Carnival Panorama July 1-8, 2023 Trip Report: Bar Takeovers, Bangin' Breakfasts, & Bucket Worshipping

[TaraLynne]

13 hours ago, LincolnLog said:

I’m loving your report. We were on the week after you guys so it’s all still fresh in my mind but it’s fun to see through others eyes. We’ve done the Las Caletas day trip twice and we love it there, but we’ve never done Rhythms so I can’t wait to hear about it! 

 Yeah I kind of regret not doing an actual excursion for our beach day...I was thrown off by really mixed reviews (and very few of them, at that) for what seemed very pricey excursions. If it had just been Dean and I, I would have chanced purchasing one, but I hesitated to pay so much money for four people with some of the reviews I was seeing 😕

[TaraLynne]

14 hours ago, LincolnLog said:

I’m loving your report.

Also, thank you! 🙂

[TaraLynne]

Okay, sorry for the delay! My July travel schedule is extremely hectic and this report will have to take a backseat now and again because of that. That said, now it's time for me to talk about Rhythm[s?] of the Night! (AKA "ALMA").

 

I had trouble finding specific information on this excursion (at least via the Carnival website reviews and here in the CC forums) prior to booking. Sure, TONS of people talked it up and said how amazing it was, but there wasn't much on what it was actually *about*. I'm not sure if there's some unspoken "We don't talk about Rhythms of the Night" rule, but if there is, I'm breaking it, because it drove my type A self crazy that it was hard to find info about it.

 

Just saying, this is my spoiler warning if you don't want to know allll about this excursion before experiencing it!!!

 

As I mentioned, (if I'm remembering correctly, heh) we had to meet for this excursion at 3:30. (Of course now I'm kind of questioning whether that was the actual correct time but regardless, it was mid-afternoon-ish.) We met in the forward dining room and were herded down to board a boat directly from the ship.

 

The boat was a two-decker, with most of the seating being unattached cheap plastic yard chairs, and it was about an hour's ride to the actual excursion location. They played music and served drinks (rum punch, margaritas, or beer) the entire way.

 

(Also, some sea birds flew along with us most of the way, and I swear at times it looked like they were dancing to the music. Which quite a few other passengers commented on as well.)

 

I have to admit, I was SUPER surprised with how gorgeous the location was! I don't know if it's open during the day, but it looked like there might be some halfway decent snorkeling around the little beaches, at least one of which had hammocks as well, so hmmm...

 

 

 

 

 

 

First things first was the buffet dinner. The food wasn't amazing or anything, but it was good and plentiful - they had some salad options, two different types of rice, chicken and I believe shrimp (I'm blanking on the latter because I can't eat it anyway), mixed veggies, a potato side dish, probably some other sides that I'm not remembering, and a dessert layout with a few different kinds of cakes and cookies. Servers came around with more drinks at the beginning of the meal, and there were bars you could walk up to and order even more (included!) drinks if you were so inclined.

 

They also have a very nice, clean bathroom area, by the way.

 

I can't remember exactly how long we were given for dinner before the show, but I want to say it was about 45 minutes. More than enough time to eat and also allowed us to walk around and explore a little bit, as well as use the restrooms and grab another round of drinks before the show.

 

The show itself is in an open amphitheater with a faux pyramid surrounded by a large stage. As you can probably tell from the above photos, it was threatening to rain when we arrived so they handed out large umbrellas, which came in handy when it did in fact rain during the show. (Not a heavy rain, and it didn't last very long, thankfully)

 

Of course I had zero idea what to expect from the show, and kind of assumed that it was going to be some sort of traditional show - but it's more of a mini Cirque du Soleil! The host is very much comic relief, and while cheesy at times, it was a lot of fun and everyone in our party enjoyed it immensely. I've argued with myself over which, if any, photos to share, by the way...and I've decided on just a few of my LESS spoiler-y photos, because I think there are some parts of the show you'd really want to be surprised about 🙂

 

 

 

I will say this - after the show they IMMEDIATELY herd you back to the boat (like, they have employees trying to block the paths to the bathrooms on shore) - and the boat only has 2 restrooms. So if you think you might need to use the bathroom sooner rather than later, be like B (older stepkid) and slip out of the theater before everyone else gets up to leave, haha.

 

The boat ride back was decidedly less chill than the one out to the location - they played the music louder, still had drinks available of course, AND the employees put on another little show! I didn't watch it but the kiddos did and said they weren't sure what was more hilarious - the show itself or the guests' reactions to it 😉

 

We arrived back at the Panorama literally JUST before it was supposed to depart PV, but were once again loaded directly back onto the ship from the boat, so there's that.

