LIVE from Radiance 3/15 - St Patrick’s Cruise

[bethfelk]

Update so after breakfast I kinda just chilled in the room bc I was exhausted and hungover from a long two nights lol. I am feeling a lot better now tho and gonna enjoy the parties tonight bc I love Irish and shanty music but will take it slower for sure. I had a great time meeting people last night tho and lots of fun at the piano bar. 

[bethfelk]

We did get some green beer (gluten free cider for me) which I am really excited about. I expected it to be something pre mixed that I couldn’t drink, but it’s actually pretty neat how they are doing it, they just put the green coloring in the bottom of the glass and you can choose it with any beer you want. 

[kruisin_kt]

I’m behind on updates too! 
 

after lunch yesterday we got in the hot tub for a while. I was brave enough to get in the pool and it was COLD! Still fun though! 
 

we had another great dinner with our fun tablemates and wonderful serving team. We split up for a bit after dinner, and then met up for the Elton John tribute in the piano bar. The pianist was tons of fun!
 

The piano bar itself is a very small space - a lot more people than seats. There’s also not an actual bar in the room, but there was one very hardworking drink waitress. Staff and the pianist are doing a great job making it work in a space that just isn’t big enough for its own popularity. 
 

we had a drink in the Heroes Tribute sports bar, which was surprisingly quiet and uncrowned. 
 

after that, we split up again. I was too tired for the club so I had one drink at the atrium bar and went back to the cabin. Definitely a fun day at sea!

[kruisin_kt]

Today was also a lot of fun! I slept through breakfast but made up for it with a double lunch - Blue Iguana burrito and a Guy’s burger. Both were great! I did an Advanced Cruising Manuever and had some DIY nacho fries with Guy’s fries and Blue Iguana salsa bar toppings. I spent most of the day at the aft pool, hanging out with new friends in the hot tub. 
 

I missed the big towel animal display today, but there were some impressive stragglers at the towel stand. The peacock was my favorite! The towel elephant also apparently went shopping in Ensenada, because he had acquired an adorable mini sombrero when I walked by later.

[kruisin_kt]

After putting on some green, we headed to a great last dinner. For pre-dinner cocktails, I had an espresso martini and Beth had a Dirty Shirley, which was more like a “wanted for felonies in multiple states” Shirley - it was about 2/3 vodka. 
 

Dinner was good and our tablemates shared some nasi goreng - it was fun to try some Indonesian food! I’m on my second green beer if the evening and we’re ready for the St Patrick’s Day party!

[bethfelk]

Well so far I am extremely unimpressed with the “St Patrick’s Party.” Two songs thus far have both Bruno Mars?? I want my damn Irish music lol.

[kruisin_kt]

Beth’s right, the St Patrick’s pub party was super lame. I think they had some family stuff in the afternoon, but for a drinking holiday, they really phoned it in on evening stuff. 

[bethfelk]

We are sitting in dining room breakfast now. Debark morning always comes too soon but I am kinda ready to get off this one tbh. We just examined our bill and between the two of us in 3 days we had 67 drinks so I think we got good use of the cheers package lol. Although a fair number of those were water, coffee, hot tea, and soda but that is a value of the package too I think

[jimbo5544]

4 minutes ago, bethfelk said:

We are sitting in dining room breakfast now. Debark morning always comes too soon but I am kinda ready to get off this one tbh. We just examined our bill and between the two of us in 3 days we had 67 drinks so I think we got good use of the cheers package lol. Although a fair number of those were water, coffee, hot tea, and soda but that is a value of the package too I think

wow that went quick.  Thanks for sharing and letting us come along for the ride.

