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30 minutes ago, cacruisin said:

Did the ship feel crowded?  Full of kids?  I am sailing with 4 teenagers so I'm likely to be more with the offender then the victim but just curious.....

 

Did you eat at Jiji's or Cucina?  

 

TIA

Probably not the answer you want but I would say yes and no to feeling crowded. Definitely get to shows early. But in the evening, we found lots of seating in the atrium and Ocean Plaza bars.

There were kids but in the coming weeks with spring break it will be more so.

My wife would routinely eat at Jiji's for lunch. She loves the asian style bowls. Said it was always fresh and tasted good. Sadly we only did the steakhouse one night. The rest was MDR.

*That does bring up something I forgot. Experience at Guys was....odd. One day, the burgers coming out were the size of sliders with buns about the size of a .50 cent piece.

Then on the next day, they were large and seemed to have regular buns. IDK, maybe they had some surplus buns they needed to get through.

**And regarding shows, I thought they were all pretty good. I especially like the three violins show. Thought it was amazing. I thought it was a better show than NCLs production of "Six" that everyone raves about.

No 

24 minutes ago, cacruisin said:

Thanks for the information as we sail on her in 8 days!  

No worries, let me know if you have any questions and I'll be happy to answer them.

I didn't feel it was necessary to write a review as most of us know what to expect with Carnival and Panorama. For our last cruise, we generally had a great time.

I guess my wishes for Panorama in the future would be as follows...

• Swap the Seafood Shack with a Shaq's chicken. I think I saw three people get food from here. I think it would help ease the lines for the other options.
• Add to hottubs to the main pool deck where the circular sitting areas reside currently. I think this is largely dead space and would be better suited for hottubs since the aft hottubs get packed quickly.

As far as the cruise experience...my thoughts are...

• Marti the cruise director was not that good and even kinda boring. He somehow made Love and Marriage boring.
• At the start of everyday, the aft and sides of the ship were covered in black "soot". We like to get to out early so we were constantly dealing with this and it would routinely get on our clothes. I found this odd because I've never seen this on other ships or even Carnival ships.
• Shopping options are poor.
• Rolling Deal or No Deal into Love and Marriage sucked. I guess if you want to get good seats for Love and Marriage, get to Deal or No Deal first and sit through that garbage.
• Enjoyed MDR for the first time in a long time. Not sure if it's a new Carnival menu fleet wide but we enjoyed the options in the MDR.
• Door card reader "died" on us twice requiring staff to change battery. Yeah, it's fun standing outside your room with a security staffer (who also couldn't get in the room) with dozens of people walking by lol.
• I thought the elevators were fine
• Temperature throughout the entire ship always seemed to run hot. Except our room, AC in the room worked great.
• Buffet was very hit or miss. Some dishes were excellent and some were meh and cold.
• Gym was extremely hot. And gym is way to small for a ship that size.
• Free dry sauna was broke 😞
• Panorama house band was excellent
• Why do people think they need to slam their door to close it??
• Pizza cooks were nailing it! Never had to wait long.
• Deli was a dissapointment
• Steakhouse was good. Service was sloooooowwwwww though.

And as always, staff were all great and drinks were all strong. But I've said it before, I think I enjoy Radiance more.

Also, it was news to me but it looks like another berth (dock I dunno the correct term) looks to be being built. Hope they expand parking soon.

We got off Panorama last weekend and I was actually surprised by the overall behavior of the guests. (The only think that irks me is the inability for people to NOT slam their cabin doors all hours of the day)

Not once did I smell weed, no radios on the deck and no fights.

This week could be something different with a waiter we are close with told us that spring break starts and this week they were expecting 1500 kids and almost entirely red and blue cards this week.

I don't know of any cruises that are themed around those topics. But Virgin Voyages is all about that kind of stuff. Tons of fitness, healthy food, yoga etc. Might check your boxes.

https://www.virginvoyages.com/onboard/well-being

3 minutes ago, Lionkingrichard said:

Read and learn. Every dinner location has a kids menu. Parents can order off the kids menu!

 

Sounds like some of you have never offered your family a bite of something? OK SURE!

 

For those that think we stole something from NCL good for you. We have stayed in the Haven 3 times and have paid our fair share!

 

 

Sure, I understand your daughters body stature would play a part in what she can or would want to eat. My god daughter is thin as a rail and gets full from a slice of bread.

And if NCL changed the policy, I get that. I think lots of us have been bitten by changing and unannounced policies. I am sympathetic there.

I think your original post was just confusing. Don't get too defensive when the folks commenting don't know all the details.

I think this goes to a larger issue that all the cruise lines are going to have. What are the current in-place policies vs how things were done in the past or may be printed on the website.

