Radiance of the Seas Hawaii May 13 Review

[sexyaznboy]

Just got back from my 10 day cruise sailing from Oahu to Vancouver, and thought I'd write a brief review, mostly to recap what I thought was a very good enjoyable cruise. There were definitely more pluses than minuses, but I hope it would be useful to anyone hoping to sail on Radiance as it was the first time for me.

 

Embarkation: Easy and smooth for us at least. Our cruise documents said 7pm, and at least 30% of the people I talked to adhered to this rule even though I learned on CC that they let people on board at 11 am. This REALLY screwed with some people's timetables, and I spoke to a couple who actually called RCCL to confirm the time and they were told 7pm. The right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing. Thank goodness for CC...basically half the people were missing at dinner and they missed the first few hours of their vacation. Shame on you Royal!

 

Accomodations: I thought my balcony was very nice, 9010, although I saw the hump balconies were twice the size as ours! Not sure if they would have been the same price though! Our stateroom attendant was friendly but did not really go overboard with his service. We only got our towel animals in the latter part of our cruise, not sure why. The beds were very comfortable though. I did notice some parts of the ship looked like it was getting a bit old, and I guess with a 2001 ship this is to be expected. I did notice not as many people cleaning in the hallways as my last cruise as well.

 

Food: The food was hit and miss. In comparison to my Celebrity cruise last year, the food quality and presentation were not as good. A few times we had Angus steak, and it was overcooked, and other times it was perfect. There was lobster tail night but it was dried out and overcooked. There was surf and turf the last night but the meat was very chewy, which indicated to us a poorer cut of beef (that said, the waiter was nice enough to get another dish but the meat was the same). The fish also tended to be quite bland. The desserts however, were amazing, the cheesecakes were to die for and were always of high quality. Our servers, Karoly and Efria, were very pleasant. Karoly in particular was very concerned that we were happy with our food. Thanks to Bernd and Eelko for giving us their early sitting seats. I had booked early but when we got on board, we found out at dinner time that we were not assigned tables. So for next time I better make sure we have the table number assigned. We cannot eat late, but sometimes 6 is too early and 8:30 is too late, especially since we have a 6 hour time difference. I hope they reconsider the times for the future. As for breakfast and lunch, the buffets were adequate, but not spectacular. My mom noted that many of the meat dishes were dried out, probably in part due to the fact the food was sitting under the heater for extended periods of time. But even the carved meat was often overcooked and dried out. The one big pet peeve I noticed was there there were NO serving trays. I do not understand this, and I noted in my comments at the end of the cruise. With a tray you could get your salad, meal, dessert and drink on one tray but without one, you'd have to make several trips back to the food area. Near the end of the cruise, we decided for the dining room to have breakfast and lunch, which was more civilized, but even then the menus were repeating themselves at lunch, which was surprising. Disapponted there was no Johnny Rockets on board.

 

Excursions: We did Waimea Canyon and Best of Hilo. Both tours were professionally run. I don't know about the other tours, but I guess I was a bit surprised that we did not see more lush foliage that I typically associated with Hawaii, but maybe that was a misconception. We were disappointed that the Mauna Loa macadamian nut factory only had their store open and not the factory but it was Saturday.

 

The Boat: The deck was awesome during the warm weather, which was for our first 7 days before 3 days of quite marked turbulence and cold weather. As stated earlier, there were parts of the boat that looked like it could be spruced up. I was impressed by the Centrum and the glass elevators. The casino had a lot of good machines for all, I noticed that the same people were there at the same machines and wondered if they went to the bathroom or ate :p I actually WON 18 dollars which was surpising, as I always lose! But there was one guy who hit 25K on the slots while we were having drinks, but also heard about a couple who lost 50K!! Geez! How many cruises is that? The Cascade dining room was very nice, the Windjammer was also very nice with an aft open area that was very scenic. I never got to do the Seaview Cafe, when we wanted to try it, it was late and it was bitterly cold and rainy outside and decided not to chance it. Cool rock climbing wall and putt putt golf, but didn't try it. The gym facilities, which I used twice a day were very nice and the sauna/steam room were even nicer to relax before dinner. They were not well utilized, which was also nice, because they were both quite small. The pools and jacuzzis did not look as inviting as on Summit though, I can't put my finger on it as to why, but I didn't try them, even though I intended on it.

