Detailed Photo Review of Carnival Panorama 8 Night Mexican Riviera New Year’s Cruise 12/30/23

[notscb]

Loving your review- thanks for sharing your experience with us! Our cruise on the Panorama got cancelled for 12/9, so it's been nice to live vicariously through your photos and storytelling.

 

I hope night 1 was the only dinner drama you had to witness. Although entertaining, I'd rather eat in peace.

[MEUB1112]

5 hours ago, deladane said:

Sunday, December 31, 2023 ~ Sea Day ~ New Year’s Eve!

 

 

 

 

 

Ian woke up at 4:15am and cried “I want mommy” for 10 min because he was scared.  We calmed him down and he eventually went back to sleep, but I never did.  He woke up again at 6:15am, and I knew he was up for good at that point, so I got up, got both of us dressed, and we went up to Lido for a snack to hold us over until brunch while Jason went back to sleep.  

 

 

Random side note: In order to operate the lights in the cabin, you need to insert some kind of card or piece of paper into a slot above the light switch.  That seems like a great way to guarantee you leave your sign and sail card in the cabin when you leave because the habit would be to just turn off the lights and leave.  I’m sure I would only realize I left my card in that holder the second after the door closed and locked me out.  When we got to the cabin yesterday, there was a plain white plastic card in the slot, so we just left it there all week.  I’m not sure if Nino put it there, or if it was left behind from the people in our cabin last week, but either way, it was convenient and meant we didn’t need to find something else to operate the lights.  I have had this system on prior cruises and I always wonder why they installed it.  I understand that they want the lights turned off to conserve energy on the ship, but I would hope most people would turn off their lights the normal way, using a switch, and the number of people on line at guest services for a new key card because they locked themselves out of the cabin has more of a negative effect than any energy saved, but what do I know?

 

 

On ships that have that, we use a rewards card or even a club membership card. It's a great way to not leave S/S Card behind.

Edited January 14 by MEUB1112
Grammar

[MEUB1112]

Deladane, I'll be away for a week, Jamie and I are on the Glory out of New Orleans tomorrow. I'll tune in as I can!

[deladane]

4 hours ago, jerseygirlinAZ said:

 Not being able o get an Uber was the main reason we missed our flight.  We had a guy come up to us and ask us if we wanted a ride for $50.  He was an Uber driver, just working off the clock.  I was a little concerned about it, but not enough to say no.

 

OMG! I think the same guy approached us to ask if we wanted a ride.  By then, we had already accepted a ride through the app (but it took 24 minutes for that driver to arrive, so we had a long wait in limbo).  We were probably standing very close to you in the Uber waiting area and didn't even know it!

[deladane]

4 hours ago, notscb said:

Loving your review- thanks for sharing your experience with us! Our cruise on the Panorama got cancelled for 12/9, so it's been nice to live vicariously through your photos and storytelling.

 

I hope night 1 was the only dinner drama you had to witness. Although entertaining, I'd rather eat in peace.

 

Oh no! I'm so sorry you were supposed to take one of the cancelled cruises.  And yes, the other nights didn't have nearly the same drama at dinner as night 1.  More details and stories to come!

[deladane]

1 hour ago, MEUB1112 said:

Deladane, I'll be away for a week, Jamie and I are on the Glory out of New Orleans tomorrow. I'll tune in as I can!

 

For someone coming from Northern California, you sure do like your cruises cruises from New Orleans LOL I'll miss you following along the daily posts, but I hope you have a wonderful cruise and look forward to you checking in again when you return! Safe travels!

[MEUB1112]

Absolutely, I'll be following your adventure next Sunday,  sometime I'll tell you why we love sailing from NOLA.

[LaRue1975]

On 1/12/2024 at 8:14 AM, deladane said:

Picking up where we left off…

 

We were now left with a dilemma.  I had assumed we would be on the ship by noon at the latest, and we would drop our bags in the cabin, go get something to eat for lunch on Lido, do our self-muster, and be able to put Ian down for his usual 1pm nap in time.  It was now 1:35pm, so clearly all of those original plans were out the window… err, out the balcony door!  I knew it was possible to request a crib for the cabin from our steward, but he was no where to be found.  I was concerned that there would be a high demand for cribs given that this was a holiday week cruise with lots of families on board, so we also brought our Pack N Play from home just in case we couldn’t get a crib for Ian.  I gave it to the porters to check onto the ship because it was too much for us to carry with all our other carry on bags and Ian’s stroller.  Silly me, I assumed that FTTF meant our bags would be at the cabin by 1pm in time for Ian’s nap!  So with both of our options for Ian’s nap MIA, we decided to go up to Lido for lunch.  

