Wanna_Cruize

After the comedy show, we to the Steakhouse, even though it was only just after 8. I thought we could have a drink at the bar before our 8:30 reservation, but - surprise! - The steakhouse on Radiance does not have a bar. Luckily they were able to seat us early, so we ate. and ate. and ate. Whew, that was a LOT of food. We decided to just take the free bottle of Merlot, it was fine for us. We actually ordered 2 starters each, because I had heard on CC that you were able to do that. DH got French Onion soup, Cesar Salad, and the spiced 18oz ribeye with a baked potato. I ordered Lobster Bisque, Cesar salad, and the 9oz filet mignon with a baked potato. It was all heavenly. Chef started us off with a little mini-slider. I do have a picture of it, but I'm really struggling with getting them from my phone. I'll have to spend some quality time on it later. For desert, we got 1 chocolate sphere, and took the cheesecake back to our cabin. We were absolutely stuffed, and then some. Then, while we were finished, they brought over ANOTHER desert for my birthday. I hadn't mentioned it, but I guess they know because it's in my profile. That was a chocolate cup with a mini tiramisu inside it, with a chocolate-raspberry sauce. They also brought out two glasses of champagne, and sang HB to me. It was really nice. The up-charge for the Steakhouse is $42 each. It was our first time doing it, and DH felt it was completely worth it. The steaks were awesome, so flavorful. The spiced ribeye did have a little bite to it. If I had it to do over, I'd get the Surf & Turf, especially on these 3-day cruises, since we don't get lobster in the MDR. I think DH will get the mushroom risotto for a starter next time. I also think we'd definitley skip the baked potato, even though it was yummy, and concentrate on stuff you can't get anywhere else on the ship. We tried to get into the late comedy show, but it was standing room only, so we went to the casino instead to play some Let it Ride. Then, we were completely exhausted, so off to bed. That was day 1

After we finished unpacking & stuff, we went to the Spa so DH could see if the massage technician he had the last time had some slots left. He managed to score a 7:45 appt for the next morning, so he was happy. Also confirmed his Fire & Ice pedicure for that night at 5:30. Yes, he's a Spa Guy, where I don't really enjoy enjoy it so much. We then went to the Steakhouse and scored a reservation for 8:30 that evening, so we could get the free bottle of wine. Then we could plan our evening out. We decided to not eat a late lunch, because we knew the steakhouse is a LOT of food, and planned to go to the 7:00 comedy show before dinner, and try the late-night comedy show after dinner. I also went to the shops as soon as they opened, and scored some 50th birthday-wear in the larger sizes we need. If you don't grab them early, the sizes are gone. I figured if I got DH something he didn't like, I could always exchange it. Also pre-ordered the case of Hennessy White. DH loves that stuff, but it is so crazy expensive now, compared to when we first started buying it. It's $82 per bottle, 233 for 3 bottles ad 442 for 6 bottles.

Thanks for following along. I'm sure you'll enjoy your trip. From the lines at embarkation, it did seem fuller, but we haven't run into masses of people anywhere last night. We got on too late to see how crowded Guys Burger was for lunch that day, but I'll be out and about a little later and see how crowded the ship 'feels'. As far as the Cucina del Capitano specials served in the MDR, it seems like the same two entrees are served each night with no up-charge. No sign of the arancini (darn it!) Pesce Spad E Melanzane Pasta Pacheri tossed with eggplant, capers, cherry tomatoes, swordfish, white wine and finished with torn basil leaves Pollo Parmigiana Della Cucina Boneless cutlet of chicken lightly breaded and gently fried, topped with marinara sauce and baked with mozzarella. I'll also check out the temp tonight. The weather is pretty cloudy for our sea day. We did walk the outside promenade on Deck for to get to the Steakhouse and it didn't seem chilly at all. Also, we don't have a lot of mileage to cover for any of these ports so we're moving at a pretty low rate of speed.