 

Anyway, we all really loved this excursion and I would absolutely do it again if I ever returned to PV. Just a few notes:

- Keep an eye on the weather and dress appropriately - chances are it will be very hot and humid (oh and coming from someone with longer hair, if you want to enjoy the fresh air on the top deck of the boat there and back, bring a hair tie) - but don't worry about rain because as mentioned, they will provide umbrellas if need be

- In my research I did see people say it was really buggy and to bring bug spray - I personally have very sensitive skin and didn't want to use bug spray unless absolutely necessary, so while we had some with us I waited until we got there rather than applying beforehand, and it really wasn't that bad/I never ended up using any and didn't get eaten alive, ha

- I feel like I shouldn't HAVE to say this but don't forget cash for tips! For the crew of the boat, the bartenders and servers at the location, etc.

 

Also, this day being 4th of July and us being hopped up on rum punch, beer, what have you, Dean and I had a much later night than originally planned....so I'll get into that as soon as I have a few more minutes of free time 🙂

[rudechuck]

On 7/14/2023 at 4:33 PM, lbfluffy said:

When we were on the Miracle we had the cruise director Georgia. She did Miley Cyrus Wrecking ball skit. It was hilarious!

 I was on the Miracle for 14 days with Georgia.  She is non-stop energy.  Love her.

[sfaaa]

On 7/24/2023 at 8:19 AM, TaraLynne said:

Okay, sorry for the delay! My July travel schedule is extremely hectic and this report will have to take a backseat now and again because of that. That said, now it's time for me to talk about Rhythm[s?] of the Night! (AKA "ALMA").

 

I had trouble finding specific information on this excursion (at least via the Carnival website reviews and here in the CC forums) prior to booking. Sure, TONS of people talked it up and said how amazing it was, but there wasn't much on what it was actually *about*. I'm not sure if there's some unspoken "We don't talk about Rhythms of the Night" rule, but if there is, I'm breaking it, because it drove my type A self crazy that it was hard to find info about it.

 

Just saying, this is my spoiler warning if you don't want to know allll about this excursion before experiencing it!!!

 

As I mentioned, (if I'm remembering correctly, heh) we had to meet for this excursion at 3:30. (Of course now I'm kind of questioning whether that was the actual correct time but regardless, it was mid-afternoon-ish.) We met in the forward dining room and were herded down to board a boat directly from the ship.

 

The boat was a two-decker, with most of the seating being unattached cheap plastic yard chairs, and it was about an hour's ride to the actual excursion location. They played music and served drinks (rum punch, margaritas, or beer) the entire way.

 

(Also, some sea birds flew along with us most of the way, and I swear at times it looked like they were dancing to the music. Which quite a few other passengers commented on as well.)

 

I have to admit, I was SUPER surprised with how gorgeous the location was! I don't know if it's open during the day, but it looked like there might be some halfway decent snorkeling around the little beaches, at least one of which had hammocks as well, so hmmm...

 

 

 

 

 

 

First things first was the buffet dinner. The food wasn't amazing or anything, but it was good and plentiful - they had some salad options, two different types of rice, chicken and I believe shrimp (I'm blanking on the latter because I can't eat it anyway), mixed veggies, a potato side dish, probably some other sides that I'm not remembering, and a dessert layout with a few different kinds of cakes and cookies. Servers came around with more drinks at the beginning of the meal, and there were bars you could walk up to and order even more (included!) drinks if you were so inclined.

 

They also have a very nice, clean bathroom area, by the way.

 

I can't remember exactly how long we were given for dinner before the show, but I want to say it was about 45 minutes. More than enough time to eat and also allowed us to walk around and explore a little bit, as well as use the restrooms and grab another round of drinks before the show.

 

The show itself is in an open amphitheater with a faux pyramid surrounded by a large stage. As you can probably tell from the above photos, it was threatening to rain when we arrived so they handed out large umbrellas, which came in handy when it did in fact rain during the show. (Not a heavy rain, and it didn't last very long, thankfully)

 

Of course I had zero idea what to expect from the show, and kind of assumed that it was going to be some sort of traditional show - but it's more of a mini Cirque du Soleil! The host is very much comic relief, and while cheesy at times, it was a lot of fun and everyone in our party enjoyed it immensely. I've argued with myself over which, if any, photos to share, by the way...and I've decided on just a few of my LESS spoiler-y photos, because I think there are some parts of the show you'd really want to be surprised about 🙂

 

 

 

I will say this - after the show they IMMEDIATELY herd you back to the boat (like, they have employees trying to block the paths to the bathrooms on shore) - and the boat only has 2 restrooms. So if you think you might need to use the bathroom sooner rather than later, be like B (older stepkid) and slip out of the theater before everyone else gets up to leave, haha.

 

The boat ride back was decidedly less chill than the one out to the location - they played the music louder, still had drinks available of course, AND the employees put on another little show! I didn't watch it but the kiddos did and said they weren't sure what was more hilarious - the show itself or the guests' reactions to it 😉

 

We arrived back at the Panorama literally JUST before it was supposed to depart PV, but were once again loaded directly back onto the ship from the boat, so there's that.

