Cruising Australia

After spending the first 5 days in Sydney, with a one day excursion to the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne, we boarded our ship for an 8 night cruise up the east coast. Our ship was the Royal Caribbean Radiance of the Seas which left from Sydney harbor. I would say it is a mid-size ship with a capacity of about 2500 passengers. There were 13 decks with deck 10 being the highest for cabins. Above that there was the main pool and buffet on deck 11, arcades, kids pool, fitness center on deck 12 and the Viking Crown Lounge on deck 13.

We had a Junior Suite on deck 10 that was plenty big enough for us with a nice balcony. The bathroom had a combo tub shower for plenty of room and the walk-in closet allowed us to put all our clothes away and still had room to store the luggage out of the way. The room also had a sitting area which made it nice when our friends came over for a drink. For on-board activities I would suggest going to the nightly show. We saw everything from a magician, comedienne, tango show to a tribute to the band Queen. We had the late dinner seating and we would hit the show before dinner. Also there were movies, the pool and we also took a behind the scenes tour of the kitchen which included an awesome lunch. There is something to do for everyone. You can be as active as you want or just grab a book and relax. My wife did a spa treatment which she really enjoyed. It was such a pleasant experience she would have gone back if we had the time. She also purchased a lot of the products they used on her. 

For food, we really enjoyed the main dining room. Our service was great and the food options every night were perfect. One night we opted for reservations at the steak house. The food was great as well as the service but we missed our servers in the main dining room. For breakfast we had the option of the main dining room or the Windjammer Buffet. Both were great. Sitting in the main dining room was good and if you had an excursion and were in a hurry the buffet was perfect. There was also the Windjammer Cafe for lunch or many other options for a quick snack. 

We opted for the unlimited drink package which we got our monies worth. Enough said there. We also brought 2 bottles of wine with us but with the drink package I thought it was a waste bringing our own wine.

I think taking a cruise is a great value for what you get. If you can do it reserve a suite. Our Junior Suite made the cruise very enjoyable. My only concern was the amount of food we ate. Food is always available and it is too tempting.

Royal Caribbean is a great cruise line to choose.