ibarrio

My experience is that they still charge a cork fee or ice fee (seen the ice fee in Texas).

You can get Cheers for $900 if you use AARP gift cards, it will cost you $900 to buy $1000 worth of carnival giftcards

Poker is not going anywhere. The WSOP just set a record for the $10000 main event. 10043 players entered

No more free bottle on Night 2 either

Day 3 - Puerto Vallarta After a late night of drinking too much I knew I had to get my head right in a hurry. A cold shower and some DripDrop got me energy needed to go pick up some coffee. I knew it was going to be hot and the often wrong weather man delivered on a promised a temperature near 90 with 60-70-80% humidity. 90’s are a breeze for someone who has lived the last 15 years in Phoenix but the humidity is what gets you. Anyways, saunas are great for sweating out the alcohol. Getting off the ship was the easiest in Puerto Vallarta and after meeting our group of 8 we still had no plan as Puerto Vallarta was the only place we did not plan an excursion. We knew the Malecon was a hike and we agreed we would grab some transportation outside the terminal and head that way. As we were walking I noticed a lot of transportation readily available (and prescreened by security). We talked with a Van driver who promised a ride to the Malecon for $35 or that we would stay with us all day for $35x8. That was a deal at $280 because Carnival offered the same at double the price through the website. Of course my friend has a big appetite and the first place he wanted to go was to eat…but somewhere local and non touristy. I forgot to mention that my friend and I are fluent in Spanish, the only 2 out of our group of 8. As we drove toward the main part of the city he gave us a bit of a history tour in Spanish (sorry other passengers). He talked about all the resorts (they looked nice and next time we might do a day pass) and told us The Venetian was planning on a resort/casino. He ended up taking us to Mariscos Cuetos PV just off the main road. Very nice restaurant and definitely local. My wife and I shared shrimp ceviche tostadas, coconut shrimp, and some freshly made guacamole. Everything was excellent and the beer was cold. We jumped back in the van (we took the all day offer) and headed to the Malecon for some sightseeing, pictures, haggling, and drinks. He dropped us off, gave me his number and said to call him when we were ready for the next stop. It was hot even for us desert dwellers and my friend's wife suggested some frozen drinks that we could walk around with. So of course we headed to the sport everyone knows and picked up some refreshing adult beverages at Senor Frogs. We have been to Mexico before and I grew up in Las Cruces, NM so we learned the art of haggling in Juarez, Mexico. We knew street vendors would pester us but that doesn’t intimidate me. We walked around, haggled for items we were interested in,and took pictures (apparently not on my phone). Here are a few. We walked down the Malecon and my friend decided he needed a few tacos and his wife needed some air conditioning. I called the van driver and said give us an hour and we will meet you at the church. He said no problem. We ended up at an open air bar near the center square/church. It had plenty of fans and was adequately cool for all of us. I wasn’t hungry but had a Pina Colada and a beer. Sorry, no pictures on my phone. After an hour or so we headed over to the church to find our driver. He had a few suggestions and we agreed to check out where they make silver and opal jewelry. As we headed over to the jewelry tour we noticed that the Malecon kept going so we asked him to stop so we could have some drinks on the sand. After a refreshing drink and some seaside haggling we headed over to the plata (silver) store. We headed into the store through a side door and it was dark and cavern like. They had one craftsman working on some jewelry and one of the workers came over and gave us some history. He then invited us into a very nice store and offered us some free Margaritas. Free being the hook as nothing is truly free. They had some absolutely stunning pieces with prices to match. But I remembered this is Mexico and the listed price, first offered price, and so on is not what we will pay. My wife found some silver/opal earrings she liked and the listed price was $150. Yeah right, I’m not paying Sante Fe or Sedona prices in the states so I’m certainly not paying that price in Puerto Vallarta. I offered $50 and might have offended the guy because he left for a short period. He later returned and said $90 and I was like $70. The dance continued and eventually we settled on $75. My wife said it was a good buy but they are earnings so I don’t know. She was happy and we are on vacation so what the hell…why not. It was getting late and my friend decided he wanted some street tacos. The driver knew a spot near the port so we headed over. As we got there the spot he liked the taco man was still an hour away from selling so the driver took us to a spot across the street and we had some very good tacos and bought the driver some as well. He took us back to the port and we settled up the cost of the van. We gave him some extra as a tip and said adios. As you leave or enter the port area the drivers have to check in with a number and the amount of passengers and they do the same when we return. Very secure and safe. I was not hungry so I skipped dinner and headed to the room to change for the night's activities. After I showered and dressed I headed to the balcony and sure enough I witnessed pier runners in the wild. I believe everyone made it on because we started to sail shortly after the captain tooting the horn and people yelling “Run!!” at the stragglers. We had some drinks at Alchemy and headed over to Ocean Plaza to watch the House band play some rock n roll, they are called the HotShots. Mazatlán was coming soon so we called it the night. For the guy that likes to complain about people enjoying drinks on vacation, I hit 10 drinks on Cheers that day.

