Carnival Panorama

[ASR1996]

We disembarked the Carnival Panorama this past Saturday, May 27 and we had an incredible week.  There is absolutely nothing I can complain about.  It was a perfect week and I wish it could have lasted much longer.

 

We were late leaving Cabo which put us about two to three hours late returning to Long Beach.  I think we started disembarking at 10:00 AM.  I’m sure it caused problems for some cruisers with their travel plans but for us we drove to the port, so it didn't impact us. 

 

We had Faster to the Fun, which I recommend.  Once we were inside the cruise terminal, we bypassed all lines and checked in immediately and walked directly onto the ship.  FTTF also helped us disembark upon our return.    

 

Highlights for us were the production shows (Celestial Stings is a must see if you enjoy the production shows), Fahrenheit 555, the Limelight Lounge nightclub, the Quest (for mature audiences only) and the Havana area.  We met some really nice people and had many excellent conversations. The crew was great and everyone we came into contact with was friendly and made time to say hello. 

   

If anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask.

[Itried4498]

Glad you enjoyed your trip.  While the weather hasn't always cooperated, I've never had a bad trip on the Panorama.

 

Celestial Strings is a great show to catch up on a nap!

[n6uqqq]

Leaving Cabo at 2:30 pm is too short. Arriving at 6 am gee that is great 🤮. Unfortunately my cruise in sept has these hours! 

[sanmarcosman]

22 minutes ago, n6uqqq said:

Leaving Cabo at 2:30 pm is too short. Arriving at 6 am gee that is great 🤮. Unfortunately my cruise in sept has these hours! 

Very true, we say Cabo should have a show like the one in PV but call it Rhythms of the Crack of Dawn.

 

We're booked twice on the Firenze coming to LB in spring of 2024. The hours in Cabo are more reasonable for the 5 day Firenze sailings:

Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

10:00 AM

6:00 PM

 

[n6uqqq]

10 minutes ago, sanmarcosman said:

Very true, we say Cabo should have a show like the one in PV but call it Rhythms of the Crack of Dawn.

 

We're booked twice on the Firenze coming to LB in spring of 2024. The hours in Cabo are more reasonable for the 5 day Firenze sailings:

Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

10:00 AM

6:00 PM

 

Mucho better schedule. I thought maybe the Cabo wasn't available but I checked what is in port when and there was room. Puerto Vallarta last is best!

[vwrestler171]

4 hours ago, n6uqqq said:

Mucho better schedule. I thought maybe the Cabo wasn't available but I checked what is in port when and there was room. Puerto Vallarta last is best!

I agree with having PV last.  I'd prefer them to even do the occasional 2 days in Cabo, one in PV like there used to be when Mazatlan wasn't on the itinerary.

[jsglow]

The Cabo first/Cabo last topic has been discussed before. I'm honestly not sure what I like better.  Certainly leaving Cabo in the mid afternoon is a bit of a pain but it's necessary to make it back to Long Beach w/ one sea day. The only problem with doing it at the beginning and using two sea days from PV is that the nice protected sailing waters below the Sea of Cortez are 'wasted' in the overnight hours. Two days spent bashing north up the Baja. Obviously God didn't space these ports well enough! 😳

[n6uqqq]

2 hours ago, TreyB said:

Panorama is a great ship, isn’t she?  And you can’t find a better port to sail out of than Long Beach. Wife and I will be back on Panorama in October, driving down to Long Beach from Northern California and staying in one of our favorite places (Hotel Maya) the night before the cruise. I’m glad you had a great cruise!

I am going on the Panorama in Sept. It is a nice ship, more crowded than the Spirit class but decent. Found it to be much better than the Radiance, where I was bouncing off people everywhere! 

[Squirreladd]

11 hours ago, jsglow said:

The Cabo first/Cabo last topic has been discussed before. I'm honestly not sure what I like better.  Certainly leaving Cabo in the mid afternoon is a bit of a pain but it's necessary to make it back to Long Beach w/ one sea day. The only problem with doing it at the beginning and using two sea days from PV is that the nice protected sailing waters below the Sea of Cortez are 'wasted' in the overnight hours. Two days spent bashing north up the Baja. Obviously God didn't space these ports well enough! 😳

From my experience that trek north can be rough at times, it seems at least once a month the Panorama is late. Do the other lines doing PV last and Cabo first run into this issue with being late, or do they leave PV early enough to give them more wiggle room on the sail up?

[red lobster]

I just booked this cruise last week, I'm so glad you enjoyed it and took the time to post. I haven't cruised Carnival since 2017, but have cruised other lines. May I ask what you did in Mazatlan? it's the only stop I haven't planned out. Thanks again for the review.

