Another California Adventure! – Baja Mexico & Mexican Riviera aboard the Miracle & Panorama (with pics) – October 2021.

Hogladyrider · November 5, 2021

@Jamman54joined this fabulous party.

Let the fun begin as I've been having cruise review withdrawals.

Susan

IntrepidFromDC · November 5, 2021

9 hours ago, Jamman54 said:

Ahoy, Cruise Critic family! My beautiful wife Patti and I have just returned from another California Adventure. This time we did a B2B for a total of 7 days on the Carnival Miracle to Ensenada and Catalina, followed by a 7 day cruise to Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan, and Cabo san Lucas on the Carnival Panorama. We also spent some time exploring Long Beach and Los Angeles pre and post cruises. We had a fantastic time, saw and experienced a lot of new things, and met a lot of fellow Cruise Critic members. We are so excited to bring you all the action that we hardly know where to begin!

So let’s begin at the very beginning. I’m going to call this section “How to build a California Adventure”. Around two years ago, shortly after we returned from our first California Adventure, where we cruised on the Carnival Inspiration and Carnival Splendor, we decided that in 2021 we would head back out west. We would make the Carnival Panorama the focal point of our return. At that point we hadn’t cruised on a Vista Class ship before so this would be our first. (It turns out that we did cruise on the Horizon this past August, but that was a last minute deal that we couldn’t refuse). Now, when to book? We normally cruise in the April / May or September / October time frames. Being retired now, we avoid the spring break, summer break, and holiday peak times, which are more expensive and crowded. We decided on October 23^rd, as we could get an awesome deal on a Havana interior cabin, and enjoy the Havana experience for ourselves.

Next, we wanted to book a cruise on the Carnival Imagination, as it was the only Fantasy class ship that we hadn’t been on. We decided on the October 18^th 4 day sailing to Catalina Island and Ensenada. And then the pandemic came. In July 2020 it was announced that the Imagination, along with the Fantasy and Inspiration would be scrapped. It was then announced that the Carnival Radiance, and her Cruise Director Lee Mason, who we like, would be replacing the Imagination in Long Beach. Since we enjoyed her sister ship Carnival Sunrise so much, we decided to add the October 15^th 3 day sailing to Ensenada and create a B2B. They also moved us from the ocean view cabin that we had on the Imagination, to a balcony cabin. They gave us the same balcony cabin for both legs. Now, fast forward to February 2021, when the announcement was made that the Radiance would not be ready until at least November. They also announced that the Carnival Miracle would now be taking over the Radiance’s cruises from Long Beach. Now, we had to decide if we wanted to keep the bookings. Since we love the Spirit class ships we decided to keep the bookings, and our PVP made sure that we had the same balcony cabin for both legs. So that’s how we booked the Imagination, and wound up on the Miracle!

The next step in the process would be to book the flights. When booking on United the earliest that you can book is 11 months out. Because we are both tall with bad legs and feet, we need to fly Business Class. We find that you can get exceptional Business Class rates if you book them as soon as they become available. After that, the prices sky rocket. Most people that flew Business Class with us on our flights paid two or three times the price we did! To get our VERY good rates, we had to fly out the morning of October 9^th, and return the evening of November 1^st.

Now that we know our flight dates, we could go ahead and book our hotels for before, between, and after our cruises. Because we are Hilton Honors members we booked the Long Beach Hilton for the six days before our Miracle cruises, and also for the day before our Panorama cruise. We stayed here the last time and loved it, and the location, as it is close to everything we want to see. Post Panorama cruise we booked the LAX Airport Hilton for three days, giving us time to explore Los Angeles before flying home. We didn’t book any sightseeing tours for Long Beach or Los Angeles prior to flying out, preferring to wing it as we went. So that’s how we planned this California Adventure.

This is going to be a looooong review so be patient with us. Patti took well over four thousand pictures during this adventure, so I have a lot of sorting, cropping, and re-sizing to catch up on. Even though I took my laptop with me and worked on the photos from time to time, there’s no way I could keep up with Patti’s itchy shutter finger! As of today, I have completed the Long Beach and Miracle portion of pictures, and will work on the Panorama and Los Angeles portion daily until I am finished. For those that are wondering, our go to camera is the Canon PowerShot XS720 HS, and our water camera is the Fuji FinePix XP60. We also have to catch up with life, work, and such, so we may not post anything for a day or two from time to time, but just remember, we have not ever not finished a review.

As usual, our reviews start and end at home and cover everything in between. I know that some people like to get right into the cruise stuff and I understand that, but when doing these reviews we want to re-live the whole vacation, not just part of it. So, the cruise stuff may take a few days to get to, but once we’re on it, we’re on it!

Our format will remain the same as our past reviews with a day by day account. As always, there will be many, many pictures with plenty of explanations and details. We strive to make you feel that you are cruising right along with us. So, grab yourself a DOD, hop on board with us, and join the fun!

To be continued…..

OMG I'M SO EXCITED ABOUT THIS FIRST POST I CAN'T STAND IT!!!

