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

Jamman54

By Jamman54,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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Oldgoat61

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Wow....what a blast from the past.  I went to the Farmer's market (several times) when I was in my teens (60+ yrs ago), as well as the Observatory.  At that time the Farmer's market was just tents set up for the venders, very few structures to speak of.  I have enjoyed your review, can't wait for the next one!

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Jamman54

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8 minutes ago, Oldgoat61 said:

Wow....what a blast from the past.  I went to the Farmer's market (several times) when I was in my teens (60+ yrs ago), as well as the Observatory.  At that time the Farmer's market was just tents set up for the venders, very few structures to speak of.  I have enjoyed your review, can't wait for the next one!

Thanks! Glad we were able to stir up some good memories. :classic_biggrin:

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27 minutes ago, Hogladyrider said:

@Jamman54.....great time following along....I've followed all your reviews....love you and Patti....hope someday to be fortunate enough to meet you in person on a ship!

Susan

Thanks so much Susan! We look forward to that day! :classic_smile:

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12 minutes ago, CruisinMama2003 said:

Im exhausted! Haha! What a wonderful review! Thank you. I grew up in SoCal, so nice to "see" the sites in LA again. 

 

Take care, and I will "see" you on the next one 😁

Thank you so much! "See" you next time! :classic_biggrin:

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21 minutes ago, sp2 said:

Great review Jeff! Really enjoyed the LA tour! You got to see a lot in a day. Wonderful photos and story-telling once again! What’s next for you and Patti?

 

Thanks for reading and your kind words! Next up for us is a B2B on the Mardi Gras beginning 4/23/22. :classic_smile:

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luvcruzing

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Great job as always, Jeff.

 

I have a question regarding your two pieces of luggage that arrived on an earlier flight.  How did you find them?  Were they still on the carousel from the earlier flight or were they waiting for you at the luggage counter/desk or whatever it’s called? Seems like someone could have just walked off with them.

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31 minutes ago, luvcruzing said:

Great job as always, Jeff.

 

I have a question regarding your two pieces of luggage that arrived on an earlier flight.  How did you find them?  Were they still on the carousel from the earlier flight or were they waiting for you at the luggage counter/desk or whatever it’s called? Seems like someone could have just walked off with them.

 

They were in a roped off area right next to the carousel that our flight's bags were going to. They were being watched by an airline employee. You had to show them your baggage claim check to retrieve them. Very secure process. :classic_smile:

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Here is our updated cruise review list. Unfortunately, we had to delete all of our reviews prior to 2017 because we changed photo hosting sites and now the pictures no longer show in the older reviews. We have also included a link to our cruise and vacation albums where you can see all the photos Patti took on every cruise:

 

*** Carnival Pride Repo Journeys Cruise -  2/26/17 - Tampa to Baltimore

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luvcruzing

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2 hours ago, Jamman54 said:

 

They were in a roped off area right next to the carousel that our flight's bags were going to. They were being watched by an airline employee. You had to show them your baggage claim check to retrieve them. Very secure process. :classic_smile:


I often wish the like button had a thumbs up.

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Epilogue:  Our Final Thoughts and Future Plans!

 

Where do we even begin? Let’s start with California. We would love to go back there again sometime, but it would have to be some kind of special or Journeys cruise. I think we are done with the Baja Mexico and Mexican Riviera cruises. We love Catalina, but that is only a ferry ride away. We would do another Hawaii cruise, or maybe a 14 day Alaska cruise round trip from Long Beach like the Splendor did a few years ago. We would be interested in a 10 or 14 day cruise that went further south of Puerto Vallarta, to Acapulco and beyond, or a full Panama Canal transit. That’s what it will take to get us out there again. We hope it happens!

 

About the ships. The Spirit Class is our favorite class of ships, so getting back on the Miracle after eleven years was a pleasure. This class never feels crowded even at full capacity, so imagine what it was like at 67% capacity. There was never a line anywhere. We are glad that we made the three day and the four day cruises into a B2B giving us seven days on the ship. We can’t wait to get back on the Legend in August. It’s been fifteen years since we’ve been on her!

 

We were on the Horizon in August, so boarding the Panorama was like déjà vu all over again. The ships are pretty much identical, with the major differences being the Heroes Bar on Deck 4 vs the Skybox Sports Bar, and the Sky zone on Deck 7 instead of the IMAX theatre. The Vista has a number of differences from her two sisters, which we will get to check out when we are on her in a couple of years. One thing for certain is that when booking a cruise on a Vista Class ship, booking a Havana cabin is a must for us!

