UnclePaco

We just got off Radiance end of January with a large family gathering of about 40 total.  This was the first time cruising for most of them.  I have been onboard Royal probably 70 nights since covid including a 12 night voyage on Grandeur in November/December which I believe is Royal's oldest ship in service.  Is there some wear and tear in some areas?  Absolutely.  Did it distract at all from the cruise or vacation?  No way.  I am actually surprised at how many of the family are eager to go on a cruise again and not just for a family gathering, but for their own personal vacations as well.  The staff was amazing.  We noticed no smells anywhere, and I have smelled the sewage smells on other ships that I will not mention here.  There was a small leak from the roof in an area of the windjammer, but honestly did not think much of it or even care when I saw it.  It rained pretty heavy our entire trip and barely saw anything from this leak.  The only reason I bring it up is that I have read several people mention it as how deplorable the conditions were in reviews before I boarded.  I was actually worried that I made a huge mistake while reading reviews leading up to the cruise date as many mentioned the rough shape of the ship.  I loved the ship and the facilities.  I think it was perfect for our mostly 40+ age demographic.  We did have a couple small children(that absolutely adored Adventure Ocean and associated kids areas).  Does it have all the bells and whistles of a new ship?  No, but that is exactly why I think I loved it.  My wife and I are at the age of being empty nesters now and the thought of vacationing with entire armies of children on board is not appealing at this time in life.  The facilities take care of the kids on board and offer plenty of fun options for all ages, but it is not "family-centric" like the new mega ships being rolled out year after year these days.

I think people just have to know what they are looking for in a cruise and adjust expectations accordingly.  The food and wait service in the MDR was amazing.  They catered to our family and put us all together without us even asking.  We were kind of scattered amongst an area in the MDR and in the first 15 minutes of day 1 dinner, they realized we were a large group and arranged 4 large tables for us to be together every night.  I did not think this was even going to be possible so did not attempt to ask, but they went above and beyond accommodating.  The MDR staff even took care of us during a night where we opted to take the whole family to Samba Grill.  For those who do not know, Samba grill is normally only accessible through an outside passage on deck 12.  When the weather is bad and the winds are high, it is actually quite a precarious adventure as we found out lol!  Well our MDR staff found out and specifically requested and met with some of the elderly from our group to give them a special access point through the windjammer area of the ship that is normally crew only I guess.  I was amazed when the Head Waiter arranged all of this for a few of our special family members, I mean it is not even their area or close to it.....MDR and Windjammer were 8 decks apart.  For her to escort them to the destination really touched our family.  

So in closing, I am a huge fan of Radiance of the Seas.  Was it it shiny and new?  No, but neither am I any more.  I like to say I have more character as I get older, and liken the Radiance to the same philosophy.  

@torpeedo I got the emails the past two weeks or whatever apologizing for the delay.  My refund did show up on my credit card yesterday, but had a May 10th posting date.  I'm guessing my card was slow to process it as well as RCI to give it.  I have no real complaints.  I cancelled an April cruise out of Puerto Rico about a week after they cancelled everything through May I think it was(sometime end of March).  I clicked the link in the email. completed the info and waited.  I knew it was going to take a while, but was happy when I finally saw it had posted.  I would say a good 45 days or so from the time I filled out the form.  I did nothing else, did not call or email, just waited.  I can understand the frustration, at least they offered a refund option.  My airline only allowed me to take a credit.  Not the worst thing in the world, but I would prefer to take a different airline, but at the time we booked our PR cruise, this airline was about the only one offering decent arrival and departure times...

Single male parent cruiser here also. Do not worry about a thing. Granted I only have one son, 17, but I do not think that will make much of a difference. My advice is to get the kids down to the teen area on the first night to mingle and meet some ship friends. Take this time to peruse the bars and find which most fits with your tastes for some adult alone time in the future.

I simply go over the compass after dinner with my son for the next days activities....if there is stuff we want to do together we circle it and plan on it...if nothing for a large chunk of a day at sea, that becomes free time. That usually consisted of me at the pool/pool bar enjoying a frozen lemonade and the teen up at the sports court/pool/teen area. My only rules for "family time" if you will are port days and dinner. Everything can be flexible over that. I am a pretty antisocial person in reality, but on a cruise I find I still meet and hang out with a couple people over the course of the trip. There is always a choice of options at night for a solo adult traveler....the casino, some sort of late night comedy several nights, that bar you found on the first night that most suited you, or the dance club. Daytime activities are also a great way to meet people. Trivia, bingo, live music always draw diverse adult crowds. A cruise with my son is now our traditional vacation after my busy season at work for relaxation. Then a crazy memorable road trip every summer to hopefully give him some of the fond memories I have :) Don't flinch about vacation as a single parent, by far my favorite times.

I would just like to say I was on Freedom in April with the Premium package and never experienced poor service. My preferred bar was the Pool Bar and I would tip an extra 1$ on some of the more labor intensive drinks ie mojitos, but never experienced any decline in service either way....David and the young lady working, almost embarassed to have already forgotten her name, were excellent imo. They pretty much staffed the Pool Bar open to close. Generally they would start making me my next drink before I even asked for anything...they would just look at me and I would nod...that was all it took to get the process rolling. I am guessing it depends on how busy that bar area is. Pool Bar was never too busy, but Sky Bar always looked to have people waiting 2-3 deep to get a drink.

Chukka Zipline at Rose Hall. One of the best zipline experiences I have ever had. I believe there may be multiple zipline courses on Jamaica, but Chukka is worth the time and money imo. My 16 yo son was disappointed we are not going back to Jamaica on our next cruise, as he wanted to do this excursion again.

Curious, as I have only redeemed points for onboard credit so far...Do you book first then get the discount applied? What if you were trying for one of the companion or upgrade options? How do you redeem those options?

Excellent review Harry! This review actually got me to register a few days ago from years of lurking only so I could comment when I finally finished it all. You should receive some sort of bonus/incentive award from CC and RCI both!

I am planning a cruise in less than 2 months and was fully anticipating booking the Freedom leaving out of Port Canaveral, but now I am seriously thinking about driving down to Fort Lauderdale to hop aboard the Allure before it heads off to drydock a couple weeks later. My son and I fly in to Orlando the day before, so driving down to FLL would not be a problem at all. Now that the review is over, I thought it would be easier to make a decision, but only made it much more difficult.

Another hopefully non creepy comment: The pictures with your youngest son are absolutely infectious! Every time I see that smile on the youngest one's face I can not help but smile also. He seems to ham it up well for the camera.

Gratuity was raised from 15% to 18%. From what I read the increase was effective on or about the 10th of Feb.