 

The Activities: Kirk, our cruise director was very funny. The theatrical productions were well done, except the microphones went off a few times and it was very difficult to hear the women sing. The singers and the pianist were good, but many of the songs sort of reminded me of a lounge act. One act in particular, JC is his name, had a classical voice and was awesome on the classical opera tunes but then he'd go into Las Vegas show tunes. I gather the crowd eats that up, but for me, it bordered on cheesy a bit. I had the feeling that in the last 3 sea days, they kind of gave up on us, other than bingo and activities like towel folding and cake decorating, there didn't seem to be much going on. Matt Yee's comedy cabaret was very funny and was very popular. I caught a bit of the Quest game and it was also funny, but because so few people can play, I would have wished it was more interactive with more people.

 

The People: Mixed age crowd, I would say the average was in their 50s. I very much enjoyed the company of my dining companions, Steven, Dianne, Gary, Jeanette, Wayne and Sandra and letting me take video of them eating:D . We'd all meet up in the casino for drinks afterwards and chat up a storm. I am always nervous about meeting up with new people. But they made dinner a pleasure. The people we met for breakfast and lunch were in general very pleasant. One lady in particular was 87 years old travelling by herself and had done 53 cruises...its like OMG!!! :eek: Very impressive! A few older people were quite pushy and rude. One old man in particular told my mom and me to shut up during a performance (maybe my mom's voice carries a bit but she is hard of hearing) and I noticed he did talk to his neighbor too, so we were in the wrong, but there is a better way of getting people to keep quiet than to "shut up". I thought that was simply rude. I heard about others budding in line onto the elevators without an excuse me. I respect my elders but sometimes I definitely encountered some that thought that just because they were old, they had every right to be rude. I enjoyed meeting up with CC members especially as they helped me a lot before boarding. Forgive me, I was really bad with names (everyone seemed to remember mine, so I felt really bad). But I won the RCCL mouse which was a minithrill for me (although I was actually eyeing the champagne LOL).

 

Disembarkation: Initially I thought it was well structured. Well that is until we actually got off the boat and in line for the shuttles. There were three lines, two or three people directing traffic and TOTALLY out to lunch and telling us different things. We were flying domestic and the bus driver did not know how to get out of the port and what is worse, they did not separate domestic from international travelers, so by the time we got to the airport, there were irate passengers have to get off their luggage at the international gate and the rest of the luggage had to be put onto the bus again. To add to our problems there was a security breach and security was shut down for about 45 minutes. We were the last 2 people on the plane (we did not have seat assignments) and were lucky to get on with the debacles at the port with misdirections and bad bus driver. Ugh...that was the worst part of our trip (other than some sea sickness at the end).

 

So I gave this cruise an 8 out of 10. I wonder how much they are cutting back on service because of the spiking price of oil I definitely noticed they were cutting back on things. With the air baggage surcharges and the gas charges on the cruises going up and up, in conjunction with the decline in service and quality, I wonder how long they can maintain people cruising. Crusing is still a great deal though but noticeably much less so on this past cruise for us.

 

Hope this helps, and I enjoy this board, will go over and say hi to my CC friends on board. Happy cruising!:D

[cruisenfever]

Thanks so much for your review...........it's nice to hear about the good and the bad.

 

I think you would have enjoyed the SeaView Cafe. It is accessible from the outdoor eating area of the WJ at the back of the ship. Shorter walk in cold and rainy weather.

 

Also, if you didn't try the made to order crepes in the Solarium Cafe.............you missed out on a real treat.

 

We are sailing on Radiance in September for the R/T Hawaii out of San Diego and can't wait. She is our very favorite ship and though she has some worn spots.............I like to say that her character is now showing.

[Cruise Away]

We're going on the Hawaiin trip in October on the Radiance. It will be our third time on the Radiance. We love that ship. The Sea View Cafe is our favorite place to go for a late night snack. This will be our longest cruise yet - 15 nights - and i'm really excited. It feels like October is so far away........

[cottagemama]

We are on Radiance for 12 Ultimate to Alaska in September. this is our first time on her but we have been on sister ship Jewel & loved it.

[cruisenfever]

We're going on the Hawaiin trip in October on the Radiance. It will be our third time on the Radiance. We love that ship. The Sea View Cafe is our favorite place to go for a late night snack. This will be our longest cruise yet - 15 nights - and i'm really excited. It feels like October is so far away........

We'll make sure that we keep it in good shape for your arrival.:D

 

We are on Radiance for 12 Ultimate to Alaska in September. this is our first time on her but we have been on sister ship Jewel & loved it.

Now, it's your job to keep it in good shape for our arrival!:D

[janazaz]

Excursions: We did Waimea Canyon and Best of Hilo. Both tours were professionally run. I don't know about the other tours, but I guess I was a bit surprised that we did not see more lush foliage that I typically associated with Hawaii, but maybe that was a misconception.