Speaking of last night, I guess I'd better recap. Let's see, I left off after we got to our cabin. Did I mention we got a suite for the first time? I think I did..... I booked it downstairs to the Red Frog Pub. I know from past cruises that they are one of the few ships that still has the 1/2 Fish Bowl Caribbean Cocktails on embarkation day, but only until 2pm. It was 2:30 by the time I got there, but I decided to pay full freight for it anyway. $25 for a pitcher of deliciousness that would last me for a couple of days. I usually go for the cruiser, but this time I decided to try the Caribbean Iced Tea (similar to a LIT but with Midori). Well, it's pretty blue, for sure. It was very strong (may have had something to do with the $5 bill I laid on the bar, along with my diamond card). I always order it with NO ice in the pitcher, just a couple of glasses of ice to go along with it. Then I went back to the cabin with it to unpack & get settled in.

Good morning peeps. Finally up and somewhat about. It is true that the door hangers to pre-order breakfast are no longer there. If you want something, you need to call Room Service. DH had an early massage appt, I decided to just call for some coffee to be delivered. I also asked for some OJ, a croissant, butter and strawberry jam, and it ended up being delivered very quickly. But, somehow the croissant ended up being apricot jam. The gal mentioned just getting the jam & juice so I saw what happened. Oh well, I might have not enunciated clearly, but no big deal. She said I could call again, and they'd be happy to bring some up, but it wasn't necessary. I really just needed the coffee. I'm still pretty full from last night.

Let's see, what else happened up to this point. FYI, I'm using my phone hotspot since we're still in port, but I'll purchase the internet plan for the Sea day for sure. I get free data in Mexico, so I just have to see what internet I need, but want to check the speed before I spring for the whole 3 days. Once onboard, we went to the cabin to check out our Ocean Suite. Did I mention that we have a suite for the first time. I think I did.... I took a quick video of it. Like I said, I had gotten an upsell call a couple of weeks ago. Since my birthday is on Monday, I decided to splurge for myself. It was only about $100 to go from a balcony to this Ocean Suite. We're taking a family reunion cruise in July with other family members, and we have upgraded 3 of our balconies to 3 Ocean Suites in a row, so we can open the partitions between them for more family fun. So, we're treating this trip as a reconnaissance trip, to be ready to take the Julie McCoy roll for that family trip. I think now I've spoiled my DH enough now to never get him to agree to an inside cabin again. We used to do them (happily) because it enabled us to go on lots of more cruises, and we generally spent so little time in our cabins. However, now that we're older, we've decided to do what we want, when we want, as long as it fits in our budget,

I will, for sure. I just scored reservations for the Steakhouse for tonight, but I'm sure we'll connect with him in the MDR at some point.

Once we were through the scanners, we had to get in line for the desk personnel to check passports, etc Thank goodness for our Diamond status, and the fact that we had a suite this time. Did I mention we were in a suite for the very first time. Can you tell I"m excited by that??? This fact saved us a boat-load of time in this portion of the check-in process because the other line was longer than I've ever seen it. I'm not sure if it as just delayed, or the boat is sailing much fuller than the last time we were on it (in April). That went pretty quickly for us, and we boarded by about 2:15 pm.

Let's see, I guess I'd better cover embarkation first. We had an arrival appt. for 12:30, bur unfortunately we didn't make that time slot, and actually got to the port just before 2pm. DH has medical appts we have to schedule around (this is why we're limited to 3-day cruises for the foreseeable future) and he didn't get out until about noon, and their was traffic getting from SD area to Long Beach. Yep, tourist season is here folks, and the freeways prove it. There were pretty long lines outside the cruise terminal, sorting passengers into arrival times. I guess it's good they keep the ones coming early outside, queued into lines. But for those of us who came late, It was a little confusing about where we were supposed to line up. I finally found where we could go to show our boarding passes and get inside. However, once inside, we still had to queue up into lines go get to the tables where we have to show our papers (Mr. Gant). Once we got to a table, it went pretty quickly. I had done our Verifly Pass and had it up on my phone screen, which they did look at. However, as the agent was going through her checklist on her ipad, she did ask us if we were boosted. I replied that we both were.Maybe it flagged the question because we did our Covid tests 3 days prior (through Kaiser). We had gotten our results back pretty quickly this time, so I didn't have to activate my Plan B or C. Then it was through the scanner. I put our carryon, and pointed out to the scanner which bag had our two bottles of wine in it. It also had two cans of soda, and two smaller cans of juice, but we didn't have to open it for them to see exactly what was in there. I can't really remember when the last time was we actually had to show them the bottles of wine in Long Beach.

