jrtmouse

That BBQ salmon we had on Panorama just a month ago was an absolute hit at the table! I have to agree, sailing Panorama the first time in 2022, the food was lackluster. We chalked that up to coming right out of the C* Era. This last time, I loved IT ALL and was very pleased. With that said, we sailed RCCL Navigator of the Seas in 2023, expecting that while we paid more $ for a shorter cruise on Nav, our experience would be better. It wasn't! That food was straight up awful. I gave up ordering the entrees because it wasn't worth my caloric intake. It's no surprise Carnival is noted as having some of the best all around food. I look forward to our sailing on the Firenze in July!

How was the pizza line? In 2022 they had about 1.5 people working there and the lines were awful.

Oh snap. You're right! They're in PV. Shoot, what did we do in Mazatlan? Maybe we really did stay on the ship completely that day.

We chose to stay on the ship with our three young kids when we were in Maz in 2022. I had been to Mazatlan MANY times before and really enjoyed having the ship to ourselves. With that said, I find visiting Sam's Club and Walmart in other areas fascinating because they tend to carry different and local items, including cheap souvenirs, vanilla, etc! You may not find it exciting, but both are located across the street from the cruise port, in the event you feel like getting off for just a little bit. Just a thought.

Sailing Panorama again Mar 2. Remind me how and when we start snagging check in times? We cant do online check in until 2/17 but I assume we'll want to do that first thing then and checkin times become available then?

Thanks to everyone! Great information. It's been a minute since I've been on a cruise with a chocolate buffet, at least not since before the c-apocalypse. There wasn't a chocolate buffet on my Panorama sailing in 2022 or on Navigator last year, so I I'm excited...and already exhausted from looking at these Fun Times! Yeaaa for my upcoming sailing in March!

Has anyone sailed 7 day Panny to Mex Riv recently (e.g. 2023) to report any special nights such as chocolate buffet, white night, etc.?

I had concerns being in the immediate area of the arcade so we took two available cabins on the 8th floor.

Booked two balconies (6261/6273) on deck 6 near arcade according to deck plans. Sailing beginning of March, hopefully missing spring breaks. With that said, any experience of kid noise near that area? Our other options were cove balconies on deck 2, but weren't crazy about how those coves felt.

I would agree, Panorama is definitely one of our favorite ships as well. While the entertainment at the very least should be entertaining, having the lead singers seriously off tune isn't pleasing to ears (and it clearly wasn't to many others in the audience). I would like to think those people are long gone since we sailed early 2022. As far as food goes, I'd have to say in general, it was better on the Panny than RCCL Navigator of the Seas. Since sailing that RCCL ship, I'm sure the MDR on Panny isn't so bad after all. Here's a positive for ya, who would have thought that line of beautiful cakes in the buffet area would have been edible and delicious! 🙂

I'd say this is exactly how we felt, food meh, but with stellar service. It was after our cruise on Panorama we tried Navigator of the Seas. As mentioned before, more expensive and the food was REALLY not good. My brother was less than impressed on RCCL Allure of the Seas as well, both physical condition and food quality. Personally, after having been on a number cruises before, several on Carnival, at least one on RCCL, Princess, and NCL, it was just surprising considering Panorama was one of their newest ships. Certainly after sailing that old *** Navigator of the Seas, we decided we'd stick with newer ships and steer clear of anything less than 7 days. I think you get a different kind of service on anything but. People talk crap about Carnival all the time but I've never had a bad experience. While on Navigator, there was a group of people talking absolute smack of Carnival. My wife asked if they had ever sailed Carnival and they replied no! LOL With that said, I really do think Panorama is a magnificent ship, well thought out, and sails beautifully. While the MDR food didn't knock my socks off and the lead singers of the shows at the time were seriously off tune, I was just hoping to hear of some improvement. West Coast cruise ship options are quite limited so we can't afford to be overly critical. Thanks again everyone for your input.

Interesting. That's too bad. Back in April 2022 I felt the food wasn't anything to write home about. I can't say it was awful, it just wasn't "cruise spectacular" like many others I had been on. I gave them the benefit of the doubt then and chalked it up to the C*. Upon reading many reviews from others here on CC I soon realized there seemed to be an issue across the entire cruise industry as far as getting back up to speed. We sailed RCCL Navigator of the Seas last year and there were nights I just passed on the MDR entrees all together, and that cruise was more money for a shorter period of time too! I'm not going to sit and eat something that's so-so when there's a ship of other things available. I'm looking to sail with a different set of family members and thought Panorama was such a beautiful ship, I'd check to see if the few complaints I had a few years back would still be valid. And yet, I feel cruise prices are pretty hefty right now, so I'm confused as to why quality isn't picking up speed again. Thanks for the feedback.

