Panorama Review - December 14 to 21, 2019

[klfhngr]

Great review, I'll be on her in April!

[MissyMac13]

Ports and Excursions - We have been to Cabo and Puerto Vallarta before and we planned no excursions as we have our routines there (Cabo - we go to a restaurant toward the end of the pier and eat lunch, and our daughter at 17 must have a stuffed dolphin from Cabo Adventures, and in PV, we shop at the mall across the street and WalMart.) In Mazatlan, we took a city tour that we found as we got off the ship. It was in an open air taxi, took 2 hours and we were charged $20 each. We were given opportunities to stop and walk around at the beach and in town. Our guide was very knowledgeable and patient as we took photos. We never felt unsafe while doing this. When we got back, we did some shopping, my husband and daughter got massages and we had drinks at one of the open air bars.

 

Parking - We decided to stay locally the night before and booked a room at Hotel Current for $189 with tax. This included the room, breakfast the next morning, parking for the duration of the cruise and shuttle service to and from the port. The room was decorated in a modern way and the bed was comfortable. We had been told that the breakfast was continental but they had eggs, breakfast meats and pancakes, as well as cereal and pastries. When we checked in, we scheduled the shuttle to the port and when we got back, we called to schedule a shuttle back. We did wait about an hour for the shuttle to pick us up and return us to the hotel, but we were in no hurry and enjoyed people watching. Since parking has gone up at the port, we figured it would be a better deal to stay with all that was included.

[CACruiseLady]

Great review, thanks.  Do you happen to have a copy of the Fun Times from Puerto Vallarta?  I am trying to find out when we need to be back on the ship.  Is ship time always local time?

[SJCSuzy]

4 minutes ago, CACruiseLady said:

Great review, thanks.  Do you happen to have a copy of the Fun Times from Puerto Vallarta?  I am trying to find out when we need to be back on the ship.  Is ship time always local time?

I believe ship time is one hour earlier than Puerto Vallarta time. When we took this same cruise last year on the Splendor we changed one time zone and then after PVR we changed back, I think we changed after Mazatlan since they're in the same time zone as Long Beach but I'm not 100% sure of that.

 

Suzy

[CACruiseLady]

57 minutes ago, SJCSuzy said:

I believe ship time is one hour earlier than Puerto Vallarta time. When we took this same cruise last year on the Splendor we changed one time zone and then after PVR we changed back, I think we changed after Mazatlan since they're in the same time zone as Long Beach but I'm not 100% sure of that.

 

Suzy

Thanks.  That may pose a problem in the other direction. The shore excursion we want to do is a boat tour that leaves at 9 and the ship is due to arrive at 8 but if the ships arrival at 8 ship time means 9 o’clock Puerto Vallarta  time and it takes 15 minutes to get to the dock of the boat we will miss it.

[SJCSuzy]

29 minutes ago, CACruiseLady said:

Thanks.  That may pose a problem in the other direction. The shore excursion we want to do is a boat tour that leaves at 9 and the ship is due to arrive at 8 but if the ships arrival at 8 ship time means 9 o’clock Puerto Vallarta  time and it takes 15 minutes to get to the dock of the boat we will miss it.

You might want to check with the vendor. I'm sure they're experts on the cruise passengers that come to their city and how they can find a way to accommodate them on their tours. 

 

Good luck!

 

Suzy

[kdr69]

Great review Missy,  love your pics! 

[douggw]

On 12/30/2019 at 10:16 PM, MissyMac13 said:

The blimp, lido deck and our decorated door.

 

LOVE the door decorations!  Is it a metal door, and you use magnets, or did you use the tak stuff for your decorations?

Thanks!

[MissyMac13]

I used Sticky Tac. The doors were not metal so the magnet in the middle had a lot of Sticky Tac.

[douggw]

On 1/7/2020 at 8:42 PM, MissyMac13 said:

I used Sticky Tac. The doors were not metal so the magnet in the middle had a lot of Sticky Tac.

Perfect. I got some today.  Do you have a template for the big poster in the middle?  If not, I am going to try and make one similar.

[colohenry]

On 12/30/2019 at 11:48 PM, MissyMac13 said:

 

Who are BTB cruisers??

We are Diamond and never have heard of them???

[MissyMac13]

BTB = back to back cruisers. They were on the 3 day and our 7 day. 

[MissyMac13]

2 hours ago, douggw said:

Perfect. I got some today.  Do you have a template for the big poster in the middle?  If not, I am going to try and make one similar.

I bought the poster in the middle on Etsy. It is a magnet. I used lots of Sticky Tac!

[colohenry]

20 minutes ago, MissyMac13 said:

BTB = back to back cruisers. They were on the 3 day and our 7 day. 

THANK YOU for the info.....😎

[douggw]

1 hour ago, MissyMac13 said:

I bought the poster in the middle on Etsy. It is a magnet. I used lots of Sticky Tac!

Oh!!!!    That makes more sense that it's a magnet..must have used tons of Tac!  ha ha!

[CACruiseLady]

On 12/31/2019 at 4:19 PM, SJCSuzy said:

You might want to check with the vendor. I'm sure they're experts on the cruise passengers that come to their city and how they can find a way to accommodate them on their tours. 

 

Good luck!

 

Suzy

Turns out you were exactly right. Ships time was one hour earlier than the local time in Puerto Vallarta.   Luckily our ship arrived a bit early in PV  and it was a short walk to the tour boat so we were able to make it to our tour on time.

[douggw]

On 1/11/2020 at 10:56 PM, CACruiseLady said:

Turns out you were exactly right. Ships time was one hour earlier than the local time in Puerto Vallarta.   Luckily our ship arrived a bit early in PV  and it was a short walk to the tour boat so we were able to make it to our tour on time.

Were you also then 1 hour ahead of Cabo time?  Did you arrive early there as well?

[canadia-L]

@MissyMac13 - thanks for the review. Do you recall what time the Family Harbor Lounge opened on embarkation day?

[CACruiseLady]

Yes, I seem to remember local time was one hour later then ship time in Cabo. I believe ship had us move our clocks ahead one hour after Cabo so ship time and local time were the same in Mazatlán and then when we changed time zones again and ship time was one hour behind local time again in Puerto Vallarta.  I would double check, however.

[Rockypoint]

Thanks for the review!  So excited to cruise the Panorama in April!

[bartzcrew]

So happy to find this review, we are in room 2480 in Sept. Great to see pics of the harbor. 

Question, the balconies are uncovered correct, did this seem to pose a problem with sun and weather, or not much different than a normal balcony? Thanks!