Carnival Radiance 4 Night Cruise from Long Beach: Trip Report

[PandaBear62]

Dh and I decided in mid December to plan a quick getaway for January.  We’ve sailed on Carnival twice. Once out of Long Beach over Christmas in 2017 on the Inspiration (we took our family, my mom and brother).  The second time was 5 days out of New Orleans on the Triumph in February 2019, which was the last cruise before going into dry dock and being refurbished and given a new name. While Carnival may have a mixed reputation among some people, we have enjoyed both cruises we have taken before, so I am excited for this one. I have been on 4 cruises since the covid closures, but not on Carnival (2 Disney, 1 Princess and 1 Celebrity).

 

 Our cruise is out of Long Beach, 4 nights, on the Radiance, stopping at Catalina and Ensenada.

 

A little about us……dh is 64, retired from aerospace. I’m 60, just retired in June 2022 and started a part time position just a couple of weeks ago. But the advantage of being retired, and having a profession that is in very short supply is that you can pretty much negotiate what you want, at least in some places. So despite having just started working Jan 3, I’m off for a week 20 days later! Our three kids are finally grown and flown, no more mortgage and the time and money to travel! Yay!!! 

 

Pre-Cruise Expenses:

Cruise fare for 2 (inside cabin)  $258

Taxes and Port fees $240

Prepaid gratuities $116

Transfers to and from LAX $140.36

Southwest tickets from the Bay Area $67 (no it wasn’t that cheap. But we had $200 in fare credit set to expire in late January)

 

We have $250 on board credit for the 4 nights. $200 was with the rate we booked and $50 was from our Carnival stock. 

 

Pre-Cruise Planning

I booked the Carnival excursion to Valle de Guadalupe. Dh and I have been here a couple of times, and we typically book with  a private company and go to smaller, more boutique style wineries, but not this time. This was $120 for both of us, which I paid for from onboard credit.

Not planning an excursion for Catalina. We might get off the ship and walk around downtown, or we might just stay on and enjoy the (hopefully) quiet).

 

I also booked Southwest airlines for our flight to LA, because my mom and sister each had $100 credit from Southwest from a delay they had last year (ironically, when I was taking them on a different cruise, out of Galveston). I had paid for their tickets, so when they weren’t going to use them by the expiration (1-28-23), dh and I did. 

 

Now, I have flown SWA for years. I even have their credit card. Since this was a budget trip, I decided to book a flight early Monday morning, rather than the evening before, to save the cost of a hotel and Uber. I wasn’t too worried when I booked, since there are lots of flights from the Bay Area to LAX every day. But then, just a week or so later, Southwest imploded over the holidays. This made me super nervous and I looked into other airlines as well as flying in the night before. Ultimately, we decided to take the chance and make a final decision the weekend before our Monday sail date. Worst case, we can decide to drive down and just park the car for a week. If we don’t drive, wait and we can’t get to LAX in any way, well, rats.  Financially, we’d lose about $400. Of course, I’d rather not miss the trip, but it’s just dh and I, we can afford the loss and it’s not like it’s our only vacation this year.

 

The Weekend Before (January 20-22)

I started checking weather and Southwest flights to LA, to see how things were going. Luckily things looked good. 

 

I also packed. I’m a light packer in general. I did a two week New England and Canadian cruise doing carryon, as well as a 10 day Alaskan cruise. So I decided for this cruise to try packing in a personal item. I won’t bore those of you who are not obsessed with packing (like myself) with the details, but if you are interested, here’s a link to my packing report in the Cruise Fashion and Beauty Discussion Topic board (https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2909539-packing-for-my-4-night5-day-cruise-in-a-personal-item/?_fromLogin=1#replyForm). I’ll just say here that since we were living a little dangerously with flying in the day of, we didn’t ship through any bags. I used a Kipling Sasha tote for my luggage and dh used a Travelpro 21” roller.

 

Southwest didn’t appear to be having issues and the weather looked fine so we decided to proceed with our travel plans. 

 

I solidified the dog sitting and dog walking plans and went to bed hoping I hadn’t forgotten anything.

