Overall Score

BERLITZ'S RATING
	Possible	Achieved
Ship	500	427
Accommodation	200	159
Food	400	258
Service	400	290
Entertainment	100	81
Cruise	400	310

How this score is created

Radiance of the Seas was the first Royal Caribbean International ship to use gas and steam turbine power in­stead of the more conventional diesel or diesel-electric combination. Pod propulsion is provided.

As aboard all RCI vessels, the navigation bridge is of the fully enclosed type (good for cruising in cold-weather areas such as Alaska). In the very front of the ship is a helipad, which also acts as a viewing platform for passengers.

Radiance of the Seas is a streamlined contemporary ship, and has a two-deck-high wrap-around structure in the forward section of the funnel. Along the ship’s starboard side, a central glass wall protrudes, giving great views (cabins with balconies occupy the space directly opposite on the port side). The gently rounded stern has nicely tiered decks. One of two swimming pools can be covered by a large glass dome for use as an indoor/outdoor pool.

Inside, the decor is contemporary, yet elegant, bright and cheerful. A nine-deck high atrium lobby has glass-walled elevators (on the port side of the ship) that travel through 12 decks, face the sea and provide a link with nature and the ocean. The Centrum (as the atrium is called), has several public rooms connected to it: the guest relations (the contemporary term for purser’s office) and shore excursions desks, a Lobby Bar, Champagne Bar, the Library, Royal Caribbean Online, the Concierge Club, and a Crown & Anchor Lounge. A great view can be had of the atrium by looking down through the flat glass dome high above it.

Other facilities include a delightful, but very small library. There’s also a Champagne Bar, and a large Schooner Bar that houses maritime art in an integral art gallery. Gamblers should enjoy Casino Royale, with its French Art Nouveau decorative theme and 11 crystal chandeliers. There’s also a small dedicated screening room for movies (with space for two wheelchairs), as well as a 194-seat conference center, and a business center.

The Viking Crown Lounge is a large structure set around the base of the ship’s funnel. It functions as an observation lounge during the daytime (with views forward over the swimming pool). In the evening, the space features Starquest – a futuristic, high-energy dance club, and Hollywood Odyssey – a more intimate and relaxed entertainment venue for softer mood music and “black box” theater.

For those who wish to go online, Royal Caribbean Online is a dedicated computer center with 12 computers, located in a semi-private setting (in addition, data ports are provided in all cabins). Four more internet-access terminals are located in Books ’n’ Coffee, a bookshop with coffee and pastries, located in an extensive area of shops.

Youth facilities include Adventure Ocean, an “edutainment” area with four separate age-appropriate sections for junior passengers: Aquanaut Center (for ages 3–5); Explorer Center (6–8); Voyager Center (9–12); and the Optix Teen Center (13–17). There is also Adventure Beach, which includes a splash pool complete with waterslide; Surfside, with computer lab stations with entertaining software; and Ocean Arcade, a video games hangout.

The artwork aboard this ship is really eclectic (so there should be something for all tastes), and provides a spectrum and a half of color works. It ranges from Jenny M. Hansen’s A Vulnerable Moment glass sculpture to David Buckland’s “Industrial and Russian Constructionism 1920s” in photographic images on glass and painted canvas, to a huge multi-deck high contemporary bicycle-cum-paddle­wheel sculpture design suspended in the atrium.

Radiance of the Seas offers more space and more comfortable public areas (and several more intimate spaces), slightly larger cabins and more dining options – for the younger, active, hip and trendy set – than most RCI ships. The grand amount of glass provides more contact with the ocean around you. In the final analysis, however, while the ship is quite delightful in many ways, the onboard operation is less so, and suffers from a lack of trained service staff.

Berlitz Guide © Apa Publications 2008