Kmom on Carnival Radiance Semi-Live May 30-June 3, 2022 - FOURTH time on Carnival since resumption of cruising

[AQW]

MEANAGERS!!! Bwahahahahahaha!! 😂

[KmomChicago]

Dinner after Ensenada. That’s the cinnamon pumpkin cheese pie and I liked it. Tasted kind of like regular pumpkin pie. I think DH had shrimp creole.

 

 

Caprese appetizer.

 

 

 

 

 

Apple pie dessert was okay, not stupendous.

 

 

 

 

[KmomChicago]

So the bathrooms, many times early in the cruise people were lined up because the doors were mostly all closed. But see there’s whatcha call a system.

 

You look pretty smart so I bet you can figure out what white and red mean.

 

The problem is, those are tiny and you have to look closely as well as realize you’re ‘posed to even be looking at all.

 

 

 

 

[KmomChicago]

Whoops somebody broke the ship!! Daggone Carnival low class drunken, err, glass kickers?

 

Didn’t photograph well but there’s a big nasty crack in the panel. I was wondering if Carnival has a glazier in SoCal on speed dial for rapid replacement during turnaround, like the windshield people.

 

[KmomChicago]

There it is, the coveted Sea Day Brunch filet. 
 

That you might get. Sometimes, or maybe strip loin. Depends what Chef has available in the fridge with the shortest use-by date, or maybe what the supply chain can provide, or maybe a cutback due to these low prices in a time of high inflation, or maybe how many filets have been sold during your cruise from the upcharge menu, or how many strip loins have been ordered from the regular menu.
 

 

 

This is one of those puffy pancakes.

Edited June 13, 2022 by KmomChicago

[KmomChicago]

Dining room photos. Set time dining room is brown and your time is blue. Breakfast and sea day brunch are in the blue room as well. 
 

 

 

 

[KmomChicago]

Soulbound. Good show! The best seats in the Liquid Lounge are the first row of the lower balcony. You are way up over all the heads on the floor but still close to the action and in front of the loathsome sight-blocking fat silver poles. 
 

There is nothing stopping you from accidentally (or purposely I guess) kicking the person in the floor-level banquette in front of you so please be careful! 

 

 

 

 

No I don’t paint or pedicure my toenails. Yes I have in the past but not anymore. The lady giving me the spa tour did not approve. 

 

 

[KmomChicago]

An interesting looking deli special sandwich we didn’t get to try.

[KmomChicago]

I like the Red Frog pub. I like the brightness and colors and the tile floor pattern. Some of the trivia was here and it’s a better venue than the atrium.  This is where we were hanging out waiting to disembark.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 13, 2022 by KmomChicago

[KmomChicago]

On 5/8/2022 at 6:56 PM, ninjacat123 said:

Run to the spa check in desk when you embark and get your scrub kit!  I didn't when my mom and I cruised in a Spa Interior on Sunshine and the spa desk said they "ran out".  Huh?  Shouldn't they have one made up for each Spa room?  So Run!  😁

The kit was a little jar of salt scrub and two of those rubber bracelets that have been a "thing" for the past ten years or so, that said Cloud 9.  I  have the scrub and I use it at least once a day on my hands. You can tell it's homemade because it's not labeled, and one jar is a little on the dry side while the other has a pool of oil on top. 

[KmomChicago]

Four days was long enough to experience everything on this ship, for someone who is used to Carnival and doesn’t need to do everything every time, i.e. US.  I don’t think it would have been long enough if this were our first Carnival cruise, however.  There are a lot of food options which is like an embarrassment of riches for the 3 and 4 night runs.

 

For example, for included lunch we had Guy’s Burgers, Blue Iguana, Pig and Anchor BBQ, Big Chicken, Pasta at Cucina, Lido Marketplace, and Sea Day Brunch (though it ends at noon now so is that still a lunch option?).

 

We only had 4 lunches on this cruise – embark day (which could be missed if you didn’t have an early appointment time – two port days, and one sea day. On the 3 night cruises, of course, you’d only have 3 lunches or maybe 2.

 

Big chicken lines were often, kinda long as it’s the shiny new object.

[KmomChicago]

For entertainment, we missed the Welcome Aboard show (because I crashed super duper early), but we had 2 other Playlist shows and they were both very good. They are trying, with some shows, to partly make up for the recorded backing music by having a handful of live musicians adding to it by playing drums and guitars. We do feel this adds to the overall quality.  They used some special effects in both shows such as light up drones which was beautiful and impressive.