 

If you had gone in the opposite direction toward the North Shore you would have seen the lush foliage, waterfalls and more beautiful scenery of Kauai. Waimea Canyon is okay, but the true beauty of this island is at and on the way up to the N Shore and Napali coast.

[sexyaznboy]

Excursions: We did Waimea Canyon and Best of Hilo. Both tours were professionally run. I don't know about the other tours, but I guess I was a bit surprised that we did not see more lush foliage that I typically associated with Hawaii, but maybe that was a misconception.

 

If you had gone in the opposite direction toward the North Shore you would have seen the lush foliage, waterfalls and more beautiful scenery of Kauai. Waimea Canyon is okay, but the true beauty of this island is at and on the way up to the N Shore and Napali coast.

 

Thanks for the info, I figured there were more diverse parts of the island. Its too bad I should have chosen the North Shore tours then, but I enjoyed my tours a lot. Something to know when and if I go back!:D

 

Patti and Jim, I re-read my posting and realized I might have come across too negative! I certainly enjoyed the Radiance and would sail her again. Its funny when you are tired and jetlagged how the little things become bigger! Overall, I really loved the boat and would sail Royal again. I might try Celebrity again just for comparison. Its been a long time since Carnival and being our first cruise it was not possible to compare it to anything beforehand. I still have so many other cruiselines to try before I decide on which one I would like to remain loyal to.

[cruisenfever]

Thanks for the info, I figured there were more diverse parts of the island. Its too bad I should have chosen the North Shore tours then, but I enjoyed my tours a lot. Something to know when and if I go back!:D

 

Patti and Jim, I re-read my posting and realized I might have come across too negative! I certainly enjoyed the Radiance and would sail her again. Its funny when you are tired and jetlagged how the little things become bigger! Overall, I really loved the boat and would sail Royal again. I might try Celebrity again just for comparison. Its been a long time since Carnival and being our first cruise it was not possible to compare it to anything beforehand. I still have so many other cruiselines to try before I decide on which one I would like to remain loyal to.

You did not come off negative in your review. Hey, no cruise is perfect. I really appreciated everything you said and am so glad that you enjoyed your cruise in paradise.

[Parrotgirl]

Roland - thanks for writing the review. I'm still jet-lagged and it will take me a while to write mine.

 

I was on the same cruise and overall, it was very good. I agree that the food was hit or miss and I agree with your comparison with Celebrity. They have been my favorite line but I've chosen Royal Caribbean lately because of the itineraries.

 

I didn't mind the weather on the last five days to Vancouver. We were rocking a lot on the last day but I book a center cabin to be as stable as possible, and take Bonine to prevent motion sickness. It did get quite chilly (46 degrees at the end) but I'm not a sun worshiper so it didn't bother me.

 

One note - our disembarkation was painless, but we flew from the international terminal and didn't have the same security issues as the domestic terminal. We also had no trouble with the shuttle transfers to the airport or with getting our luggage once we were there. Timing is everything and we must have gotten off of the ship at a different time.

[mimikens]

I was on the Radiance the cruise before yours. We stayed extra days, and found out that they have been having one of the worst droughts (especially Kauai) in a long time. We did the helicopter tour, and the pilot said that there were few waterfalls because of the drought. It also affected our drive to Hana, as they said the waterfalls were meager due to drought.

[pmfan]

Thanks for taking the time to write such a detailed review. I enjoyed reading it. :)

[ladylawyer]

I was on the Radiance the cruise before yours. We stayed extra days, and found out that they have been having one of the worst droughts (especially Kauai) in a long time. We did the helicopter tour, and the pilot said that there were few waterfalls because of the drought. It also affected our drive to Hana, as they said the waterfalls were meager due to drought.

 

And yet, Mimi, we still managed to see quite a few waterfalls ... ;)

 

To the OP: It sounds like you didn't have any of the engine problems we experienced on the last night of our cruise (the one just before yours). We were a bit concerned about your crossing to Vancouver.

 

Thanks for the detailed review! :D ~ LL

[sexyaznboy]

I'm so glad my little review was useful reading.

I thank CC for much of my precruise planning, especially the NON-7pm boarding! So it is nice to be appreciated as well! Thanks ladylawyer, mimikens and pmfan!

mimikens and ladylawyer, I heard about the troubles you guys had with the engine from several b-to-b'ers on board. What's worse is I heard about the problems with the luggage being lost for a lot of passengers? That must have been terrible!!! I know personally if that happened to me, I'd be miserable for the entire cruise!

