AussieCoasterKing

Looks that way. Personally I prefer Mexican but it was still really nice. I could go a big serving of calamari right now... or nachoes! :)

Hi All Somebody asked me to find out what was happening at Rita's on Radiance of the Seas. I spoke to the manager and she confirmed that Crabshack is here to stay year round while it cruises Alaska and Australia and they are looking at expanding Crabshack to other ships (she didn't know if that meant replacing other Cantina's but I suspect it does). The simple explanation was that they can make more money which is certainly true based on our bill. Food was great though. Its open for dinner and lunch on sea days and dinner only on port days. You can only reserve a table with them direct at this stage as it's a one off so they won't be able to be booked online, although it was busy at times its probably not necessary anyway. They have also put up zip up awnings which greatly helps with the draft. As far as the food we think it was pretty good and well worth the money. If you have any other questions let me know.

Thought I would tell you what we did in the end. We stayed onboard till 9AM which was when they were making final announcements for people to disembark. Because we were one of the last (there was still more cases to be picked up) we just wondered off, walked straight up to our cases and walked out. This was a domestic cruises so no Customs but I suspect that would've been easier too. Leaving at 9 we were able to have a slightly rushed breakfast in the main dining room before we got off. Unless we have other commitments this is what we will do on our future cruises. Only issue we had. Because we had two cabins they had different numbers and the cases were offloaded to different levels at the pier so if I was to do it again I would make sure all the cases had the same number.

Hi Guys We are back from getting married at sea on the Radiance! While we had a bit of an issue with a slab of concrete being passed off as a mattress the rest of the trip was wonderful! We had arranged to be married on the helipad but not only was it too windy (which I expected) it was really rough seas that day but we were able to have our ceremony (it was only us and our two kids) in Chops Grill. Much nicer then the Star lounge or whatever its called. Our issue with Royal Romance was more based on living in another country and the hopeless VOIP phone service they have to use, but I do agree with MarriedonRRC, the staff onboard were fantastic including the captain! When we were late to the ceremony he was completely understanding. He spent another 20 minutes after the service just talking to us. To add to our wonderful time he also invited us to have dinner with him and gave us a tour of the bridge. He spent so much time talking to us and was generally engaged with us, we felt very special. On top of that though, everybody onboard was wonderful, the staff and fellow cruisers all made us feel like VIPs. While I'm not sure about cruising on older RCCL ships again due to being explained that we should expect "firmer" beds on older ships we really did love all the other aspects of Radiance. Oh and we didn't get any upgrade as the ship was fully booked but at least I asked. Thanks everyone for your advice. Luke

How late can you stay in the cabin? A nap after breakfast sounds pretty good! :D

We are staying locally after our next cruise (1PM check-in) so looking for latest debarkation as possible. Am I better off asking for a higher number or doing self assist? How late can you leave generally? Luke.

All great advice thank you! It does lead me to ask another question. Does anybody have experience paying for a cruise in another currency? Unfortunately the Aus$ has fallen off its purch recently but it still might be worthwhile. I've had RCCL tell me I'm not allowed to do that but I also met a lovely American travel agent on a cruise who said it didn't matter. Does anybody have experience with this? Thanks again Luke.

Thanks Matt. I'll ask onboard what the situation is for Australians. BTW I have my soon to be wife listening to your podcast now. She's loving them! She might even send you her thoughts on RCCL Vs Celebrity once the wedding business is delt with. Luke.

Hi Guys, I've now booked and paid for four cruises and feel like I've paid the maximum amount possible for cabins. I want to do everything I can for my next booking to save a few $$$. I plan to book the next cruise while onboard Radiance next week and I'm booking a cruise thats 11 months away. I have two questions. Does anybody use the cruise monitoring websites like www.cruisefaremonitor.com to monitor there cruise price? If so, is there better options (that specific website charges you). I'm hoping to get the special currently on for buy 1 get 1 50% off with up to $400 credit. If I take that offers like that are you excluded from calling up and getting a cheaper price for my cabin or perhaps getting cheap upgrades in the future? Thanks in advance Luke.

No we just went to the youth club as soon as it was open. DD is 14 now so we're not sure what accomdations can be made. If it was up to her she would go in with the voyagers but I doubt that's possible given she's 5" 5'. We are leaving in a week so I'll let you know how we go. Luke

Did this work? What ship did you test it on? Thanks Luke

We sailed on Alure in 2011 with our daughter who has an intellectual disability and the awesome staff running the kids club gave my partner a cordless phone so they could call her if there was an issue. She was so happy in the club we mostly used it to find each other on the ship! I don't know if they still have them or if they are on other ships but it might be worth asking. Luke.

Thats funny because I live in Australia and I'd fly to Florida to start my non-stop B2B cruising. I think I'd be happy just cruising the Oasis and Quantum class ships for the first 6 months working on my tan before exploring the rest of the world. I have a lot of extremely wealthy clients and can never understand what drives them to keep working!

I didn't know that, thanks Michelle.

We are getting married on the Radiance of the Seas in January. We are very excited! :) We too have had mixed results with Royal Romance so I'm please to hear the staff on-board are generally more helpful. We've had it confirmed that we can get married on the helipad but it will be at the discration of the captain. To be honest I'm not holding my breath. I have SO MANY questions but I'll ask I'd love to ask two. We will have a photographer for the ceremony but I was thinking of taking 3 or 4 cameras and tripods to video record the ceremony myself. Would this be a problem? Also, I would love to surprise my partner :wub: by getting a free cabin upgrade, we've cruised three times with RCCL now but I've never asked. Can anybody give me advice on who to ask and when? We're only gold at the moment but I was hoping they might take wedding into consideration. I'll let everybody who how we go and any tips I come up with along the way. Thank you Luke

We're getting married on Radiance Jan 13th 2015