 

 

I am kind of losing my interest in the Punchliner. We’ve seen several shows on several ships and some were better than others but I could not tell you any of their names as I don’t remember even a single joke from any of the shows over the past 5 years. It’s always a packed house but I am finding the PG shows are a little bleh and the adult shows are kinda aiming a little too lowbrow with the subject matter. I’d rather not elaborate but I know you are wondering what I mean by that. . . so, one of the shows found humor in a certain female recurring biological event that none of us much enjoy having or discussing. Jokes that I don’t remember two weeks later, but I do remember I didn’t think they were very funny.

 

Let me be clear. I am not offended, not the slightest. Just not funny.

[KmomChicago]

I asked Gabe at the Q and A, one of our favorite events on every cruise, when is Seuss coming back? He told us, actually they were having the first character breakfast that very day on Mardi Gras, and hopefully back to the whole fleet this summer. Our meanager is of course way past that stuff but thankfully was only 11 on their first Carnival Cruise 5 years ago and we really the Seuss is on the Loose parade and story time.  We had a lot of fun with all that and I think it adds tremendously to the overall quality and value of Carnival for cruises with the ten and under set.

 

Did not get to ask how many pax on board. It may well have been shared at some chatty event I missed. Ship seemed pretty full.

[KmomChicago]

My husband’s shingles never got really bad. I have to emphasize here that being put on high dose Valtrex (1 gram 3x per day) is 100% the way to go if someone gets shingles. You need to start it as soon as possible so if you or someone you know even suspects some weird painful rash could POSSIBLY be shingles, get checked immediately and get the prescription if applicable.

 

He had about 8 or 10 small red sores on his face, from his scalp to his eye area on the right side of his head, when he started the meds. NO MORE SORES APPEARED, and THE ONES HE HAD SHRUNK.  This is actually a huge win. They did not spread or blister as would normally happen.  He often wears a baseball cap and under the brim they were hardly visible if you didn’t really look for them.

 

At this point, he does still have some nerve pain. Several times per day he will get a random flare of pain for a few seconds that then subsides. It’s not perfect but we know he is actually quite lucky and it could have been far, far worse. Some people have severe, near constant nerve pain for months or YEARS. Yes, that’s right. Shingles can cause severe damage to the nerves where the outbreak occurs. So please get the vaccine if you can (age 50 and up) and if you are immune compromised ask if you can get it sooner. He will be doing so – if you develop shingles you can actually get it again.

[KmomChicago]

My mom’s arm is still broken and she basically has just been sitting around in her room since it happened per doctor’s orders. She is pretty self sufficient and since I brought back a cold I have not spent much time chatting with her.

 

The kid who we hired for the cat chores worked out fine and he was happy with the $$ for the gig.

[KmomChicago]

We left the ship on a Friday morning almost 2 weeks ago now! We were among the last people off, after 9:30, and yet we were still in a crowd. Though Gabe the Cruise Director had told us to get out (so nicely of course) at 9:27, none of the crew walking around said anything as the queues were still steady and full. We might have been able to stretch another 5 or even 10 minutes aboard but didn't really want to by that guy who had to be forcibly drop-kicked across the goal line.

 

We (voluntarily) finally left the empty, silent Red Frog Pub and made our way to the atrium for the last time where we found the end of the line which moved quickly leading to that final sad scan of the Sail and Sign card and the entry back into the Spruce Goose dome. 

 

Inside the terminal, the line was backed up just a few minutes but you know the routine from that point, get cleared to step back on US soil, find your bags in your zone and wheel them out into the fresh, surprisingly cool late spring air of Long Beach, California, perhaps turn around one time and wave goodbye to the luxury resort vessel that carried you safely on your 4 night pleasure cruise.

 

And make no mistake, even the "worst" Carnival cruise ship is a luxury vessel.  Oh, I know, I know, cutbacks, blah blah blah, old ships, blah blah blah, lipstick on a pig, blah blah, so forth, so on, this that and the other.

 

If you were to put a side by side comparison of the standard cruise ship from the 1970's to the standard cruise ship of the 2020's, today's vacation traveler would have a hard time understanding why anyone would have ventured aboard in the first place.  Our fully refurbished Carnival Radiance would shine like no other gem.

 

What seemed large, well appointed ships back then would be like boring little boats to us now. I suppose if you could stay busy playing shuffleboard and shooting trap off the aft deck all day in your Lacoste polo and Top Siders, selecting from a classic cocktail menu of gin gimlets, mai tais, and grasshoppers, when outside of your non-balcony cabin (because even the good ships had very few balconies), it was a potentially nice experience. Maybe a life-altering one.

 

I don't think the stabilizers were so great back then, and the price points put cruising out of reach of most potential travelers in any case.  We can thank (or blame) Ted Arison for founding NCL and then later Carnival to bring cruises to the masses and start a trend that led to revolutionary updates to what had been really a dying industry.  The Love Boat TV show was also instrumental in drumming up interest among a young generation with its weekly promotions of a potential bucket-list vacation, sailing primarily out of Los Angeles but occasionally other ports worldwide.

