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There are more than 20 shore excursions you can book when you buy your cruise or while you are on the cruise ship. Excursion options range from nearby wine country tours of Valle de Guadalupe (Guadalupe Valley), to surfing, kayaking, food tours and lots more. Spa Cloud 9 rooms are located at the forward of the ship, on Deck 10 (Panorama Deck) and Deck 11 (Spa Deck), giving guests close access to the gym, spa and thermal suites. One downside to the otherwise clutch location of these rooms is that port side Cloud 9 Spa rooms on Deck 11 are located directly below the ship's Camp Ocean kids club. Expect to hear running and stomping nightly until the kids club closes late into the night. New venue for the fleet is "Big Chicken" - ship version of the land-based restaurant chain operated by Carnival’s "Chief Fun Officer" Shaq (Shaquille O’Neal - retired professional US basketball player).
San Francisco
Between the buffet, main dining room, three specialty restaurants and six eateries, there's no shortage of places to eat on Carnival Radiance. And we love that, in typical Carnival fashion, the majority of the onboard eateries are included in the price of the cruise. That said, expect long lines during peak times for popular spots such as Guy's Burger Joint, BlueIguana Cantina, Pizzeria del Capitano, and Big Chicken. If it were just my husband and I cruising together, we would've opted to stay onboard and enjoy the empty ship since we've already been to Ensenada before. However, since it was our cousin's first time, we ventured out with him! Ensenada's biggest attraction is the blowhole in La Bufadora.
Carnival Cruise Line Announces Future Long Beach Sailings - TravelPulse
Carnival Cruise Line Announces Future Long Beach Sailings.
Posted: Fri, 06 Oct 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]
Day 3: Cabo San Lucas
The Carnival liner's new namesakes are the Royal Caribbean ship Radiance Of The Seas (2001-built) and the Emerald Waterways riverboat Emerald Radiance (2017-built). CCL has the Corporation's largest fleet as number of vessels and GT-tonnage (ship sizes/volumes and passenger capacities). In 2023, CCL had ~9% (by revenue) and ~19% (passengers) share of the cruise industry's worldwide market. In 2024, the parent company (Carnival Corporation) had ~51% stake in the US$64+ billion industry.
Formal night
There is one resort-style pool on the Carnival cruise to Mexico and it is located on the Lido Deck. There are three stateroom categories on the Carnival Radiance; Interior, Ocean View, and Suite. We had an ocean view room, which is listed as sleeping up to five people. This blowhole is an amazing natural marine geyser that is capable of shooting water well over 60 feet in the air.
The largest are the Captain's Suites (505 ft2 / 47 m2 plus 150 ft2 / 14 m2 terrace, max capacity 5 passengers). According to Ensenada Tourism, "Each U.S. and Canadian citizen may return to the U.S. with $400 worth of merchandise, provided it is for personal use." It is illegal to offer police officers a bribe if you are pulled over. If you are stopped for any reason, follow the officer to the nearest precinct to pay the fee. Though you do not require a tourist card in Ensenada if your stay does not exceed 72 hours, you must present your passport upon re-entry into the United States. Onboard, you’ll also find the Mirage Piano Bar, Illusions Nightclub (18+), Shangri La Lounge, Dream Bar, Atrium Lobby Bar, Alchemy bar where they specialized in martinis and cocktails and have a casino.
Alexa Meisler is the editorial director of 52 Perfect Days. Born in Paris, France she has since lived in Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Portland, Oregon. She currently resides in San Diego with her husband and son where they enjoy exploring California and Mexico.
The two-and-a-half-hour Pacific ATV tour offers riding on a four-wheeler along the coast. The mountain tour takes you on rugged dirt trails that lie just outside of the city. In winter, Sergio's Sport Fishing offers a four-hour tour during which you can often spot migrating gray whales. The teens in Club O2 hung out in the club room, went to onboard shows, the video arcade and met for meals. Our son had a great time and loved connecting with other teens and my husband and I found we were on our own for most of our cruise — having dinner on our own and enjoying many of the onboard shows. Passengers looking to balance out their Fun Ship cruise with a little R&R might want to consider upgrading their interior or balcony room to one of the ship's new Cloud 9 Spa rooms.