 

A little about the ports of call. At this point of our cruising lives, just give us a cabana or an all- inclusive beachfront property and we’re golden. Sometimes just a walk around a port area to browse the shops and have a local drink or beer is all we need. The all-inclusives that we booked in Ensenada and Puerto Vallarta were underwhelming at best. There seems to be some good ones available in Cabo, but with the reduction of port time, it didn’t make sense to book one. We enjoyed our Carnival excursion in Mazatlan, the “City, Malecon, Cliff Divers, & Scenic Harbor Cruise”, and felt it was worth the money. We were disappointed that our “VIP Wine Tasting with Lunch” tour was cancelled the first time we stopped in Ensenada, but it was probably due to a lack of interest.

 

Now, about the mask wearing. Being from New Jersey we are used to wearing them, so it was not an issue for us. I think that most of our fellow passengers on both ships wore them in the appropriate locations. It seems that they were more strictly enforced in the elevators, comedy club, piano bar, casino, Lido buffet, and the show lounge.

 

On our cruises on the Miracle and Panorama we never ate dinner in the MDR. We used to be Dining Room people. We used to get Late Seating for years before changing to Early Seating a few years back, and then moving to Your Time Dining. I guess we’ve grown tired of the dining room routine and the menus. Now with the newer ships and all the different dining options, it’s easy to skip the MDR. We will be doing a B2B on the Mardi Gras in April and I’m pretty sure that we won’t see the MDR except for the Sea Day Brunch.

 

We enjoyed cruising with our friends Jim and Pat (webecruzen), and are happy they decided to make the trip under very hard circumstances. We look forward to cruising with them again on the Legend in August. We also enjoyed meeting and talking to Saint Greg, AK2CA, Amyotravel, and others during the course of our cruises. What a GREAT bunch of people! We hope to sail with all of you again sometime in the near future.

 

I guess the only negative of the whole adventure was the lack of knowledge by the embarkation staff in regards on how to handle those on side to side Carnival cruises, which is spelled out on Carnival’s website, and which we followed to the letter. Pulling us out of line and making us test again was not what should have been done, but we accepted it and moved on. Doesn’t mean we had to be happy about it.

 

Thanks to you, the readers, for hanging in there with us on this long adventure. I hope that the information and details about the Miracle and Panorama, along with their ports of call, were helpful in some way. We also hope that our pre and post cruise antics can be helpful as well!

 

Looking ahead to 2022 and beyond, we have a B2B (Eastern & Western Caribbean), on the Mardi Gras from Port Canaveral starting on April 23rd. Then, starting on August 28th we have a B2B (Bermuda & New England / Canada), on the Carnival Legend from Baltimore.

 

So far 2023 is shaping up like this. Starting April 8th we will be boarding the Carnival Freedom from Miami on an 8 day cruise to the Southern Caribbean. When we get back to Miami on April 16th, we will immediately jump on board the Carnival Celebration for B2B cruises to the Eastern and Western Caribbean. Then finally on September 8th, we will be boarding the Carnival Magic in our home port of New York for B2B cruises to the Eastern Caribbean and Canada.

 

We just booked our first cruises for 2024. We will be doing a B2B on the Carnival Vista starting on April 14th to the Eastern and Southern Caribbean. We are hoping to do a European Adventure and Transatlantic in the fall in honor of our 30th anniversary and my 70th birthday. We are patiently waiting for those cruises to be available for booking.

 

Will any of you be on board with us? 

 

Before I end this I have to thank my wife Patti. I couldn’t do these adventures, or these reviews, without her. She is my best friend, my rock, and a heck of a photographer!

 

Speaking of photography, the photos you see on these reviews are only a small portion of all the photos Patti takes during our cruises. If you would like to see the whole package, there is a link in my signature for our Cruise and Vacation albums. Feel free to check them out if you are so inclined.

 

So until next time, may you have blue skies and calm seas!!!

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sp2

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Bravo Jeff and Patti! What a great review again! I feel like I’m on the cruise with you! Love your story telling abilities.

I did check out your website and wow, what a wealth of photos! I noticed you cruised on Celebrity and Royal early in your cruising days. That Royal ship was gorgeous. Any reason you decided to stick with Carnival? Was it the frequent cruiser perks or just the style of cruising suits you?

I was also touched by your photos of your Bermuda cruise only weeks before 9/11. What a feeling it must have been having had those beautiful views of the Twin Towers taken away so tragically only a few weeks later.

 

Also, it was nice to see your boys so little! Which reminds me, we need another guys cruise review from you and Ryan! Hope he’s doing well.

 

I’m looking forward to your transatlantic cruise, and I’d love to see you do a full Panama Canal transit. Lots to look forward to!

 

thanks so much for this Jeff and Patti! Hugs to you both!