 

For all the talk of cutbacks, it's interesting how little talk you see of enhancements, though we can all see they are there right in front of us. Yes, entrees change in the main dining room over time, but the addition of items like the nightly Indian vegetarian spread reflect an understanding of diverse and changing passenger tastes and expectations.  You can say the same for the items in the buffet for all three meals daily, and the various walk-up counters. 

 

Kid's clubs separated by age group with practically unlimited free babysitting almost all day long, multiple pools, and the Water Works area are all modern innovations representing amazing value for your family cruise fare. And there are many others if you really start analyzing it.

 

Most of the things that have been cut back are because they are not sustainable anymore, especially at the Carnival bargain rates, sorry about that, or because the majority of passengers didn't really want them anymore. They are often replaced with some new factor, be it food, entertainment, activity or service, that a majority of passengers will appreciate more than the old thing. But not everyone. You can't please everyone in cruising or in life.

[KmomChicago]

I was irrationally worried about traffic in Los Angeles.  I have some actual reasons for this fear that I won't explain further, but we had no problem. 

 

We called Uber to take us over to the Long Beach Avis on Ocean Blvd. and he arrived quickly for the very short ride.

 

The 710 was slightly backed up leaving the area, which I had assumed was going to be cruise passengers but turned out to be mostly semis leaving one of the busiest container ports in the world. And we were only slow because it takes them a bit to spread out and get up to speed. 

 

Our hotel in LA for the last four days was Hyatt House LAX / El Segundo.  We stayed in a trio suite, which is a 2 bedroom, 2 bath apartment. We were on the 3rd / top floor with no elevator.  This is an extended stay hotel brand for Hyatt that looks and feels like a tiny apartment complex rather than a hotel or resort.  This location is one of the original 20 or so from when Hyatt purchased Summerfield Suites. 

 

I've stayed at two other of the original locations, in Mount Laurel, NJ (Philadelphia area), and Irving, TX (DFW).  This is pretty much the same setup and overall feel. We needed space with the teens and I didn't want to be spread out in two rooms across some hotel, so this was the answer. 

[KmomChicago]

Our room was ready for early check in and we have digital keys on the Hyatt app so that was super convenient. We spent much of the rest of the day setting in and exploring the area, found a Ralph's grocery store which is affiliated with Kroger, which we have here at home, and stocked up simple meals and snacks. 

 

Saturday we drove over to Manhattan Beach. Finding public parking is hard, y'all!  I had not expected that, not knowing anything about the area. And this was on a rather cool, cloudy day with rough surf.  We did find a spot a couple blocks from the water in a public lot with a 2 hour max limit, which turned out to be long enough.  The kids got the requisite dip in the Pacific Ocean and the rest of the beachgoers were decent looking people, none of the riffraff that have become too well known at some LA area famous beaches. 

 

Sunday the meanagers did the whole we-are-too-lazy-to-give-a-crap thing, so DH and I drove back down toward the port to visit the USS Iowa battleship museum. THIS WAS FABULOUS IF YOU ARE INTO THIS KIND OF THING.

 

So if you do not like military museums, don't bother, but if you do and you are anywhere near LA or have some veteran in your family (I am a Vietnam Conflict baby) you should prioritize this. It was easy to get to and not even slightly crowded which surprised me on a late spring / early summer weekend.  The ship is in outstanding condition much as it last served in the Gulf war and you can access darn near the whole thing on the self guided, well marked walking tour that does require full mobility as you are up and down a lot of the ladders connecting decks. 

 

After, we drove up to the LA Science Center and saw the Angkor movie and exhibit which was fine but we were really hunting a space shuttle and there she was, in all her glory. 

 

We had to try a street cart vendor and had a fresh fried bacon wrapped big hot dog and a fresh cooked quesadilla at the picnic tables behind the museum near the rose garden.  Something was going on over at the Coliseum and you could hear the PA which I found oddly thrilling, being near (but not in) the gigantic, historic venue I watched so often during the 1984 Olympics.

 

 

[KmomChicago]

All this time, the traffic in Los Angeles, before and after the cruise, was never bad at all, certainly nothing like the worst I have encountered many times around Chicago, Orlando/Tampa, or various other US cities.  When it got slow, we all just slowed down, and when it sped up, we all just cruised along. 

 

Still, on Monday, a normal working weekday, we didn't want to try it to bring our guest back to Union Station for their 6pm departure so we took the LA Metro system. I had planned to do the Fly Away bus but this was much easier and drastically cheaper, especially once I realized our hotel was about 200 feet away from a station on the green line. 

