Radiance from Long Beach- the journey, the cruise, the vibe- lotsa pix!!

[geonurse]

Last week of May found us headed to Cali from Indiana….pretty thrilled to be visiting California for the first time and to be cruising from Long Beach! We flew Delta First class nonstop from Indianapolis to Los Angeles with no delays or issues of any kind… what a blessing❣️

 

When we arrived at LAX it was about 1030 am Cali time…. We picked up our rental and headed straight to Griffith Park to explore while we waited to check in to Loews Hollywood Hotel. Griffith Park was AMAZING and we totally want to go back there someday!

it took us quite awhile to find a parking space, and ended up costing 30$ on the meter.. but everything else was free! We changed into comfy clothes more suitable for hiking and off we went… We walked up to the observatory, and over 17000 steps on magical trails with fantastic views. If you aren’t physically as mobile, going to the observatory and lookout areas just at the top would be totally feasible and worthwhile. 
Then we headed to Loews Hollywood Hotel to check in and go for a swim

Hotel was beautiful and perfectly placed on Hollywood and Highland Blvds. Our room had a sweet view of the Hollywood Sign!
Pool wasn’t heated but felt really good after all that hiking.

 

To be continued…….. 

 

[geonurse]

We really enjoyed the location of this hotel…Hollywood walk of fame just outside the entrance…

 

and lots of other great stuff…everything was within walking distance so once we parked the car, we never had to get it out again until we departed…….we ate at the hotel for breakfast the next morning …delicious 

this was the veggie hash with poached eggs♥️
We then walked a couple streets over to the residential areas- very pretty. A lot of homeless scattered about,😢 but were no trouble…we always felt safe

We checked out and headed for Santa Monica Pier …on our way to Long Beach!

we loved this area….spent several hours …now on to Long Beach!

Soon we were checking in to the Hyatt Centric Pike place- it was awesome…we loved the location close to the harbor and surrounded by shops and restaurants. The hotel staff were so friendly and the area was just so enjoyable…

 

 

 

Easy parking right beside the hotel. 25$ a night. 

The view from the rooftop patio- gorgeous 

A pre- bedtime nap

We slept great and the next morning I got up early and walked over to the lighthouse to get a glimpse of our ship! 

We returned our rental to LB Airport and Ubered to the cruise port at 11ish…..we had a noon check in  time….

The terminal was so unique, the staff at port friendly and we breezed right thru the checkin process.

First ice cream of the cruise!

First Guys Burger of the cruise! We were disappointed with the change in the fries, but Big Chicken fries totally made up for it….

I always wear my swimsuit under my clothes on embarkation day…love hanging out here while waiting for our cabin to be ready

[Joe817]

Loving this so far! Good pics! Keep up the good work! The flowers were a nice touch too. 👍

[EarloftheSeas]

So happy you enjoyed your LA visit!!  Looking forward to more!  Thank you - this is the perfect thread to prepare for my voyage on Radiance tomorrow morning. 🙂

[geonurse]

Thanks! Not sure why the last few pix were a little messed up , but I will forge ahead❣️🤔

[geonurse]

3 hours ago, EarloftheSeas said:

So happy you enjoyed your LA visit!!  Looking forward to more!  Thank you - this is the perfect thread to prepare for my voyage on Radiance tomorrow morning. 🙂

You will have a fabulous time!

[geonurse]

So the flowers were an awesome surprise from my hubby… love having fresh flowers in the cabin💕

There also was a delicious cheese plate delivered about an hour after we got in our cabin

[geonurse]

Main dining room rarely disappoints us….and as usual we loved our dinner tonite . The cranberry roll was warm, the butter real, and the stuffed chicken soooo good. Can’t even remember what DH had for an entree, but……

I did get photo evidence of his 2 desserts! I had more cheese🤣

[geonurse]

We hit the casino, took in a show and retired for the evening….we love our balcony cabin on the lido deck # 9264… location, location, location! Our steward has already filled our ice bucket and we had a Diet Coke nightcap before turning out the lights. Catalina Island tomorrow!!

[geonurse]

We were up bright and early excited about Catalina ! We arrived at the lido buffet right at 0700 and had to wait just a bit for them to finish setting things out. Our plan was to be headed down to exit the ship by 0800, since we didn’t have a Carnival excursion a letter left in our cabin the night before stated that we either had to depart early or wait until after all the excursions had tendered off …..

we had no trouble getting onto the first tender and soon arrived in Avalon. It was foggy and overcast so we killed a couple of hours drinking coffee and walking around the quaint little town before renting our golf cart . We could only have it a max of 3 hours, so we did want to fog to be mostly lifted before we started !
 

