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Oasis of the Seas

Allure of the Seas

Anthem of the Seas

Liberty of the Seas

Freedom of the Seas

Navigator of the Seas

Adventure of the Seas

Harmony of the Seas

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Independence of the Seas

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Brilliance of the Seas

Rhapsody of the Seas

Voyager of the Seas

Mariner of the Seas

Radiance of the Seas

Vision of the Seas

Ovation of the Seas

Quantum of the Seas

Symphony of the Seas

Odyssey of the Seas

Wonder of the Seas

Spectrum of the Seas

Icon of the Seas

Great Ship, Great Itinerary

Our goal was to get our whole family together and give our grandchildren (age 5-11) their first cruise. The ship, the friendly staff, the outstanding waiters all worked well. The kids were happy swimming; we did not use the kids programs at all. They enjoyed the two shows we saw and everyone had a good time.  Cabins were very clean as was the ship in general. The significant downside to the cruise was the food which was, at best, high school cafeteria quality.  We've been on two princess ships since covid and found their food has gone seriously downhill.....well RCL has gone even further downhill.  The best food in the buffet or MDR was Indian and they had good hot dogs (but truly awful sauerkraut).  I usually enjoy the salad bar, but the salad bar choices were really basic...not even olives.  Cold cuts and cheeses equally sparse....Swiss, cheddar and some other hard cheese...no soft cheeses like brie or goats cheese.....and those same cheeses were on the artisan cheese plate for dessert at dinner.  I suspect others have commented negatively about the food on the main board and any negative comments are probably true. If you want a sugar free snack, you have to find the one food area that has sugar free cookies and they will be lemon....every day...lemon. .  We've been on over 25 cruises, so I have some basis of comparison when I say that I would not recommend RCL unless you are travelling with children.  On the very plus side, this is the first ship where there were lifeguards at the pools and they were serious about their jobs, they had medical gear with them, they really continually watched everyone in the pool....they weren't just decorative.  However, if you are older and looking for a nice vacation in the same general price class, I'd recommend Celebrity over NCL or RCL, and I'd only suggest Princess if  they offered a unique route (celebrity does the same cruises year after years).

OK for families with younger kids.

Other than the food and the Service in the Main Dining Room, I give this ship a solid 2. At best. And I'm being generous ,since the Staff is friendly.

The entertainment is essentially non existent. The shows were poor, the movie theatre didn't work and the few movies they showed by the pool were older than I am. The only thing these people seemed to be concerned with was selling you stuff. That is clearly their only priority on this ship. 

The fact that the weather was poor makes this review even more telling. The seas were extremely rough and we were unable to have our 2nd stop in Mexico. The Casino stayed closed and all the shops stayed closed. Basically, all you could do is sit down and do nothing. 

And if you happen to be a smoker, BEWARE. There are only 2 very small smoking sections and they are buried in Siberia. 

I hate having to give poor reviews and I always try to give the benefit of the doubt. But not in this case. This was basically a terrible cruise and as far as I'm concerned, an absolute total waste of money. I spent a few grand for 5 decent dinners and a boat ride that had 1/2 the ship sick due to the sea conditions. I will never again book a Cruise on this ship. Honestly, I wouldn't book here again even if FREE.

Nothing Radiating about Radiance of the Seas.

Balcony room nice. Shower so small ,but made it work. Ship staff were awesome . Lack of fresh vegetables on menu was sad. When offered such as coleslaw or cucumber salad in main dining  a tablespoon was served and usually hot and wilted and flavorless. Desserts were very sad . Whipped topping is not Mousse . Overall ship well maintained ,Captain praised staff and and rightly so. Good communication. Escargot offered every night chewy cold ,It was evident  just to fill a line in menu. Chocolate lava cake not on menu, Vidalia onion tart gone ,lots of good old favorites removed and substituted with low quality no prep items , cost cutting out of control in culinary . Dressings in buffet flavorless. Overall windjammer cafe pretty good .Would sail on ship again . Food needs to improve to levels from 5 years ago, Most cruisers would pay more for better quality , You need to lead the way not follow the decline in the industry culinary arts.

Good ship, awesome staff , Culinary a let down.

This cruise was in no way worth the cost! The food was at best average, including at Chops Grill & Giovani’s, the entertainment was completely lame, the nightclub was not in use for most of the trip, except for a couple of lame late night brief events.

Given that there is only one stop on the trip and most of the time spent is onboard and at sea these factors were major factors in our dissatisfaction.

