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

[bethfelk]

We have got our cabin and we have a very interesting layout. Never seen one like this before. Picture taken from my twin bed and across diagonally is another twin bed. Weird but cool

[Are.we.there.yet?]

That's an interesting room design.  So much extra space!

[mamiamjo]

4 hours ago, bethfelk said:

On board at 11:00 exactly. Super efficient. And unlike Galveston don’t have to wait for the package to start. So let’s get this party started my friends!

Definitely would be an issue on such a short cruise

[kruisin_kt]

We’re unpacked and settled in! the cabin (2201) is nice and huge for the category. We think it might have been an accessible or partially accessible room at some point. It’s not fully wheelchair accessible but it’s much larger than most cabins and it has some accessibility features. 

As much as Long Beach embarkation blew me away, I have to say I’m a bit underwhelmed with the Radiance so far. The ship isn’t particularly clean in either staterooms or public areas. Deck bars have been a little crowded, but when are they not! Red Frog Pub was great and we’ll definitely be spending plenty of time there this cruise. Guy’s Burgers staff were great, especially for Beth’s allergies. 
 

currently waiting for bars to reopen after muster! 

 

 

[kruisin_kt]

Managed to survive the bar closure. Enjoying some frozen margs and incredible harbor views now! 

[Frank12]

5 hours ago, bethfelk said:

Drink #1! Had to start with a fun ship. I think this is basically the same thing as paradise punch on princess which is one of my faves.

Starting a Carnival cruise with a Funship is a must!

[kruisin_kt]

Drink #5! Despite looking exactly the same, they are different. I have The Cruiser and Beth has the Pirate Punch.

 

ship’s horn just blew and we are pulling away from the pier! 

[kruisin_kt]

Classing it up a bit (by our standards, at least) for drink #6 from Alchemy! For pre-dinner cocktails, I have a Hearts on Fire (raspberry martini) and Beth has the Alchemist’s Sidecar.

 

we’re actually sitting at Red Frog rather than Alchemy. So far a little girl has been a standout karaoke performer. The adult performers…. certainly had fun up there, lol. 

[bethfelk]

We are at dinner now. Dark and stormy for me and something sweet for my sister? For appetizer I had some kind of roll (I forgot the name, I ordered on the phone) and my sister had a salad. All is good now! And also I put picture, I got some me gluten free bread. Crumbly bu

[mamiamjo]

10 minutes ago, bethfelk said:

We are at dinner now. Dark and stormy for me and something sweet for my sister? For appetizer I had some kind of roll (I forgot the name, I ordered on the phone) and my sister had a salad. All is good now! And also I put picture, I got some me gluten free bread. Crumbly bu

 

Was that Crawfish Strudel?

[bethfelk]

Carnival melting chocolate cake, one gluten free and one regular 

[EllieinNJ]

Following.  We will be on her in five weeks followed by the Panorama.

[bethfelk]

Well sorry for the lack of updates last night, guess we were having too much fun😂. After dinner we went to alchemy where we made some new friends and then we were also in the pub, lobby bar, and night club at some points. I am a really big fan of the Island Old Fashioned. And I think Meo Ming (sp?) at alchemy will be our man this cruise. 

[bethfelk]

Right now we got some coffee from Java Blue and are waiting to be let in for Cat and the Hat breakfast 

[grimpil]

If you happen to end up in the piano bar could you post a pic ? Our first cruise on the Radiance is this December and piano bar helps to keep us out of the casino LOL

[kruisin_kt]

Did I have trouble loading cruise critic on the WiFi last night? Did I get a little too CHEERS-ful to post? It’s a mystery! 
 

Early dinner in Sunrise MDR was great! I had another The Cruiser to drink. I started with a Caesar salad - it was mid, but highly appropriate since yesterday was the Ides of March. For main course, we both had the striploin steak. We’re Okies so we are PICKY about steaks, and we were both very impressed. We both finished with the chocolate melting cake. It goes without saying that it was delicious. 
 

After dinner, we headed to Alchemy for the LGBTQ+ meetup. For drink 8, I had the Purple Sunset - delicious and SO PRETTY. Beth had (I think) the Old Fashioned. I had another Purple Sunset for #9 and Beth had a whiskey and blackberry drink that I think was off menu. 
 

We split up for a bit to hang out with new friends. I went to Tides Bar (aft deck bar). I got 2 great drinks made by Ampapang from Thailand 🇹🇭 and she taught me how to say thank you in Thai!

 

We met back up at Limelight Lounge, the nightclub. We had one drink there with a new friend, and then we were all pretty tired so we called it a night around 11:45. 
 

Beth fell asleep so fast. I had some thoughts of going back out, but somehow I ended up at the buffet instead of the club 😅 The late night snack buffet had enough chicken tenders and fries to impress even the most discerning drunk. I headed back to the cabin at about 12:30 and went to sleep soon after. 

 

Overall, it was a great first day to our sibling getaway!

[kruisin_kt]

15 hours ago, mamiamjo said:

Was that Crawfish Strudel?

It was duck spring rolls! Beth liked them but thought they were pretty spicy. 

[kruisin_kt]

15 hours ago, bethfelk said:

All is good now! And also I put picture, I got some me gluten free bread

I also wanna give a MASSIVE shoutout to our head server, Eka from Indonesia 🇮🇩. Gluten free can be a bit hit or miss with whether Beth gets bread, whether they can find the preorder easily, etc. Last night was definitely a hit! 

[kruisin_kt]

47 minutes ago, grimpil said:

If you happen to end up in the piano bar could you post a pic ? Our first cruise on the Radiance is this December and piano bar helps to keep us out of the casino LOL

We didn’t make it to the piano bar last night - probably going for Elton John tribute tonight though so I’ll try to post pics. It’s called Piano Bar 88 and from a quick glance thru the door it looked a lot like other carnival piano bars I’ve seen.  

[kruisin_kt]

Seuss breakfast was cute! I had the roast beast omelette (which was GOOD) and the Grinch pancakes, which looked better than they tasted. Beth had regular gf pancakes, which weren’t great. We had a good time overall though! The Cat in the Hat ice sculpture looked better than the picture - he was melting by the time I managed to get the pic. 

[bethfelk]

Hanging by the aft pool now. I got some gluten free pizza that was AWESOME and surprisingly fast. Weird how the presumably same batter was so bad as pancakes but so good as pizza crust. Also having a pirate punch. Unfortunately none of carnivals fruity rum drinks are as good as the princess paradise punch imo

[kruisin_kt]

Day 2 drink 4! A dirty Shirley for Beth (with cherry vodka, which is “a game changer”) and a Long Island for me. 
 

I had the Shaq chicken for lunch. It was INSANELY GOOD. 

[bethfelk]

12 minutes ago, kruisin_kt said:

Day 2 drink 4! A dirty Shirley for Beth (with cherry vodka, which is “a game changer”) and a Long Island for me. 
 

I had the Shaq chicken for lunch. It was INSANELY GOOD. 

The dirty Shirley is supposed to be more red lol but the bar was running out of grenadine and this was the last of the bottle

[bethfelk]

One of the annoying parts of cruising with my sister is that we constantly get mistaken for a lesbian couple (especially by photographers who are always putting us in the most ridiculous poses lol). I am realizing, as we are changing into our coordinating rainbow checked outfits for formal night, that we don’t do much to combat the illusion 😂

[bethfelk]

Good morning everyone. Another late night but I made it to dining room breakfast to get my preorder. My sister is still sleeping so I am solo rn