ashkir

I finally had a chance to cruise on the Carnival Radiance (and holy crap that floor layout is confusing and jammed pack of stuff). While on it, I had a chance to meet with Marlon from Dreams Studio on the Carnival Radiance. He was standing in a hallway doing a great photoshoot and I loved what he was doing. He had an amazing attention to detail and was directing people well. So, I wanted him to take my photo. He told me he's a Dreams Studio photographer and his packages were different. 

I recently needed a headshot at my new job, thus, I decided hey, I might as well get some done now. Thus, I agreed to a 3 photo package from Dreams Studio as long as they were headshots I could use on LinkedIn and for my job. Words cannot adequately express how beyond happy I am with these photographs. I've never really liked photographs being taken of myself. I've had a heart transplant, grown up in hospitals, and have always had wild curly hair that was hard to tame. I was never fully satisfied with how I look. But, I knew I needed some headshots. Marlon put me at ease. 

Marlon immediately took photos, and spent well over an hour with me showing me how to pose. I have hearing aids that are visible as well. He took photos with them on and off. He ended up keeping most of it on, and I'm very pleased with that, because it is who I am. Marlon made me comfortable with how I look. I've had a long journey in my short-life and I'm trying my best to make it week-to-week sometimes. 

After the photography session got finished, he did show me some shots on his camera. He stated they look blurry because they're raw photographs. He gave me a reminder card to meet him the next day at 8 PM, 24 hours after I took the photos. Later on, I also received a reminder to my cabin with an example photo on it, to remind me of my appointment. 

8PM the next day came around. I went and met Marlon. He led me to a divided portion of the main atrium lobby. It was rather noisy, but, that's not his fault, it's Carnival's. Carnival lets the art team have 4 decks, libraries, and all the offices now, so the photographers are all crammed into a smaller place. The room was divided next to a bulkhead door, next to a hallway. We've had people randomly open the door to check what's in there to find the photography dreams studio room.

He played a slide-show with some nice music on a large tv screen. He spent time showing me each photograph. He had 8 photographs already printed on beautiful large matte fuji paper. He didn't give me any pressure. And asked if I liked them, or if I want to re-do anything. I said I was happy with it. I decided on the 3 photos package for $199. However, he then told me that the 5 package for $299 includes the digital copyright, and a digital copy of all of them. Since I wanted it for my professional headshots, I opted for this. 

This entire experience was very pleasant. He was very patient with me. He let me take as much time as I needed.

He stated he'd edit them further and have a thumb drive ready for me. I had to wait until 10 PM the next day for it.

Once it was 9:30 PM the next day (today!) I went back to the studio. He was already ready, waiting for me. Everything was packed nicely into a huge black envelope, with updated thicker paper, and matte prints. He fixed the lightning digitally to make everything smoother. He gave me full digital copies of the 5 I selected. In fact, he ended up just giving me every photograph so I ended up with all 8. 

In all, this was a huge difference of an experience of photography for me. I've always felt rushed. I always hated how I looked. I finally feel confident. I know I;m not the best looking person out there. But, my journey is my own.

Here's a few photos from Marlon! 

P.S. I have a doctorate in Business Admin, if anyone is hiring a remote operations manager that lets me work remotely on cruises and pays well enough to cruise, hire me lol! I'm honest and not afraid to give honest opinions! 

Does anyone know if the shops on the Carnival Radiance have Mont Blanc pens? We want to get one, and have a bucketload of on-board credit. 

I spent $100 in the casino once. I got a $100 inside cabin offer on a 30 day journey cruise. No offers since then. 

A lot of the new ships actually have a video game room too by the way. 

Upcoming cruise. I'm a booked guest in a grand suite. There's no option for the 5:30 PM dining time. Has anyone had any success getting this?

I usually do YourTime but wanted to try something consistent out. 

seeing the panorama in Portland is kind of cool. I really wish carnival can expand west coast sailings with things like:

Long Beach > San Diego > Ensenada > Catalina > Long Beach

Long Beach > Santa Barbara > San Francisco > Astoria/Portland > Victoria > Seattle

Long Beach > Santa Barbara > San Francisco > Ensenada > Catalina > Long Beach

There's so many awesome places along the west coast. 

43 minutes ago, jsglow said:

🤯

 

Well played if you happen to know our personal situation. 😆

😮

I hope you're doing okay!

I got rebooked with almost 3 grand on board credit. Gonna do some luxury shopping lol 

3 minutes ago, cellfree said:

Talking about “space” on a ship, as I have been thinking about this, for instance one example, on the Pride the NightClub is huge and is used for maybe 3 hours a couple times a week - there is a lot of space on a ship that is underutilized- yet still sitting there. 

