CARNIVAL RADIANCE CRUISE REVIEW
We were very excited to go on this trip on the Carnival Radiance. We had mixed feelings before embarking as we were nervous of Carnival’s reputation of being “partying” and “fighting” ships, but on the other hand, we were going to be cruising with some great friends, who we had met a year prior on another ship. (The 4 Pack).
The night before embarking our cruise on the Carnival Radiance, we all stayed in the Haunted Queen Mary cruise ship that is docked as a hotel in Long Beach, California. That experience in itself was a lot of fun, not to mention just how CLOSE it is to the Carnival Radiance terminal.
EMBARKATION ON THE CARNIVAL RADIANCE
The entire process of embarking on the Carnival Radiance was really organized... not to mention that the port was really quite nice! We had checked out of the Queen Mary Hotel, reparked our truck in the Carnival Parking lot, attached our tags to our luggage, and walked through the check in part of the terminal within 20 minutes.
There was a slight long wait to actually embark the ship, but that was probably because we arrived at the terminal a little early. Our friends had purchased the “Faster To The Fun” package, and sadly, Kirk and I were not allowed to join them in the earlier embarkation.
Regardless, our friends were only about a half hour ahead of us, so by the time we got through the final check in, they were already on their second drink.
Because the rooms were not ready, we did have to carry our backpacks around with us for a few hours. In the meantime, I had a drink accidently spill all over me, I missed being dropped on by a bird (because I jumped out of the chair when the drink spilled), and then had a whole bowl of ketchup torpedoed its way toward me, covering my laptop bag. Overall, it is a little awkward to carry so much stuff around with you, but thank goodness for the drink package… it wasn’t really a big deal.
THE DRINK PACKAGE ON THE CARNIVAL RADIANCE
The drink package was a pretty good deal overall. It seemed that it was the best additional purchase that we could make on this ship, as literally everyone was drinking. There is nothing like being on a ship in a hot climate with a lot of people who are constantly drinking, so it was well worth the money. Each drink was in the range of about 11 to 15 dollars, and if you were in port, regardless if you had the package or not, you still had to pay an additional port fee on each drink.
There were a lot of bars around the ship. Most of the bars were really quite fast, efficient and friendly with the passengers. Even with such a fast turn around of passengers, it felt like the bar staff knew all of our drinks, and they made good connections with us, as the 4 pack.
STATEROOM 8133 ON CARNIVAL RADIANCE
Our stateroom was on the 8th floor, and right down the hallway from our friends. Overall we were in a decent location, in terms of getting to some of the main spots in the ship quickly, but, on the other hand, there were a lot of people just hanging out in the hallways pretty much all of the time.
The room itself was pretty quiet, but when the neighbours came out of their rooms, it was a different story, as the voices would come through the vent of the door, and it would force you to get up, or turn up the TV (depending upon what time of the day it was).
Our room was overall pretty nice. It had a comfy bed, lots of storage space (almost too much space for such a short itinerary; lots of mirror space; a decent sized bathroom, a small couch, and a small balcony. You can view our stateroom online on Youtube.
THE VEGAN FOOD ON THE CARNIVAL RADIANCE
There was a LOT of food choice on this ship. There were venues all around the ship that always had at least one vegan item to chose from. There is also a dedicated vegan menu in the dining rooms for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
We were very surprised and happy that there were so many good choices. Overall we were impressed with the food, the selection, and the quality. The only advice that I would offer, is to make sure that you place your breakfast order with the waiter ahead of time, as otherwise, you won't get many choices.
THE DAILY THINGS TO DO ON THE CARNIVAL RADIANCE
There was almost always some form of entertainment or activity to do all of the time on this ship. There were arts and crafts activities, trivia, shows, sales, dancing, and so much more.
The gym and the spa were VERY nice, and we were even treated to sample massages with bamboo. The staff were all so nice, and the gym was updated, clean, and welcoming.
The shows were VERY good. We had a lot of fun watching them. The seating in the theatre was great as that every seat in the theatre pretty much had a great view. There were almost no bad seats.
The entertainers were very good. They also had guest comedians who were also very funny. My advice if you ever go on this ship, is that you should get to the shows early, to make sure that you GET a seat, as the venues pack up quickly.
There was also a disco night in the main part of the ship, and everyone was handed out lighted sticks at no additional charge. Carnival doesn’t nickel and dime you for things. We received a lot of free things, and we found the staff and the activities to be very inclusive overall.
OVERALL IMPRESSION OF THE CARNIVAL RADIANCE
We had a great time on this ship. Again, it was pretty surprizing to us about HOW much we liked it. There was always something to do, the staff and the passengers were all very happy and having fun; there was great entertainment, and the BEST part, is that we were able to book this short itinerary with our friends and really have a great time at a great cost.
I think that it was a great choice overall for us and our friends to get together, catch up, and have a great time with out getting bored!
