Spring Break Cali/Mexi Cruise

Item: Carnival Radiance
Rating: 4.6
Author: jlow3909

Carnival Radiance Cruise Review to Mexico

jlow3909

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 1 cruise (first)

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 29

Overall rating:

4.6 out of 5

Verified Review

4 Night Catalina & Baja Mexico (Los Angeles Roundtrip)

Sail date: April 01, 2024

Ship: Carnival Radiance

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 1067

Traveled as: Family (older children)

Reviewed: 8 months ago

Review summary

If you do not drink a lot of alcohol - do NOT but the drink package - just pay for the drinks. The package is $70 a day and the drinks are averaged at $10. I would have been find just paying for my drinks. There was only 1 day that I actually "drank: and that day I think I had 6. If you buy the package all adults have to have it. The other adult in the room did not drink but 3 drinks the entire time. The kids; I was not aware (first cruise) could just drink from the buffet. Do not waste your money on the soda package. You have to get it at the bar - and you still have to pay taxes on EVERYTHING if you are in a taxed part of the water!! I seriously spent SOOOOO much $ on drinks that were NEVER drank!!! So I really wasted money. There is fountain water, juice, coffee, tea, hot cocoa in the buffet area. Everything else you can purchase. You can also bring a 12 pack cans on board with you. This would be my choice if I had to do it again. If I felt like drinking alcohol - it would be much cheaper to spend the $8-12 for the 6-8 drinks for the 1 day of drinking than the $70/day for the 5 days (board Monday at 5pm so they count that plus debark Friday at 7am they count that). That is my advice to not BIG drinkers ;) Spend your money on other things on the ship - souvenirs - coffee - arcade games - bingo - etc.

Embarkation

5 out of 5

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

4 out of 5

Onboard Activities

3 out of 5

The water slides were closed some days after we were back and moving again after being docked all day and we were on the islands. Kids did not have much to do, plus it was very cold; will not be doing a pacific region spring break cruise again.

Entertainment

We did not go to any of these events

Children's Programs

My children are 10 and 14 and could not enjoy any activities together; so they did not go to the children's programs

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Five star from our room steward - as for the waiters - they NEVER made their way around to us - I ALWAYS had to make my way to the bar - I think a waiter came around twice during my entire time when I was sitting on deck; so I did a lot of walking and the drink package was not worth it to the adults in the room or the bubbly package to the children - they did not drink - they mostly drank water from the buffet - if I knew this was an option I would not have paid what I did.

Ship Quality

4 out of 5

Some of the eateries were hard to find.

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

Ship tip

Don't buy the drink packages - unless you plan on drinking!!!! I have children ages 10 and 14. They could not do the children's programs together, so they spent a lot of time with us - they do not want to see me get wasted - which they shouldn't - not appropriate. We spent time together - when we were docked we were not on the ship - when we were on the ship - I was not at the bars - and the waiters were not around - drink packages wasted a lot of my $$ I could have spent on other things!!

Thumbs up

Ports of call

Long Beach (Los Angeles), California

5 out of 5

Boarded here, but also toured here!! Santa Monica Pier not FAR!!! Amazing!!!! A MUST!!

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Catalina Island, California

5 out of 5

Absolutely Beautiful!!!! Missed our excursion, but had a great time seeing the city!!! Ice Cream was delicious!!!

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Ensenada, Mexico

5 out of 5

Did the Canopy Tour - Ziplining Adventure - Booked through Shore Excursions!!!! $95/person!!! Absolutely Amazing!! The tour bus there was GREAT!!! Fredrico was Amazing!!! He gave us great info! The ziplining tour was fantastic as well!! All the guys were great!! Definitely a MUST!!!!

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Disembarkation

5 out of 5

Super Fast!! We has All of out luggage with us!! This is a tip I read before we cruised - Do not check your luggage - We took flights that we all had carry on - So there were 4 of us - we all had little carry on bags - this is what we had the entire time - it was so easy!!

11 Comments

LisaKitty 8 months ago

My husband and I recently decided to stop purchasing the Cheers package, and just buy drinks as we wanted them. Even with our normal "vacation drinking" patterns (3-4 drinks a day), we spent about half what we would have with the package.

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Flcruisepro 8 months ago

We are not big drinkers and never get the drink package. You have to drink a lot of drinks to make it worth the package. Most people cannot drink that much. I'm surprised just how many cruisers buy the drink package given the price.

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rbezjian 8 months ago

We met a couple onboard that hit the 15 drink/day max every day of the cruise. I sure couldn’t do that….

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HeavySeas 8 months ago

Thanks for sharing

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karlgrgurich 8 months ago

Agree with you and aunt Pinkie. You will be well prepared for your next cruise

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ZATHROS 8 months ago

Very good parents. Thanks for sharing your review.

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javawoody 8 months ago

Thanks for the write up

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Gwbigdog 8 months ago

Thanks for sharing

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cruising2004 8 months ago

Thank you for your review. Glad you had an enjoyable cruise.

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AuntPinkie 8 months ago

Appreciate your detailed feedback. I agree with you about the drink package. We also don’t drink enough coffee or bottled water to reach the 6-7 drinks per day to make the package viable. We also noticed we drank more than we should have trying to get our monies worth. Glad you enjoyed your cruise!

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PiratesWorld 8 months ago

Thanks for the info

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Other reviews of this sailing

Good but cold this time of year