 

Anyway, we all really loved this excursion and I would absolutely do it again if I ever returned to PV. Just a few notes:

- Keep an eye on the weather and dress appropriately - chances are it will be very hot and humid (oh and coming from someone with longer hair, if you want to enjoy the fresh air on the top deck of the boat there and back, bring a hair tie) - but don't worry about rain because as mentioned, they will provide umbrellas if need be

- In my research I did see people say it was really buggy and to bring bug spray - I personally have very sensitive skin and didn't want to use bug spray unless absolutely necessary, so while we had some with us I waited until we got there rather than applying beforehand, and it really wasn't that bad/I never ended up using any and didn't get eaten alive, ha

- I feel like I shouldn't HAVE to say this but don't forget cash for tips! For the crew of the boat, the bartenders and servers at the location, etc.

 

Also, this day being 4th of July and us being hopped up on rum punch, beer, what have you, Dean and I had a much later night than originally planned....so I'll get into that as soon as I have a few more minutes of free time 🙂

Thank you for your balance review. I was going to book this excursion on my upcoming  Panorama cruise but backed off after reading some recent negative reviews posted on Carnival's own website. Will definitely give this excursion another look. 

[TaraLynne]

1 hour ago, sfaaa said:

Thank you for your balance review. I was going to book this excursion on my upcoming  Panorama cruise but backed off after reading some recent negative reviews posted on Carnival's own website. Will definitely give this excursion another look. 

Okay I had to go look up the recent reviews because there were VERY few negative ones when I booked this months ago, and I see what you mean. I do agree about the safety issues with the plastic chairs on the boat, and yeah, I can see why some people complain about the music volume on the boat trip there and back (didn't bother most of the people in my party, though).

 

I've honestly never been on a cruise excursion that had AMAZING included food, so if you go in expecting a decent but not brag-worthy meal I think you'll be fine there. I think the beautiful location and the show make it all worth it anyway.

[EllieinNJ]

Can you say that Rhythm is better than an Hawaiian luau?  We went to two luaus when we were in Hawaii and they were less that half price of Rhythm.  $165pp is quite steep.

[TaraLynne]

1 hour ago, EllieinNJ said:

Can you say that Rhythm is better than an Hawaiian luau?  We went to two luaus when we were in Hawaii and they were less that half price of Rhythm.  $165pp is quite steep.

I would say similar, though Rhythm isn't about showing you a culture, it's more of a fun (and at times funNY) show.

 

That said, when was the last time you went to a luau? My husband and I were on Maui in 2022 and couldn't find a decently-reviewed luau for less than $180 per person...I want to say the one I went to on Kauai in 2015 cost around $150 but that was also 8 years ago 😕

[TaraLynne]

In my last entry I mentioned that we had a much later night than planned even after the Rhythms of the Night excursion. Let me begin by saying that removing my bra and doing burpees in front of a crowd of fellow cruise-goers somehow wasn't even the weirdest part of that night -

 

Ah, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

 

We got back on the ship right about 9 PM ship time (8 PM local time), changed (very quickly) into some 4th of July themed clothing, and ran up to the higher decks to watch us sail away from PV and also join in the holiday deck party. Unfortunately we were too late to snag any of the glowy things they'd made available (but I'm assuming they were selling them, not just handing them out? anyone have insight on this)

 

It was kind of sprinkling/lightly raining when we got out there and the deck was very wet from what I'm guessing was a much heavier rain that happened while we were still on our excursion, so we didn't stay outside for super long. People were still dancing and having fun, though maybe the kids who were actually TRYING to slip and slide on the deck weren't the, err, brightest crayons in the box. We danced to a song or two, listened to one of the crew sing the national anthem, and then they started playing "Sweet Caroline" so I was done, haha.

 

(I am, in fact, a Red Sox fan, just not a fan of a song that a man in his late 20s wrote about a 10-year-old girl after seeing a photo of her on a pony. ::shudder:: )

 

Aaaanyway, we went back inside and set about looking for something to do. While we were grabbing drinks at the Ocean Plaza bar and half paying attention to whatever was going on there (it might have been the karaoke contest but I honestly can't remember), Dean heard someone talking about the "adults-only scavenger hunt" that was about to kick off in the Limelight Lounge, and how fun it always was/would be. Needless to say, we were curious, so off we went to the Limelight!

 

The game started very soon after we got there and when they say adult, they mean it, haha. I would have felt REALLY weird if even my older stepkid (22) had been with us...let alone my in-laws or brother-in-law! As it was, we figured it was a small chance that we would see any of the people who were there again, and that was a very good thing, because very few people on our team were willing to participate. Like, at all.

 

So how did it work? Well, we didn't go into it with many expectations, but we certainly didn't expect it to be what it was. They split the entire room into a number of teams (6, or maybe 8?). I can't recall if the hosts chose a team leader or it was just whoever volunteered fastest, but that's probably neither here nor there. Then they ran through a set of what could best be described as tasks (a couple weren't actually things you had to do but things you had to have, but still). For each task, the teams needed to have a volunteer (or several volunteers, depending on the task). I don't want to spoil anything by listing a bunch of the tasks, because if you've never been to one of Carnival's "adult scavenger hunts", being surprised by what they actually ask you to do or provide is the most fun part (or at least it was for us)!