[PandaBear62]

Day 1 Sail Day (January 23)

We were up at 4:30 and out of the house by 5:45. The TSA precheck line was longer than the regular line (the first time that’s happened to me). We still stayed in the precheck line because of the other features and while the line was longer, it wasn’t a bad wait. We got through security and then walked to the gate. Boarding was a little delayed but we arrived at the LAX on time. Only real complaint of the flight….it was really cold! We stopped and got some coffee and headed down to the pick up location for our Carnival transportation to the port. We waited by carousel 1 at baggage for a few minutes. Dh looked over and saw a group and then what looked like a carnival sign. The man there said he was just heading down to that location to find us as we were his last pick up for that time. The staff with the bus company were congenial and we made surprisingly (for LA) great time to the pier. As an aside, the cost each way was $70 for the two of us. An Uber from the airport to the pier was $104. We were at the pier by a little before 10 and had deposited our luggage and had our boarding passes and passports scanned by 10:05.

 

The location is the domed building where the Spruce Goose used to be housed. It’s nicely decorated inside with fake trees around and linoleum that looks like grass. But….it was cold! Like being outside! I had debated whether I needed to bring a jacket or not and I’m so glad I did, between the plane and here.

 

 

Lots of benches and a bathroom easily accessible. Looking around I was surprised at how many school aged kids I saw. In general, though, the people around us skewed older. 

 

They began announcing boarding by categories. We were in boarding group B5. 

Diamond guest boarding announcement was at 10:55

Then Suite guests announcement at 10:57

Platinum guests announcement was at 10:59

Faster to the Fun announcement was at 11

Zone A1 & A2 at 11:02

Zone A3 & A4 at 11:03

Zone A5-A10 at 11:04

Zone B1 & B2 at 11:06

Zones B3 & B4 at 11:08

Zones B5-B10 at 11:10

I don’t know beyond this because we were in B5. It was quite the hike to the ship and we definitely got caught in a small traffic jam and were getting our photo at 11:20 and at the muster station at 11:25.

 

We were told to sit down and wait so we’re wondering what would happen and how long it would take. Turned out, it was quite quick. We were shown how to put on our life jacket and sent on our way. Very nice. 

 

I had lunch at the Blue Iguana and had a bowl made. Dh went inside for a sandwich. My bowl was great, but I will admit that I really like this location so I’m probably biased. Dh said his sandwich was fine, just that the cheese could be more melty.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I should share, before I give any more details about meals and the food and beverage on the ship……I’m a picky eater. I am also kind of a quirky picky eater. What I mean by that is people often comment that I like (and dislike) the oddest foods. I don’t like many fruits (I don’t like the texture of most fruits), but I eat a lot of veggies……anyone for jicama, kale or squash? I love beans and varied items like bulgar and quinoa. I don’t really like chocolate, but do like vanilla and caramel. I am not a big red meat eater but do like chicken and pork loin. I am only saying this so you can take this into account while reading my reviews. I eat a somewhat vegetarian diet (about 75% of the time).

 

While eating lunch we saw a seal (maybe a deal lion, I’m not sure) in the water not too far from the ship

 

 

Dh and I went to the spa and I decided to get a thermal spa pass, despite not having a spa (which I really like). The cost for the 4 days was $118 for me. $202 per couple (I think). They were also selling day passes: $49 for a port day and $69 for a sea day. 

 

We then made our way to the room, unpacked and headed up to the Red Frog for a drink. It wasn’t too crowded so we sat at the bar and chatted with Edwin and Kurt who were working. Edwin does the Apothecary bar in the evenings which is a favorite of ours. 

 

 

 

So we walked around a little more and went to the Apothecary bar when it opened at 4. Edwin made me a modified French Kiss, since I’m not a fan of Chambord and I had a second one made to bring with me to the comedy show. That’s something we like about Carnival, that it offers many comedy shows. The comedian seemed like he’d be funny but it wasn’t really an act, he just called out people in the audience. So not as fun as I had hoped. 

 

By this time we were hungry and the dining room was a 30 minute wait so we headed to the buffet. By the time we sat down we were called to our dinner reservation…..maybe 10 minutes tops? Had we realized we would have stayed. The buffet meal was mediocre and uneventful. We decided that was our first and last dinner at the buffet. 

 

 At this point, I was seriously impacted by the two drinks, which is very unlike me. I attribute it to eating very little, dehydration and having gotten up at 4:30 to make our flight. I told dh that I thought I was drunk (and really, I was so surprised and he was quite shocked) and we went to the room and I was in bed. Probably not the best start to our cruise, but it is what it is. 