 

 

 

 

 

I grabbed the copy of the Fun Times from our cabin and started to look at it as we walked to the elevators.  It said the Maitre’ D would be at the MDR from 12-2pm for questions and dining concerns.  This was ridiculous considering no one was on the ship for the first half of that time, and the vast majority of passengers wouldn’t board until after 2pm.  Jason has a few dietary concerns, so we definitely needed to speak to the Maitre’D.  Lunch would have to wait, and we made our way down to deck 3 forward to find the MDR.  There was no one else in line (likely because no one thought that this had to be their very first stop after boarding!), so I approached the desk.  Jason mentioned his dietary concerns so it could be noted in their system.  They gave him the option to pre-order his dinner each night for the following day, but he prefers to order in the moment depending on what he is in the mood for.  It’s really hard to know a day in advance if you will be very hungry for a big heavy dinner, or still be full from a late lunch and prefer a lighter option.  He opted to just order each night like everyone else, and if he had questions about what was in a dish, he could ask the head waiter.

 

I requested a high chair for Ian, and if possible, that we wanted a table just for the 3 of us because… toddlers.  She said we were at a table for 6, sharing with 3 strangers. I really didn’t want to do that because Ian is unpredictable and I didn’t want to be stressed about ruining someone else’s dinner every night if he was in a bad mood.  Why on earth would they think that was a good table for us?!  She said the other people were older adults, so it wasn’t even like they paired us with another young family with their own unpredictable toddler.  I asked to change tables so we could have our own space, and she said she would try and we should check in the app to see if the table number changed closer to dinner time.

 

With our fingers crossed, we left to get lunch on Lido.  It was hectic as it always is on embarkation day, but not nearly as bad as it could have been since so many people had yet to board, and those that were on board had access to their cabins by now so everyone was more spread out around the ship.  There was no line at all for Guy’s Burgers, so I got that, and Jason went to the Blue Iguana for tacos.  By now, it was 1:50pm and all I had eaten all day was a granola bar at 7am.  That burger has never tasted so good!!!

 

 

We sat at a table near Guy’s, with a beautiful view of the Long Beach Cruise Terminal dome and the Queen Mary docked next door.  Those white puffy clouds in the sky looked like something out of a cartoon!  They were so bright and fluffy!

 

 

We were desperate to put Ian down for a nap because he was getting cranky, so we went back to the cabin.  Unfortunately, our luggage was not there yet, and we still couldn’t find the steward to ask for a crib.  Continuing on with our embarkation day errands, we went up to Camp Ocean to get Ian registered.  On our way, we took our traditional life ring photos that we take on every cruise.  We never ended up getting one of the 3 of us, but at least we each got photos with Ian.

 

 

My experience on the expectations for priority luggage service: It’s a myth, I don’t think it actually exists on a Carnival ship. The hubby and I took a 16 year break from cruising and didn’t start again until after COVID in April 2022 and have been on 11 cruises since our restart, 4 from Galveston and 7 from Long Beach. Before turning Platinum I always purchased FTTF and have never received my luggage before the rooms were ready and I don’t think I’ve ever received it any faster than the other rooms near me. We always tip the porters well and I used to point out the priority label on the tags but it seems to be thrown on the same cart with all the other luggage so I don’t think it matters. Maybe pre Covid things were different? 
 

I was on this cruise also and am thoroughly enjoying your report, can’t wait for the rest! And I agree, our Facebook group for this cruise was the BEST and our administrator did an awesome job keeping us all informed during the repair saga.

[deladane]

2 hours ago, LaRue1975 said:

I was on this cruise also and am thoroughly enjoying your report, can’t wait for the rest! And I agree, our Facebook group for this cruise was the BEST and our administrator did an awesome job keeping us all informed during the repair saga.

 

Hi there! Feel free to add your experiences as I get to each part of the cruise!

[jerseygirlinAZ]

7 hours ago, LaRue1975 said:

On 1/12/2024 at 9:14 AM, deladane said:

 

I was on this cruise also and am thoroughly enjoying your report, can’t wait for the rest! And I agree, our Facebook group for this cruise was the BEST and our administrator did an awesome job keeping us all informed during the repair saga.