On the Panorama it's the PokerPro electronic table in the Heroes Tribute bar located just outside the casino. I hope they move away from the electronic table as it was a horrible player experience.

Sorry for the delay in updates, super busy but here is day 2. This one will be a one for discussion as what happened might be rare and not typical of your average day on the ship. As I discussed on day 1, I hit 14 drinks and felt it a bit in the morning. No problem, I quickly drank two sugar free Drip Drop packets in a bottle of water and then headed down to 5 for some spiked coffees (had my wife's card with the anticipation they would not let me use both for spiked coffee). While in line I noticed that Java Blue was the spot for all things as they had water, coconut water, gatorade, and so on. Line wasn’t bad so I ordered two spiked coffees, the Irish and the Mexican, to go along with two boxes of coconut water. Cashier/barista rang up the order with no issues. I felt bad as the line was building behind me because some type of trivia was starting at the Ocean Plaza bar area and it seemed that everyone all at once wanted a coffee. I left a $2 tip for her. I ran upstairs via the elevator and drank my coffee out on the balcony while my wife finished getting ready. We checked in on the App for the seaday brunch and then headed down when our table was ready. I ordered a bloody mary and later a mimosa. Both were tasty but Bloody Mary and Guys Pig and Anchor is legendary (get it spicy!) I ordered steak and eggs with a side of bacon. Well I don’t know what happened but they forgot my scrambled eggs. My wife was like, “ tell them” but I was satisfied with my meat fest. I planned on eating light because we had the Steakhouse booked at 6pm. I was supposed to meet the guys in my group for the 10:30 am beer tour but we missed that time so we agreed to try for the 1:30pm tour. No issue as the brewmaster said he would get us in regardless of the sold out status on the App. We had a shotglass exchange scheduled for the Facebook group we belonged to so we headed over to the Alchemy bar to find it still closed. Dang, but the group organizers were there so we joined them for some conversation and drinks. I grabbed some Eagle Rare on the rocks at Guys, a Jameson and Ginger Ale at Ocean Plaza, and remembered from a YouTube video that Bonsai Sushi has an amazing Bellini. Alchemy and Bonsai Sushi are in the same area so I walked over while the group waited for everyone to arrive. They discontinued the Bellini!! I was disappointed and ordered a drink that the hostess recommended. It was good but not the Bellini from the YouTube video. We exchanged shot glasses and then we headed back to Pig and Anchor for a drink. I had a draft beer and an EH Taylor on the rocks (still no Blanton’s). The bartender told me if they did not get the allocation of Blanton’s that day then they probably did not get any. No issues as they had a fine selection like Eagle Rare and EH Taylor. I return to my table to find my friend drinking Scotch. Oh oh, he’s not a scotch drinker and I could see he was having trouble with it. No big deal, he’s on vacation. The brewmaster came out from his brewing area and we signed up for the experience. He was very informative and funny and as we were already buzzed we kept the comedy going. We actually had a great group on this tour and we all had a great time. We sat four to a table and were given a pitcher of beer of each type of beer they had to share with the table. He would go through the style of each beer, give some history and how he brews it. West Coast IPA, a Porter, A blonde Ale, A Pilsner, and finally a Sour that was his recipe and only available on the Panorama. He promised a Hazy IPA that would be ready on Thursday. So my group of four friends drank 5 pitchers of beer. Remember I said we had a fun group, well we made an impression on them and they gave us the pitchers of beer they could not finish or did not like. The brewmaster was like, give it to them…drink away he said. We probably received another two or three pitchers of beer and we drank it all. Well the brewmaster gave us our gift which was a very nice Carnival 50th Anniversary beer mug (he was out of pub glasses) so we got the upgraded gift. He also gave us a free pint which we decided to use right away. I used my free pint on the Sour. After all this beer we only got 1 drink marked off our Cheers package. Oh, oh… So Sunday was the first Elegant night of the cruise but we had booked the Steakhouse for the chance of a free bottle of wine. I did take an hour or two break to nap and then change for Elegant night/Steakhouse. We still got to the steakhouse area early so we had drinks at the Alchemy while we waited for two of our friends to join us. We noticed the two people from the brew tour so we made conversation with them (we saw them everyday at the Alchemy). Our reservation time was coming up so we headed to the steakhouse. You do in fact get a free bottle of wine the first two nights of the cruise. We opted for the white wine and our friends do not like wine so my wife and I shared the whole bottle. Of course one cannot dine at a steakhouse without having an old fashion. The meal was excellent. We got the amuse bouche (small hamburger), and I ordered a shrimp cocktail, rib eye with onion rings/loaded baked potato, and finally cheesecake. The food was excellent!! After that we took pictures near the Alchemy bar and then ended up at the Alchemy bar. We ended up staying there when I noticed that dreaded 14 on the Cheers count. I foolishly decided I wanted pizza so I saved that last drink for a beer to go with my pizza. Well, the line was super long so I cracked open that beer and drank it knowing that was it for the night. As we got near I said to the bartender, hey let me get one more can for the room. I wasn’t really expecting him to give me one over 15 but to my surprise he got me a Hazy IPA and slid it to me. I took my free beer and pizza and ended up on the balcony. Ugh, officially I had 16 on Cheers plus six pitchers of beer (shared with 4 people) and half a bottle of wine. Tomorrow was Puerto Vallarta and the forecast promised heat to go along with soupy humidity…Yes, I was one of those rare people who got over 15 on Cheers. That night was probably more like 22-23 plus with the beer tour and wine. Ouch!!