 

The recommended route was the green line train, transferring to the silver line bus.  We decided, however, to go further east and stick with trains all the way.  This required two transfers, the first at Willowbrook / Rosa Parks and traveling north through Watts.  At this transfer station, and this was the only time this ever happened during this trip, we were approached by an armed, armored, very visibly uniformed police officer team on the lower platform serving the blue line north, asking about our destination and gently reminding us to hold on to our phones and other possessions as reported snatchings are somewhat common. 

 

This may be a delicate topic, but I fully understand urban crime and safety. I have taken trains and driven through the south side of Chicago countless times as well as many other world cities. I am familiar with the history of the Watts neighborhood; another stop on  the line north was the famous Towers, which I did not see from the train; if they are visible from it I didn't know which direction to look.  In any case our ride both directions on the blue line and then the final transfer in downtown to the purple/red line was uneventful and I enjoyed watching the scenery, but my husband and I were fully aware of our surroundings.

Edited June 14, 2022 by KmomChicago

[HeyJut]

Thanks so much for the review-and for including/sharing all the pre and post info.

[KmomChicago]

Thanks @HeyJut for stopping by and commenting. 

 

 

[KmomChicago]

We’re almost done. I’m scraping the bottom of the barrel photo-wise. I mapped out the trains and screen shotted (not a word?) the transfers so I didn’t screw it up. What technology we hold on the palms of our hands. 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 15, 2022 by KmomChicago

[KmomChicago]

We got to Union Station about 4:30 pm which turned out to be pretty good timing and not too far in advance.  It's a bit of a hike around the place, from where the Metro trains are to the Amtrak trains. We went to the departure lounge at the front of the building and they let our whole family sit for a few minutes with our traveler, and everyone used the facilities, and then they started pre-boarding the Southwest Chief about 45 minutes before the scheduled 5:55 departure. We walked them all the way to the train and I talked to one of the conductors about ensuring the kiddo got off at the right stop in the wee hours and guess what?

 

Once again, it turns out they have a system.  They seat people on the train based roughly on the distance they are traveling, rudely wake them if necessary, and clear them suckers out as they go.  Which makes a lot of sense.  You don't want someone paying to go from LA to Albuquerque and they just go ahead and sleep right through New Mexico entirely, and maybe Colorado too, and perhaps end up in Kansas City or heck, ride the thing all the way to its end in good ol' Chicago. 

 

Down from a party of 4 to a party of 3, the rest of us walked over to Philppe's thanks to @ninjacat123 who recommended it. You have a chance to try the original French Dip, you do it, right? It's not a fancy place, which makes it right up our alley. So we had a fantastic final dinner downtown before riding the local rails back to El Segundo, which we reached around 8pm under a twilight sky. 

[KmomChicago]

Next morning we boarded a very yellow jet airplane where I took the final selfie and photo of the trip, because I decided to make this an unusually comfortable four hour flight and it was 100% worth it. 
 

Okay maybe it’s not an ultra low cost flight anymore when you do this, but it’s what Kmom and family consider luxury and we loved it. 

[ninjacat123]

10 hours ago, KmomChicago said:

We got to Union Station about 4:30 pm which turned out to be pretty good timing and not too far in advance.  It's a bit of a hike around the place, from where the Metro trains are to the Amtrak trains. We went to the departure lounge at the front of the building and they let our whole family sit for a few minutes with our traveler, and everyone used the facilities, and then they started pre-boarding the Southwest Chief about 45 minutes before the scheduled 5:55 departure. We walked them all the way to the train and I talked to one of the conductors about ensuring the kiddo got off at the right stop in the wee hours and guess what?

 

Once again, it turns out they have a system.  They seat people on the train based roughly on the distance they are traveling, rudely wake them if necessary, and clear them suckers out as they go.  Which makes a lot of sense.  You don't want someone paying to go from LA to Albuquerque and they just go ahead and sleep right through New Mexico entirely, and maybe Colorado too, and perhaps end up in Kansas City or heck, ride the thing all the way to its end in good ol' Chicago. 

 

Down from a party of 4 to a party of 3, the rest of us walked over to Philppe's thanks to @ninjacat123 who recommended it. You have a chance to try the original French Dip, you do it, right? It's not a fancy place, which makes it right up our alley. So we had a fantastic final dinner downtown before riding the local rails back to El Segundo, which we reached around 8pm under a twilight sky. 

So happy to hear Philippe's is still running and yummy!  And that you got a chance to check it out!  I never rode the trains in LA (maybe they weren't as connected last time I lived in LA 18 years ago) but seeing the route you took makes it look very doable.  Thanks for writing another great review!😃