Just Back from Radiance of the Seas

[queenofcruzin]

Hello All,

Just back from the Radiance of the Seas, I LOVE this ship. The crew was awesome, very friendly. The ship itself is amazing, all the glass, open areas, did I mention the crew ? We had a balcony 8598 on the bump out, very nice, our Mothers had a handicapped balcony, HUGE, 7612.

First, my Mother and I arrived at Orange County airport, very easy to fly into, and my Cousin and Aunt(Mother's Sister) picked us up and we drove to San Diego, about an hour and a half. We stayed on Shelter Island Best Wesern Island Palms, I can't reccomend this hotel enough! They had a lovely restauraunt with a view of the Marina, we had a leisurely lunch there. On Trip Advisor it was suggested we get a room in the new Casa Del Mar section, for only $10 more, the rooms were huge, great suggestion. We had two 2nd floor balcony Junior Suites one on the Marina side, and one on the Bay side. Both great views, did I mention LARGE rooms ? I have another cousin who lives in San Diego, and we had made arrangements to have dinner with her. As a surprise her Father(Mother's Brother) and Mother came also. We had dinner in Seaport Village, gorgeous views and good food, sorry don't remember the restauraunt, there was 7 of us and it was so great to see family we don't see often enough. We got up the next morning to a view of the SHIP, gorgeous even from a distance ! We had breakfast at Humphreys, very fancy, with a view of the Marina.

We boarded the ship just before Noon and it was a very smooth Embarkation, my family were very impressed, they remember waiting in long lines for cruises. We had lunch in the Windjammer, very good selection. We switched our dining room reservations to My Time Dining, there was a short wait each night, but we ended up loving our first waiter and pre-reserved our table with him each night, so very like conventional seating, but with auto tip system. I am not a show person, but the Moms are, so we attended a show each night, and they were good ! Some even great !

So, we got to meet Sonny !! He is every bit as gracious in person, invited us to see his Grand Suite, a beautiful room with a real bathtub ! By the way, Mrs Sonny is gorgeous ! We didn't get to spend any time together, the Moms kept us running all cruise. Oh BTW, my cousin said Sonny has beautiful eyes, I was talking, talking and listening, but I will take her word for it.

Cabo San Lucas was a bust, rained off and on all day, had to cancel our Sailboat Cruise but I made contact with them, we mutually agreed, and they issued a full refund by email the same day. We had lunch by the new Marina area, next to Senor Frog's. Great service, nice lunch. Back to the ship early to enjoy the Solarium. Note: pool towels available poolside, no checkout system, but no chair hog police, many abused this.

Ensenada was a pleasant surprise. We had a wine tour scheduled privately, again the driver contacted us, and said the roads we badly busted up and he was unhappy with the tours the last two days, gave us a short review on Ensenada, and paid for our cab to the shopping area. He was very nice, informative, and I would be glad to give anyone info on PM. The shopping area was very nice, clean, clean. Ensenada will be forever known as the Handbag capital of the world, we
bought 6! We had lunch there too, and then enjoyed a lovely horse drawn carraige ride with a short tour of Ensenada, the driver spoke a some English, but he was very proud of his city and horse, both of which we complimented heartily.

Too soon it was the end of the cruise, we had dinner at Chops the last night and it was spectacular ! We have a running joke about cruising..."It's we do anything for you, we are here to please you, and the last day, GET OUT!" Unfortunately that was true, the dining staff was rude to our Moms, unforgivable, and that was a shame, and a bad way to end things.

[Sonny V]

It was a pleasure to meet the Queen and her cousin. I thought I would run into them during the cruise and meet the rest of the Royal Family, but our paths didn't cross.

The first week at Cabo was perfect with sunshine and temperature in the low 90s. The second week was like gueenofcruzin said, but we didn't mind because it was warm. We went to the Cabo Wabo and Giggling Marlin.

I had a new experience...on the 4th night of the last cruise we were invited to the Captain's table by the Hotel Director. The Hotel Director sat where the Captain sits. It was a real pleasure to dine with him. There were 6 of us at the table, me and my wife, and our best friends. My friend order a fillet and I ordered lobster. If I would have known the fillet came for Chops I would have order one.

I never had such a smooth disembarkation. We were with the first group and started leaving at 8:30. By 8:50 we were in our van heading for the airport. My flight was a 11:00am and I was sitting in the boarding area by 9:45. I'm sorry to hear that queenofcruzin experienced rude behavior - I never noticed even a hint of that throughout the entire cruise. By the way, if anyone has a later flight they don't have to be out of their cabins at 8:00am like in the past. They can stay in their cabins until around 9:30 or the last call.

Sonny

[penny3333]

Welcome home Queen and Sonny Sounds like everyone had a great time, except for the rude behavior. I don't think that would be a wise decision especially in a specialty dining venue. I agree with your saying, Queen, it always seems that way to me, too. It might be because I DON'T want to go home.

Thank you both for taking time to write a review. The ship sounds fabulous!

[queenofcruzin]

Sorry for the confusion Penny, it was definitely not in Chops, they were fantastic ! The Mothers went to breakfast on their own on Disembarkation morning, and it was the lady who "greeted" them that was rude. It was probably the same as I saw other older folks, who couldn't hear well or were confused, at security at the port and in the airport. I know these people have a hard job to do, but not to have a little patience....it's easy to judge as a third party, I see the older folks struggle to comprehend things spoken too quickly or hard to understand. Being with the Moms for a week, helps to understand the struggles they have keeping up. I have lost my Dad, and want to make sure the quality of my Mothers life is taken care of. The Moms were very grateful and we joked alot about the problems of being older. I did see some older folks who were rude about it, but I have alot of compassion for them. Alot in our world now is foreign to them, but the struggles they had to bring us to this point in our lives deserves to be honored MORE. Sorry, just had to get that off my chest. It was a great cruise, with 99% GREAT CREW!

[penny3333]

Well, I'm glad to hear it wasn't Chops. It's still not appropriate behavior to be rude to anyone. What if your moms had been from another country? What message does that send to others? It's scary getting older, seniors are really mistreated in our society. Both of my parents are gone, both way too young, but mom was much older than dad. She didn't know how to use the satellite dish I bought her, and was really afraid of technology. She'd forget what she said 5 minutes earlier, but I always tried to be patient with her. My heavens above, how patient did she have to be with me while I was growing up!

[peter l]

Wow Queenofcruzin and Penny, you have hit it right on the head. Having lost both parents and inlaws, I have seen first hand the aging process especially when it comes to those things that you both mentioned and business' today should spend some time with their employees to help them understand the frustrations that our parents go through as they get older; what used to be a simple task can quickly become confusing...The younger generation talks quickly and it just makes things that more difficult...

Peterl