September 11....Cruise to Hawaii

[bobbiwoz]

Is anyone from the Dis on board with us? We are 3 couples, ages 62 to 76. We have 5 nights booked at Aulani afterwards. Booked on My Time Dining.

Bobbi

 

[Trekker]

No we are not - but I sure wish I was - it sounds like fun!

 

[bobbiwoz]

No we are not - but I sure wish I was - it sounds like fun!

Thanks...someday it will be your turn!

 

[bumbershoot]

I won't be on that. But, unless we end up cancelling, and unless there are two cruises with that destination and sailing date, we'll be disembarking Radiance a few hours before you embark.

 

[bobbiwoz]

I won't be on that. But, unless we end up cancelling, and unless there are two cruises with that destination and sailing date, we'll be disembarking Radiance a few hours before you embark.

Well, right now my Sister and her Honey are scheduled on both cruises! Bill has had a setback health wise, and if they decide one cruise is enough, they may cancel the one before ours. I have sort of convinced her that maybe the 4 of us can "do" Alaska in 2016.

 

[bumbershoot]

I hope they can do both.

If we have to cancel this year, we'll be on it next year assuming they do the roundtrip on Radiance. I've heard that they'll release Alaska 2016 dates just before our PIF date this year...hoping! Radiance was our honeymoon ship we we look forward to it again.

 

[bobbiwoz]

I hope they can do both.

If we have to cancel this year, we'll be on it next year assuming they do the roundtrip on Radiance. I've heard that they'll release Alaska 2016 dates just before our PIF date this year...hoping! Radiance was our honeymoon ship we we look forward to it again.

Nancy & Bill have decided they are doing both this year, Alaska & Hawaii.

 

[bobbiwoz]

Nancy caught many salmon on her fishing trip on the Alaska.

We are beginning our journey to Vsncouver. Our Hawaiian cruise begins on Friday!

Bobbi

 

[NancyIL]

Nancy caught many salmon on her fishing trip on the Alaska.

We are beginning our journey to Vsncouver. Our Hawaiian cruise begins on Friday!

Bobbi

Bobbi - how was the cruise?

 

[bobbiwoz]

Bobbi - how was the cruise?

Hi!

The cruise was a wonderful experience. We were a group of 6 friends, 3 couples, each with a balcony cabin. The Radiance of the Seas has beautiful "open to outside view" elevators throughout the atrium area. We had a balcony that was forward looking from the side, so it was a bit special compared to our friends. We were a higher balcony category than the others.

The ship rolled side to side a lot for the first 3 days of the crossing and a lesser amount after that, but the rolling was almost always noticeable.

We had great island experiences, with stops in Hilo, Kona, on Maui, on Kauai and finally Honolulu. We did shore excursions through RCCL and on our own, and found the experience varied and fun. We all could have skipped the fern grotto on Kauai!

One beautiful feature of the Radiance that we used was a 6 foot deep pool for adults in the solarium. Although the solarium was crazy busy during most hours, we found going from 6-7 AM was very relaxing and enjoyable.

Food was good, but getting the any time dining reservations was a hassle, although the 6 of us always wanted the same table at 5:45. We felt we were jumping through hoops, having to get a chit delivered to a room and eventually, after 7 nights, we were told that was no longer necessary. We had gotten conflicting information from different schedulers.

Tom was more disappointed than I in daily offerings of activities. The daily activities did not have a varied movie selection, the movie room was very small, and often full, so he was not able to see any movie he wanted to see. They offered in room movies for a price, maybe $12, we passed. We enjoyed the varied trivia games, my sister really enjoyed the art auctions. The various music groups in areas were wonderful, the ambiance in the ship was very enjoyable. There were other things like dancing lessons offered, but my sister found the one she went to was very crowded. The cooking demo I went to was also done in a very limited space, not enjoyable, I did not stay.

We enjoyed the smaller shows, the comedians, magicians, singer, but the production shows were not as enjoyable as Disney's to me at least. The Hawaiian lecturer was excellent.

Embarkation was horrific in Vancouver. disembarkation in Homolulu was fine. Stateroom and wait staff as good as any we could hope for.

We booked RCCL because of price and itinerary, we were happy with the decision, as one couple would never have paid the DCL price for a very similar cruise. We had an extra Hawaiian stop, and that was important to us all. My sister enjoyed playing in the casino, $200 more in her pocket, she's a lucky back jack player!

We are in the 2016 Disbard Podcast cruise, that's our next RCCL cruise planned, although we may take another one between now and then. I need 3 more nights for Diamond level.

Bobbi

 

[disneybass]

Glad you had fun! We are taking our first RCCL cruise on a radiance class ship next month. Brilliance out of Tampa to Key West and Cozumel. Looking forward to something new as the only cruising we have done is on DCL to the Bahamas.

 

[NancyIL]

Bobbi, I'm so glad you had an enjoyable Hawaii cruise, and that you liked the ship.

I'm booked on the DIS Podcast cruise on Oasis of the Seas, too, so I'll look forward to seeing you again!

 

[bobbiwoz]

Bobbi, I'm so glad you had an enjoyable Hawaii cruise, and that you liked the ship.

I'm booked on the DIS Podcast cruise on Oasis of the Seas, too, so I'll look forward to seeing you again!

Yeah! Looking forward to seeing you again! This Hawaian cruise and the Aulani stay was an A1 vacation!

We are on DCL's EBTA in 2016, we had to cancel this year's because I got 2 new knees. They work just fine!

 

[cgattis]

Would love to hear more about your specific excursions and your Aulani stay. We're hoping to make a similar trip in June 2017.

 

[NancyIL]

Yeah! Looking forward to seeing you again! This Hawaian cruise and the Aulani stay was an A1 vacation!

We are on DCL's EBTA in 2016, we had to cancel this year's because I got 2 new knees. They work just fine!

Glad to hear your new knees work well!

We are just off a Royal Caribbean Canada cruise on sister ship Serenade. While onboard, I booked the Radiance Hawaii cruise for May 2017. I had been tentatively planning to book a Disney Panama Canal cruise around that time, but I have wanted to do this Hawaii cruise for years. I love the 12-night itinerary, with overnights in Kauai as well as Maui.