Well, after all the frustration it was wonderful to finally take this cruise!

I was a bit apprehensive about this cruise. First because it took so long to happen, and there have been some changes at Radisson that have been worrisome as well. We had booked a limo from LaGuardia and the ride to the pier was as lovely as that ride can be. One note to anyone cruising out of New York - don't plan to board until 1PM or so. We waited in the terminal from 12 to 12:45 as the previous cruise was just finishing dis-embarkation when we arrived at noon. (Also - don't book a flight before 1 or 2 PM when leaving NY either.)

We enjoyed our champagne on the pool deck and ordered lunch, which was delivered promptly and was good. We relaxed until about 2:30 when the cabins were ready. No luggage delivery was a bit of a shock - all the large bags were waiting for us outside the elevators. We found our luggage and got settled in. Our stewardess Julie was a gem and got our bar set-up ordered.

Sail away out of New York is something I won't forget. Sailing by Lady Liberty and that still impressive skyline is something I would recommend to anyone!

Though we didn't realize it we were on a Spotlight on Jazz cruise. We met some of the most interesting people - though we weren't up late enough to enjoy all the music it did add a lot to the cruise.

I found the food to be just as good as ever. Room service was prompt and that food was also quite good. The night we booked Portofino our table wasn't ready until 45 minutes after our reservation - which wasn't great, but when we went down we found they were filming a spot for a new show called Travel Spies (I think!) which explained the delay. We had had drinks with the host (unbeknownst to us of course) ealier in the day by the pool.

We were invited to dine with Joe and Heather Radd, cruise directors, which was a lovely treat. We discussed the sad business of saying goodbye to the Diamond - they were on that ship for several years prior to being on the Navigator. I wish I had had the chance to sail her. The seas were quite rough that night and Tim had to excuse himself - but they took good care of him getting some candied ginger and ginger ale from the kitchen. The next day the seas were so rough they closed the shops, recommended that we not go on deck, emptied the pool and finally even turned off all the passenger elevators! Room service was very busy that day - mainly with crackers and ginger ale, but we managed to at least get some real food down. For the first time ever I ordered a pizza from room service - it was very good!

Bermuda itself was lovely - our stop at St. George was cancelled due to weather, but we enjoyed Hamilton. Actually we enjoyed having no set schedule. We took no excursions and just wandered about on our own, and I really think that was one of the most relaxing things about this cruise! For you familiar with Bermuda I wanted to mention that Trimminghams is going out of business - never thought that would happen!

I have to say that I don't think the quality of a Radisson cruise has declined. The food was excellent, service was outstanding, and all the staff were helpful. The ship does show a bit of wear, but is well maintained and beautifully laid out. I did get billed for drinks at Compass Rose with dinner, though all I had was a gin and tonic. That's not enough to merit a complaint however. Given the 2 rough crossings I have to really compliment the staff - especially Julie - in taking care of us so well.

Our flight out of NY was an 11:30 flight, and the tour desk was very helpful in looking for alternatives as they knew we would most likely miss that flight. Again - thanks to our limo driver (and bad weather in NY) we actually made the flight!

Looking over this review it is a bit like the cruise itself - sort of lazy and not too organized on my part. Other than the weather it was the perfect remedy for a stressful spring! Again I want to say thanks to all of you for all the encouragement as we worked through the details of taking this cruise, and if there are any Radisson lurkers about I thank you as well. It was a wonderful trip and I can't wait to next be on a Radisson ship!

Great to read your report and that you enjoyed yourselves, Sue!

Couple ?? Did you inquire about luggage non-delivery? I would certainly hope that was an aberration and not a policy change! Did you question your drink charge or just let it go?

Sue, thank you very much for the review. After reading it, I have the exact same questions as Kathy!!

As to the luggage my assumption is that with disembarkation running late and so many boarding early they just ran out of time. All the large bags had their handles up in rows right by the main elevators which isn't how they would normally be brought up. Perhaps if we had waited they would have been delivered, but the way they were arranged it looked like they were hoping we would grab our own. Didn't question the drinks at Compass Rose - to be honest I didn't pay attention to the "interim" invoice and was in such a hurry to get off the ship in NY that I didn't worry about it. I hope it's not a change in policy - I never signed anything while at Compass Rose so I can't figure out where the bills came from.

Sue,

Thanks for your review of your cruise. We are looking forward to our cruise on the Navigator in Sept.
Glad you had a good time!

Betty

We also found the cruise to Bermuda a little rough.