Cheers

I had checked most of our bags and had a backpack with some items such as wine as a carry-on. I knew the rooms were not ready even though it was approaching 1:30. Our friends were one room down from us and my friend said let’s go check it out. We headed up the 9th floor and the doors were still closed. Undeterred I opened the doors and headed in to check the rooms. No, they are still cleaning them but then our cabin steward comes out of my friend's room and introduces himself as “K”. He said go ahead, leave your bags and the rooms will be ready soon. Awesome!! Already off to a great start. We left the bags and I suggested we go eat at Pig & Anchor as a lot of people do not realize they are open for lunch on embarkation day. I really wanted a drink at Pig & Anchor and used free BBQ as the reason. Our friend’s daughter and her husband had already beat us to the Guys BBQ and grabbed us a table. It was slow though so no worries. I grabbed a beer and five minutes later grabbed an Eagle Rare on the rocks. Only then did I venture outside to grab some free BBQ. The BBQ buffet line went quick and it was an easy process. The food was good but not spectacular but it was way better than anything they had on the Lido marketplace buffet. I was happy with the start of our cruise. As we were eating and drinking some beers the brewmaster happened to come to his area. We chatted with him and he said we should do the brewery tour. I had checked earlier and it was already sold out on the App but he assured us that he would get us in. We agreed that we would meet him tomorrow. We headed ip to check on the rooms and it was open and ready. My friend had his luggage outside waiting for him and I noticed ours wasn’t there yet. K joked "oh man, where is your luggage?" As I opened the cabin door I saw the luggage was waiting inside. Funny guy this K guy is. Everyone got their luggage except for our friend’s wife. Turns out she forgot to tag it. No problem, she described it and they quickly found it. Off to the sail off party we went. The Lido deck was packed and the party was on full tilt. I grabbed a drink at Redfrog and my wife got roped into buying a tumbler with Rum punch. I was not impressed with the Redfrog drink so I went over to BlueIguana and ordered a Paloma. Much better. I was, how many is that? We were just leaving port and I was already 5 or 6 in. The Lido was a bit much so we walked up a few levels to watch from there. Before we knew it we were off and on our way. We decided a quick nap was in order and then dinner. Originally we had booked JiJi’s but that was canceled for the night and our reservations moved to Monday night. We had dinner in the dining room and more drinks throughout the 5th level. Ocean Plaza, More Pig & Anchor, Alchemy bar, and a whiskey from the steakhouse. I was checking for Blantons but they did not have any so I settled for a Gentleman’s Jack on the rocks. I hit 14 out of my allotted 15 that first day. More on day two in a bit…