 

But yeah, having cruise staff wave around my bra in front of the crowd and then being tasked with doing burpees without it...was somehow NOT the weirdest thing that happened during that game, lol.

 

Here's us, after being two of the team members who participated the most in the scavenger hunt 😄

 

Our team didn't win and I still say we were robbed (haha) but the important thing is we had...well, if not fun, than a whooolllleee lotta laughs 😉 (no really, we did have fun though)

 

The next day was Mazatlan....let's just say I'm glad we didn't have big plans that day. It will probably be early next week before I can share more but thanks to everyone who is still following along! (July apparently turned into a big travel month for me...)

[sternfanla]

Great Review.

[EllieinNJ]

22 hours ago, TaraLynne said:

I would say similar, though Rhythm isn't about showing you a culture, it's more of a fun (and at times funNY) show.

 

That said, when was the last time you went to a luau? My husband and I were on Maui in 2022 and couldn't find a decently-reviewed luau for less than $180 per person...I want to say the one I went to on Kauai in 2015 cost around $150 but that was also 8 years ago 😕

Wow.  Didn't know the prices raised so high.  We were there in 2010.  Paid $65pp including hotel pickup in Honolulu and about $95pp through the ship in Oahu.  

[Jeafl]

1 hour ago, EllieinNJ said:

Wow.  Didn't know the prices raised so high.  We were there in 2010.  Paid $65pp including hotel pickup in Honolulu and about $95pp through the ship in Oahu.  

We just did Old Lahaina Luau last month and it was about $900 for the 4 of us.

[mamaduran2]

I am really loving your review! I am excited to read about the remainder of your trip,  unfortunately.... I'll be on the Panorama starting tomorrow! So I guess I'll have to wait to see the rest of your adventure! Thanks so much for sharing,  it has only made my excitement grow!

Edited July 28, 2023 by mamaduran2

[TaraLynne]

On 7/28/2023 at 11:30 AM, mamaduran2 said:

I am really loving your review! I am excited to read about the remainder of your trip,  unfortunately.... I'll be on the Panorama starting tomorrow! So I guess I'll have to wait to see the rest of your adventure! Thanks so much for sharing,  it has only made my excitement grow!

Thank you! I hope you're having fun on your cruise...sorry I couldn't finish my review before you went. I definitely WANTED to have it completed well before now but life has been getting in the way haha...

[TaraLynne]

Wow, I've finally made it to Mazatlan day! I hope to be a lot faster about wrapping this up now that my month of travel is over (seriously, a whole week on this cruise the first full week of July and then out of town again the past two weekends, oof).

 

Also, Mazatlan is a short day that normally wouldn't bear too much explaining, as we just spent about half of it at Stone Island - HOWEVER, this is also going to be my *as detailed as possible* explanation on HOW TO GET TO STONE ISLAND IN MAZATLAN.

 

I enjoyed another breakfast burrito (man, just typing those words has me craving one - but very specifically one of Carnival's) and we were out and about around mid-morning or so...but immediately confused about how to get to Stone Island. I had read other posts about it and people made it sound, well, a lot shorter/easier than it actually was.

 

Granted, I'm not sure that the ship is always docked in the exact same place, but first things first you have to take a tram to get to the front of the port. Maybe you could walk but I'm honestly not sure because it's a shipping yard. I'm including the video I took of our trip back to the ship after our beach day to show you what I mean, if you've never been (this is about...maybe 1/2 of the tram ride length, at most):

Okay so now let's rewind to us getting off the ship, not knowing we would need to (or should?) take a tram until we saw the lines to get on them. We only waited about 2 minutes as the trams come back to back to back, and the ride itself isn't more than a couple of minutes long. Then you walk through a little shopping area (as per the usual, haha) and can just stride right out the gates onto the street. There actually weren't that many taxis or whatever waiting right outside the gate we exited from, and I'd been told it was an easy walk to the Stone Island water taxi, so we went out the gate onto the street, went left, and began our trek.

 

There are zero signs that state "Stone Island water taxi this way" or even "Harbor this way". It's not a long walk and we're all healthy people, but it was EXTREMELY hot and humid and there is zero shade on the walk. You just walk straight down the road for maybe 8-10 minutes, depending on how fast you walk, until you get to the water again. DO NOT TAKE ANY TURNS even though it looks really weird that you're walking into another, smaller shipping area.

 

Once you're at the little harbor, there's a small building where you buy your roundtrip water taxi tickets (I wanna say it was $6-7 US for the four of us, but might cost more if you don't have small bills - also, make sure to save them to show for the return ride!). The taxi ride itself is no more than a couple of minutes but just FYI, the rickety little boat would definitely be difficult to get in and out of for someone with mobility issues.