IntrepidFromDC · November 5, 2021

8 hours ago, Jamman54 said:

We checked in at 2 pm, and took an upgrade to a corner balcony room for only $14 more a day. We were given Room # 419 on the fourth floor, only a couple doors away from where we stayed two years ago…….

Here are some views of Room # 419…..

The bathroom was fairly large……

There was a vanity outside of the bathroom…..

To be continued……

Reminds me of when St. Greg's Room #420 wall plaque got stolen. I wonder why they took that one, but not your #419. BRB...

SenatorsFan · November 5, 2021

I'm happy to be following along on another one of your always entertaining reviews, Jeff and Patti! 😍🥤

Heather

Jamman54 · November 5, 2021

9 hours ago, AK2CA said:

Looking forward to reading this review. Hope you and Patty are well.

Hey there! Glad you found the review. It was great meeting you on the Miracle. 🤗

9 hours ago, Webecruzen said:

Happy to have your review to follow along with. It has been a crazy week back at work after being away over two weeks. Thank goodness the jet lag didn’t hit us on this side, however, will enjoy that extra hour Saturday night. Glad you and Patti were able to get home safe and sound without delay.

Hey guys! It was great cruising with you again! Looking forward to our Legend B2B. You're a big part of this review, so sit back and enjoy! 🤗

Jamman54 · November 5, 2021

8 hours ago, Hogladyrider said:

@Jamman54joined this fabulous party.

Let the fun begin as I've been having cruise review withdrawals.

Susan

Hey Susan! Glad to have you aboard for the ride. 😎

8 hours ago, IntrepidFromDC said:

OMG I'M SO EXCITED ABOUT THIS FIRST POST I CAN'T STAND IT!!!

Always happy to have you following along, but with all the cruising you're doing, when will you get a chance to read it? 😁

7 hours ago, SenatorsFan said:

I'm happy to be following along on another one of your always entertaining reviews, Jeff and Patti! 😍🥤

Heather

Hey Heather! It's not official until you jump on board. You haven't missed one yet! Here's hoping our teams have good years. 🤞🤗

RenoNanaOz · November 5, 2021

Yay! I love your reviews, we haven't cruised since 2019. Going to wait a bit to see if rules relax before booking. I'm way to OCD to do it know 🙂

hapytobehr · November 5, 2021

Okay, I admit it. I'm an official "stalker on these boards.

I enjoy reading your reviews (have read many of them and others as well) and rarely comment.

I was very interested in reading your review from the Horizon because we are cruising on it for the first time NYE.

Your reviews are very informative and also fun to read!

Looking forward to following!

Karen 🙂

starfish the second · November 5, 2021

looking forward to your review we sail on the pride 11/28

Jamman54 · November 5, 2021

1 hour ago, RenoNanaOz said:

Yay! I love your reviews, we haven't cruised since 2019. Going to wait a bit to see if rules relax before booking. I'm way to OCD to do it know 🙂

Glad to have you aboard! Hope you can get back to cruising very soon.

1 hour ago, hapytobehr said:

Okay, I admit it. I'm an official "stalker on these boards.

I enjoy reading your reviews (have read many of them and others as well) and rarely comment.

I was very interested in reading your review from the Horizon because we are cruising on it for the first time NYE.

Your reviews are very informative and also fun to read!

Looking forward to following!

Karen 🙂

Hi Karen! Glad you decided to join us. It makes us feel good when we can motivate a lurker to post!

14 minutes ago, starfish the second said:

looking forward to your review we sail on the pride 11/28

Glad to have you following along! Enjoy your cruise on the Pride!

Jamman54 · November 5, 2021

Day # 2 (October 10^th) - We explore the Pine Ave. Pier area.

We wake up to a beautiful 70 degree day. We find out that today is the Long Beach Marathon. No wonder the check-in lines were so long last night. Many of the roads near the water are closed for the Marathon, so getting around could be difficult. We are told that by 11 am it will all be done, and the roads will open up. That sounds good to us. Patti says she’s going to go outside and take some pictures of the hotel……

She catches me on our 4^th floor balcony…..

She got these shots outside of the Lobby entrance…..

Here is the Front Desk and the small snack shop on the left hand side…..

To be continued…..

Jamman54 · November 5, 2021

Here are some more Lobby views…..

Here in the Lobby you will find the Café, which in the morning sells coffee and breakfast items…..

Patti collects me from the room, and we head down to the 2^nd floor. Here you will find The Loft, which serves breakfast…..

The buffet portion of The Loft is closed due to the pandemic, but you can order off the menu…..

Patti ordered the French toast, and I ordered an omelet…..

Here we are enjoying our first breakfast in California……

To be continued…..

Jamman54 · November 5, 2021

After we finished breakfast we still had time to kill, so we explored the hotel a little more. Here is the “Business Center”…..

They have a small gym on the 2^nd floor…..

Near the gym, also on the 2^nd floor, is the outside pool area…..

Lots of nice flora and fauna here…..