I sailed the Panorama back in April 2022. The ship itself is beautiful and very well laid out. I'm thinking of sailing again but curious to hear if 1) the quality of the food is decent in the MDR (because it was Denny's grade in 2022) and 2) if the quality of the shows has improved. The two primary singers were absolutely AWFUL and needed to be replaced, some of the back up singers had fantastic voices but hidden behind the wretched front vocals (ask anyone one of the people sitting near us at any of the shows, all of us looked at each other in shock at the horridness. Anywho, any updates you could provide would be much appreciated.

Thanks everyone! We'll look to purchase something now.

Boarding NOS in a few weeks. Wondering if we should purchase wifi pkg prior to boarding or if they'll have something better upon embarkation.

Any idea if they'll allow two adults and three small kids to ride a 4 person golf cart?

Also, are there any formal nights on this 5 day cruise?

Booked with three kids for spring break. Wife is an educator as well so unfortunately we're limited to traveling during the most busiest times but grateful we're able to do so. You mentioned the ice skating show and Showgirls. Very much looking forward to the ice skating show. Do we need to make any reservations for shows via the app are they still first come first served on NOTS? I presume Showgirls is their big production. Did you see it? Thoughts on appropriateness for kids (7-12)? Lastly, did you dine in the MDR at all? If so, what should we expect? This is cruise #10 for me so I've experienced it all. Just need to know where my expectations for MDR should be, or even Windjammer. Thanks!

From everything I've read, generally speaking, people have had pretty good service from the staff they have. I don't think most are disputing those who are working are doing the best they can right now. I could pack all the patience in the world but that doesn't make up for Carnival's lack of judgement in getting their entire fleet up and running without regard to quality vs quantity! Shame on Carnival for putting the staff they do have in the position of having to work twice as hard to make up for staff shortages. It's not right. That's what I struggle with. Our MDR and cabin staff on Panorama were excellent. The one guy working the pizza bar was working his tail off. Poor guy was working as fast as he could despite the line of 20 people waiting in line just to order a pizza. It's nonsense. At least cap your passenger capacities fleetwide while your staff is down until your ratios are where they should be. I can have patience for that. I don't have patience for the greed.

Just sailed Panorama a few weeks back. My wife seemed pretty content with the GF options. As Lasekeye stated earlier, MDR staff were always good about bringing the menus for the next day (both breakfast and dinner menus) so she could preorder for both she and my daughter. There seemed to always be a GF option at the cakes near the buffet. To that I'll also add I had VERY LOW expectations of the cakes when I tried them on the first day. OMG, they were surprisingly amazing, like REALLY good! So do try them and they change from day to day! Even the GF options I personally hadn't realized were GF until my wife told me were delish! While the burgers at Guys were GF, she didn't trust the fries so opted out. When she asked one of the staff at Guys about a GF roll on day one and he then proceeded to roll his eyes, she gave up and ate the plain patties. You'll know who I'm talking about too. That wasn't the only time I saw him give attitude. (PS, there was a lot of attitude from staff that week!) If you're willing to wait EXTRA long, there are options at the pizza place but be prepared to wait. As far as the buffet, yes, there is a kiosk there with someone to help you but from what I saw, the buffet was extraordinarily pathetic so we never bothered.

I understand the supply chain and staffing issues. With that said, Carnival probably shouldn't fill their ships to capacity until these issues have been taken care of. While our MDR and Cabin staff provided excellent service on the Panorama a few weeks back, there were definite shortages elsewhere. You can't provide mediocre food and service to a ship of 4600 passengers. I'm willing to give them time to transition back into full service sailing if they'll reasonably consider prices and accommodations.

We just got off Panorama, a new ship for all intents an purposes, and there were definite issues. I try to stick with relatively new ships for this reason and was somewhat disappointed in a variety of things. While I enjoyed the physical aspects of the ship, other areas came up lacking. It seems they could be having issues across the fleet.