 

When you get to the other side of the little harbor/bay, you disembark, go left, walk up the road a bit and then go right in between some buildings to get to the beach. Again, very little signage and it's maybe a 2-3 minute walk from where the water taxi drops you off.

 

I did know ahead of time that Stone Island wasn't an actual island, but figure it bears repeating, haha. When we arrived around 11 AM it was early enough that it wasn't crowded at all, but it got progressively more so throughout the day, to the point where by the time we left - just a little after 2 PM - we were dodging people left and right on our walk back down the beach.

 

Anyway, basically as soon as we stepped on the beach there was a man there talking up his restaurant to us. I know everyone goes on and on about Lety's and while I DO wish we had gone further down the beach before choosing a restaurant, we also weren't really in the mood to have to choose so we just followed this guy and ended up at Restaurant Estebin, which had showers (though you needed a coin to use them - not sure if that's the case with all of the restaurants that have showers, but maybe keep it in mind), clean bathrooms, friendly staff, good prices and really good food.

 

 

 

I don't have any pics of my husband's shrimp ceviche but he said it was really good and it was a HUGE portion. Another thing not pictured was B's burger and fries - I did taste the burger and it tasted more like a steak burger? B really liked it, anyway. The guac and chips were absolutely made fresh and some of the best I've ever had. I think in the end we paid $57 (before tip) for shrimp ceviche, guac and chips, five beers, a burger and fries, 3 bottled waters, and the coconut (no alcohol in that) pictured above.

 

Side note: When we arrived it was high tide and they didn't have chairs out for the "front" tables - we were seated at a table in the second "row" and the water was still washing up under us for nearly an hour. Just keep that in mind if you get there during high tide and sit closer to the water (as in, don't sit your stuff on the ground).

 

Yes, you will be approached by a lot of people selling things. We never found them to be overly pushy. We saw a few stray dogs and the restaurant we were at also had baby bunnies roaming around, but only in the back shower/bathroom area. The water was very cloudy, good waves for boogie boarding or body surfing though.

 

Overall, would I go back to Stone Island if we ended up in Mazatlan again? Nah, probably not. It wasn't a bad experience, I just wish we'd gone somewhere with snorkeling or wildlife, or gotten to see some of the city. (My in-laws did a pulmonia tour and while it wasn't really their thing because it was so hot out and my father-in-law has health issues that made the constant getting in and out of the pulmonia car not fun for him, they did get to see a lot of the city.)

 

Also, as I kinda got into a bit in my Puerto Vallarta write-up - the beaches near the port in PV were much closer to the ship and much nicer. They didn't have the "amenities" (aka tons of cheap restaurants with seating, good food, bathrooms and showers) that Stone Island has, but I still would have rather hung out on those beaches than this one.

 

As mentioned, we packed up to go back to the ship at about five after 2. The water taxi was right there so we didn't have to wait for that at all, and we walked back to the port. We took a few minutes to wander around the port shops a bit on our way back (literally a few minutes at most), didn't have to wait at all for the tram, and were back on the ship around 2:35 PM...where this little guy was waiting for us in our room!

 

Dean and I decided to get in some slide time and were able to go down both of them a couple of times each (and revisit that giant water bucket! lol) before it started getting crowded enough that we didn't want to wait in line. We then went to shower and get ready for dinner - it was my mother-in-law's birthday so we were all eating together in the MDR (for only the second time on this cruise, ha).

 

I want to say we agreed to check in for dinner about 6:45 with hopes of getting seated by 7, and our table was ready very fast. Dinner, on the other hand, once again took a LONG time - about an hour and a half. I had the french onion soup, which to be honest didn't LOOK all that great but tasted fine (not amazing, but good enough).

 

We also shared the alligator beignets around the table - they weren't bad, just not really my cup of tea. I've had alligator before so it's not the meat that was meh to me, more that they were cooked sort of like...hushpuppies maybe? And there was some sort of spice or herb in them that was very strong.

 

I chose the salmon that was on the menu if not every night, than most nights, as my meal. It was unfortunately REALLY dry and the amount of veggies that came with it was downright pitiful.

 

Several of our party had the lasagna and it was a HUGE portion but whether or not one would like it depends on how one likes their lasagna. It was VERY heavy on the meat and while I'm not big on a HUGE amount of ricotta in my lasagna, if this version had any it was very little. (Really, it looked like lasagna noodles with huge amounts of meat-heavy sauce in between.) No one thought it tasted bad or anything, just didn't seem to be the version of lasagna most of us are used to/like.

 

The dessert list that night was also kinda meh so I had the praline cake. It was decent but the cake itself wasn't really a cake consistency. It's hard to describe haha. I didn't love it, but didn't dislike it ::shrug::

 

Dean, the kids, and I were all pretty tired from our beach day (hot weather, swimming in the ocean, then of course Dean and I did the water park thing for a bit afterward), AND we had to meet for our Cabo excursion at 6:45 AM (ugh), so we all headed back to our rooms right after dinner.

