Radisson Ratings and details - Cruise Line Fans: Cruise Forum, Reviews and Chat From Real Cruisers

Texashorselady · 01-25-2006, 03:55 PM

Here's some info for people considering a cruise on Radisson.

You can read all the specs, details and technical information, or cut and paste a cruise line's online description...but that doesn't really tell you what kind of experience to expect. I'm going to post a few things that might help...

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Our ship-by-ship ratings follow the cruies-line ratings. You will undoubtedly find other opinions and ratings all over the web. I would urge caution with ratings and rankings done by surveys or calculations based on people who fill out ratings. Unless the same person doing the rating has also been on other cruise lines and ships they may think the only cruise they've been on was a 6-star cruise line. The results can be very misleading. We've cruised on all major cruise lines and this is how we see them. After our cruise line comments, we have included a table of ratings for each major cruise ship.

Best Food- Silversea, Radisson
Best Children’s Program – Royal Caribbean, Disney & Carnival
Best Entertainment - Royal Caribbean,Celebrity, Crystal, Radisson, Princess
Best Luxury (Small ship) – Radisson Navigator, Silversea
Best Luxury (Medium ship) – Radisson Mariner/Voyager, Crystal
Best Luxury (large ship) – Celebrity Millennium class
Best service – Radisson, Crystal
Most Choices on board – Royal Caribbean, Carnival
Best Premium-class value – Celebrity, Royal Caribbean (families)
Best Luxury class value – Radisson
Best overall - Radisson, Silversea

Texashorselady · 01-25-2006, 03:59 PM

Ratings are very subjective by nature and using one number for a ship can be misleading. For example, a ship may be rated a 5 and will provide you with a great cruise experience but not necessarily if you are cruising with children. The Captain has provided our favorite cruise lines throughout our web site for each destination. Our ratings are summarized below under the column "GalaxSea" based on our personal experience and feedback from our clients. The column headed "TTG" is from the excellent book "The Total Traveler Guide to Worldwide Cruising" by Ethel Blum - our favorite cruise guide. Berlitz and Frommer ratings are from their guides that are widely available.

The following definitions were used by the Captain at GaalxSea Cruises for our ratings the "GalaxSea" column below. TTG uses a 1 to 5++ (like our 6-star) star rating range. Frommers uses 1 to 5 stars but be careful, each ship is rated within its class so a 5-star budget class ship is not really the same as a 5-star luxury class ship. Berlitz uses 1 to 5 stars.

6

Best of the Best

5

Outstanding

4

Very good

3

Good to average

2

Fair

1

Pretty Bad

U

Unrated

Radisson Seven Seas:

GalaxSea

TTG*

Berlitz

Frommer

The best overall cruiseline! Outstanding ships, great service & entertainment & luxury. Open seating dining. Gratuities, bar setup and wine included. Great value. #1 in CondeNaste Traveler for Small Ships.

Radisson Mariner, Radisson Voyager

6

5++

5

4

Gorgeous 50,000 ton ship, ALL cabins have balconies, open seating, outstanding: food, service & entertainment. 4 diff. restaurant choices. Our #1 ships overall. Holds 700 lucky guests. Great value! Gratuities & wine included.

Radisson Navigator, Radisson Paul Gauguin

5++

5

4+

4

<500 passenger smaller version of Mariner. Most cabins have balconies. Same great food & service

Texashorselady · 01-25-2006, 04:02 PM

Radisson Seven Seas - our top rated cruise line overall. Radisson is a newcomer to the luxury cruise market segment but they have brought several new ships into the market and these stunning new ships have surpassed the old leader, Crystal. Radisson is owned by the same Scandinavian company that owns the moderate priced Radisson Hotel chain, but do not be misled by their hotel target market, Radisson Seven Seas has targeted the top of the luxury market and they are dead on-target. To gain a foothold in this established market Radisson introduced the first all-suite and all-balcony cabin ship called the Seven Seas Mariner in 2001. The Seven Seas Mariner and Voyager are the same size as Crystal Harmony/Symphony but hold 300 fewer guests. Radisson has open seating for dining, includes gratuities and more in the cruise fare plus they cost less than Crystal so they are the best value by far in the luxury market. In 2003 Radisson introduced the Seven Seas Voyager an improved version of the Mariner with 50 square feet larger cabins so the minimum increased to 351 square feet and again all cabins have private balconies. The Navigator and Paul Gauguin are great smaller ships holding only 490 and 300 guests, respectively, that also very worthwhile considering. Paul Gauguin cruises out of Tahiti year round and is the class of that market. One of the reason Radisson is such a good value is that their cabin prices are lower AND their price includes gratuities, wine with meals, complimentary bottled water and soft drinks and a complimentary bar set-up upon embarkation. The food is excellent (only surpassed by Silversea) and the service is outstanding - better than Crystal or Silversea. The high-end readers of Conde Nast Traveler who seek the best hotel, cruise and travel options worldwide have picked Radisson as the "World's Best Small-Ship Cruise Line" for 2003 (small means less than 1000 passengers). As you can see in the ratings below Ethel Blum author of the "Total Traveler Guide to Worldwide Cruising" also agrees with Conde Nast readers and us.

Texashorselady · 01-25-2006, 04:05 PM

Here's a photo of Radisson Voyager cabin #1024.

Texashorselady · 01-25-2006, 04:10 PM

Layout of cabin #1024 (370 sq ft)