United We Stand
Date: Sat, 27 Nov 2004 09:40:41 -0500
From: j_demers@cogeco.ca (Janice DeMers)
Subject: Review - Radiance of the Seas - November 7 - 13, 2004
This was our second RCC. Our first cruise was on Majesty of the Seas in June 2003. We LOVED it, so much in fact, that we decided to book another cruise.
One of the stops on our first cruise was their private island, Cococay. Therefore, in our latest cruise (Radiance of the Seas) we incorporated this same stop, all other stops were different.
Sunday - At Sea.
Monday - Cococay Island (cancelled) - due to high winds we were not able to stop at Cococay. At Sea.
Tuesday - At Sea. (no ports scheduled)
Wednesday - St. Thomas
It was pouring rain in St. Thomas. Do you think we could get a refund for our prepaid excursion to the beach? No. So my husband and I, soaking wet by the time we got to the beach, swam in the beach in our clothes and waited the two hours before we could get picked up again. Total time off boat, 2.5 hours.
Thursday - St. Maartin.
Sunny for one hour (at the most) in the morning. Poured rain again after this. However, we were refunded our "Beach Party Bash" excursion tickets. What our travel agent and RCC failed to mention was, that it was a national holiday at St. Maartin on this particular day. There were only a handful of shops dock-side that were open and you could tell the merchants were price-gouging us (ie. written over previous price on sale tags, t-shirts normally around $15, the minimum I saw was $30, etc.). Even if the weather was terrible, as it was, at least we could have taken a cab to downtown and done shopping. This was not a choice. We were off the ship for a total of one hour.
Friday - At Sea.
Saturday - At Sea.
Sunday - Back in Miami to disembark - FINALLY!
We could not wait until this cruise was over. There is only so much you can do on a ship on a seven day cruise, with only 3.5 hours off of it.
RCC advised that they were trying to get clearance to add another stop. They finally did at Nassau (and announced it), however, by the next day, they cancelled it because we would not make it in time.
Why RCC could not go back to their private island on the way home is beyond me. What clearance would they need if they own the island?
In summary, we are EXTREMELY disappointed with this whole trip. It would take alot of coaxing for us to want to try this again.
Thanks for taking the time to read.
| |