Mitsugirly's PANORAMA detailed review and pictorial

[purpleally]

Love, love, love, 💜💜💜💜💜💜 the whale shots!  TY

[mitsugirly]

2 hours ago, Oakman58 said:

Great photos of the whales.  You made the right choice not doing a pirate boat, too many people and getting a good position for pictures is a challenge.

 

Thank you!  Really? I would think if you are higher up though, you'd have a better chance of seeing them coming up to the surface to breach. Like a birds eye view.  But trust me, I would get in a good position. They don't know me! I have to have the perfect shot for my reviews. LOL

 

 

2 hours ago, Butterbean1000 said:

It must have been so thrilling to be that close to these majestic animals. It almost seems like they were putting on a show for you.

 

Beyond thrilling. They were definitely putting on a show that day. So many of them too. I really thought either we wouldn't see any because they had already migrated or we might see one or two. I was so happy. 

 

2 hours ago, mlshum said:

The whale pics and your descriptions are amazing!  I’m so glad you found them!  I’m headed to Alaska next summer and seeing the whales is pretty much a bucket list item.  Fingers crossed that my experience will be as good as yours!

 

So sorry to hear about Karl’s seasickness.  I have heard that is absolutely miserable.  Glad he seems to have recovered quickly.

 

You mentioned jumping off waterfalls in Dominican Republic.  Was it the Waterfalls of Damajauga?  We had a blast doing that, too!  I always get excited when someone else mentions it.  Lol

 

Thanks for the review!  Your reviews (and Jamman) were some of my favorites here on Cruise Critic and a big part of the reason I’ve started writing myself.  Thank you!

 

Thank you! It's been on my bucket list for ages. I really hope you get to see them in Alaska. If (when) we go to Alaska, I will be booking another whale tour for sure!

 

Yes, the waterfalls at Damajauga! They were so much fun. You must have missed my review of it. (Located HERE) We had a blast. 

 

Aww thanks for the comment about the reviews. I appreciate it. I love doing them but man they are time consuming. 

 

 

2 hours ago, Prometheus1 said:

Wow those whale pictures were amazing!! Really enjoying your review

 

Thank you so much!

 

1 hour ago, Daruma said:

I just wanted to say, thank you for being a nurse. 

 

Having been in the hospital a time or two, and coming to know how invaluable nurses are... you're all very under appreciated, not to mention, under paid... so THANK YOU for what you do. 

 

Oh... yeah... nice review too 😂

 

Aww thanks! I really appreciate that!

 

53 minutes ago, Destaw71835 said:

Wow! I’m glad you had whale sightings. 

 

Me too! I was so excited. 

 

17 minutes ago, purpleally said:

Love, love, love, 💜💜💜💜💜💜 the whale shots!  TY

 

Thanks so much!

[mitsugirly]

So here's a video I did of our whale watching tour. I hope you enjoy it. I really wish that I would remember to hold my phone sideways when I use it for video's. It never matches my GoPro video and you can always tell when I've switched to my phone by the small picture. Oops, one day I will get the hang of it. lol

 

 

 

 

 

I hope you enjoy it. 

[SenatorsFan]

Great whale pictures and video! That would have made my heart excited also. 🥰

[Beachiekeen]

Wow, amazing video! Thanks for sharing! 

[Laszlo]

Great photos and review Kim!

[mitsugirly]

2 hours ago, SenatorsFan said:

Great whale pictures and video! That would have made my heart excited also. 🥰

 

Thank you! My heart went pitter patter for sure. 

 

2 hours ago, Beachiekeen said:

Wow, amazing video! Thanks for sharing! 

 

Thank you!

 

2 hours ago, Laszlo said:

Great photos and review Kim!

 

Thanks so much!

[mitsugirly]

So before pulling out of port, I check in with Kendra. Oh Kendra...who is watching the animals while we are gone like always and playing house. 

 

She says "Does Sakari's bird fly now?"

Me "Well, his wings are growing in and he's learning. We need to clip them again. Why?"

Kendra "Well....he flew down from her loft in her room and then out of her room. No worries though, I got the dogs out of the house before they got to him but he crashed into a few things"

Me "YOU CAN'T LET HIM OUT OF HIS CAGE UNLESS HER DOOR IS SHUT!!! OMG!!"

Kendra "Well, I think he's hurt."

Me "WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE'S HURT??? You just said the dogs didn't get to him????"

