Radiance of the Seas Review
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Four seniors escaping from the Arizona heat to Vancouver on Sept. 6. Flew in 1 night early - our party of 2 - and stayed near the YVR airport at Ramada Inn as it had a free shuttle and free breakfast. Room was small but clean and quiet. On boarding day (9/7) we joined with another cruise couple at our hotel and split a cab to Canada Place. $36.30 + tip CDN. 30 minutes after arrival we were on board the ship - one of the fastest check ins and boardings ever for us. Kudos to the folks at the Vancouver Cruise Terminal and RCL. Staterooms available at 115 pm, departure on time at 515 pm. Our group of 4 had the 530 traditional dining each night in the MDR.
THE CRUISE - 10 days total, 5 sea days then 5 Hawaii ports - Hilo on the big island, was replaced by Lahaina for 2 days. So Lahaina 2 days, Hana - 1 day, Kauai - 1 day with a drop at Honolulu on the final morning. Lahaina and Hana were both tenders so that is more of a challenge and problem to come and go.
OUR CABIN - mid ship interior Deck 3 - good for the 5 sea days due to some 6 - 8 ft. swells. Room was quiet, clean in good shape, bed comfortable, room temp good and cold for sleeping. Attendant Elmer did an excellent job for us and was always pleasant. Flat screen TV with a good variety of cable channels and generally a good picture.
Cabin Review
Port Reviews
Vancouver
We stayed at the Ramada in Richmond, near the airport as it provided free shuttle from the airport and was very reasonable in cost for Vancouver plus a free breakfast the next morning. Having been to Vancouver several times did no touring there but sure did enjoy the cool temps vs. Phoenix. Our friends stayed at the Hampton downtown, which offered them a free shuttle from hotel to Canada place on cruise day - they used points for their stay. We were able to share a cab with another cruise couple in our hotel which cost $36.30 + tip (canadian $) so very convenient and inexpensive to get to the pier the next day. Our room at Ramada was small but quiet, comfortable and so reasonable for this city.
Maui
Lahaina was our 1st stop after 5 sea days and was a tender so more of a hassle to come and go. Wound up adding a 2nd day here as our Hilo stop was cancelled - city was okay - took no tour - have been on Maui several times before. What really left an impression was how hot and humid this port day was - we walked around for 2 hours early in the day, no breeze just hot and humid. Not much memorable in the shopping area though scenery was good as you might expect.
Kauai
Very pretty stop but a mile or so from the city - merchants ran free shuttles to their stores which we utilized. Coolest weather of our Hawaii ports - not a tender. We got off and did some walking near the ship - enjoyed the grounds of the Kauai Marriott hotel. Shops we saw had very little to offer that was new or interesting and we have been to Kauai several times prior.
Honolulu
We did express walk off - had a 936 am Hawaiian Air flight to Maui from here. Boat docked at 630 am - walked off about 7:50 am and were to the HNL airport by 8:20 through security and at the gate by 8:30am, no problem making 9:36 but it was rush hour in town and did take 25 minutes to do from ship to airport - we had an excellent cabbie. Taxi was $38.00 + tip for 4 of us including luggage - convenient handy and certainly the cheapest way to do this splitting a cab with four people. No wiggle room if anything went wrong with that 9:36 am departure from HNL. Fortunately it did not, RCL was charging $24.75 each to ride their shuttle to the airport.