Welcome to Radiance of the Seas

This will be our fifth and sixth cruises on Radiance of the Seas. We like the size (962' long, 105.6' wide, 90,090 gross tons and about 2,100 passengers) and the design. She feels like a ship more than a floating Las Vegas hotel. After we did a five night coastal cruise in May, 2011, she went into dry dock in Victoria, BC for a three week refitting. They made some mechanical improvements, added several new staterooms and additional dining venues. These include Samba's Grill (A South American BBQ restaurant), Giovanni's (Rustic Italian), Izumi (Japanese), Rita's Cantina (Mexican), The Chef's Table (High end wine pairing dinners), the Park Cafe (A deli) and The Dog House (Hot dogs and sausages). All except the last two are extra cost options but we will, most likely, try them all during the 28 nights we will be onboard.

Because of the way we booked these cruises (We had only originally planned on doing Honolulu to Sydney) we will need to change cabins in Honolulu. That's not a big deal -- we have done it before.

On the first cruise we will be in an Category E2 balcony (7534 if you want to check it out on the RCI website). It is pretty far forward and on a lower deck than we would normally choose but this particular group of cabins have larger than usual balconies.

On the second cruise we will move to a Category D2 balcony (9258). This is an aft facing cabin with a VERY large balcony. The disadvantage is that it is a looong walk from the elevators and stairs in the Centrum, the 10 deck glass enclosed center of activity on Radiance.

We are going to be joined by quite a few people who we have sailed with before and are also looking forward to finally meeting new friends we've made on the cruisecritic.com Roll Calls. These are discussion boards for specific ships and sailings and have been the source of lots of great hints, information and fun!

In addition to seeing passengers we have traveled with before, we are also looking forward to being with some of the crew from our previous sailings. It's nice to be recognized when you go to the Main Dining Room to set up reservations or to Guest Relations with a question or request.