reviews concerning Sunshine.

 

From my perspective the Sunshine class of ships are very polarizing. It appears the majority of people either love the ships or dislike the ships, with a much smaller percentage of people falling some where in between. 

That goes to say for any ship. Let's take the Fantasy class. Some people hate how the design is loud and gaudy. We could even take the Oasis class on RCI. Some people love the ship's size while others hate it!

Edited by jbethel11
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Koukla21

Koukla21

Posted
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We are set to sail on the Radiance next August 31 - September 6. I have to say, some of the reviews of the other two refurbished ships was making me a bit nervous.  Possibly, we are going at a time when some of the kiddos are back in school and that would cut back a bit on the crowds.  We are the "go with the flow" type so it would have to be really bad for us not to have a good time on any ship. I've also found that what some complain about wouldn't necessarily be a complaint of mine. I love our itinerary for this cruise to Bermuda and the dates of it work for us perfectly.  Two wins right there!  

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ober134

ober134

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We are booked on the inaugural sailing. I hadn't given a thought about overcrowding in the public spaces until this post. However since it is a port intensive itinerary, I'm hoping for the best. We sailed Victory a few years ago, I consider it one of my favorite.

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jojo0356

jojo0356

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Posted

I am booked on April 2021 on her at a good price. I have sailed on Sunshine, which while not my favorite ship still had alot going for her. Fun is where you find it and I can find spots without the crowds on any ship.😜

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BlerkOne "Live from...." Rare

BlerkOne

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To refer to the ships as refurbished shows a built in bias from the beginning. One does not simply transform a ship into a new experience and call it refurbished. I have cruised enough to know to discount many of the subjective opinions of people I don't know. Even more so if I do know them.

 

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eroller Great Review Rare

eroller

Posted
Posted (edited)
31 minutes ago, Joebucks said:

I have read multiple times that "common space was taken away" from the Sunrise in areas like the comedy club and main show lounge. Looking at the deck plans between the Triumph and Sunrise, they are exactly the same. What am I missing?

 

 

Have a closer look.  Either you're not looking at the right deck plans or perhaps you just missed it.  

 

On Lobby Deck forward, the entire first level of the main show lounge has been converted to cabins.  The show lounge is now only two levels, and more multi-purpose.  

 

On Promenade Deck aft, 3 public spaces have been converted to cabins.  The large Club Rio aft lounge.  The Venezia Lounge which was a more intimate club with bar and music, and the Big Easy Piano Bar.  All cabins now.  

 

There is technically one less pool as well.  The small Universe Pool located on Panorama Deck has been converted to the Carnival Waterworks play area with slides.  

 

Some additional cabins were added elsewhere around the ship as well, but nothing as extreme as those blocks added to where the lower show lounge and aft lounges used to be.  

 

No additional interior public space was added.  They just used the existing footprint to rework some areas.  

Edited by eroller
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RRLLAL

RRLLAL

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Posted
25 minutes ago, eroller said:

 

 

Have a closer look.  Either you're not looking at the right deck plans or perhaps you just missed it.  

 

On Lobby Deck forward, the entire first level of the main show lounge has been converted to cabins.  The show lounge is now only two levels, and more multi-purpose.  

 

On Promenade Deck aft, 3 public spaces have been converted to cabins.  The large Club Rio aft lounge.  The Venezia Lounge which was a more intimate club with bar and music, and the Big Easy Piano Bar.  All cabins now.  

 

There is technically one less pool as well.  The small Universe Pool located on Panorama Deck has been converted to the Carnival Waterworks play area with slides.  

 

Some additional cabins were added elsewhere around the ship as well, but nothing as extreme as those blocks added to where the lower show lounge and aft lounges used to be.  

 

No additional interior public space was added.  They just used the existing footprint to rework some areas.  

 

They moved and or added more public spaces too. The piano bar you mention is now on deck 5 next to red frog pub and is very nice. As I’m sure you know they added a number of eating options, many which are free as well as adding the steakhouse and cucina and a new and larger bonsai sushi. Not everything was added cabins. 

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eroller Great Review Rare

eroller

Posted
Posted
Just now, RRLLAL said:

 

They moved and or added more public spaces too. The piano bar you mention is now on deck 5 next to red frog pub and is very nice. As I’m sure you know they added a number of eating options, many which are free as well as adding the steakhouse and cucina and a new and larger bonsai sushi. Not everything was added cabins. 

 

 

They didn't actually add any additional public space.  It was all existing public space before.  They just changed up the existing public space.  Reworked areas and rebranded.  

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jimbo5544 "Live from...." Rare

jimbo5544

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Posted (edited)

It still amazes me that people who have not sailed on her have the biggest “issues” with the ship.  Carnival renamed the ship (as they have done in the past two of this class).  You can call it new, used, old redone, refurbed, whatever floats your boat, I will not “correct any poster thinks the status is most meaningful to them.  It also amazes me that this “common space” take way gets so much flack,  When pressed many posters cannot even identify with what space has been reutilized.  Often, they have not sailed on a Carnival ship in years (or at all) and offer anything other than 3rd hand comments about the impact of taking away a floor of the main show room (as example) and what impact that has on common space.  

 

These three ships get bashed, now that other cruise lines are following (in major refurbs of older ships) I wonder if it will be more accepted here (doubt it).  I wonder of a lot of the people who say they would never do on these three would go on the older versions as well.  doubt that also.

 

Have done both conversions and will be doing the third as well (as a TA).  Each so far exceeded my expectations.  They are not my favorite ship in the fleet but far from my least favorite.

Edited by jimbo5544
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