 

Jim is awesome.  I did my first Panorama cruise with him and had a blast.

[deladane]

2 hours ago, jerseygirlinAZ said:

 

Jim is awesome.  I did my first Panorama cruise with him and had a blast.

 

Agreed!  I actually met him while waiting for boarding to start on Saturday.  He was standing like 5 feet from where we were waiting and I said to Jason, OMG, I think that's Jim!  I went over to say hi and he was very friendly.  We chatted for a few minutes, but I never ran into him again during the cruise.

[LaRue1975]

6 hours ago, jerseygirlinAZ said:

 

Jim is awesome.  I did my first Panorama cruise with him and had a blast.

He really seems to be a great guy. We don’t plan to do anymore NYE cruises, it’s just not warm enough on the west coast but it would be fun to cruise in one of his groups again. 

[deladane]

We went back inside to the forward elevators, so I’ll take a moment now to talk about the elevators on the Panorama.  I’m not sure how many ships use this system, but this was the first time I cruised with “smart” elevators.  It really wasn’t that big a deal for me because, thanks to numerous posts about it on Cruise Critic, I was prepared and knew how the system worked.  Unfortunately, as I assume happens on every cruise, most passengers did not understand the rules and that’s what led to complications.  

 

There are no buttons inside the elevator.

 

 

There are touch screens in the lobby of every set of elevators.  

 

 

Each elevator is labeled with a letter (so you don’t get confused between the elevator name and the deck of the ship).  On the touch screen, you press the deck you want to go to, and the system assigns you to a specific elevator.

 

 

In case someone doesn’t know how to operate the elevator, they had a huge screen with the instructions:

 

 

The problem was that people didn’t always bother to repeat the process for every member of their party.  In a way, I get it.  If you have a family of 6, it is really tedious to type in “deck 9” 6 times.  It was even annoying for us and we only had a party of 3.  That meant that sometimes the elevator doors would open to my assigned elevator, but it was crammed full of other people and no space for me, so I had to repeat the process and wait for another elevator to come.  Similarly, people in motorized scooters really need to tell the system that they are a group of 2 or even 3 people because their scooter has a much bigger footprint than 1 single person.  The same goes for people with suitcases (ie: everyone on the first and last day of the cruise!) and strollers (we always pressed the buttons 4 or 5 times when Ian was in his stroller to make sure there was enough space for us).

 

Another issue we encountered was that I would repeat the destination request 3 times, and it would assign 2 of us to one elevator and the third person was assigned to a different elevator.  Of course, we don’t want to split up.  That’s ridiculous!  So we just all went in whichever elevator came first (and yes, I know that made us as bad as the people who only press the button once for a larger group, but I blame the system on that one!)

 

It didn’t take us long to realize a very simple way they could fix all of these problems.  Lord of the elevator, I hope you are reading this!  Listen carefully to my genius plan!!  Why can’t the touch screen first ask you to enter how many people are in your party, and then prompt you to select your destination deck?  Yes, that means when someone is taking the elevator alone, they have 1 extra button press to say they are a party of 1, but the vast majority of people using the elevators have at least 2 people in their party, if not more, so this would save button presses for all of those people.  It would also eliminate the issue of groups being split up between multiple elevators because it would know to assign you to an elevator with enough space for your group (unless you had a group of 18+ people which exceeds the elevator capacity… but does that ever really happen?!)  And obviously, it would eliminate the issue of people only pressing the button once for a group of 6 (or however many people) because you have to tell them the number of people in your group first, before selecting your destination deck.  But hey, what do I know?!

 

**end elevator rant**

[deladane]

I pressed the elevator button 3 times so Ian, his stroller, and myself could get down to deck 5 to continue our ship tour.  We exited into the atrium and spotted a beautiful floral design on the funnel.

 

 

Next, we saw the library.  I didn’t realize that newer ships still had libraries.  I would have thought a ship built in 2019 would make different use of that space in a world of Kindles and digital books.  I really liked the decor in here, and the ceiling was so pretty!  Apparently there is also a bar inside, but I never went by when it was opened to check it out.

 

 

 

There was a cute gingerbread display in the hallway.  I assume it was there for the whole Christmas week cruise, and it was also there for all of our cruise, so I was impressed that it was durable enough to still look good after 2 cruises.  I also assume that it was taken down (along with the other Christmas decorations) on our disembarkation day.

