April and I started an extended South American cruise with Royal Caribbean on November 9th, leaving Toronto bright and early on an Air Canada flight for Ft. Lauderdale. Takeoff was delayed by almost an hour. We initially were waiting for passengers from a connecting flight. Then two passengers could not be found and that their baggage had to be removed from the plane. Unfortunately, it appears that the luggage also never made it on board, but it took a while to search the entire luggage hold.
The flight to Florida was uneventful, and we boarded the ship early. Our room was not ready, so we had a chance to check out the bar and the ten-storey atrium. At 962 feet in length, the Radiance of the Seas is the largest Royal Caribbean cruise ship that can pass through the Panama Canal. It has accommodations for 2100 passengers (only 1850 on this cruise) and 900 crew. The ship made its maiden voyage early in 2001 and introduced a number of innovations, including clean-burning General Electric turbines that power the ship, provide energy for air conditioning and hot water, and drive the desalination plant.
After leaving Ft. Lauderdale the evening of November 9th, we had two days at sea, giving us lots of opportunity to check out the original artwork, shipboard facilities and the enjoy the copious amounts of food available virtually around the clock.
Our cabin is on deck 8 at the stern (back) of the ship. Our balcony provides excellent visibility to both sides, avoiding the need to run from the port side to the starboard side when we pass through the Panama Canal on November 14th. Although we are directly over the propellers, the Radiance class ships are very quiet with virtually no vibration. The ship's stabiliser systems do an excellent job of dampening pitching and rolling in all but the worst seas.
Look for a post tomorrow on our first port of call (Cartagena, Columbia).