Kendra "I think his wing is broke. It's bad"

 

**Remember right before our last Spring Break Cruise her bird flew down stairs and the dogs got him and killed him the night before our cruise...it was heart breaking. Sakari loved that bird. She saved her money and decided this time she wanted a parrot...and not just any parrot...one that cost her $3500 type of parrot!***

 

I just sat there in silence. I didn't know what to say or do. I'm so hurt and mad at this point. Then Kendra says "I think I might have sat on it". Wait what??? You said he crashed into things then you changed it to you sat on it? Which is it.

 

APRIL FOOLS! I'm going to kill her and Kam when I get home now. So, I start to tell Sakari this story and as I go along, she's tearing up. I immediately blurted out "THEN SHE SAYS APRIL FOOLS!!" I couldn't let her think that for more than a few seconds. She was getting very emotional. Never a dull moment with Kendra I tell ya!

 

 

Alrighty then. We all gathered our composure and then headed off to....tonight's big event....THE SILENT DISCO PARTY!! I have never been to one of these and I know that NCL used to have them back in the day (not sure if they still do) but Sakari has seen them online before and we couldn't wait. 

 

First we stopped by Pixels to take a look at our pictures. We found our Bon Voyage picture

 

 

Sakari said when they were up at the Sports Deck when we were coming in this morning, there was a photographer up there taking pictures of them...we seen them too but did not purchase them. 

 

 

 

 

 

Ok, time to get this party started!!!

 

 

 

 

 

You check out the headphones (only one person in your party gets everyone's) and there's 3 channels to pick from at any given time. Everyone is singing and dancing to their selected channel and then you randomly change the channel to something else. We had THE BEST TIME EVER! It was so much fun to try to figure out what the other person was listening to and dancing to. Oh my gosh! Why haven't we done these before???

 

Of course Sakari always has to do her little feet moves that a group of kids taught her back on a cruise years ago...when she wasn't so shy to meet new people and go to the kids club. 

 

 

 

Then you have everyone singing together on the popular channels..

 

 

We really didn't want to leave but it was now 8:15pm and we hadn't ate dinner yet. Can you believe that Karl was not even thinking about food until I mentioned it? 

 

We headed to the buffet to eat and we were surprised to see that the Silent Disco Party was still going on. I had almost wished that we hadn't turned out headphones in at this point.

 

So we just decided to go see a show instead. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tonight was a guy named Jonathon Timpanelli. He was on America's Got Talent and is famous for being able to roll his eyebrows in a very unique way. It's pretty hilarious. But he mostly sang older songs and he refers to himself as "The Old Soul". Man could this guy sing! He was great!

 

 

 

 

We were back to the room and in bed by 10:30pm. It had been the most eventful day ever. Who could ask for anything better than whales, sea lions and silent disco parties? Life is good. 

[mitsugirly]

Ok, that's all I'm doing for today. Since we had a cruise and multiple other things going on this month, we were unable to "officially" celebrate Sakari's birthday in style. Tonight is her big birthday bash and we have been working on it for days now. She's having a GLOW PARTY and we are going all out! It's going to be awesome!!!

 

I will catch up with everyone again tomorrow...if I survive all these teenagers tonight. Pray for me!

[Destaw71835]

Your daughter and granddaughter…. Big funny but 😂. SMH

 

Happy Birthday Sakari!

[rzyjzq]

Loved your Cabo pics and you and Sakari got some really great shots of the whales.  Glad it was a successful, fun day.

 

Happy birthday to Sakari and hope you survive!!

 

Susan

[riktishaw]

We were on that pirate ship and we definitely did not notice whales or were even looking for them. It was all party, drinking, and a show. Some people snorkeled for like 15 min max. 
 

I love that you captured the silent disco. We are in that crowd- SO FUN! 

[LaRue1975]

I am so excited you got to see the whales and boy howdy you saw whales! I thought it would be too late in the season but you saw way more than I did on the New Years cruise and in mid February which is prime whale season. We saw breaches both times but not as many as you did and no babies. The small boat is definitely the way to go. I was on the big Carnival excursion boat both times and while fun you do not get as close to the whales and they can’t chase as well as the smaller boats. We’ll be back and I am definitely booking a small boat in port next time. Good job making them honor the quoted price!

 

Your pics are fabulous, Cabo is a gorgeous port and you captured it beautifully. Our first time there was in October and the water was warm but no whales. I have a Pancho pic so I’ll include it in my comment, he’s the best! Can’t wait for the rest of your review, we leave for Fort Lauderdale Tuesday morning and are boarding the Celebration next Saturday for a B2B. I’ll have something to read on the plane, thanks! 