Once in Cozumel everything was overpriced with high pressure sales and there is no real beach to chill out on.

If you are looking for a fun, romantic time with great dining options, this is not the cruise for you.

If you want to sit in a chair, eat lousy food, listen to elevator musicians perform and overpay, then this cruise is for you.

Oh well, live & learn.. never again.

Do your research, avoid bias company reviews and consider sailing and/or vacationing elsewhere so you do not set yourself up for the disappointment that we encountered!

Major regrets after taking this cruise

Cruise was nice, it was definitely on the smaller side and definitely lots of children around. It was a nice experience other than the time I wasted at the nail salon they have on board, it was like every other salon at home I had to wait almost an hour past my appointment time to be taken, AFTER they asked me if I was all set indicating that they didn’t even know I was supposed to be there, and for that price.. I wish I was able to make the time beforehand to get them done because not worth it. 

That aside, the cruise was an enjoyable family experience for us, my other family members got fun towel animals on their beds when room service came and I guess I was forgotten about. Rooms were serviced VERY late but we did opt for the later time period we were just unaware of how late that’d be. 

They did make my grandfather feel special on his birthday and that was nice. :)

Overall okay. Would NOT recommend nail salon. 

We decided to do a quick holiday cruise after several years of not being able to. We found a good deal on the cruise itself with prepaid gratuities and some onboard credit as well. Captain Marek was still onboard for our sailing although I believe he was leaving after our cruise. He is definitely one of the nicest and most enjoyable Captains in the Royal Caribbean fleet.

Although I saw reviews that stated how badly Radiance needed a lot of work and attention, we didn't feel it looked that bad considering how long it's been since her last drydock. It had the usual wear and tear you would expect, rusting in places, peeling wallpaper, and some worn carpet areas. Overall, we felt she still looked pretty good for her age and the length of time between visits for servicing.

Food reviews are subjective to each person who writes one. I'm not thrilled with some of the menu changes and cutbacks but we still managed to find something in the MDR we were happy with on the 4 nights we went. The food isn't going to win any culinary awards but it was very good considering that it's being mass produced to feed thousands.

The other night we visited Samba Grill. I have heard rumors that the restaurant will be removed during the 2024 drydock. It was still there during our cruise and I'm glad we tried it out. Only Allure and Radiance has it on their ships. We enjoyed trying all the variety of meats that they offered. A few, we had a second round of. 

Service in both the MDR and Samba was excellent. Our waiters in the MDR and at Samba were extremely attentive. 

We went to the Windjammer for lunch on embarkation day, and for breakfast throughout the cruise. We did visit for lunch on one other day and always found something to our liking. It was typical of past cruises in regards to the choices and quality. Some things were a bit better, while others were definitely not. I found breakfast to be better than before with the exception of the hash browns. I found them unappealing and odd tasting. Lunch was a mix. The usual burgers, pizza, and hot dogs, along with various pasta options. The daily choices changed based on the theme for that day, Italian, Mexican, etc.

There were always plenty of the usual daily activities but after 25 cruises, we simply had no real interest in them. The music options on board were very good. We enjoyed a number of them throughout the ship. The theater entertainment was very up and down. The comedian they had onboard was awful. He was older and should have retired long ago with his jokes. They all pretty much fell flat and his delivery was not much better. People were getting up and leaving early into his show. 

I would certainly sail on Radiance again. In fact, we are already booked in January of 2025 after the refurbishment.

Radiance, the good and the not so good.

We chose this short cruise because we really enjoy this size of ship. We sailed on Radiance when she was brand new, and again some years ago. Despite the ships age, it is very well maintained and kept up so well. We were impressed at how good it looked both inside and out. The attention to cleaning was evident everywhere. The staff was so friendly and helpful at every turn. We chose an outside cabin with large window on deck 3 forward close to the front elevators. This was a great location and very quiet at night. The cabin was in good condition, showing some wear on furniture, but the room was very comfortable and clean. Our cabin steward was very attentive and gave us the option of morning or evening cabin prep. We chose evening, and as we left for dinner he was always in the hallway to say hi and good evening.  There was plenty to do both day and night. Entertainment in the various lounges were all very good, the production shows were just ok. Headliner (juggler/comedian) was the best of the shows. Dining room is beautiful and well-staffed, however tables are pushed real close together as to create problems navigating to your table. Menu choices on RC have been reduced, Food was still good but not fantastic. However we did not have to cook or clean, so never complained. Casino is small and very crowded, also not very kind and rewarding to slot players, lol. Overall a beautiful grand lady ship with great staff, good food and options for food, good entertainment overall, and very well maintained and clean. Would highly recommend this ship for short trips or long if you prefer.

this older lady is still Radiant!