 

Unfortunately I didn't get much sleep at all because our room was almost directly over the Havana bar and the music made it hard to fall asleep and then even after I did woke me up at least twice. Supposedly they were only playing until 11 but we didn't even turn off our lights until 10:15 or so, so it waking me up from what felt like a deep sleep....I don't know. The only other night that I'd gone to bed before 11 I definitely didn't hear them playing that loud so late, and it made for a rough night considering I had to get up so early. I hadn't ever sailed on a ship with a Havana bar but lesson learned I guess, ha.

 

Be back soon[ish] with my Cabo thoughts! Thanks again to everyone who is reading this lengthy report of mine 😄

Edited August 1, 2023 by TaraLynne

[10kfeetASL]

Thanks for the review. We're leaving on the Panorama saturday so the timing has been great.

[TaraLynne]

12 minutes ago, 10kfeetASL said:

Thanks for the review. We're leaving on the Panorama saturday so the timing has been great.

Hope you have a great time! We definitely did, overall 🙂

[Butterbean1000]

On 7/13/2023 at 3:42 PM, TaraLynne said:

Now that I *finally* finished my day 1 story, it's on to our first full day, which was a day at sea! We weren't in any hurry to get up but for some blasted reason they were making ship-wide announcements that we could absolutely hear loud and clear in our room starting at...well to be honest I can't remember if it was 8 AM or 9 AM but either way there was no staying in bed past 9:15 that day. Dean and I decided to check in for sea day brunch and this was the only time we checked in for a meal and had to wait more than about 10-15 minutes - we were given a 30-40 minute wait time but only waited about 20 minutes.

 

Granted...we then waited about 15 minutes for anyone to bring us water or coffee, then a bit longer before someone came by to take our order. It took about 15 minutes to get the drinks we ordered (just a pepsi and a pressed juice - and by the way the pressed juices, despite being just $5 each, are NOT included in the Cheers package) and food came about 5-10 minutes after our drinks. Also weirdly enough despite going to sea day brunch all three days it was offered, this was the ONLY morning they came around with the pastry service 😕

 

Food-wise, I had the eggs benedict, which tasted good, but their temperature was off - like, they were barely lukewarm. The breakfast potatoes were great (and by the way, they have the same potatoes at the buffet) but the real standout was the skillet cake. (I actually ended up ordering that skillet cake at all three sea day brunches, that's how good it was). Oh and the juice I had was the one with pineapple, beets, and ginger, and it was okay but a little, err, earthy for my taste.

 

 

So this is where I need to talk about the Carnival Hub app a bit, though. Most of us had downloaded it prior to the cruise and just a note to make sure you do this BEFORE the cruise because my two step kids hadn't and almost weren't able to do so without paying for internet, because the minute we go on the ship service was spotty as heck). All 7 of us paid the $5 for access to the chat because most of us didn't want to pay for internet - myself included, because dangit, I wanted and NEEDED a week of being almost entirely unplugged 😉

 

Some things about the app are great - like having the schedule and being able to look ahead for future days of the cruise, and even being able to see MDR menus ahead of time (though if you're looking for beyond the current day they can be a bit harder to dig up in the app). And of course the dining check in worked great, though all week I was VERY "?????? about the crowd of people always gathered outside the aft dining room (which was where we went to sea day brunch and where the your time dining was located). Did they just not download the app? Or have it and not know that you could use it to check in your entire party (or even just certain members)? Or know that they could do that but not that it actually sent you and everyone you checked in a notification when your table was ready and would be held for 10 minutes? Seriously, my inquiring mind wants to know! (Especially as more often than not we basically had to wade through all the people to get to the host)

 

The weather was also kind of useless, because for this day it was I think giving us the temperature in our first port (Puerto Vallarta) which was high 80s, whereas I doubt it was more than 65 degrees at the warmest, and on the last day it was surely giving us the Long Beach temperature, which was low or mid 70s when I don't think it got above 60 that day at all.

 

Theeennnn there's that chat option. It was a MESS. It didn't work for the better portion of this day, which is why I'm 'reviewing' the app in this particular entry. It also didn't work for the better part of Friday (our final day and also a day at sea). It also lost service for shorter periods of time (by 'shorter' I'm talking, it didn't work for an hour or so at a time versus not working for 3-4 hours at a time). Additionally, even when it wasn't giving us the "can't connect" warning, messages would look like they went through but then would disappear from chat history (and after asking the people we sent them to, they were also never received). Often a message sent only once would appear two or more times in the chat. It was just very buggy overall and IMO if you're going to charge for a service it should at least work consistently. (If it had been free it still would have been frustrating, but much less so, even if it was "only" $5 per person)

 

Okay, mini rant about the app over. After brunch, I decided to make use of my week-long thermal spa pass and spent well over an hour in the heated lounge chairs/whirlpool/aromatherapy steam room/infrared sauna/laconium room. (The Hammam room was broken that day but fixed when I went back later in the week) The aromatherapy steam room was almost too hot (I certainly don't remember the ones on other ships being as hot as this one) and I feel like the laconium room wasn't hot ENOUGH, but overall a good experience. I think of the three times I went throughout the week, only once were all the thermal lounges taken, and even that time at least one was vacated not long after I got there...which was honestly surprising because both this day and our final sea day it was COLD out.