To be continued……

Jamman54 · November 5, 2021

Around 11 am we went outside of the lobby and met the hotel shuttle driver, Alex. We asked him if he could take us to the Pine Ave. Pier and he said “No problem”. It seemed like he was our personal shuttle driver because during the six days that we were there, except for one time, we were the only ones on the shuttle! This is the Pine Ave. Pier……

He dropped us off by the Aquarium…..

We decided to take a walk out to Pierpoint Landing, Shoreline Park, and Lighthouse Point…..

We are looking across the harbor to Shoreline Village. We will be visiting there tomorrow…..

To be continued…..

Jamman54 · November 5, 2021

We have made it up to the Lighthouse……

There are great views of Long Beach Harbor from there. Looking across at the Queen Mary…..

Here is one of the Catalina Express ferries….

One of the numerous tour boats…..

On the way down the hill we ran into someone taking their pet iguana for a walk…..

When we got back to the marina we checked out the schedule for Harbor Breeze cruises. We are considering doing a harbor cruise later in the week…..

Patti was ready to check out the Pike Outlets now, so she put me in Husband Day Care. Hooters is ranked # 1 in that category!…..

To be continued…..

Jamman54 · November 5, 2021

Patti heads over to the nearby Pike Outlets…..

The Pike Outlets are quite expansive…..

Patti goes over to the Rainbow Harbor to get some pictures….

To be continued…..

Jamman54 · November 5, 2021

Here are some more pictures around Rainbow Harbor…..

When you are hungry, there are plenty of restaurants to choose from…..

To be continued……

Jamman54 · November 5, 2021

Patti met me back at Hooters, and after a few drinks we decided to go right across the street and have dinner at Bubba Gump’s…..

I’m enjoying my Bubba Gump beer…..

For our appetizer we shared an order of shrimp mac & cheese…..

Patti ordered the salmon…..

I ordered the jambalaya. I love jambalaya. I’ve eaten the jambalaya at Bubba Gump’s many times and enjoyed it. I love the rice. I love the Cajun sauce. I love the chunks of chicken and sausage along with the shrimp on top. But this is what they served me…..

Where is the chicken? Where is the sausage? What they served me was shrimp over rice. I called the server over, since obviously the kitchen had made a mistake. He went back to the kitchen, then came back and told me that they had changed the recipe, and that the chicken and sausage was now ground up into the sauce! I’m not buying it, and so I ask to see the manager.

The manager comes over and tells me the same thing, to which I reply that is not what is described on the menu. He agrees with me and offers to get me something else. I tell him not necessary since I do like everything else on the plate, but I would like to make a formal complaint in regards to the recipe change. He comes back later with the number to the corporate complaint line, and says he will not charge me for my entrée. I told him that it wasn’t necessary but he insisted. So kudos to him, and boo to whoever in corporate made that recipe change! Beware of the Bubba Gump jambalaya!

After we ate we called the hotel to send over the shuttle to pick us up. It was there in about ten minutes. Once back at the hotel, we had a couple of drinks at the Enclave Bar, and then picked up some snacks to take back to the room. It was only 7 pm but we were exhausted. Damn jet lag! Here is the sunset over the Gerald Desmond Bridge. Goodnight!......

Coming up next: Shoreline Village, and what Shenanigans can we get into today?

AK2CA · November 5, 2021

6 hours ago, Jamman54 said:

Hey there! Glad you found the review. It was great meeting you on the Miracle.

Great to meet you as well. Next time, I'll have to sit down and order a drink. 🙂

mkcurran · November 5, 2021

Yay! Another adventure!

vanislandcruisers · November 5, 2021

Looking forward to rest of this!!!...Always ENJOY your Reviews!!!

Jamman54 · November 5, 2021

38 minutes ago, RenoNanaOz said:

Gee, thanks!

33 minutes ago, mkcurran said:

Yay! Another adventure!

We love adventures!

11 minutes ago, vanislandcruisers said:

Looking forward to rest of this!!!...Always ENJOY your Reviews!!!

Glad to have you with us. Thanks for your kind words!

Jamman54 · November 5, 2021

Day # 3 (October 11^th) - Our day at Shoreline Village.

We woke up to another 70 degree sunny day. Patti wasn’t hungry for breakfast today, so I went down to the Café for a coffee and an apple turnover. I brought it back up to the room to enjoy while I worked on some pictures.

Around 11 am we jumped on the shuttle and had Alex take us over to Shoreline Village…..

There is a long jetty that protects the Long Beach Marina. There is a paved walking and bicycle path on top of it. There are plenty of picture opportunities as you walk out on to it. Let’s start with Parker’s Lighthouse which is a popular restaurant….

This is the lighthouse on Lighthouse Point that we walked out to yesterday…..

Looking out across the harbor you can see the Queen Mary and the Miracle…..

The Miracle is in port today taking on passengers for a 4 day cruise to Catalina Island and Ensenada. When she comes back on Friday, Patti and I will be boarding her…..