twangster

Currently only Odyssey has a PM in this class.

Back from 15 nights in an interior on Radiance through the Panama Canal. Fantastic cruise, never regretted being in an interior. Saved thousands which I put into specialty dining, excursions and extra tips. By booking an interior cabin all those extra items were basically "included". I took hundreds of pictures during my cruise and I don't feel like I missed anything. Never had to set the thermostat beyond the mid-position and my cabin was the perfect temperature. Slept like a dream. Would I book an interior again for this cruise? Absolutely! No regerts (pun intented).

I really like the President's cruise! It draws all of those types you mention to one ship that week, leaving all of the other ships free of them. It's a great time to cruise...on the other ships.

Now that I'm home with real internet this is my first opportunity to look back at some of the pics in this thread. Ugh. I have a pet peeve about crooked horizons and boy did I post some crooked horizon pics going through the canal. 🤣

One of my NextCruise bookings was another Panama Canal transit. In this case I'm taking advantage of Rhapsody being home ported in Panama. It's a seven night cruise which is rare for a full Panama Canal transit. By embarking in Panama it will also give me an opportunity to stay in Panama City and explore more of the region from the ground. Flights through Air2Sea are pretty reasonable for my home city. Direct flights on Copa are around $550 per person. I'll probably add ship transfers to this one making for a pretty easy cruise experience. I've done a Vision class ship through the original locks of the Panama Canal before and I look forward to experiencing this amazing destination once more.

Cruise Summary The Panama Canal. Just saying those three words conjures up a lot of emotions, sentiment and history. It's one of the most impactful human endeavors ever completed that has changed the global economy as well as the tides of war in ways that can't be calculated. The amount of goods that pass through the Panama Canal is staggering. The time and fuel saved by hundreds of thousands of ships over more than a century is an impact that is hard to calculate. The ability and ease of raising massive oceangoing ships eighty five feet to sail across a peaceful freshwater lake is an incredible feat of engineering. Seeing our ship being guided by the "mules" up close and watching as the lock walls raise and lower in front of our eyes is an amazing experience. The sounds of the mules and their cables applying or removing tension is forever in my memories. Clearly the Panama Canal is the star of the show but every visit to Cartagena is a welcome bonus to a Panama Canal cruise. Once again Cartagena did not disappoint. Huatulco really impressed me and I am glad it was an itinerary swap for Nicaragua which to this day still requires testing for unvaccinated visitors. The expansion of the canal to allow larger ships was started by the Americans but had to be postponed once the world was at war. Many decades later seeing the expansion finished so well by Panama shows how far this country has come. There is talk of expanding the locks once again as ships are becoming larger and larger. That begs the question if they'll consume the original locks to make way for the next canal expansion. That has to be on their minds. I've read estimates that as of 2012 there have been 815,000 ship transits through the Panama Canal. With the Panama Canal operating 24 hours per day there are now between 13,000 and 14,000 ships that use the Panama Canal every year! In a couple of years the number of Panama Canal transits will reach one million. Simply amazing! If you haven't booked a Panama Canal cruise yet you really should consider it. Who knows? Maybe you'll be on the one millionth ship to make the journey across the Isthmus of Panama. I hope this has been informative and I thank you for viewing.

If they find themselves with an opportunity to squeeze in a few pre-inaugural revenue "shakedown" cruises they will. Remember Symphony? Plus there will be media cruises before the inaugural.

California has an environmental regulation called CARB that requires ship connect to shore power and minimize engine use. This machine hoists the electrical cables onto the ship. I'm not sure if it was widely known that Radiance is shore power capable.

Can confirm Starlink didn't do much for Radiance. Voom was Gloom often. However they state that the wifi infrastructure will be replaced later in 2023.

@little britain is from the UK and used Uber in Galveston. Perhaps she can comment on her experience.

My flights at 2pm. I was tempted to take the 11am flight and I could have made it toyay but I gave myself more time in case of a delayed arrival by the ship.

Through security at 9:02am. My crystal block caused my carry on to require an inspection. Took about 30 seconds.

In my Lyft, 8:48am drop off at LAX

Ship cleared at 7:50am. Suite Concierge escorted us to the front. Off the ship at 7:55am. No facial recognition. Cleared CBP and outside by 8am. I looked earlier, here were the rates for ride share.

Total cruise distance 5,115 NM

Through the salt soaked windows I spotted this: I'm no expert but that appears to electrical connections they are preparing for us.

One last breakfast in Giovanni's.

The Iowa and Millie

Some marine life calling out to us on our sail in. City of cranes.

Woohoo! Back on cellular! I can fly! California sunrise

Before I forget, the outlets in a typical cabin.

Los Angeles before us. Catalina Island to port side. The moon is definitely bigger over here.

Day 16 - Lis Angeles