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Marsha earned this cruise from Carlson Wagonlit Travel. We are staying in Suite 931. What a wonderful time we had. The weather was great everywhere we went. The cabin had to be seen to be believed. 300 SqFt of cabin and 50SqFt of balcony. The bathroom had a separate shower and tub. There was a walkin closet. The food was simply gourmet class and the service was always top notch. It was always nice to go to dinner and have china place settings, real Silverware and Reidel glasses (3 of them, water goblet, red wine and white wine) This was our first cruise on a luxury class line, Radisson Seven Seas. It is easy to see what they serve up for the extra money you pay for this category of service. However, when you look at price differential you have to look at more than just the cost of the cruise. For instance, no tipping on Radisson. On a typical cruise line that is $20 a day per person, around $300 for the cruise. Marsha and I have a bottle of wine at dinner when we cruise. That averages out to around $300 per cruise, included on Radisson. Each night they serve a red wine and a white wine that are excellent wines. It is nice to be able to have a white wine with the appetizers, soups, salads and then a red with the entree. If you drink soft drinks or lots of bottled water you might have to add that in as those are included. For us this all means that from now on when we look at a Radisson vs a more mainstream cruise line we have to add $600 to the price of the mainstream cruise line for a fair comparison. That does not include the balcony. If you include that in the price equation the price gets even closer. The only possible things that people might not like about Radisson is that the ships are much smaller. Ours was the largest in their fleet and only holds around 700 passengers. That means there are not as many choices of activities as there are on the larger ships. The food really is gourmet. That may not appeal to mainstream appetites. Very small portions (you can always ask for more or a double portion) and some eclectic choices. We loved our stop in Key West. We docked at around 8pm on a Saturday night and got to wander up and down Duval St and sample the night life. We stopped in Margaritaville for a while and then moved on to the HogsBreath. I had my USC hat on and stopped and had several college football conversations with people, a couple of Texas fans, a pair of Auburn fans and one guy from Virginia Tech. They were all good natured fun. At Cozumel there were at least 9 cruise ships in port. Incredibly packed around the pier. However, we walked a couple of miles from the pier and the crowds were gone. Sat at an open air cafe, had a few cervezas, Ceviche de camarones, nachos and watched the people go by. Grand Cayman was still recovering from the hurricanes that devastated it. Most of the hotels will not reopen until March and trees were down everywhere. We went on the Swim with the Rays trip and that was fun. At Progreso we had already been to Chichen Itza so we walked around for just a little bit and spent the day on the ship. Anyway you can click over on the right for our pictures... |
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