I know last year people were very upset at Carnival when their kids club hours\program was very different in person than what was stated on the website.

I am sympathetic.

4 minutes ago, rjm11 said:

I'm not the OP but here's what I think they are saying: if kids order from the kids menu at specialty restaurants they don't have to pay extra- in the past this has included Teppanyaki and Moderno that have a straight single fee. So they assumed they could bring their 15 year old and have her order a burger from the kids menu free of charge and not pay the $70 Teppanyaki fee. As others have pointed out 1. 15 is way too old for the kids menu, and 2. it still takes up a "seat" at the "show"- which is probably why NCL stopped allowing this practice. When they got there they made a scene about it (insisting she could join them for free), and eventually someone gave in, and allowed her to stay and have the kids burger, but at the end, they charged the fee anyway?

Hmmm, interesting conundrum.

I'm sorry, having trouble following. You say you believe that 3 teppanyaki meals could feed 5? Um, going to disagree with you there. I can eat three place settings worth of rice and some proteins.

And yes, I would say 15 is too old for kids menu.

I would advise not eating there in the future if it's too much food.

14 minutes ago, Smitheroo said:

I had a wonderful time on board the Joy but communication seems a bit inconsistent

Right, on Bliss, when the fan was tagged by the terminal staff, they indicated it would be brought to my room. Okay, no problem. I then went to GS and they said it was not allowed. I cited the policy on their webpage and the GS rep said the policy had changed. On the last day when I went to pick it up, a third GS rep said that they are allowed and it just needed to be tested, lol.

Yeah, not surprising all the GS agents had different information.

Interesting about the hot rollers. They confiscated my fan during embarkation and when I went to GS on the last day to retrieve it, they said that I could have picked it up any time, they just needed to have the electrician to test it. I find it an odd policy of needing to test electrical items.

Great review! We love the mellow lunch after getting on the ship as well.

29 minutes ago, cacruisin said:

Yes dogs can only be trained to sniff for one specific item such as drugs, bombs or cancer but not all three.  

I don't know about that, my Henry can smell bacon, cheese and mexican food from a mile away🙂

I generally bounce between here and the Carnival forum as those are the two lines I cruise most.

There really seems to be a consistent theme of passenger satisfaction (down), cutbacks, passenger "rudeness" and overcrowding.

Did we get to use to the low passenger counts during the months after the restart and now things are getting "not as fun"? I mean, we were on Bliss last year and while it was not full, some areas were always busy. But we did enjoy the cruise. We're on Carnival Panorama in a couple weeks and the reports have been less than stellar. Can it be blamed on cutbacks, customer service?

Are we too high with our expectations?

I dunno, we were on Bliss out of San Pedro for a five day last Thanksgiving and it was great. Not perfect, but we had a really good time.

Because we slum it with the poors, we ate in the MDR most evenings and enjoyed it. Buffet was nice for lunch. Even late The Local was excellent. We used our free specialty dining in the steakhouse and it was all very good.

I do agree the main pool deck is small. I agree with the poster above that these mega ships seem to be making pool decks and outdoor space small. It's quite frustrating because most ports don't do much for us unless it's in the Med. We generally stay on the ship.

I thought Six was boring and it put me to sleep. Jersey Boys was good but not my cup of tea. I'd rather see NCL license Rock of Ages. The Beatles cover band from Argentina was excellent. We did both shows and were first in line at the Cavern Club. Got there about an hour early.

We did enjoy the gocarts and they had the World Cup match US v Iran on the big screen which was fun.

We will definitely sail on Bliss again from San Pedro. But I agree with the OP on a number of her points.

On Panorama in a couple weeks. Will be first time on it since the restart. (we were on it for the inaugural). 

It's a week cruise vs the shorter 3 and 4 day but will be interesting to see the crowd. The people on board haven't been our issue since the restart on Carnival, it's really been the kids.

My template...

Hi!

Please find attached screenshots (and images inline) of my current brokerage statement.  Please issue shareholder credit to the following cruise:

Legal name: Bob Smith and Judy Smith

Booking number: "Whatever your booking number is"

Ship: Panorama

Sailing date: March 4^th, 2023

Thank you and have a great day! We appreciate your help today.

Regards,

Bob and Judy Smith

26 minutes ago, mz-s said:

 

Just since COVID:

The dinner buffet is full of dried out rice and potatoes, and they cut the chicken thighs into three pieces.

They give you half a baked potato and 3 salad-size shrimp in your shrimp cocktail in the dining room.

The breakfast buffet is absolutely disgusting.

Sea day brunch menu dramatically cut, hours cut.

24/7 pizza is no more. If you order pepperoni pizza you might get 3 pepperonis on your entire serving. Thats if your legs don't give out from standing in the 45 minute line.