Our adventure to the Panorama started on Fridays as we flew from Phoenix to Long Beach. After a short cab ride we self-checked into our room at Hotel Metropolitan Long Beach. I had tried to book Hotel Maya but that was sold out in January for our June cruise date. The Queen Mary later opened for booking but I said forget it and decided to keep the booked room. The hotel was cool, very quaint, retro and right in the heart of the action on E. Broadway. After resting a bit we decided to meet up with family and walked over to Congregation Ale House. The food and beer was good, it definitely hit the spot. We noticed an underground type of club called Harvelle's was having a Burlesque Show but we opted against it since tomorrow was the big day. While at dinner we got the dreaded email saying that our embarkation time was moved back an hour. We walked over to Von’s to buy some wine to carry one and called it a night. After a restless night of sleep (really who can sleep the night before?) I got up and headed to grab coffee at Pop's Java and noticed a pop-up burrito place setting up called Lowkey Burritos. I grabbed some coffee and burritos and headed up to get ready for the cruise. I ordered an Uber and quickly got a message back saying if I would pay him off the books. I said sure and about 10 minutes later (he was at the port) he picked us up in a minivan and we were on our way. Luckily we did not hit the heavy traffic that would come for others leaving that day. Knowing we had extra time to kill we checked our luggage and found a place to sit and wait just outside the embarkation line. My wife’s family joined us a little later and we were prepared to sit and wait for our time to come. Nature called and I headed over to the restroom and on my way back I noticed that the lines were moving so I asked the guy, can we join our original embarkation timeslot and he said sure…go for it. For being an hour off schedule our check-in was smooth. I was able to add my gift cards at guest service right in the terminal and before I knew it we were at our muster station waiting for our drill. They scanned our boarding pass while we entered our muster area. I really don’t know what they said but it was over before we settled in. No complaints as I did not want a drawn out production. We figured out the App and got everyone connected and the rest of our travel group boarded. Onto the first day…Embarkation day

Early Saturday morning there was a medical emergency that ended in a death.

You're leaving from Texas so recreational use of Marijuana is still illegal and the Drink Package doesn't start until day 2. I would think the younger crowd would leave from Los Angles, New Orleans, or Florida. I know recreational MJ is illegal in Florida but that is still a party state compared to Texas. When recreational use went legal in New Mexico you had the El Paso police issue a statement that they would be on the look-out for Texas plates going into New Mexico and stopping at dispensaries. They also do the same New Mexico fireworks stands (they stake them out and pull people over).

It's a major port...of course the dogs are legit

Very true on spending time here...most do not post here but I think the point stands. Assault would have seriously consequences and it would be news worthy.

You do know that 18 year old's can gamble on Carnival? They can't legally drink but they can gamble.

Although Carnival has the reputation of being the Walmart of cruising it is still not cheap in the grand scheme of things. For the most part, the people who are cruising are not the people who are one paycheck away from disaster or the people you see zombied out on Fentanyl. Generally this has very little to do with Socioeconomic status and more to do with bad parenting. Carnival attracts solid middle class to upper middle class who tend to be new to cruising, prefer a fun environment, are younger, or have new found wealth. Not to say the super wealthy are better behaved because they are not...they just are hard to find on any cruise lines below Viking. Those are the misbehaving passengers you see on Below Deck.

It's my understanding that it will not be a physical sport book but an app that is similar to what people use in states where it's legal. In Arizona it's legal and I use FanDuel and BetMGM. Carnival is partnered up with BetMGM

Yes, Grey Goose is included (all top shelf $20 and under). You can usually get a water and a drink at the same time.

I checked their website, they do have Cuban run at a good price. Thank you

Best place to buy Cuban Rum in Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlán, or Cabo? Google was no help as it returned old information. I know J&J La Casa del Habano in Cabo sells Cuban Rum and Cigars but I was thinking more of a liquor store for the Rum. I know the Cigar/tobacco taxes are very high in Mexico Thank you,

Sorry it does not. Cheers covers mocktails/zero proof.

I just tried and it's working fine for me.

Might count as one but that isn't 100%. Preordered drinks do not count. I'm talking about the wine, champagne, beer, and bottles of liquor that you order to be delivered to your stateroom.

Having kids go to the bar for a soda is a huge fail on Carnival's part.

It's so inconsistent right now. Depending when your trip is it might be too late. If you're going through the process you might as well get the passport and skip the card