 

For your reference, here is the dinner menu 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The wine list in the dining room doesn’t change so I’m going to post it once

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Drink menus from dining room

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest BasicSailor]

Well addressed review, 👍

[PandaBear62]

Day 2 Catalina

I was up bright and early on our Catalina port day, so I  grabbed a coffee and croissant and went up to the thermal spa. No hangover at all but that’s probably because I really didn’t drink much. Dh had been a little worried, because I’ve probably been drunk 3 or 4 times in the 33 years we’ve been together and he was shocked at how bad off I had seemed. Dh was hanging out at Red Frog, reading and eventually drinking. 

 

We did not go ashore on an excursion. Dh was a Boy Scout leader for about 20 years and there is a camp on Catalina for scouts. The nice thing as an adult on the trip is only 2 leaders need to stay at camp during the day (the staff supervises campers) for emergencies and the others can explore the island, go to Avalon, etc, so he’s spent a lot of time here. 

 

Here is the tender information

 

I had 2 short meetings so I planned to get off the ship in the afternoon, to get better internet. 

 

We met up for an early  lunch and went to the Shaq Shack. I had an omelet from the breakfast menu and it was quite nice. Dh had some kind of chicken sandwich. Once again, I’ll say we like the smaller, kiosk like dining choices. 

 

I went to the room to get what I needed for my meetings and headed out. 

 

At 12:22 I got to tender line as a tender was just being unloaded. 

The last people were coming off at 12:39 and the crew started letting us board at 12:40. 

We took off at 12:49 and were at the island at 12:56

I was on the island at 12:58. 

 

I am just describing this for anyone who might have private plans on Catalina. I’d allow an hour from getting in line to being off the tender. And remember, if you have a private excursion, you will likely need to walk down from where the tender drops you off. 

 

At 1pm the tender line seemed long to return on to the ship. However, the tender is big so it didn’t seem like the wait times were outrageous. The lines disappeared as each shuttle left and then got bigger again. So while the lines looked long it wasn't that bad.

 

I was done with my meetings by three. I was able to find a little bench to dial in and it was easy. At this point, the tender line was almost non existent. I walked through the line and was quickly on a tender and we were taken back to the ship. 

 

Dh and I met up at the Red Frog but with live music starting that was very loud,  we moved over the area around the apothecary bar. 

 

At 4, we had drinks made (and again, Edwin indulged me for making adaptations to a drink) and sat and enjoyed them. After our drinks we went down to the room to clean up and get ready for the evening, which was the dress to impress night. 

 

We checked in for dining as we left the room and our table was ready a minute or two later. We chose to join others at dinner and were seated with a delightful couple celebrating his 40th birthday. I had the spinach salad and the garlic shrimp. Both were, well…..adequate. Not horrible, but not particularly good. For dessert, I had the creme brûlée. It was a generous portion. The top was nice and crusty. The custard was a little softer than I’m used to, but had a nice flavor. Despite the rather mediocre meal, we had a lovely conversation and it made for a nice dinner.

 

 

 

 

We tried out the Heroes bar and I tried a Space Age. It’s made with Tang. I remember Tang from when I was a kid. I loved it!

 

 

We spent a few minutes at the bar and then headed to the show. It was quite good. The theme was Summer of Love, featuring the music of summer of 1969. Not very crowded but the performers were excellent. Highly recommended. I was a small child during the summer of love, but lived very close to San Francisco so have vague memories from going to the city with my parents and seeing the “hippies”. This is a YouTube video of the show. I actually thought ours was better than this video. https://youtu.be/aeP3jrIuZq8

 

We planned to head back to the Apothecary bar but I was ready to head down to the room. And thus the day ended.

[Californian]

Thanks for sharing.  I look forward to the rest of your trip report.

[Theosprey247]

Thank you for the review. My son and I are doing this itinerary in June. 

[PattiPB]

Thank you for doing this review! It isn't easy to find reviews on the shorter cruises, and I love reading about my beloved Radiance!

 

Did you do the ropes course!?!?!?!? 

[LaRue1975]

Thanks for the review, looking forward to the rest of the story! 

[jsglow]

We've enjoyed this cruise twice.  It's fun to follow along with someone else's review.  I do have to chuckle that with THIS much detail the review might take longer than the actual cruise.  (Just funnin' ya! Great work.) 

[msjackie]

Loved your review. Thank You!