First, I must say I'm very disappointed with my fellow passengers on this cruise. Gabe has just come back on the ceiling microphone to remind those who haven't done their muster drill to get their @$$ down to their muster station so we can sail away. We will have to delay our departure until they comply. In the first announcement (about 4pm with sailaway slated for 5pm) he actually announced 28 cabins by number that hadn't' yet complied. It's really not that hard people. We did ours in about 4 minutes from hitting the liquid lounge until we were done.

Hello CC, We're back onboard the beautiful Carnival Radiance for a live review! I'll go over new stuff we've learned, since this is our first time in an Ocean Suite (got an upsell offer I couldn't refuse) On this trip is my DH (63) and myself (62). We're newly-minted Diamond cruises, (as you can see by my signature) and this is actually our 49th Carnival cruise. For those who are math aficionados, it becomes obvious how we got to this point. We live in SoCal (North San Diego County) and are great fans of the 3-4 night cruises. Ws cried a bit when they retired Imagination and Inspiration but we've made Radiance our new home, and are happy to have you join us. I'll add some of the questions I wanted to answer on this trip, but if anyone has something they'd like to know, just post it here and I'll try and find out for you. Keep in mind that this is a 3-night cruise, so it goes by pretty fast. So, post your questions quickly.

Yep, I apparently need more coffee fixed.

Luckily, just tested negative for our 3-day cruise on Radiance on Friday. Just waiting for DH results. ETA: Hubby is negative too, so I guess we DO get to sail. I'll fire up a review thread soon, first time in an Ocean Balcony on Radiance.

Probably the only time getting tested that you're HOPING to get a positive result!

You should be able to use your iHealth test kits (if you still have any) because there's some group that will do the electronic monitoring & provide the test results electronically for about $20. I'll hunt up the link I hopefully saved. ETA: Link: https://ihealthlabs.com/products/ihealth-verified-covid-test-service ETA: Well, it looks like that isn't available right now, showing Sold Out. Maybe CVS/Walgreens to the rescue? Or your doctor? Just tell them you are still having symptoms.

From what I've read, there really isn't a specific document of recovery. You need a valid test from a testing facility (one that you can get an email from like you do for cruising) that shows a positive result. Then you just need to be 10 days past that test date. From their protocols: Document of Recovery Guests who have recovered from COVID-19 within 3 months of their sailing date do not need the required pre-cruise test if they are at least 10 days past their positive test result date, have no symptoms and produce document of recovery from COVID-19. A Document of Recovery is accepted from both fully vaccinated and unvaccinated guests (with a Carnival-approved exemption) and consists of a paper or electronic copy of the positive viral test result from a certified laboratory (dated no more than 90 days prior to the sailing date).

Well, one positive thing about testing positive, you can go on a ship for the next 90 days and NOT have to submit a negative test. Just a copy of your positive results.

Would you call it NoroVid, CoviNoro or CoroNoro?

Well, the 10% discount when buying the gift cards more than offsets the 3% charge for getting cash at the tables. I consider it a small price to pay for some quality time with the Pit Boss. Seems to work well for us. ETA: Oh, and e-gift cards are available now in all denominations.

I just got this code as a Thank You for another year. Don't know if it will work for anyone else, but it gave me 5,000 points! Thanks Allstate!! THANKYOU5K

Here you go: https://www.carnival.com/bookingengine/pastguestnumber/GocclJsonPPastGuestHostPage

Does anyone do the Inspector Clouseau voice when they say "He's your monkey?"

Not that we'll be seeing it. Unless it's a headless horseman type of pic posted here

when you send a message, you choose which of your connected persons to send the chat message to. It works generally the same as all the other chat apps (iMessage, ect.) You can have 1:1 chats, or group chats, etc.

Welcome, I'm sure you'll have a wonderful time. Alaska is beautiful, and having that as your first cruise will be amazing. My advice would be to purchase any excursions you want in advance, as many do sell out. You can always cancel them onboard for a refund (as long as you cancel at least 24 hrs in advance.