I agree. WAs on the Miracle. Went into the night club each time it was open. Dead inside. each time. 

8 minutes ago, n6uqqq said:

The Pride lost its library and chapel to the arcade in 2019. It more recently lost the card room on deck 2 to the Carnival Adventures store. 

I've never seen anyone in the arcade! I wonder if they make enough off of it. 

29 minutes ago, jsglow said:

😳

 

Kindly post all your future bookings so we all can plan accordingly! 

Carnival Radiance is next 😶

This is smart to rack up the rewards! 

8 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

Me too. I love to read while on a cruise. Better make sure I bring extra books, just in case. No going to the library to exchange what I've brought. 

Indeed! I usually use a Kindle now days. But I always looked through it to see if any good titles.

The saddest part is missing out the on the quiet spot. There's no quiet spots left on these ships now I feel. 

I'm really sad about that to be honest. The library was my jam as a grad student. So calm and quiet. There's no calm and quiet places left on the ship. Next watch they'll take the secret gardens out in the next major revamp of the spirit class. 

4 minutes ago, Earthworm Jim said:

 

Zero. But do great ships have repeated propulsion problems? I have already acknowledged things may be fine while onboard. That doesn't make it great ship, unless you're looking at it as any cruise ship is a great ship, which is kind of true.

 

I apologize for making this a much bigger issue than it deserved to be and I'll say no more about it. It just seemed odd to say perhaps the least reliable ship in Carnival's fleet is a great one.

My first time on Panorama I had cockroaches in my room (eww!) they fixed it. 

Second time was for my sister's surprise wedding and I really enjoyed myself on it

It seems to be an issue with Vista class.

This is my third canceled cruise in a row. I'm racking up the FCC. I think I'm going to book the grandest suite next time and blow it all buying a fancy watch. 

I have $4,479 in FCC now and $3,950 cash according to my PVP. They keep getting canceled. LOL

Don't pick the cruise I'm going on now I guess. My luck with Carnival is terrible! 

Embarkation was rough. But disembarkation was the smoothest I’ve experienced. I had faster to the fun and it made a hit difference.
 

as promised earlier here are some wildflower photos we took on the way home.
 

we picked our dog up on the way to the flowers. 
 

trip is over now back to my work schedule 🙂 

Last day on board. I saw a watch I love. They want $747 for it. I found it on the manufactures website for $565! So guess what I’m buying when I get home… lol 

On 4/20/2023 at 5:17 PM, LincolnLog said:

Can I ask what company you used for this? I tried googling Canopy Jungle but nothing came up. 
 

Sorry it was Canopy River! I misremembered. 

Hello all just a word of advice. Bring your receipts on board. I prepaid my gratituties but carnival tried to charge me for them again. Guest services refused to fix it. So I went back and then they fixed it the second time I asked. 
 

anyways Cabo was gorgeous. Check out these photos. We took a water taxi. carnival wants almost $90 for the same exact route. We walked on the pier and paid a captain $20 and we got to go around then. We tipped him extra too. 

As kind of expected my sister and her fiancé got in a fight and called everything off last minute. I was going to go to my doctorate graduation. But I spent the money to come here instead. Oh well we had a blast 😂. 
 

My nephew is overjoyed because he doesn’t like his dad that much. So good for the kid. As a brother I try to stay out of jt because my sister gravitates back to him no matter what. 

Internet hasn’t worked for most of the day yesterday. Hopefully this message posts. Not sure if cruise critic or carnival. Some websites load some don’t. Cruise critic takes over 30 minutes to open on the premium plan. 

The Ocean Eye Duo with Sarge and Ashley are pretty good. They’ve been playing in the Ocean Plaza on 5 forward all evening. I’m really enjoying them. Barely anyone is here probably because of the other comedy shows and clubs. 
 

Theyre really good. 
 

The second comedian is also hilarious. 
 

Comedy show. Finally made one. The last few we tried were full and they closed the doors. We got here 30mins early and the first floor was packed. So we’re sitting in the second floor. The seats we have aren’t that comfortable to be honest. 
 

The opening act was funny. They started off with a racist joke. But that’s normal with carnival. The actual act was funnier and didn’t depend upon racist jokes 

Here’s some photos of our view and of the cruise director, Marty. I don’t really follow cruise directors as I don’t wanna sing sweet Caroline 583748283 times  I pretty much avoid where the cruise director is to enjoy my trip  

Price I can find directly from Delta for LAX to FCO was $1200. Price I was able to find on Google Flights was $893. 
 

Carnival’s price? $321. 
 

I saved a ton.