We just booked our “girls trip” for October 2024! We are from OHIO and this will be our first cruise out of California, thank you for posting and happy cruising!
We sailed on the Carnival Radiance in April of 2022. We sailed from Long Beach to Catalina Island and then to Ensenada. The ship was nice. The amenities were nice, and though we typically sail Royal Caribbean we enjoyed the trip!
I haven't sailed carnival since I was a kid and I normally only sail virgin or royal. So it's nice to see you enjoyed it considering you sail royal! I'm excited to sail next year!
I just booked for Sept 2024 for my sister’s bday. I took this same cruise with Royal Caribbean and they appear to be more upscale. I hear Carnival is more of a party ship…we shall see.
I'm here as someone who is typically loyal to royal... But I'm wanting to give carnival a try... Not gonna lie, mostly because I want to try Shaq's big chicken and the two guy fieri restaurants 😅🙈. I'm debating between this ship and their Excel class ships. I feel the Excel ships will be more our speed.
@@HARDWORKER209 we did a double decker bus tour. It was one of the hop on, hop off tours, so we were able to stop, shop. and learn about Ensanada. We did a scavenger hunt on Catalina Island. We were going to go horseback riding originally, but when I read the reviews, we changed our mind.
just left this cruise today! it was so much fun and i can’t wait to go back! we just got off the 3 day cruise which took us only to ensenada but we booked a 7 day and we are going to that one at the end of september of 2023. i can’t wait! it was a blast! basketball was insane on the ship and it was fun staying at the teen club they have for ages up to 17. food was awesome too
As always, a great ship tour! I was on the e Radiance this past March and I thought it was a great ship. The layout is a tad wonky but the atrium is very pretty and there are lots of food options!
@@tnecarichardson7516 March is so up and down. When I went last March it was very cold! But honestly, it was still so much fun and the inside of the ship was totally warm.
We are booked for the January 13th three nighter. Did this exact ship and weekend last year. That' s why we are doing it again. Had a balcony last year and it was nice but kinda cool for a January cruise. So we opted for an inside room instead. We know they will call or email us to upgrade so we may or may not do that since we hardly spent any time in the room. Also look into getting the better onboard credit than is offered when you book directly through Carnival. We have an agent that we use that deals only with Carnival bookings and as she did last year and next weeks cruise, we got $500 onboard credit. It paid for all of our drinks and we used the rest for an offboard excursion. That excursion was a bus trip to a winery for some tastings, then headed over to a tequila tasting/ceramic tile painting trip. We did buy a bottle of flavored tequila. Overall it was a nice little day trip that was covered by the onboard credit. Next week we will either just stay on the ship and enjoy the food and drinks onboard, included, or walk off the ship down the street for some excellent street vendor ceviche tacos. Prepare to wait since it's a very popular spot. Otherwise from other past cruises to this port, you can head downtown if you wanna get drunk at Papas and Beer or Husongs Cantina or a multitude of streetside bars. You will get bombarded by street vendors selling everything. Dont go on the La Bufadora trip to see the water spout at the beach. It's a long bus ride and they basically funnel you through vendors to see the spout which is interesting for about 5 minutes. Our choice for Ensenada this year.... is to stay on the ship, save your money relax by the pool or watch the football playoffs in the sports bar and get drunk on their credit. Also the nightime choices are really good, from live rock to piano bar to karaoke to a comedy club. Overall I rate this trip an 8.5 for fun food relaxation and entertainment. It's a great little 3 night getaway! Do it! Also, enjoy a night before or after the cruise for a night out in Long Beach! There are lots of cool bars and restaurants at the Long Beach Harbor and across the street to some great downtown spots. And if you have an electric bike or a regular bike, there is a great beach path paved that goes for miles. We have the electric which makes it quicker to get to Belmont Brewery right on the beach and a block over to a ton of great bars restaurants on second street. You don't want to miss that. Also try to get down to Ballast Point Brewery for sure. It's at the entrance into the Long Beach Harbor and the views are amazing including the best sunset spot. I could go on and on but you get the picture. Do this weekend cruise getaway, you won't regret it! Have fun!!
