New to Carnival, question about Port Days on board

[SeaSickCecil]

Hi.  First time Carnival cruiser...booked Panorama for January and am very excited.  The reason for booking Carnival is to enjoy the on deck 'Fun Ship' activities like the ropes course, Sky ride and water park.  So my question is: are these activities open on Port days?

I'm learning a lot about the Vista class ships from this board and thank everyone for their help.

 

[Roscoe13]

Yes.   

[bury me at sea]

With the exceptions of the shops and the casino, nearly everything else is available on port days.

[SeaSickCecil]

Thank you Rosecoe13 and bury me at sea.  Much appreciated.

[CharmCity2000]

We were on the Horizon and spent a port day on the ship.  It was fantastic.  My kids had the sky ride and roles course to themselves.  

[bury me at sea]

2 hours ago, SeaSickCecil said:

Thank you Rosecoe13 and bury me at sea.  Much appreciated.

 

You're welcome.  I love the feeling of the ship on port days.

[coevan]

We love staying on the ship on some port days, so quiet, no lines for food, empty Serenity, aaaah

[SeaSickCecil]

CharmCity2000...this is my plan...we are taking the Panorama on one of the 7 day Mexico from Los Angeles...don't much care about the ports so hoping to be able to use the ship as our vacation 'destination' and hoping most of the 3000+people get off the ship 😊.  This will be the largest ship we've ever been on,  so hope it's not too overwhelming. 

I'll check out the Serenity deck as well, coevan...I love just sitting and reading and watching the water.

 

Any other secrets for a newbie to Carnival?  I've read about the 'secret' breakfast on deck 5 and the free lunches in the specialty restaurants AND the strange 'smart' elevators 😥  Don't know what I'd do without this community. 

[coevan]

you do not have to follow the crowd, meaning being the first one off the ship. We always book private excursions on our own time. Relax, have a Bloody Mary, some breakfast and get off the ship later, like 10-11, no crowds. There is still plenty of time to tour the island, snorkel, or whatever you would like to do. Some of our best tours are hiring a cab and asking for an island tour. 

[TrqoisWtrs]

If the weather is bad, as in too windy, some activities could be closed - like the rope course.  And I’ve been on ships where everything seemed fine, but the water slides were closed.  Not to be Debbie downer, 😐 but just FYI.

[SeaSickCecil]

coevan, we are for better or worse, early risers, even on vacation.  Our thing is to get up and head to the walking track to see sunrise while we do our two miles and then off to breakfast.  But not planning any big excursions so we won't have to be in the crush to get off. Anyone know how many laps around equals a mile?

And cruisin*tigger we've seen the pools closed on ships for no apparent reason, and we've skirted a couple of hurricanes/bad weather which caused all outside activities to be cancelled so we roll with it.  

Nice to have things to look forward to...I love the anticipation of an upcoming cruise.

[ABQrobin]

1 hour ago, SeaSickCecil said:

coevan, we are for better or worse, early risers, even on vacation.  Our thing is to get up and head to the walking track to see sunrise while we do our two miles and then off to breakfast.  But not planning any big excursions so we won't have to be in the crush to get off. Anyone know how many laps around equals a mile?

And cruisin*tigger we've seen the pools closed on ships for no apparent reason, and we've skirted a couple of hurricanes/bad weather which caused all outside activities to be cancelled so we roll with it.  

Nice to have things to look forward to...I love the anticipation of an upcoming cruise.

 

there is always a sign that tells you how many laps = 1 mile.  I think it is usually 9 laps.

 

 

[SeaSickCecil]

Thanks ABQRobin.  That's better than on the Azamara Journey where it was 13 laps (small ship)... I kept losing count!  😉 The walking/jogging track must be only about half a deck length.  I miss the full wrap around Promenades on the older HAL ships.  Only three laps around to make a mile.  

Any other things I should know about to not act like a total newbie?

I'm grateful to all of you who've taken the time to answer my questions. 

[coevan]

1 hour ago, SeaSickCecil said:

I kept losing count! 

 

 

There are many pedometer free apps. We use Pacer, counts steps and mileage, works great