[geonurse]

we received a nice little map that showed the scenic stopping points all around the island- here we are just a few yards from the rental place and are already stopping for photo ops- little did we know how gorgeous it was going to get as we climbed into the hills and mountains♥️

[geonurse]

just stunning! The fog burned off and the sun was out bright , but there was a nice little breeze- just heavenly 

we must have stopped at least 15 times along the route to get pix of gorgeous scenes like this

[geonurse]

We returned our cart after about 2.5 hrs …the total ended up being roughly 100$ - well worth it ….they pro rate it if you return early. You can have a max of 3 hours. 

walked toward the casino enjoying the beauty all around us…

stopped to get paleta…this strawberry kiwi one was so good 

then we found a little restaurant to enjoy margaritas and nachos ..and it was a great place for people watching

[geonurse]

Didnt have to wait for than 5 min to catch a tender back to the ship around 2pm

we headed straight to Big Chicken- it was SO GOOD! Their chicken strips reminded me of a cross between Canes and ChicFilA, their fries were to die for, and the potato salad was fire….needless to say we ate here several times throughout the cruise…..Marci Gras and Radiance are the only two ships so far to have it aboard. Don’t miss it!

Enjoyed the partially empty ship for the rest of the afternoon. What a great day!!
 

[geonurse]

more chocolate melting cake tonight❣️ Can’t ever get enough of this

a very attractive and sturdy elephant for tonite towel animal💕

Can’t wait for tomorrow- Ensenada 🌴🦞🛍

[Joe817]

44 minutes ago, geonurse said:

Main dining room rarely disappoints us….and as usual we loved our dinner tonite . The cranberry roll was warm, the butter real, and the stuffed chicken soooo good. Can’t even remember what DH had for an entree, but……

I did get photo evidence of his 2 desserts! I had more cheese🤣

Love his Hawaiian shirt! Where did he get it?

[geonurse]

No tender needed here! Got off and waited for our Carnival excursion: Puerto Nuevo Lobster lunch and shopping❣️

had this little guy for photo ops departing the ship🦜👀

 

We waited about 20 min for everyone to arrive and then Pedro our most excellent tour guide, walked us to our big air conditioned tour bus…

[geonurse]

4 minutes ago, Joe817 said:

Love his Hawaiian shirt! Where did he get it?

Thanks! I got it for him at Kohl’s- I dress him as he’s not a shopper- at. all. 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[Joe817]

3 minutes ago, geonurse said:

Thanks! I got it for him at Kohl’s- I dress him as he’s not a shopper- at. all. 🤣🤣🤣🤣

Kohl's.... of all places! Thanks.  I'll be sure & tell my wife!  My wife can relate!

[geonurse]

Our tour guide Pedro was terrific!  Along the way to our first stop in Rosarita he gave us so much history and interesting facts about the area….he told funny stories as well and kept everyone engaged for the approximate 45 min drive…our first stop was the downtown area of Rosario. He gave us ideas of the best shops and restaurants, showed us how to get to the beach, etc. We had 2 hours to do whatever we wanted. It was overcast so not good beach weather, but we did walk down to the beach for a little bit…really cute but also authentic area

Then we shopped….I got some silver hoop earrings……then we got fish tacos ( because this was where they were invented according to Pedro😍)

yum yum…they had all prices listed in both pesos and American $$

 

[geonurse]

So I guess we were trying to recreate our own foodie tour because after the fish taco, we dropped into this fantastic very unique little restaurant, right at our meet up bus stop for a margaritas, fruit plate and nachos🤣

mango margie 

The decor in here was just awesome

[geonurse]

We wished we would have saved more time to relax and enjoy this place a bit longer……but we boarded our bus and headed to Puerto Nuevo for our authentic Mexican lobster lunch!

Everything was SO fresh and delicious, the servers were really on top of their game, and we even had mariachi singers serenading us. We loved everything about this excursion!

[geonurse]

Headed Back to the ship …..we could either ride the bus back to the ship or get off by the fish market and walk along the harbor back to the ship… I chose to do this and do not regret it! The people were so nice and the weather was perfect

Obviously I couldn’t buy a fish, so I gave him 5$ to pose for a picture - he really seemed to enjoy this and struck a fabulous pose😍

[lennythenose]

24 minutes ago, Joe817 said:

Kohl's.... of all places! Thanks.  I'll be sure & tell my wife!  My wife can relate!

My husband’s are all from Kohl’s too😀

[Joe817]

Outstanding! 👍