ronandannette
I gave myself this tag and I "Like" myself too!
- Joined
- May 4, 2006
We approached this trip differently than most do as Alaska was never a "dream destination" for us. We were more interested in the on-board experience and I'd like to give some thoughts about the Radiance of the Seas.
Firstly, if you are crowd-averse, this is the ship for you! We sailed at full capacity and promptly dubbed it the "ghost ship". I have no idea where all the passengers were - other than during peak meal times and on the helipad on Hubbard Glacier day, we rarely ever saw many of them. Without exaggeration, we never once waited for an elevator (even on disembarkation morning), a spot in the hot tub, failed to get a good seat in the theater or had the room service phone ring busy. These were all new experiences for us. A+ for a spacious, relaxed environment.
We were also extremely surprised by the passenger demographic. We had expected "senior city" and instead found there to be very, very few elderly people on board (I only saw 1 mobility scooter all week). There also seemed to be very few children, although this could be due to great programming in Adventure Ocean. The weather could have contributed too, as we did not ever see any youngsters in the kid's pool (very nice by the way), at mini-golf or on the rock wall. Most everyone appeared to be exactly like us - couples between the ages of 40 & 65.
Overall, we did not love ROS, it was our first cruise on this class of ship and it wasn't a favourite. A brief synopsis of our opinions follow (questions welcome if you want more specifics. I have also posted all the daily Compasses on CC if anyone is interested):
Embarkation 5/5 - obviously Seward is not a typical port, people arrive in very staggered numbers and there is little to no wait to be processed. We also had extremely good luck with our RCCL airport-to-pier transfer although it was 2x the price of booking it independently.
Cabin 1/5 - the cabin itself was fine (inside GTY on Deck 3) but the bedding was so excruciatingly uncomfortable that it really did impact our enjoyment of the trip. The mattress was rock-hard (no egg-crate available), there was nothing other than the mattress pad and sheet to hold the two beds together and the pillows were stiff and over-stuffed. Our cabin steward simply said she was "unable to do anything" about either the mattress or pillows.
Common Areas 3/5 - nice in general and pretty well-kept but soft-goods need replacement. Certain areas seem very under-utilized and that makes for a bit of a desolate feeling. The worst of these is the new Boardwalk Dog House; so undecorated and unappealing.
Food 2.5/5 - our dislike of MTD in general and how poorly it was handled on this ship (compared to our last cruise on the Liberty) taints our impression here. The MDR food was adequate, but preparation and presentation seem to decline with each subsequent cruise. The specialty venues are now not near good enough to merit the prices, unless as a direct contrast to the MDR. They would not compete favorably against land-based restaurants. The Windjammer is about as good as an Old Country Market, but I suppose one can't really expect anything else. We only eat there when there aren't any better options. As for the new Park Café, everything there besides the roast beef sandwiches is pre-made (and they microwave the paninis instead of pressing them - boo!).
Entertainment 4/5 - I love an evening show, it's a major part of the cruise experience for me. All of the headliners were very enjoyable on this cruise and the House Orchestra is excellent. The RC Singers and Dancers, on the other hand, were woeful; the only Production Show during the week (Piano Man) was practically cringe-worthy actually. The weather unfortunately made watching outdoor movies impractical and the Cinema schedule didn't jibe for us but we would have definitely watched some if we'd had the chance as there were several new releases showing that we hadn't seen. This was also the only RCCL cruise we've been on that had "Enrichment Lectures" on Alaska and other relevant topics. Nice touch - I enjoy that kind of stuff.
Service 2.5/5 - very hit and miss, mostly because there just seemed to be so few crew members around. Bar service was slow and not very enthusiastic even though they were never busy. (There were next to no bar servers around; we got all of our drinks directly which would have irked me if we'd paid for a drink package.) We got lucky with a very nice pair of waiters in the MDR and have nothing but compliments for them - can't think of a thing more we would have wanted. Our cabin steward was adequate but unable to assist with the only things we actually needed, which was some relief from the uncomfortable bedding. Crew in general were polite and semi-friendly if you managed to make eye-contact but not effusive in any way. Maybe we're just expecting too much based on a cruise history rooted in the "good old days".
Disembarkation 5/5 - we had late travel arrangements so our tags were for 8:45, much later than we've ever had before. We were able to catch the tail-end of breakfast after the early rush and had no wait to depart around 9:00. The Vancouver terminal is extremely easy to navigate and did not require the usual stop at Customs. Luggage was easy to find as much of the bulk of it had already been claimed. From leaving the ship to getting in a cab took all of about 8 minutes.