 

After relaxing for a good long while and then showering/getting dressed, I wanted to find the rest of my party...buuuut because the chat app wasn't working (and hadn't been the entire time I was in the spa/getting ready after the spa) I had no idea where they were. No worries, I bellied up to the Parched Pig bar with my book and their signature Bloody Mary!

 

Seriously, the maple caramelized bacon was amazing. I'm not a huge bacon person and I couldn't stop eating it 😄

 

Oh, and about halfway through my drink the hub app chat started working again, so I finished my chapter and headed up to the sports square area to meet up with Dean and the kids...but because this entry is already super text-heavy I'll continue with the second half of the day later 🙂

 

When we were on the Magic a few years ago, we couldn't get the chat to work for us either.  We took our phones (Androids) down to GS and they couldn't get it to work either.  We were refunded all our charges.

[TaraLynne]

23 minutes ago, Butterbean1000 said:

When we were on the Magic a few years ago, we couldn't get the chat to work for us either.  We took our phones (Androids) down to GS and they couldn't get it to work either.  We were refunded all our charges.

Yeah we had a mix of Androids and iPhones and it was the same problem across the board, though weirdly enough it seemed to work better on my MIL's older iPhone and my husband's older Android. It worked enough for us that I didn't bother trying to get a refund, but still super frustrating to assume it would work and have it not do so for hours at a time, more than once throughout the week 😕

[EllieinNJ]

I can't remember if you said which cabin # you were in but now you got me a little worried.  We are in cabin #6452 that is above the Havana area.  We usually don't go to bed before 11-12 so hope it won't be noisy.

[TaraLynne]

2 hours ago, EllieinNJ said:

I can't remember if you said which cabin # you were in but now you got me a little worried.  We are in cabin #6452 that is above the Havana area.  We usually don't go to bed before 11-12 so hope it won't be noisy.

I don't know if I ever said, tbh, but we were in 6455. The ONLY night it was a problem was the night before Cabo because we needed to go to bed earlier than we usually would for the early morning the next day...still, I wouldn't book a room over that bar again myself.

[TaraLynne]

As mentioned we had to be up bright and early for our Cabo excursion the next day - we were doing the Polaris 4x4 one. Just a note - when booking through the Carnival website this one looks more than a little bit weird, at least if you're doing it for the 4-person version. Basically it was $400 total for 4 people, but you only check off one person in your party (otherwise it will charge you, say, $800 if you check off 2 people)...which sort of makes sense, only it was giving me an odd warning about them not having enough in stock for my whole party? I don't know, I called and made sure that I was doing it right and that by purchasing the 4-person one it would guarantee all 4 of us could go on it despite that weird warning, they sort of confirmed it would, and in the end it all worked out ::shrug::

 

Anyway, it was so early that the only thing open was the generic breakfast buffet, which was...fine I guess. They at least had the same potatoes that I had eaten at sea day brunch, which are delicious (something about the seasoning, yum).

 

Question: Is there no free room service anymore? If there is, we never figured out how the heck to order it, because the only option in the app was a handful of items that all cost extra. Room service breakfast used to be my go-to on early mornings like this so 😞

 

We were already tendered in Cabo by the time we went up to the buffet (around 6 AM):

 

 

Oh, and I don't know if they've been doing this for a long time (maybe I was never on the Lido early enough to see it on previous cruises) but I thought it was so cute that they had all the towel animals on the deck chairs!

 

We met in the forward dining room at 6:45...only to realize that Dean didn't have his driver's license, something the excursion ticket said (in very, very tiny sort of afterthought text) we needed. So he RAN back to the room to get it. They hadn't even called our excursion forward yet, and didn't for another like 5-6 minutes after he left.

 

When ours did get called, I approached the crew member making the announcements and she told us to wait right there for him. It was all very confusing because he never showed back up, she told us we had to go down with everyone else, as usual the stupid messenger app wasn't working...anyway, after all that anxiety I guess he had gone down to the exit area based on what he was told by a DIFFERENT crew member, but in the end it didn't matter because even though they were calling people to get on the tenders by excursion everyone just mish-mashed together on the stairs and in the lines down to the tender boats and by the time we got off the tender at the port, there was still a line of people checking in for our particular excursion.

 

Oh, and turns out he didn't even need his license, because they told us we could choose two drivers, and when I said B and I didn't have our licenses the person checking us in said we didn't really need them anyway. Sigh.

 

After checking in we waited around for a couple of minutes, then were walked to the edge of the port area to board a bus for the 40-ish minute ride to the location. It turned out to be a really nice beachfront eco farm and even had a little coffee bar (thankfully, I needed an iced latte for such an early morning, ha).