 

 

We went down to deck 4 for a quick view of the casino.  In general, I avoided walking through the casino as much as possible because it was always very smoky, but I thought we’d be safe to take a peek now as it was only 8am and it was mostly empty.

 

 

We took the forward elevators back up to deck 5 to sneak a peek at the Liquid Lounge.  It was set up for a presentation or a show, but I think they also clear out all the chairs from downstairs at night to set it up like a nightclub.  I have never personally seen it set up like a night club because that is waaaay past my bedtime.

 

 

Outside the deck 5 entrance to the theater, there is a display case showing all of the Panorama’s awards and accolades.  I love that every cruise ship has something like this and I always find it fun to check it out as it shows some of the history of the ship.

 

 

[deladane]

Just beyond the display case is a set of doors leading outside to the Lanai.  

 

 

This was one of my favorite parts of the ship.  Nearly the whole length of the ship on both the port and starboard sides, there is an open deck with nice padded loungers, dining tables, big round sunbeds, access to some of the specialty dining restaurants, and more.  The far forward section is blocked off for the crew members’ outdoor access, and the far aft section is reserved for passengers staying in the Havana cabins.  There is also a smoking section on the forward starboard side.  I love that deck 5 is always peaceful and relaxing, with no loud music or activities like on the Lido deck.  I also love that it is closer to the water level so we had a beautiful view of the ocean.  Sometimes it is so easy to forget that we are on a ship and not just a land-based resort, so it’s nice to spend some time with direct ocean views.  And the best part of the lanai?  It was never crowded!  I think a lot of people forget about this outdoor space and gravitate towards the Lido pool area, or maybe go up to Serenity.  Whenever we came down here, we had no trouble finding a lounger, and it was always quiet and fairly empty.

 

 

Since the deck extends out further than the balconies, you get a good view of the balcony cabins from here.  Of course, that means that when you are on your own balcony, it is never fully private as someone can possibly see you if they are looking up from deck 5.  Buyer beware!

 

 

 

Something to keep in mind when selecting your cabin on this ship:  I personally would never want a cabin on deck 9 midship where you are directly below the Lido pool, but there is one very slight advantage (at least for me).  If you look closely, you can see in the photo below that part of the upper deck extends out further than the balconies.  That bump out is from Lido deck, so the cabins below it on deck 9 have an extended roof above them, likely providing more shade than a standard balcony.  For me, that is a plus since I usually hide from the sun (as much as I love sunshine and sunny days, the sun does not love me and my fair skin!)  If you prefer more sun on your balcony and you pick a deck 9 cabin, make sure you are further forward than where this bump out begins, somewhere midway between the forward and midship elevators).

 

 

[deladane]

Continuing on our tour of the deck 5 lanai, we found the Guy’s Pig and Anchor BBQ Smokehouse.  There was an indoor and outdoor part to this specialty dining venue.  The outdoor area was open from noon until 2:30pm on sea days, including embarkation day.  The food is free and served buffet style with staff behind the counter dishing out whatever you ask for.  Many people think this is a great place to go right after boarding the ship because it is less crowded than Lido, but as you already saw, our embarkation day was far from ordinary and we opted to hold off on eating here until the final sea day.  More about that later, but for now, here are some photos of the outdoor section when it was closed this morning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[deladane]

Just aft of the Smokehouse, the deck is blocked off for Havana access.  There is a large revolving door to get back inside, so we entered into the Ocean Plaza.  There were always activities happening here throughout the day, from trivia to dance classes to kids club activities, and in the evening, there was usually some kind of live music and dancing.

 

 

Just forward of that was the Java Blue Cafe and Shake Spot.  This was the one place that was busy as I walked by at 8:10am (no surprise there), so I didn’t want to take a photo at that moment, and I forgot to return later in the day.

 

Up next, we came to the indoor section of the Pig and Anchor Brewhouse.  This place was always busy whenever we walked by from midday through the evening.  They often had live music performances, and there was also a tour of the brewery offered several times this week.  We have taken brewery tours before, and while we considered it on this cruise, it just never fit into our schedule.  While the outdoor buffet part of the smokehouse is free, the indoor restaurant has a separate menu for a charge per item.