[FastShip24]

20 hours ago, n6uqqq said:

Leaving Cabo at 2:30 pm is too short. Arriving at 6 am gee that is great 🤮. Unfortunately my cruise in sept has these hours! 

You wont make it back on time for long beach

[Itried4498]

16 hours ago, vwrestler171 said:

I agree with having PV last.  I'd prefer them to even do the occasional 2 days in Cabo, one in PV like there used to be when Mazatlan wasn't on the itinerary.

But then they wouldn’t sell as many 5/6-day itineraries with two days at Cabo ;).  
 

 

[Itried4498]

4 hours ago, Squirreladd said:

From my experience that trek north can be rough at times, it seems at least once a month the Panorama is late. Do the other lines doing PV last and Cabo first run into this issue with being late, or do they leave PV early enough to give them more wiggle room on the sail up?

Carnival is the only cruise line that sails year-round.  The other cruise lines generally do stop at Cabo first, but have a far more limited number of sailings.

[n6uqqq]

12 minutes ago, Itried4498 said:

Carnival is the only cruise line that sails year-round.  The other cruise lines generally do stop at Cabo first, but have a far more limited number of sailings.

Since I started cruising in 2007 the vast majority of Mexican Riviera cruises by Carnival did Cabo first. It is only recently that it got changed around. I am guessing there is a financial reason for this, but don't what it is. I have done this route literally 10 times always Cabo first. Maybe if they are late returning to Long Beach enough they will change back. 

[jsglow]

5 hours ago, Squirreladd said:

From my experience that trek north can be rough at times, it seems at least once a month the Panorama is late. Do the other lines doing PV last and Cabo first run into this issue with being late, or do they leave PV early enough to give them more wiggle room on the sail up?

Cabo first automatically has PV last and getting back to Long Beach using two sea days isn't much of an issue.  The problem is that both those sea days are often in a heavy north wind and not particularly appealing.  So there's trade-offs.

[Itried4498]

48 minutes ago, n6uqqq said:

Since I started cruising in 2007 the vast majority of Mexican Riviera cruises by Carnival did Cabo first. It is only recently that it got changed around. I am guessing there is a financial reason for this, but don't what it is. I have done this route literally 10 times always Cabo first. Maybe if they are late returning to Long Beach enough they will change back. 

 

I started regularly cruising in 2000 and most of my cruises have been local -- either Los Angeles, Long Beach or San Diego.

 

Los Angeles - two sea days - Puerto Vallarta - Mazatlán - Cabo - sea day - Los Angeles has "always' been Carnival's preferred route.  In 2005, they reversed the routing.  Here's a thread from Cruise Critic on it:

 

 

Unfortunately, they quickly reversed the change.  Weather conditions from Puerto Vallera back to Los Angeles can be brutal and the 60+ hours "sea days" back weren't popular.  But most years, Carnival has offered a handful of itineraries with Cabo first -- typically when sister ships from Princess and Holland America are scheduled in the ports.  

 

FWIW, in the 2000s, Carnival regularly offered itineraries skipping Mazatlán in lieu of two days at Puerto Vallarta  (including 24 hour access to the ship).  These itineraries briefly returned in the early 2010s, when Mazatlán was cancelled over safety concerns.  But most of the itineraries were two nights at Cabo, then Puerto Vallera and back.

 

There was also a period in which Carnival got upset with the port fees being charged at Puerto Vallarta and Mazatlán and skipped the ports on some itineraries for Ensenada.  At one point, they were going to do 8-day trips to Acapulco but those got moved to San Diego... Acapulco was quickly replaced and the itineraries / service from San Diego was dropped.

 

[csm5986142]

4 hours ago, red lobster said:

what you did in Mazatlan? it's the only stop I haven't planned out.

 

I know you were asking OP, but if I could make a suggestion - last fall when we sailed Panorama, we hiked up to the El Faro Lighthouse (it is a Carnival excursion).  Carnival rates it a "difficult activity level", but It's a lot like climbing Diamond Head in Hawaii (in regard to how strenuous it is).  We absolutely loved it - great exercise, amazing view from the top.   

But I should clarify, we had perfect weather for the hike (cool and breezy), I've heard the it can be brutal in hot weather.

[MissesB4409]

1 hour ago, Itried4498 said:

 

There was also a period in which Carnival got upset with the port fees being charged at Puerto Vallarta and Mazatlán and skipped the ports on some itineraries for Ensenada.  At one point, they were going to do 8-day trips to Acapulco but those got moved to San Diego... Acapulco was quickly replaced and the itineraries / service from San Diego was dropped.