 

 

[bethfelk]

Well we have made it out of the terminal and are sitting curbside as of 8:55 AM. The port operations part of debark was smooth but it was a mess on Carnivals end. They had multiple lines blocking and crisscossing each other, blocking guest services (not that we needed it), blocking the stairs etc. No one really knew what to do and staff were not very clear about it either. Not sure if Deck 3 is the only option for the Long Beach gangway or what but I think it would work much better or Deck 5 or even 4 where people could stand in a straighter and less circuitous line. They were also calling numbers way too fast in my opinion before they had enough space for all the people. And we did debark with our own luggage and we had supposedly selected 9:10 but that seemed to have no bearing bc they were calling all self-carry from the very beginning. Not that bad overall still but handled worse than many other debarks we’ve done 

[jimbo5544]

27 minutes ago, bethfelk said:

Well we have made it out of the terminal and are sitting curbside as of 8:55 AM. The port operations part of debark was smooth but it was a mess on Carnivals end. They had multiple lines blocking and crisscossing each other, blocking guest services (not that we needed it), blocking the stairs etc. No one really knew what to do and staff were not very clear about it either. Not sure if Deck 3 is the only option for the Long Beach gangway or what but I think it would work much better or Deck 5 or even 4 where people could stand in a straighter and less circuitous line. They were also calling numbers way too fast in my opinion before they had enough space for all the people. And we did debark with our own luggage and we had supposedly selected 9:10 but that seemed to have no bearing bc they were calling all self-carry from the very beginning. Not that bad overall still but handled worse than many other debarks we’ve done 

usually only one way out (same as you use to get on).  They tend to get backed up quickly.  There has to be a better way  

[kruisin_kt]

Officially home from the cruise! After debarkation we went to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. It was a lot of fun, if a little pricey at $45/adult. Our favorite animal was the Giant Pacific Octopus, which was the most active aquarium octopus I’ve ever seen. 

[john91498]

wow, 67 drinks in 3 days 😝You two sure knew how to throw them down 😎

[Frank12]

1 hour ago, john91498 said:

wow, 67 drinks in 3 days 😝You two sure knew how to throw them down 😎

That's not hard when you count water, coffee, soda, etc.

[kruisin_kt]

19 hours ago, Frank12 said:

That's not hard when you count water, coffee, soda, etc.

We think around 50 were booze. So 25/person over 3 days… roughly 8 drinks per person per day. We’re no amateurs at this “cruise” thing. 

Edited March 19 by kruisin_kt

[john91498]

2 hours ago, kruisin_kt said:

We think around 50 were booze. So 25/person over 3 days… roughly 8 drinks per person per day. We’re no amateurs at this “cruise” thing. 

 

That's impressive 😎

[simba]

Fantastic info in this post from both of you. We will be on board next month,and will put to good use some of your tips and ideas. It will be the first time on Radiance, but not our first cruise. I plan to make full use of the drink limit and have a list of drinks to try. 

PS, love the roast "BEAST" 

[ninjacat123]

Love the sisters tag team review!!  Sounds like a fun cruise and I'm glad you both got to get in some sibling time and time on your own.  My DDs have been cruising since they were 4 & 6 (21 & 23 now) and I hope they will get to do something like your cruise! Thanks for a great review!😎

[MEUB1112]

Love your review, we are doing this cruise with the daughter, son in law and grandkids in a bit. Does the Radiance have lunch available at the Cucina de Capitano? Love the pasta!

[weezal]

2 minutes ago, MEUB1112 said:

Does the Radiance have lunch available at the Cucina de Capitano?

yes, complimentary

[MEUB1112]

41 minutes ago, weezal said:

yes, complimentary

Thank you very much @

[john91498]

2 hours ago, MEUB1112 said:

Thank you very much @

 

the lunch menu is very limited at cucina compared to the dinner menu

Edited March 21 by john91498

[MEUB1112]

Understood, I love their lunch menu.

[travelinjess85]

Thanks for the great review! We enjoyed our 3 and 4 day cruises on the Radiance and definitely took advantage of the drink package too haha. Bummer the St Patrick’s Day events were underwhelming but looked like a fun weekend! 

[moviegal]

Love the Radiance, one of our favorite Carnival ships. Small but fun. Sounds like you had a wonderful cruise!