The pizza sounds good. Now I'm hungry!!!

Trish

Sue - glad to hear that your cruise finally went well!! The drink charge for Compass Rose sounds odd to me as well ... maybe they mischarged the room?

Masaki

Sue,

Thanks for your review. A couple of observations that give me pause since I'm about to embark on Navigator: 1) your comment about some "wear" being evident througout the ship - I sincerely hope they aren't just letting the ship go and haven't done the minimum refurbishments such as bedcovers. After all, this ship is over 5 years old and 5 years is a long time in a ship.

2) the drinks being charged from Compass Rose- I pretty much only drink wine( maybe a limoncello too!) so this doesn't really affect me but it puzzles me. How did they know your cabin #?

The above issues are not enough at this point to put a damper in my enthusiasm in my upcoming cruise but do create some q's in my mind which will be resolved soon enough.

I'm glad the cruise finally happened for you!

Despite the few issues you cited, I'm happy to hear that you enjoyed your overall cruise experience, Sue.

Receiving your prize took a lot of work and persistence on your part. So happy that you were able to get what you rightfully won!

I would guess the Compass Rose was a mis-billing - after all since I never signed anything they wouldn't know my room number. And it was too small an amount to bother with. As to the "wear" please don't take it to heart - I first sailed on the Navigator in 2001 and it hasn't changed much since that time. I think we spent a LOT more time in the room due to the weather and just saw some minor things. She is a lovely ship and we had a WONDERFUL time!

In reading my review I find my "lazy and disorganized" comment to be more accurate than I originally thought - if I gave the impression the cruise was anything but wonderful I apologize. (Other than the weather - no apologies to mother nature!)

I think some recent comments here and on other boards about changes and issues with Radisson make very small issues seem larger than they are. I would edit out a comment from my original post but that would simply confuse the issue at this point. It was a great cruise!

Sue,

Thank you for the review. I have wondered about the crossing as well, more for PAige than myself. I trend to be rather resistant to the effects of motion (as evidenced by my charter in Mazatlan to do some deep sea fishing with near 10 feet waves), but I am not so sure about PAige.

Wondering...did you (or travelling partner) take any medications or feel the need to?

Thanks!

Anthony

I took some Bonine on the rough day when the elevators were shut off. Tim needed it pretty much all the time we were at sea. We think that if he had started taking it a bit earlier it would have helped more. An ounce of prevention sort of thing. Once you're already sick it's almost too late - and like idiots we hadn't packed any so we paid the cruise ship price until we docked in Hamilton and restocked. I hadn't heard that the crossing would be rough - or hadn't remembered it at any rate.

Anthony, you might want to look into those electrical "Relief Bands" for Paige or at the least, get medication started before you leave New York for the crossing. When I am already seasick, like Sue said, it is too late because you can't hold anything down. Kimmie has endorsed these things many times, as she was on VOF when they hit a really bad storm in Europe and as I remember, she thought they were like a miracle. The good thing is that the Dr. aboard has a shot that apparently works the same miracle in short time even after you get sick.

Some people actually love rough seas and the pitching and rolling. For the more queasy among us though, being seasick can sure ruin your day, so that "ounce of prevention..." Sue spoke of is good!

The reason I booked a "land trip" for September in Bermuda was not just the seas issue. It was that I only wanted 5 days, and now get the whole thing in Bermuda, but, it IS hurricane season there, so we shall just have to take our chances on weather!

Thanks for the review Sue. I'm glad you finally got your prize cruise and that it was so relaxing!

Lis

I can also confirm that the ReliefBand does seem to work for me as well. Though if I'm really worried about it (like a recent day trip on a sailboat we did), I'll combine it with scopolamine patch and meclizine. :)

Masaki

Masaki, sure you don't mean mescaline? My kids are still not letting me forget that misnomer!

Thanks to all for your recommendations! For those that have tried, are the ReliefBands better than those Todd used on MINT - I think SeaBands?

Thanks!

Anthony

EDITING to add - I just found the tread will all of this information.

Olivia - ROFL! Yes, I'm pretty sure that *I* didn't use mescaline for my motion sickness. You, on the other hand ... we just don't know. ;)

Masaki

Dear Sir, I certainly did not. I just got a little mixed up in naming my drugs of choice as all of you reminded me! That meclazine thing worked for me. And Anthony, those SeaBand things I also have. The Relief Bands are way more expensive. I only tell you about them because of Kimmie's experience with them.