Carnival Radiance New Cloud 9 Spa Rooms Have Several Perks -- and One Big Flaw
We had a few tacos, grilled giant clams, margarita and pina colada while in Ensenada, however, still found ourselves starving upon returning to the ship! The Caribbean-themed buffet was my favorite of all the buffet menu during this trip! Like I mentioned earlier, I was thoroughly impressed with the check-in process. Carnival has recently started using a portion of the dome. There will be 3 lines - early, on-time and VIP or Faster to the Fun. We arrived at around 12 noon and there were hardly any people lined up.
Plus the adults have plenty of spots for a drink, like the fan-favorite Alchemy Bar™ and Heroes Tribute™ Bar, which refreshes everyone while paying tribute to men and women of the military. For the kids, don't worry — there's three youth spaces where you can hang out with others your age, plus we've got real Zumbini™ classes for the even-littler ones. The port is at the south end of the Long Beach Freeway, also known as Interstate 710. Take the 710 South and follow the signs leading toward the Queen Mary tourist attraction.
The other vessel from this class was the old Destiny ship - renamed Carnival Sunshine after an extensive refit in 2013. Carnival Victory was christened by godmother Mary Frank - wife of Howard Frank (Carnival Corporation's Vice Chairman). The inaugural cruise (maiden voyage) started on October 15, 2000 (leaving from NYC New York). The first drydock refurbishment was in 2007 ("Fun Ship 1.0"). For the first time, these best-selling Fun Ship 2.0 upgrades were implemented on Carnival Magic (2011) and Carnival Breeze (2012). Thanks to its stunning coastline, Ensenada will give you plenty of postcard-worthy moments…, and it couldn’t be easier to get there.
Carnival opens more varied cruises from Long Beach - Seatrade Cruise News
Carnival opens more varied cruises from Long Beach.
Posted: Thu, 05 Oct 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]
Unsurprisingly, Big Chicken serves chicken-based dishes, emphasizing on fried chicken sandwiches. The restaurant also serves fries, sliders, breakfast, siders, salads, strips, chicken-and-egg biscuits, kids meals. The 2000-built Carnival Victory cruise ship ("Carnival Radiance" since 2021) is the third/last of the Destiny-class CCL liners - with sisterships Destiny-Sunshine and Triumph-Sunrise. In 2021, after a major drydock refurbishment in Cadiz Spain (at the cost of USD 200 million), Carnival Victory was renamed "Carnival Radiance".
Feature onboard events were a full live concert and nightly open-deck parties. Nearly 60% of the Victory's guest rooms are oceanviews, of which 60% have balconies. The amenities include 2-deck Lido Buffet dining complex, 9-deck Atrium with 4 glass-walled elevators, 3-deck "Caribbean lounge", large Spa complex. The vessel's interior design theme is "seas and oceans of the world". During drydock 2007, a "Seaside Theater" (outdoor LED screen by the main pool) was added.
You’ll also find lots of fun activities happening on the Lido Deck — we caught a hairy chest contest that was fun and funny to watch. The busiest spots for lunch seemed to be the Burger Joint and Blue Iguana Mexican Cafe, both located on the Lido Deck. Unlike a road trip where you are moving from location to location — on a cruise, there is no need to constantly unpack and pack again, change hotels, or drive from place to place. Below you’ll find some helpful tips for cruising and some of our favorite moments on our 3-Day Baja, Mexico cruise from long beach to Ensenada.
Still, we were happy to see a diverse mix of passengers onboard with us. Fellow passengers ranged in ages from wee kiddos to retirees, with many passengers appearing to be in their late 30s to mid-50s and from all over the U.S. In 2018, Carnival Victory received its first round of updates, laying the foundation for its ultimate conversion into Carnival Radiance just three years later.
There is so much to do on the Carnival cruise and with a three-day cruise, we found we spent very little time in our room and preferred lounging at the pool to the stateroom. So if you’re interested in a fun cruise for a weekend getaway, and are interested in what Carnival has to offer, this post is for you! When we sailed with Carnival we were on the Imagination ship, but the Radiance is the newest ship in their line for this weekend cruise.
