Miss Vickie

We srarted sailing Radiance class ships in 2002, and this past February was our 18th Radiance class sailing, all out of San Juan. It’s our favorite class of Royal ships. We stilll miss the Seaview cafe, although we did enjoy Izumi this time. It was better than I remember it being in 2018.

We sailed Jewel in February 2018 and returned to her in February 2024. Rita’sCantina must not have been on there for long, because it wasn’t there in 2018 and it wasn’t there in February.

We’ve done that spin by the Pitons a number of times, but they can no longer do it. There was a guy who used to come up to the ship in a small boat and beg from people on the balconies. The government was afraid he’d get squashed, so no more pitons spin.

We’ve sailed Radiance class ships 18 times, including 8 times on Jewel and have never seen that Solarium roof open. Maybe when we’re on Jewel in February…

I’m glad to hear they were able to work it out. I hope they have a great trip!

It’s well past the final payment date for January cruises. If you don’t have a booking number and haven’t made payment you do not have a cruise held or booked. If you want to cruise in January you’d best contact another TA and book and pay for it.

Years ago I was talking to a firefighter in turnout gear outside the medical center where I work, as he was waiting for his colleagues to come back to the truck. They had been called out for a microwave popcorn incident, and said a large percentage of the calls they received were for fires started by microwave popcorn.

I was calling out you, for saying the guy who used the 2 letter abbreviations was making them up. Enjoy your cruise!

No, those are Royal’s official abbreviations- each ship has an official 2 letter abbreviation (Serenade is SR, Jewel is JW, etc.). SOS could be Serenade or Symphony, and none of the 3 letter abbreviations you see a lot of are official.

We loved this itinerary, although ours had only 2nights in Denali. It’s a really unique itinerary - no other line offers anything similar. We enjoyed all the stops and found interesting things everywhere. We did not get the meal plan, preferring to find our own places to eat.

I remember many 11 pm sailings! We’ve had 2 held, both til after 1 am. The first time, 23 years ago, was on our very first cruise, because a winter storm on the mainland delayed a lot of flights inbound to SJU, and the first port was Aruba, with a sea day before that, so they held the ship. The second time Radiance needed a gas turbine replaced, which required extra time for installation and testing. Both sail always were so late the city and fort lights were all dark by the time we left.

Boarding usually starts around 11 or 11:30 am. Cruises leave port later to accommodate later flights arrivals. We always go down at least a day early, though, as much to protect against flight problems as to enjoy some time in Old San Juan. The sail out past the lit city walls and El Morro is worth making sure you’re on deck for (starboard side).

Were any of your Egypt visits on HAL? We’re booked on a 2024 Med cruise with them that spends 2 days in Egypt. I’ve called HAL twice about the visa and both times they told me we’d have to get it on our own.

I prefer the centrum to the Royal Promenade. We’ve been on only one ship with the promenade, Adventure, years ago. I felt like once I boarded the ship the only place I could see the sea from was my balcony. It was way too interior-oriented. And at the time they allowed smoking in some of the venues in the promenade, meaning the whole thing smelled of smoke. I don’t know if that has changed.

They are on the same hull, but built out differently. The Celebrity S class ships are actually very similar in layout to the Radiance class ships. We enjoy both the M class and the S class. We stick to Radiance class on Royal, did Adventure once, and have no desire to do anything bigger. We also sail HAL, they have some great itineraries in Alaska and the Med, and the ship size is comfortable for us.we’d love it if Royal would build a new smaller ship.

Regarding Barbados. https://barbados.org/docs_cruiseships.htm

Murano, Tuscan Grille, Le Petite Chef, Sushi on Five, The Lawn Club Grill and The Porch.

We booked one of the aft balconies in deck 10 of multiple radiance class ships, including Serenade, multiple times (we’ve been in 1104 or 1604 at least 12 times). We finally moved down to the deck 9 aft balconies because of the early morning noise from the Windjammer, and occasionally the music the late night cleaning crew would play.

We did this excursion in early June in 2017. We never book ship excursions, but were so glad we chose this one, it was amazing. We booked early, as it does sell out. We were actually the on the first run that season that was able to go all the way to the glacier, as there had been too much ice up until that week. So yes, it can be cancelled, or it could go to a different glacier. I don’t remember the number of passengers, but there was plenty of room on the excursion boat for all and it didn’t feel crowded. The naturalist on the boat was great. It does get cold on deck, so come prepared - hat, coat, gloves, and I wore goretex rain pants as an additional windbreak. The spacious cabin area was nice and warm, but you will definitely want to spend time on deck.

Looking forward to your posts. We’re on a March 11 sailing, going to Iguazu before we embark.

We have been to all these islands multiple times, and always do non-ship tors. Two of our favorite are Calabaza on Barbados (sailcalabaza.com) and anything offered by Adventureantigua.com, on, of course, Antigua.

Radiance class ships are the closest to both the S and M class. The layout is very similar to the S class, the size is identical to the M class. The Radiance class is our favorite class of Royal ships. Vision class is close size-wise.

We sailed Eurodam to Alaska last month. Lovely ship, great crew, enjoyed the entertainment, food as good as Celebrity’s. The ship is bout the same size as X’s M class ships. We’d sail HAL again for the right itinerary. We’ve done both our Alaska cruises on HAL and were booked for a Mediterranean itinerary we haven’t seen on any other line, which got cancelled by Covid. It hasn’t shown back up yet, and we’re waiting for X and HAL to bring out their 2024 Med itineraries to compare.

We booked this cruise with our friends when it first showed up. After 25 southern Caribbean cruises, it’ll be our first time to T&T, too. There’s already a roll call.

This was an epic fail, even if not of their making. We were lucky because we had an extra day built in. However, if you’re going on a cruise which still requires testing (I’m not sure if any itineraries do), and don’t have that leeway, it could be a problem.