The only problem we had one evening was leaving Lahaina, they were delayed by about an hour, and the only reason we noticed is because my mom was hanging around the casino waiting for it to open LOL

The waves were quite high on the way to Vancouver and it was cold and rainy...if my first few days of my cruise were like this, it likely would have impacted my enjoyment of the cruise.

The trouble with tours is that they only take you to certain spots and miss others, but that is what you get for not having to drive yourself. I didn't hear about the drought.

Parrotgirl, it was a number of things for getting to the airport, the lineups did not make sense, they let one line of about 50 go on to the buses where the other lines would not move for 10 minutes (my line of course). Then the problem with not separating the international and domestics. They actually wanted us to carry our luggage from international to domestic ourselves, you should have heard the jeers from the bus! And in addition to getting into the long baggage check line and the security delay, it wasn't fun at all.

[ladylawyer]

I'm so glad my little review was useful reading.

I thank CC for much of my precruise planning, especially the NON-7pm boarding! So it is nice to be appreciated as well! Thanks ladylawyer, mimikens and pmfan!

mimikens and ladylawyer, I heard about the troubles you guys had with the engine from several b-to-b'ers on board. What's worse is I heard about the problems with the luggage being lost for a lot of passengers? That must have been terrible!!! I know personally if that happened to me, I'd be miserable for the entire cruise!

The only problem we had one evening was leaving Lahaina, they were delayed by about an hour, and the only reason we noticed is because my mom was hanging around the casino waiting for it to open LOL

The waves were quite high on the way to Vancouver and it was cold and rainy...if my first few days of my cruise were like this, it likely would have impacted my enjoyment of the cruise.

The trouble with tours is that they only take you to certain spots and miss others, but that is what you get for not having to drive yourself. I didn't hear about the drought.

Parrotgirl, it was a number of things for getting to the airport, the lineups did not make sense, they let one line of about 50 go on to the buses where the other lines would not move for 10 minutes (my line of course). Then the problem with not separating the international and domestics. They actually wanted us to carry our luggage from international to domestic ourselves, you should have heard the jeers from the bus! And in addition to getting into the long baggage check line and the security delay, it wasn't fun at all.

 

Everytime I've gone into YVR it's been like that. In fact, when we came back from the Med, through Philadelphia, we had the same experience. We had to pick up our luggage in the international terminal and walk it through to the domestic terminal, and go through security all over again, even though we never left the security zone. :mad:

 

The luggage thing, on our cruise, was a drag for those pax who had to go 5 days without their luggage. One person packed her camera in her luggage, so she has to rely on the rest of us for pix of the sea days. However, most of them took it in fairly good spirits. Those of us w/our luggage offered clothes and other items. We ended up being pretty close, both because of our great Roll Call and due to the issues with our cruise. The lesson is not to let things, out of your control, have the power to make or break your good time.

 

All and all, we had a fabulous cruise. It sounds like yours was, as well.

[mimikens]

And yet, Mimi, we still managed to see quite a few waterfalls ... ;)

 

 

Some in our little group would say we say too many!!!

 

Thanks for the review Roland. So were they delayed from engine problems or just someone not getting back on time?

[Parrotgirl]

Wow - I never even knew that we were delayed since it was a scheduled late night in Maui. I also didn't hear about the engine problems or the luggage problems on the previous cruise. Did you guys go for the whole cruise without your luggage or did it turn up in Hawaii?

 

Good attitude to about not letting things out of your control spoil your good time. The only problem I had was getting from Chicago to Philadelphia. The flight was three hours late leaving Chicago and I didn't get home until 4 AM. They were talking about canceling it so we were lucky to get home. Vancouver was actually a breeze for us. We walked out of the terminal and right onto the shuttle bus. We then easily found our luggage and headed to check-in. The customs line was long but since we hadn't bought anything outside of the states, it was pretty quick. We had a 2:00 flight so we sat around. YVR has wi-fi so Frank was able to logon to work for free since he had his computer with him.

 

Roland - I hope you find the perfect cruise for your 40th birthday.

 

Patricia

[mimikens]

Wow - I never even knew that we were delayed since it was a scheduled late night in Maui. I also didn't hear about the engine problems or the luggage problems on the previous cruise. Did you guys go for the whole cruise without your luggage or did it turn up in Hawaii?