 

 

 

 

The last stop on our tour was at the Pixels gallery.  I have never seen so many screens to view your photos on any other ship.  There were about 20 of them on bar height tables, plus at least 10 along the banquette seating along the windows in this area.  You can also view your photos in the Hub app, so I don’t know why it was necessary to have this many screens at the Pixels Gallery, and there were rarely more than a handful of people using them as we walked by throughout the week.

 

 

[john91498]

Nice pics. I love the sides at the Pig & Anchor. I would just get the sides to enjoy with some beers.

[clambert1273]

Enjoying so far 🙂

[Jeafl]

We really liked the Panorama both times we were on it.  I have to say, your chances of getting a picture of Java Blue without a line are pretty slim.  There was ALWAYS a line when we were there.  Even at night!

[deladane]

21 hours ago, john91498 said:

Nice pics. I love the sides at the Pig & Anchor. I would just get the sides to enjoy with some beers.

 

Thanks!  That's a good idea!  One of my favorite meals is appetizers/sides and dessert!

[deladane]

4 hours ago, clambert1273 said:

Enjoying so far 🙂

 

Thank you!

[deladane]

38 minutes ago, Jeafl said:

We really liked the Panorama both times we were on it.  I have to say, your chances of getting a picture of Java Blue without a line are pretty slim.  There was ALWAYS a line when we were there.  Even at night!

 

Haha, good to know!  I'm not a coffee drinker, so I don't usually pay much attention to the specialty coffee spot on ships 🤷‍♀️

[deladane]

It was now 8:15am.  When I left Jason in the cabin an hour earlier, we agreed to meet downstairs on deck 3 aft for Sea Day Brunch when it opened at 8:30am.  Before I walked too far forward on the ship, I decided to turn back and take the elevators down to deck 3 and wait for the dining room to open.  When I got down there, two of the waitresses were in the elevator lobby with tablets to take reservation requests.  The app doesn’t let you request a table until when the doors open at 8:30am, so this gave us a head start before the mad rush.  I told her our cabin number, and after she put in the request, I got an alert through the app on my phone that our table was requested and it would notify me when our table was ready.

 

 

Three minutes later, my phone buzzed again and our table was ready.  That was fast!

 

 

I clicked the “On My Way” button (even though I was already there), and the screen changed to indicate that they would hold my table for 10 minutes.

 

 

Just then, Jason met us outside the MDR.  Good timing!  While we waited, we talked about it being convenient to be able to text each other when we split up on the ship.  Pre-Ian, we usually made it work without being able to communicate when we went in different directions, but with Ian, we realized we needed to be able to reach each other.  We didn’t pay for the wifi package on the ship, and Jason uses an android phone so we couldn’t text over iMessage even if we did have the wifi package.  We decided to buy the chat feature through the Hub app at $5 per person for the whole cruise.  Since I’m talking about it now, I’ll just say that we have mixed reviews about the chat feature.  If your screen was off, you didn’t get an alert of a new message, so half the time he didn’t see my messages.  If you had your screen on and you were actively using the app when a message came in, it did alert you… sometimes.  We still found that we missed messages or that the messages never went through.  When it worked, it was convenient to have, but unfortunately it wasn’t reliable and didn’t work 100% of the time, so that was annoying.  I guess it had enough value to be worth $5 per person for the whole cruise, but still, when you pay for a service, you expect to get what you paid for.

 

Ok, back to brunch… The MDR doors opened at 8:26am, and we were immediately escorted to our assigned table.  We asked them to bring a high chair for Ian, which was done promptly.  It was nice to be assigned to a table by the window with such a beautiful view.  We wished we could have a table like this for dinner!

 

 

Just like at dinner, the menu is available in the app, but they will bring a paper menu upon request.

 

 

 

 

 

[deladane]

This menu was new to us since our last cruise in 2019, so I was excited to try some of the new dishes.  I ordered the bagel with lox, the skillet cake, and the 12-hour french toast (I’ll take carbs with a side of carbs, please!).  The bagel came out right away, which was convenient because then I could feed Ian ASAP.  He got the plain bagel, and I smeared the cream cheese on the lox and made a little roll-up for an appetizer.

 

 

It took 20 minutes for our hot food to come.  The french toast was very good, although it was similar to what they serve in the Lido buffet.  I’m not sure if 12 hours made any difference versus 1 hour, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

 

 

The skillet cake was the real star of the show!  It was a thick and fluffy pancake, topped with whipped ricotta and guava preserve, with marshmallows and maple butter on the side.  It was soooo good.  Definitely the highlight of the meal for me!