Next booked on Radiance in January 2025 to Hawaii out of Long Beach. So looking forward to it!!!! Having already sailed on Sunshine, eager to see how it stands up post retrofit. With the addition of Big Chicken (just off Mardi Gras - and it is an AMAZING venue….), steakhouse and Pig & Anchor, brings this ship much closer to the Excel Class of ship. Cheers Doug!!!!
OMG I absolutely love this ship and can't wait until my cruise. It's beautiful and just the right size ship for me. My favorite ship is the Pride which I miss so much, but the Radiance will do just fine and I'm sure I will have a great time.
My two brothers and I were on Radiance, two weeks ago. (September 30-October 4). The food from the buffets and other diners was wonderful. Catalina Island was awesome... especially seeing some dolphins leaping in and out of the water, on the way back to the ship. I was disappointed with how foggy/murky it was, every night and not being able to see clear, starry skies. But we did get some nice sunshine during the days.
We are booking a cruise on the Radiance tomorrow. Thank you for this video. Great job with the video and narration. We had friends that just cruised on the Radiance and were very impressed with her.
Thank you for a great tour. We were aboard this ship in early December of 2023, and was not impressed, except for our room. we have sailed with Carnival about 9 times. the Miracle , Conquest and Splendor were some of our favorites.
Thanks for making this video. It was concise and informative. My friends, some of us go back to elementary school, take a trip every year, and we are leaving this morning on this ship. So excited. I'll report back with our experience. 🎉
We just got off the Carnival Radiance this last Sunday October 30th!!! We were on a 2 week Hawaiian cruise. The bathrooms are bigger, YAY, but the rooms smaller. Biggest complaint, no little bedside tables for cpap machines. On EITHER SIDE OF THE BED. Super annoying setting up 2 cpap machines every day for 2 weeks..... ONE outlet in the entire room. Yikes!!! Glad I brought extension cords and multiple cord outlet. We had 4 of us in a balcony cabin 1067 and 3 were in 1065.... Food could have been better. Other cruises steaks were all delicious... steaks not cut well this time... Portions were irregular. Felt like the last night menu was a hogpog of leftovers.... love the rows of chairs that go up the deck for movie watching! Wish the Serenity Floor had more Cabanas. Staff was, as always, friendly and energetic ♡♡ kids loved camp ocean and club o2. Love Cruising. This was our 7th cruise. 🛳🛳 cheers!!!
Great video. Brought back memories of our 5-day cruise (Catalina/Ensenada) on her last fall. My mother and aunt just disembarked yesterday (10/6) from their 5-day trip (same itinerary). I highly recommend the steakhouse (Fahrenheit 555). It's a wonderful experience. If you go the first two days of the cruise, they usually have special prices on their wine selections. If you have never cruised, I highly recommend this ship and the 5 day Mexican Coast cruise to get your feet wet. (Punn intended)
Sailed it last February and loved it. Found it easy to navigate and loved all the specialty dining. Took out two grandkids and the cabin was plenty big enough.
Susan have u been on the venezia? Any thoughts about it? Got a trip planned in December im a little hesitant maybe I should book the radiance instead since I'm on the west coast!
I sailed on the Victory in 2019 and loved it! Felt like a precursor to carnival radiance because the rooms had already got completely redone and the extra scenic ocean views were added during that drydock in 2018 so it felt like The victory but with sunshine class rooms.
I cruised it when it was the Victory and they got so many complaints that they had no choice BUT to refurbish it. That ship was DINGY!!! It looks amazing, now.
Was on the Victory December of 2019, loved it and the crew was outstanding!!! Crew was so cool that was my 4th time in 4 months! Always enjoy yout ship tours!!! Thx
Thanks Doug! It’ll be a while before I make it to this ship if it stays on the west coast. But I definitely appreciate the ship tour and spot lighted differences in this ship and others on its class. It’s very nice. Appreciate the @Cruise Radio wake-up and wind-down on this Tuesday. ✌🏾
I love the carnival radiance. I was on the same Cruise as you were October 3rd.. I wish I saw you Just to say hi and get a photo. I like it better than the carnival panorama. I'm going to be on it again On November 28. Love watching your videos. Keep up the great work.