 

Patricia

 

LL and I got our luggage, so we had no reason to have anything but a good attitude (especially LL who was throwing back Mai Tai's). However, a few of the people in the CC group had this happen. They got their luggage in Maui, which was our first stop in Hawaii. So they had all the formal nights without their luggage as well as 5 sea days sans luggage. There were so many issues with that cruise from hotel changes, transfer changes, bus breakdowns, luggage left behind, and, finally, an hour and a half without power. We were right off the coast, so we were fine (except that I had to put on my makeup in the hall under the emergency light). We were going to have a blackout party (like a hurricane party) except the power came on before we could set it up. It was the Black Cloud cruise. It happens every once in a while. I said to Bingo Spice as we were leaving, the captain and crew are probably cheering that this cruise is over.

[sexyaznboy]

Wow - I never even knew that we were delayed since it was a scheduled late night in Maui. I also didn't hear about the engine problems or the luggage problems on the previous cruise. Did you guys go for the whole cruise without your luggage or did it turn up in Hawaii?

 

Good attitude to about not letting things out of your control spoil your good time. The only problem I had was getting from Chicago to Philadelphia. The flight was three hours late leaving Chicago and I didn't get home until 4 AM. They were talking about canceling it so we were lucky to get home. Vancouver was actually a breeze for us. We walked out of the terminal and right onto the shuttle bus. We then easily found our luggage and headed to check-in. The customs line was long but since we hadn't bought anything outside of the states, it was pretty quick. We had a 2:00 flight so we sat around. YVR has wi-fi so Frank was able to logon to work for free since he had his computer with him.

 

Roland - I hope you find the perfect cruise for your 40th birthday.

 

Patricia

 

Hey Patricia, I forgot to ask, did it live up to your expectations for your anniversary cruise? Did you guys do anything extra special to celebrate the event?

[Parrotgirl]

Roland - it was a great cruise. We didn't have any of the problems that the cruise before us had. We had our anniversary dinner in Portofino's and celebrated Frank's birthday (belated) in Chops. I love sea days so five in a row was heaven for me.

 

Yes - it was a great anniversary cruise. Thanks for asking.

[sexyaznboy]

Some in our little group would say we say too many!!!

 

Thanks for the review Roland. So were they delayed from engine problems or just someone not getting back on time?

 

I'm not sure why they were delayed, I think the captain said something about paperwork but didn't mention about the engine. Of course at that time I did not know anything about engine problems on your cruise.

Glad for you and your hubby Patricia. I was taking my mom on a mother's day cruise and she enjoyed it a lot...although I think she liked the casino the best! LOL

[hooked-on-travel]

So why were people without luggage? Did they just froget to load it? Then they fed-ex'd it to Maui or something?

 

And what were the engine probs? Is that why you had the black-out?

 

I was on the OP's cruise as well and the only thing odd I heard of for our cruise was after we were off. I accidentally left a bag at the pier, but since we spent three extra days in Vancouver it worked out pretty easily. It was the next day before I got a live person who could tell me who I needed to talk to. She said the guy I needed to talk to was unloading the Serenade that had just in and he wouldn't be available until later than usual since the Serenade was delayed due to illness just like we were. Huh? I was very curious and wanted to ask what she meant, but didn't. Does anyone know what illness we had on the ship?

[ladylawyer]

The reason for no luggage is at the finger-pointing level (at least it was, when we got off the ship). The luggage was owned by those who booked pre-cruise hotel w/ RCI and were transferred from the Embassy Suites to the Hyatt Mission Bay, about a week before the cruise. The pax say that their luggage was lined up on the curb, at the hotel, as they were transported from the hotel to the Convention Center, where we were processed for the cruise. On the ship, they were told that the Hyatt put their luggage in a shed, or something, and never called RCI to ask why it hadn't been picked up. Both were claiming that it was the other's fault. Unfortunately, a great number of people were left without luggage for 5 days, until we got into Maui. The luggage was flown to Oahu and held for our ship. Then, it was taken to Maui, with a personal escort, and delivered early that morning, with a bottle of wine.

 

We were told that the power outage was due to the failure of one of the gas turbines. All in all, it made a very interesting cruise ... with a great story to tell. :D

[hooked-on-travel]

Yikes! We really did have an uneventful cruise right after you.

 

We had an eventful cruise on our way northbound in Alaska four years ago. We got a little too close to the Hubbard Glacier and bent a propeller. Our next stop was Seward (ending point), so we didn't have any way to skip a port and make up time. We just limped into Seward arriving at like 11 a.m. or something. I have no idea how the next cruise went, but I heard that they couldn't fix the problem until they got back down to Vancouver. I wondered how the next couple of cruises fared, but I never found out. Sometimes whatever quirky things happen can be fixed before another sailing ever finds out. I guess that was the case with Radiance.