Edited April 28 by LaRue1975

[mitsugirly]

12 hours ago, Destaw71835 said:

Your daughter and granddaughter…. Big funny but 😂. SMH

 

Happy Birthday Sakari!

 

Like mother (Kendra) like daughter (Kam)...I just don't know what to do with these two!  😄 

 

 

12 hours ago, rzyjzq said:

Loved your Cabo pics and you and Sakari got some really great shots of the whales.  Glad it was a successful, fun day.

 

Happy birthday to Sakari and hope you survive!!

 

Susan

 

Thanks so much and I have survived!  

 

7 hours ago, riktishaw said:

We were on that pirate ship and we definitely did not notice whales or were even looking for them. It was all party, drinking, and a show. Some people snorkeled for like 15 min max. 
 

I love that you captured the silent disco. We are in that crowd- SO FUN! 

 

I'm glad I made the right decision then. Maybe some day we'll do the pirate ship for the fun they have and not for whale watching excursions. 

 

Wasn't the silent disco fabulous?? I'm going to every one of them from now on!

 

5 hours ago, LaRue1975 said:

I am so excited you got to see the whales and boy howdy you saw whales! I thought it would be too late in the season but you saw way more than I did on the New Years cruise and in mid February which is prime whale season. We saw breaches both times but not as many as you did and no babies. The small boat is definitely the way to go. I was on the big Carnival excursion boat both times and while fun you do not get as close to the whales and they can’t chase as well as the smaller boats. We’ll be back and I am definitely booking a small boat in port next time. Good job making them honor the quoted price!

 

Your pics are fabulous, Cabo is a gorgeous port and you captured it beautifully. Our first time there was in October and the water was warm but no whales. I have a Pancho pic so I’ll include it in my comment, he’s the best! Can’t wait for the rest of your review, we leave for Fort Lauderdale Tuesday morning and are boarding the Celebration next Saturday for a B2B. I’ll have something to read on the plane, thanks! 

 

 

Yea, it sounds like I made the right decision for the whale watching tour. 

 

Oh my gosh I love your Poncho picture. I honestly had almost considered doing a fishing tour just so we could be on a boat for him to jump on and us get up close. He's just the cutest!

 

I hope you have a WONDERFUL cruise next Saturday!

[mitsugirly]

Well I survived the birthday party! It was a BIG HIT! Sakari absolutely loved it and after 3 days of decorating (seriously...Kendra and I decorated my sons basement for 3 days to make this happen) she was shocked at what we managed to do. They danced the night away and she had so many friends there. Then half of them headed back to my house for a sleep over. They are starting to come alive at the moment and I'll have another busy day of going back over to my sons to clean up everything today. So, I'm going to try to get some more of this review done before then.

 

 

APRIL 2: LA PAZ

 

 

So this port was a struggle for me to find something and here's why...

 

I found the most beautiful place I wanted to go to, Balandra Bay, and knew this was what we just had to do. I watched video's online and looked at pictures and looking at it, it was the closest thing to what looked like the blue Caribbean water. I wanted to surprise Karl at what the water could look like. 

 

After deciding on this place, I noticed that Carnival was sold out of this excursion and the task of how to get there began. I would have to book with an outside vendor...which you all know is something I usually always do. However, the reason I wasn't wanting to do that is that is that I was aware that they only allow so many people here during the day. They have two different time slots you can enter, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. You only get to stay for one or the other. If you was to do this on your own (say by driving or taking a taxi there), you risk the chance of not getting in at all. 

 

I also read that if you come by boat, you are not limited. So boat it was! After contacting different places, I found a tour guide (Tuna Tuna Tours) that did an excursion there that also included...get this...SWIMMING WITH SEA LIONS! I knew I had to book that tour. 

 

We spoke back and forth for quite some time and I finally booked. This tour was to include Ceviche, burritos, drinks, fruit, snacks and underwater videos and pictures of the swim with the sea lions, wetsuits and the National Park Permit to get in. It sounded perfect so we booked. 

 

The only issue was that we had to find our own ride to the dock they were located at and we would be on a time crunch (so wouldn't be able to take the free bus from the port into town and it didn't go as far as the location we needed to be at). 

 

I had trouble booking online with the link they gave me. After multiple tries, they finally just told me to bring cash. Ok, I can definitely do that. THEN.... 3 days before we were to leave for the cruise I get an email from them....

 

 

Do you think you can pay in cash for this tour?

The thing is that we had to rent another boat because we didn't have availability anymore and they only accept cash.

 

Um ok, isn't that what we discussed already? Cash...as soon as I answered yes, he emailed back an hour later saying "

 

I have bad news.