 

 

So let me get into the positives of this excursion: Dean and B had an awesome time driving the Polaris vehicle (sort of like a dune buggy), and it was also really fun sitting in the front. The back, meh, still fun but not as much as the front seats. It also included free booze and a full meal afterward - the food wasn't amazing, but as excursion food goes it was pretty good. Our guide, Bic, was also really awesome. Plus in terms of cost for four people ($400 total) it was technically one of the more affordable *well-rated* excursions available through Carnival.

 

On the other hand...I actually chose this excursion over another one because the other one I was interested in was the camel ride on the beach, but after reading a lot of reviews, people talked a bunch about how they had to wait around for 20-40 minutes to ride the camels after arriving at the location, and that they weren't allowed to bring their phones with them to take their own photos, because the company wants you to be their seriously overpriced photo package.

 

So imagine my not-super-pleasant-surprise when we arrived at the location for our excursion....and it was the same company (Cabo Adventures, I think). Only this time the camel group got called forward (as did every other one) before we did, so we were the ones waiting around for about 30 minutes before we were debriefed and kitted out for our 4x4 Polaris adventure.

 

Aaaand guess what? We weren't allowed to bring phones or cameras either! Seriously, they basically hover around you while you're stuffing any bags you brought and emptying your pockets into lockers.

 

Obviously you have to wear a helmet, but because of how dusty it is you need to wear goggles and a bandana as well. YES, you do get VERY dirty, so wear clothes you don't care about! (Thankfully I knew about this ahead of time thanks to the reviews I read)

 

I don't remember exactly how long the ride was, but I'd hazard a guess at 45 minutes. However, please don't quote me on that. Again, it was really fun, but so frustrating that we were forced to store our phones and therefore unable to take any pictures of our own. (And again, this is a mostly-enclosed vehicle with one of four people having to drive...IMO there's really no safety reasoning or whatever behind them not wanting people to bring their own phones/cameras.)

 

We didn't bother even looking at the photo packages because I knew from the camel excursion reviews that they'd be really expensive, and anyway, with the helmet/goggles/bandana getup you wouldn't have been able to tell who we were.

 

After the 4x4 ride we boarded an open-air truck for a couple-minute-long ride to the pavilion (which had really pretty views) where they served lunch and drinks, including going around and pouring everyone tequila shots and doing a group toast.

 

 

After about 40-45 minutes for lunch (which really didn't need to be THAT long, but of course they want you to take some of that time to look at the photos/try to get you to buy them if you do, and we didn't bother with that) we boarded the open-air trucks again for the couple-minute-ride to the parking lot to board the buses back to the port.

 

Did we have a great time? Yes, and Dean and B especially loved it. Was it worth the money? Yeah, I'd say so. But I do wish I'd just ignored them and snuck my phone with me because it's really silly that they say it's not allowed yet can't give you any actual reason as to why, especially for these particular vehicles.

 

The buses dropped us back off at port within 10-15 minutes of when we HAD to be back on the ship. We felt really pressed for time and while we did run to the nearest restrooms before heading back to the tenders, we didn't get to actually check out the port itself or do any last-minute shopping...or at least, it didn't SEEM like we had time, but in reality we did probably have another 10-15 minutes to do so, because the line for the tenders was pretty long (and also weirdly disorganized once you got close to the front, because eventually it split into two lines and there was someone telling you where to go but they...didn't seem to have any idea what they were doing...as in, they told us we had to go to the right, but that tender had just left, and then we watched about 20 people who were behind us get right on the left-hand line tender).

 

Anyway, back to the ship we went, and I'll be back as soon as I can (uh, the next day or two) to finish writing about the rest of our day 🙂

 

 

[Beav1279]

There is a QR code on the wall right above the desk where the stateroom phone is located. It pulls up the breakfast menu on your phone. Then you use the room phone to call room service and order what you want. There isn't a way to order ahead anymore. The included menu is pastries, cereal, yogurt, juice, and coffee. 

[TaraLynne]

2 hours ago, Beav1279 said:

There is a QR code on the wall right above the desk where the stateroom phone is located. It pulls up the breakfast menu on your phone. Then you use the room phone to call room service and order what you want. There isn't a way to order ahead anymore. The included menu is pastries, cereal, yogurt, juice, and coffee. 

Thank you! I don't remember seeing a QR code above the phone but then...I didn't know what to look for. I asked some other cruisers throughout the week and they didn't know either so apparently this isn't well known? Weird.

[EllieinNJ]

On 8/2/2023 at 10:50 AM, TaraLynne said:

I don't know if I ever said, tbh, but we were in 6455. The ONLY night it was a problem was the night before Cabo because we needed to go to bed earlier than we usually would for the early morning the next day...still, I wouldn't book a room over that bar again myself.

I took a look at the deck plans.  We are in a balcony above cabins on the port side but not too far from the Havana bar.  You seemed to be on the starboard side in an inside directly above.