No more late night snacks buffet. Instead, the pizza place that already has a tremendous line sits out a tray of Stouffer's lasagna on some nights maybe.

Ocean plaza buffet/drinks gone.

Deli menu cut, hours cut.

No more included room service, except coffee and dry danishes/cereal/milk during breakfast hours. You have to call that morning and order it. No more leaving a hanger out.

No more twice-daily cabin service. Before COVID it was unofficially gone, you could ask for it if you knew you could and they'd do it - but now it's not an option anymore.

They now serve Ore Ida fries at Guy's instead of fresh cut.

The ongoing severe bacon crisis.

No more port of call themed nights in the dining room.

 

I'm sure I'm forgetting things.

 

Now does one "need" any of these things? No. But then again, nobody "needs" to go on a cruise. We aren't talking about a pharmacy or oxygen here, we're talking about a cruise.

 

And before someone pipes up to champion it - yes, I know they brought back ketchup soup during sea day brunch.

 

I don't particularly care if you say none of these things matter to you or not - I didn't take advantage of all of these things either - but they're still cutbacks in the experience. "Special touches" gone, if you will.

 

Carnival can still be a good value and I still like their product for what it is - but people should know what they're getting. It's no longer the special vacation it once was in my opinion.

I am not this critical but I do wish they'd bring back some of the late night snacks.

Pre-covid we loved cruising on Imagination and Inspiration out of Long Beach and always knew that we could get snacks late, even if it was just hotdogs, fries and maybe some bad pasta dish and fruit.

I really love NCL for O'Shehans\The Local.

I also hate the increase in the drink package but my stock benefit takes away some of that sting.

For the last year, on all my Carnival cruises, they have had Celsius energy drinks on board at the coffee shop. There was Monster as well but I am not a fan.

20 minutes ago, Dave_Nut said:

1 - Thought.  I see each passengers is allowed one 12 pack of soda.  I think it would be pretty easy to leave 2 visible soda cans in a resealed cardboard box and have 10 beers in there.  Has anyone done this? 

"It's a bold strategy Cotton. Let's see if it pays off for him."

On 12/26/2022 at 7:15 AM, Theosprey247 said:

Day 5 Mazatlan 

“Everyone has a plan till they get punched in the face.”

How true that quote is. We planned on walking the Blue Line or going to Stone Island.  We were struck with analysis  paralysis till a Pulmonia came by and offered us a tour of the city for 1 hour (we stretched it to a little over 2). He took us to the Barco (where the fishing boats come in), El Faro, the church, cliff divers, and other amazing sites and views.  He dropped us off at an amazing beach restaurant were we gorged ourselves on seafood and booze.  Then we walked along the beach, before talking a cab back to the ship.

Would you happen to remember the name of the seafood restaurant? We'll be there next month.

13 minutes ago, n6uqqq said:

Carnival is in a survival mode right now, I hardly think expanding loyalty benefits is on the agenda right now. New blood probably outspends us regulars by a lot overall.

Right, as a stockholder, I say cancel all perks and tiers.

You should totally post this to John Healds FB page and see if you get a response. Would love to hear his song and dance on this mess (pun intended)

10 minutes ago, Joebucks said:

 

I don't think it's unreasonable to say the more personalized, clearly communicated, new method has some benefits. 

I would tend to agree. Going over the muster briefing when first arriving on the ship, for my wife and I, has been a better experience than several hours after boarding.

After several hours, we've maybe had a couple drinks, ate lunch, really just starting our vacation after what might have been a long drive, flight etc. I know I've fallen asleep quite reguarly in the old style muster drills.

8 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

And that is just what you would be doing in a real emergency.

Right, that was something to my question...have they shown that people will panic and just run to lifeboats or do they actually remember to go to a muster station.

Perhaps off topic, but from what I remember in some documentaries, crew were as confused and "lost" during Concordia and that led to mass confusion.

2 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

When I read this in the article:

 

"noted the success of the new drill in demonstrating real-world application of the safety procedures."

 

I asked myself, "has Carnival had a real emergency?"  Because that would be the only way that they could have had a success in demonstrating "real-world application" of the safety procedures.  'Cause the new drill bears no worldly resemblance to a "real-world" emergency.

 

But, I would say that Carnival, and John Heald last, would have knowledge of whether the IMO and USCG are going to decide the e-muster is going away.  Since SOLAS has not been amended to reflect the e-muster, it has likely only been provisionally approved, subject to review.

Do you know if any after action report was performed on the efficacy of muster stations and muster drills after Costa Concordia? Have never been able to find anything online.

Meh, I prefer Radiance over Panorama.