I have family that has taken the 4 day from LA to Ensenada, both through Catalina and straight to Ensenada, My family of 13 just decided and are booking the straight to Ensenada 4 day and will be on Radiance, I am in a wheelchair, and very excited.
We just booked a 3 day cruise on the Radiance to follow a 5 day stay at the Disney Grand Californian. Just wanted to extend our stay a bit longer in the Los Angeles area. What is the demographic of the 3 day cruises. We love to dance, meet people and have a great time on a cruise. I heard this referred to a a Party Barge! :-) We choose to have fun even if there are a few hiccups along the way. Great ship review. Everything was well presented and to the point. Thank you
Thank you for your video! We are sailing Oct 9, 2023 and I loved learning where things are from your video, I plan to spend time in Serenity and wondered if there was a spa and a bar and how far away the food was, great info, thanks for the vid
@@CruiseRadio not sure lol it does wrap with spring break. I was able to book an interior room with a sofa (deck 3) so they must not be planning on too many younger cruisers.
Great video we were on Radiance a few weeks ago, will be back on it tomorrow this time with our son. He just turned 20 and he's hooked on the casino. The casinos on the ship you can play at a younger age then on land. We will also be on Panorama and Miracle this month looking forward to it.
I would go on the ship But I like longer cruises. I think out of everyone on RU-vid you definitely do the best with ship tours. Keep up the good work thank you
We made the mistake/good choice of taking our very 1st cruise on Royal Caribbean which set the standard for us. But we wanted to experience all of the other cruise lines to see what they had to offer so we have since sailed on Princess, Carnival, Norwegian and Virgin. Major disappointment on all of them. If you are new to cruising any of these will be a great choice...after all, it beats sitting at home. Your choice of cruise lines will depend on your expectations. As an experienced cruiser, here is my list of preferred cruiselines based on what you are looking for: * Full Family Fun/Experience (Royal Caribbean) * 55+ Relaxed Crowd (Princess) * Cheap Cruise (Carnival) * Varying Destinations/55+ Crowd (Norwegian) * Uppity Singles (Virgin) We have never cruised on Disney but have been told that you better have a large bank account. You can never go wrong with any cruise, but you have to understand what you are going to get vs your expectations. Hope this helps and happy cruising!
That is very helpful! Thank you. We considered Disney for the kids, but it’s so much more expensive & they don’t have a casino for us parents to scoot away to while the kids are in the kids club. So Royal it is for us I guess!
Hi Doug, At the 7:08 mark you show a category 1A port hole and you are speaking about decks 6,7,and 8 with the port hole image displayed. The port hole cabins are on decks 1 and 2 only aboard most Carnival ships including Radiance. My clients were thrown off by this and I had to clarify. Thanks for all you do and I never miss your daily show.
I just booked a back to back on this ship in March first time on this ship and to these particular ports.I should be hitting Diamond Level,finally it took me about 14 years and 32 cruises.I will be flying in so is it best to fly into Lax or the Long Beach Airport?
My sons and I will be on her January 23! Thank you for posting this! This will be our first time on a smaller ship. Last was Mardi Gras. I'm really excited! Anyone have thoughts on the ports?
I'm born in November. I don't know I was thinking that there would be more excitement. But it still looks fun I'll probably be spending long time is the casino.
Going to be on this ship December 4-8 anyone have any idea what the weather will be like? Thanks for the tour gives us an idea of what we’re getting into. Have a sailed carnival a few times before but it’s been quite a while ago. Joe
I'm about to go on this ship on Memorial Day Weekend in May. I also sailed Panorama last year during Spring Break on March 2022 on a 7-day Riviera Cruise from Long Beach to Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan, and Cabo San Lucas. I think it'll make more sense for Radiance to do the longer 5-day cruises to Cabo instead of Miracle, since Radiance is a larger ship, and has more modern amenities than Miracle (Size is in between Miracle and Panorama). She should also go on cruises from San Francisco and Seattle, and sail Alaskan cruises (Similar to Miracle's current itinerary).