Enjoyed this weekend getaway from Tampa. Our room was very nice BUT was noisy being below the windjammer buffet. The entire crew from the captain to the room attendant were superior. Friendly, and kind. The food was of very good quality in the windjammer they had, Caribbean night, Mexican night, and Italian night themes and the experience fun. Only went to one show and it was good  but not great. Only one other ship was in Cozumel with us so the tours ran smoothly. I did SCUBA with Sand dollar tours from the ship and they were a great group. They had NITROX for $15 per tank and were helpful setting up gear and assisting divers . We had 3 novice divers and the DM was great with them and also gave us more experienced divers some ability to do a shallow wall dive. The marine park was empty and visibility excellent.

well run ship

We were on a 7day Western Caribbean cruise out of Tampa.

I see a lot of complaints about this cruise ship on other reviews. Yes, it is an older ship but still beautiful.

The atrium in the center of the ship is so nice. Lots of music there every night and games during the day and you can view it from almost any floor.

We never had a problem with getting drinks anywhere on the ship--if we didn't see a server, we just went to the bar and ordered. Our room steward was always visible and helped us with special requests. Cabins (even with Balconies) are NOT provided with shampoo, conditioner, or lotion.

The food was very good, and you did not have to pay extra for lobster like we had to on HAL. We ate dinner and breakfast every day in the dining room and even though we had any time dinning we were able to make reservations for the whole week in the same area so that we could always have the same wait staff. (They were fabulous.)

Boarding the ship was the easiest that I have ever encountered--no lines--on the ship very quickly.  

Debarkation was easy too.

Hadn't been on Royal Caribbean  for many years--it was still great

Trondheim

My first time on a cruise. Booked in April, 2023. Two weeks before we are about to start our one-week land tour, RC had to cancel the 9-1 sail due to "propulsion issues". Then one week before we start our land tour, RC cancelled the 9-8 sail due to the same "propulsion issue". We fly out on 9-9 for the land tour, not knowing AT ALL if there is a 9-15 sail. I think we were notified on 9-13 or 9-14 that we were, in fact, sailing out of Seward on 9-15. WHEW!  that was a bit stressful. On the bus ride to the boat, we find out that some weather was keeping us docked in Seward for three (3) days. OK, safety first I guess, but we couldn't find any of the weather were we being told about online. Stuck on the ship for three days instead of a hotel room should be ok we thought, but, that meant we lost three excursions and did not make it to Juneau, Skagway, Haines or Icy Strait. Bummer. Go to the Windjammer for my first meal onboard. A variety of food to choose from. I got several different choices, and a hot dog. Halfway through eating said hot dog, I put it back down on my plate, where I saw the BLUE MOLD on the bun!!  Not sure how much of that I ate, but brought to attention of Windjammer staff. Took down my name and stateroom number. Was told I'd be contacted by management. Three (3) days later, I was at guest relations to check on my account and mentioned this incident. They had no record of it. Later that evening, Rolly the MGR met me in the main dining area and apologized. They sent my cabin four vanilla cupcakes as a peace offering. REALLY?  So after dinner, went to pool in Solarium. OOPS, sorry. That pool is drained and closed. OK, then I'll go to the casino. OOPS, the casino is closed. Apparently, some things are not allowed to be open while at the dock?  They should be communicating that better. Four out of seven days, the hallway on Deck 8 where my cabin was reeked of RAW SEWAGE. So bad that we tried to stay out of it until bedtime. Guest relations said they are working on the pipes. For real? The rest of my family that went tried to make the best of these issues, and I did too. For the amount of $$ you spend, I expected more. This is an older boat, and it shows. Food overall was marginal at best. Everywhere you went, it was like a flea market. Stuff for sale EVERYWHERE. The effort they put into marketing merchandise for sale should be redirected towards better food quality/choices/temperature. One thing I can say without a doubt, the staff in general were outstanding. Martin and Luther at the Windjammer. Heather and Foday in the main dining room, and Reinan our cabin attendant.......all were fantastic.

Radiance of the Seas - First time on this older boat, and it shows

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