 I went on a 8 day cruise out of San Diego on the Carnival Spirit. One of the stops was Acapulco and it was terrifying. I wouldn't ever go back there again. But Ixtapa/Zihuantenajo was amazing and beautiful and if I ever saw a Carnival cruise going back there, I would take it.

I was on this same sailing as the OP. I heard several reasons why we were so late returning to port. Some said it was weather related, others said it was a mechanical issue. I heard two different people say we lost an engine...We also had a medical issue on board where someone was taken off by stretcher in Long Beach. Whatever the reason was, it was still an enjoyable cruise. For those of us waiting on the Lido Deck. They opened up Guys and the Deli at 11, so we were able to get one last burger before disembarking! My group of 10 checked our luggage and we were in boarding zone 15. We were walking off the ship at about 11:45-12:00, but as we were getting off they announced that EVERYONE was able to get off. It seemed like the people who were trying to get off earlier were in a lot more chaos and frustration, but I'm assuming many of those people had flights to catch.

Edited May 31, 2023 by MissesB4409

[ASR1996]

In PV we did a beach resort for the day and had a nice time. We have done this itinerary numerus times so this time in Mazatlan and Cabo we stayed on the ship and enjoyed the Havana pool area.  In the past in Mazatlan we went to Stone Island.  The beach was nice, and we always met a lot of people to visit with.  

 

 

[n6uqqq]

8 hours ago, csm5986142 said:

 

I know you were asking OP, but if I could make a suggestion - last fall when we sailed Panorama, we hiked up to the El Faro Lighthouse (it is a Carnival excursion).  Carnival rates it a "difficult activity level", but It's a lot like climbing Diamond Head in Hawaii (in regard to how strenuous it is).  We absolutely loved it - great exercise, amazing view from the top.   

But I should clarify, we had perfect weather for the hike (cool and breezy), I've heard the it can be brutal in hot weather.

I took the Panorama down and at Mazatlan I also walked to the lighthouse in Nov. Wonderful views and a free excursion!  

[Kelownabccan]

Nice reading such positive stuff on the ship.....do not usually sail Carnival but taking my son and daughter and families on a "Family Cruise"...lol....the ship had to have a water park and slides for the kids.....maybe I can have a race down against my son in law....lol.....Cheers from Canada

[Kelownabccan]

Any tips on where to stay that will not cost "an arm and a leg" the day before the cruise leaves....we fly in the night before from Canada??....probably the wrong forum to as this???

[Itried4498]

33 minutes ago, Kelownabccan said:

Any tips on where to stay that will not cost "an arm and a leg" the day before the cruise leaves....we fly in the night before from Canada??....probably the wrong forum to as this???

 

Are you flying into LAX?  If so, you'll find your best deals on property near the airport.  Most properties include a free shuttle to/from the airport and you shouldn't have much trouble getting an Uber/ Lyft for a reasonable fare the next morning.  The drawback is there isn't much to do by the airport although there's plenty of restaurants -- if none you like near your hotel, most all deliver via Postmates, etc.

 

This forum loves to recommend making the journey to Long Beach, but you'll pay at least $100 more, so if you're looking to rest and not go out, pocket the cash and stay near LAX.

[Kelownabccan]

Thanks Itried.....yes....LAX......good thought not to go to Long Beach.....stay close to airport and uber or shuttle to the boat next day.....we have done that before going to San Pedro for Princess....same idea.....half hr shuttle ride in the am....

[cruisinfamily7609]

We are on the Panorama on 6/17. About two days ago we received an email from Carnival letting us know that the ship is experiencing an issue that is “affecting its maximum cruising speed” and the team at Carnival is working on a repair plan. As a result, they adjusted the itinerary for our cruise, now leaving Cabo at 2pm and the return to Long Beach will be at 9:30. This doesn’t just affect our cruise, but will affect all cruises from 6/3 to 7/1. It’s not that big of a time difference, but I am curious to hear if they really are able to get back to LB by 9:30 am on the day of disembarkation. Again, it doesn’t matter for us because we are driving from the central coast and back again, but for others - maybe it will really mess up travel plans. 

 

Checked in for our cruise this morning. SO much easier than back in the day when we had to do everything right at the port before boarding. I remember doing that for our honeymoon and having papers everywhere to scramble through. Then again, I also remember the days where I’d be watching my mailbox like a hawk waiting for my docs to arrive and getting everything - including the luggage tags - and being so excited. Still super excited, but it’s a teeny bit different now. Never been on Carnival before, but we’re going with our three kids this time - they’re all grown now, but not so grown they want to be on Celebrity where it’s far quieter. I think it’s going to be a blast for all of us!