Firstly, if you are crowd-averse, this is the ship for you! We sailed at full capacity and promptly dubbed it the "ghost ship". I have no idea where all the passengers were - other than during peak meal times and on the helipad on Hubbard Glacier day, we rarely ever saw many of them. Without exaggeration, we never once waited for an elevator (even on disembarkation morning), a spot in the hot tub, failed to get a good seat in the theater or had the room service phone ring busy. These were all new experiences for us. A+ for a spacious, relaxed environment.
We were also extremely surprised by the passenger demographic. We had expected "senior city" and instead found there to be very, very few elderly people on board (I only saw 1 mobility scooter all week). There also seemed to be very few children, although this could be due to great programming in Adventure Ocean. The weather could have contributed too, as we did not ever see any youngsters in the kid's pool (very nice by the way), at mini-golf or on the rock wall. Most everyone appeared to be exactly like us - couples between the ages of 40 & 65.
Overall, we did not love ROS, it was our first cruise on this class of ship and it wasn't a favourite. A brief synopsis of our opinions follow (questions welcome if you want more specifics. I have also posted all the daily Compasses on CC if anyone is interested):
Embarkation 5/5 - obviously Seward is not a typical port, people arrive in very staggered numbers and there is little to no wait to be processed. We also had extremely good luck with our RCCL airport-to-pier transfer although it was 2x the price of booking it independently.
Cabin 1/5 - the cabin itself was fine (inside GTY on Deck 3) but the bedding was so excruciatingly uncomfortable that it really did impact our enjoyment of the trip. The mattress was rock-hard (no egg-crate available), there was nothing other than the mattress pad and sheet to hold the two beds together and the pillows were stiff and over-stuffed. Our cabin steward simply said she was "unable to do anything" about either the mattress or pillows.
Common Areas 3/5 - nice in general and pretty well-kept but soft-goods need replacement. Certain areas seem very under-utilized and that makes for a bit of a desolate feeling. The worst of these is the new Boardwalk Dog House; so undecorated and unappealing.
Food 2.5/5 - our dislike of MTD in general and how poorly it was handled on this ship (compared to our last cruise on the Liberty) taints our impression here. The MDR food was adequate, but preparation and presentation seem to decline with each subsequent cruise. The specialty venues are now not near good enough to merit the prices, unless as a direct contrast to the MDR. They would not compete favorably against land-based restaurants. The Windjammer is about as good as an Old Country Market, but I suppose one can't really expect anything else. We only eat there when there aren't any better options. As for the new Park Café, everything there besides the roast beef sandwiches is pre-made (and they microwave the paninis instead of pressing them - boo!).
Entertainment 4/5 - I love an evening show, it's a major part of the cruise experience for me. All of the headliners were very enjoyable on this cruise and the House Orchestra is excellent. The RC Singers and Dancers, on the other hand, were woeful; the only Production Show during the week (Piano Man) was practically cringe-worthy actually. The weather unfortunately made watching outdoor movies impractical and the Cinema schedule didn't jibe for us but we would have definitely watched some if we'd had the chance as there were several new releases showing that we hadn't seen. This was also the only RCCL cruise we've been on that had "Enrichment Lectures" on Alaska and other relevant topics. Nice touch - I enjoy that kind of stuff.
Service 2.5/5 - very hit and miss, mostly because there just seemed to be so few crew members around. Bar service was slow and not very enthusiastic even though they were never busy. (There were next to no bar servers around; we got all of our drinks directly which would have irked me if we'd paid for a drink package.) We got lucky with a very nice pair of waiters in the MDR and have nothing but compliments for them - can't think of a thing more we would have wanted. Our cabin steward was adequate but unable to assist with the only things we actually needed, which was some relief from the uncomfortable bedding. Crew in general were polite and semi-friendly if you managed to make eye-contact but not effusive in any way. Maybe we're just expecting too much based on a cruise history rooted in the "good old days".
Disembarkation 5/5 - we had late travel arrangements so our tags were for 8:45, much later than we've ever had before. We were able to catch the tail-end of breakfast after the early rush and had no wait to depart around 9:00. The Vancouver terminal is extremely easy to navigate and did not require the usual stop at Customs. Luggage was easy to find as much of the bulk of it had already been claimed. From leaving the ship to getting in a cab took all of about 8 minutes.
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We spent most of our time on the open decks, in the spa thermal suite, in the solarium pool and hot tubs and were in the Showroom every night. We also had a nightcap every evening over a game of chess in the Colony Club and dropped into the casino one evening.