Sharon

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AK2CA

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Great job!  It was really wonderful meeting you and Patti on the Miracle.  I enjoyed your Horizon review previously as well and was looking forward to my cruise on the 11th.  As you may have read, Horizon has been cancelled including my date.  So, I pivoted and booked the Panorama for six days starting on the 18th and used the FCC from the cancellation towards booking the Celebration for 12/19/22.  Too bad we didn't have the same dates on that one.  I'm excited to see that ship. I don't think we overlap any cruises.....yet.  I've still got some planning to do. though  I'm doing Panorama again in June of 2020 and a 10 day on the Pride in October of 2023 from Rome.  Also, jumping over to RC in January for a quick 3 day one over the President's Day long weekend. 

 

Wishing you both wonderful adventures ahead and look forward to reading all about them in the future.  Happy Holidays! 

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19 hours ago, sp2 said:

Bravo Jeff and Patti! What a great review again! I feel like I’m on the cruise with you! Love your story telling abilities.

I did check out your website and wow, what a wealth of photos! I noticed you cruised on Celebrity and Royal early in your cruising days. That Royal ship was gorgeous. Any reason you decided to stick with Carnival? Was it the frequent cruiser perks or just the style of cruising suits you?

I was also touched by your photos of your Bermuda cruise only weeks before 9/11. What a feeling it must have been having had those beautiful views of the Twin Towers taken away so tragically only a few weeks later.

 

Also, it was nice to see your boys so little! Which reminds me, we need another guys cruise review from you and Ryan! Hope he’s doing well.

 

I’m looking forward to your transatlantic cruise, and I’d love to see you do a full Panama Canal transit. Lots to look forward to!

 

thanks so much for this Jeff and Patti! Hugs to you both!

Sharon

Thanks for checking out our hosting site. Back then only Celebrity and Holland America were doing Bermuda cruises so we chose Celebrity. Great food, great experience, but not a  great kids program. Also had a great time on the Explorer of the Seas, but when it came time to book our next cruise the boys wanted Carnival. From then on it's been Carnival. We've talked about going on other lines again but haven't pulled the trigger. 

 

Hoping to do a father/son cruise again. He can't go with us on our adventures because we go away for so long. 😎

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15 hours ago, AKR2011 said:

Thank you for a fantastic review as always! Happy Holidays and I look forward to following you again in 2022. Will your son be back on board with you at all?

Thanks. Since we go away for nearly a month at a time, Ryan can't get that much time off work. 😎

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Hogladyrider

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@Jamman54....I understand your feelings about being done with the Mexican Rivera ports of call.

 

However, even though we are only Platinum not Diamond on Carnival, we have gotten to the point in life where we now cruise and just enjoy the ship.

 

Our cruise on HAL, which was our 1st, right before shutdown, we never got off the ship at any of the ports.  It wound up being our favorite all time cruise.

 

When we lived in Florida full time, we had visited many of the ports over and over, we have a few favorites where we get off and do our own thing....but ports like Belize, we opt to stay on board and savor the ship experience.

 

Now if and when we get to do Europe or a Panama Canal transit that's different.

 

I too visited your Smug Mug site, WOW, very impressive.......Patti does a SUPER job and what memories you have created!

 

Looking forward to following future reviews, yours & Patti's are the BEST!

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16 hours ago, AK2CA said:

Great job!  It was really wonderful meeting you and Patti on the Miracle.  I enjoyed your Horizon review previously as well and was looking forward to my cruise on the 11th.  As you may have read, Horizon has been cancelled including my date.  So, I pivoted and booked the Panorama for six days starting on the 18th and used the FCC from the cancellation towards booking the Celebration for 12/19/22.  Too bad we didn't have the same dates on that one.  I'm excited to see that ship. I don't think we overlap any cruises.....yet.  I've still got some planning to do. though  I'm doing Panorama again in June of 2020 and a 10 day on the Pride in October of 2023 from Rome.  Also, jumping over to RC in January for a quick 3 day one over the President's Day long weekend. 

 

Wishing you both wonderful adventures ahead and look forward to reading all about them in the future.  Happy Holidays! 

Thanks Terri, it was great to meet you as well. I'm sure that one day our paths will cross again. 😃

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13 minutes ago, Hogladyrider said:

@Jamman54....I understand your feelings about being done with the Mexican Rivera ports of call.

 

However, even though we are only Platinum not Diamond on Carnival, we have gotten to the point in life where we now cruise and just enjoy the ship.

 

Our cruise on HAL, which was our 1st, right before shutdown, we never got off the ship at any of the ports.  It wound up being our favorite all time cruise.

 

When we lived in Florida full time, we had visited many of the ports over and over, we have a few favorites where we get off and do our own thing....but ports like Belize, we opt to stay on board and savor the ship experience.

 

Now if and when we get to do Europe or a Panama Canal transit that's different.

 

I too visited your Smug Mug site, WOW, very impressive.......Patti does a SUPER job and what memories you have created!

 

Looking forward to following future reviews, yours & Patti's are the BEST!

Thank you so much Susan! Your words mean so much  to us! 🤗

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