The owner of that boat that we were going to rent just told me that his boat’s engine broke down and he won’t be able to fix it soon.

I could try to get another boat but since it’s high season I am not sure if I will be able to find another one.

 

We still have 4 spots available that day for the Whale Sharks, Sea Lions and Balandra tour.

Would you like to join us on that one instead?

 

Regular price is $3,200 MXN per person but since we made the change we will charge you the same price as just the Balandra tour which is $2,200 MXN per person. 

Please let me know if you would like to do this.

 

WHALE SHARKS...the best excursion we've ever done in Mexico...I would love to do that again and give Karl the opportunity to see them as well. However, the ONLY reason why I didn't book this tour was the time frame. I was afraid we wouldn't have enough time to do all 3 of them. But he assured me we would be back in time. OK...we're doing this!!  I couldn't contain my excitement and even though I was going to make it a surprise for Sakari and Karl, I blurted it out! So another exciting day for us coming right up.

[mitsugirly]

So I'm going to back track to yesterday, while in Cabo, for SOME reason (because I NEVER do this) I decided to check my email. I noticed an email from Tuna Tuna Tours. Hmmm, what could this be? I get this notice:

 

 

We are supposed to have bad weather tomorrow (very windy) starting at 10 AM approx., so we will try to only do the Whale Shark part and not do the Sea Lions and Balandra part. Is that ok with you?

 

Please let me know if you are still interested.

 

This brought on more questions from me because if the weather is going to be bad...how are we going to be able to swim with whale sharks?? I told them I was confused because we would be further out in the ocean...wouldn't it be more windy out there than at the sea lions close to shore or in an enclosed cove like Balandra Bay?  Then I ask how much the tour was going to be since we were only doing the whales now.

 

Unfortunately I don't think we will be able to go out tomorrow, it seems like they will close the port due to high winds.

I will confirm with you later, once they give the official announcement.

 

Then a mere 11 minutes later I get this...

 

We will have to cancel the tour, I am sorry.

They just announced that the port is closed.

 

Well crap....what do we do now? I'm a planner and have no plans for this port now. The only thing we can really do now is take the free bus to town and .... walk around? How boring is this going to be?  Needless to say, I was very disappointed. 

 

 

So, we were up at 6:45am and coming into La Paz. The tv screen said it was only 66 degrees outside. Am I really on a cruise with this kind of weather??? What is wrong with me. I'm going to freeze this entire cruise. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is by far the strangest looking port we have been to. It looks like they just picked a spot that had nothing there and said "Hey, we will make this a cruise ship port". 

 

 

 

 

 

We could see the buses coming in for all the cruisers to use to go into port. Most of them looked like tour buses.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

We headed to breakfast and we weren't going to be on a time crunch to get off the ship only to wander around aimlessly, looking like tourist who are lost.

 

 

 

 

 

We were to be in port from 8-5pm.

 

Here's a brochure they gave us to help with things to do and navigation. I guess we looked like we were going to need some help here. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

We finished breakfast and went back to the room to grab our ....things? Wait, there's nothing to grab this time around. Oh that's right...we are doing nothing! Yes, I'm still a little salty at this point. However, I decided to at least pack a small bag and take some towels. I remember reading the buses do stop at a beach along the way. There's still hope...

 

We were off the ship by 8:30 to head to the buses. Will you look at this water and weather? Does it look like it's bad? Does it look windy? I'm really left wondering about what they said about closing the port. However, others on our roll call had stated that Carnival even closed their tours here. I think it was a bad call myself...if that was true.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is the pricing for Taxi's if you want to use them. But, why would someone pay $40 to go to La Paz downtown where we can pay nothing on the bus? Ok, I get it, it's private but really?

 

Maybe I should have inquired about the trip to Balandra Bay for $25 to see if they would have taken us there.

 

 

 

 

It was 9:40 as we walked out of the building to the bus. The bus they put us on was like a regular transportation bus you find in the city. However, they did have the luxury tour buses as well. We just didn't get one. 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

The first stop was at the beach: Coromuel. 

 

 

We arrived at 9:02am so it is a short ride here. 

 

I have to say, it was a very pretty place for sure! We might just be able to have a good day. I mean any day at a beach is better than at home or working right?

 

 

 

Ahh, the beautiful beach with barely any waves or wind...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was definitely a beautiful day out!

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

We picked out a palapa and put our things under it and decided to walk the beach to explore. 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh no!!! A trigger fish. I love them. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just look at those almost non-existent waves and wind...

 

 

 

 

The building that you would find restaurants, several convenience stores and the bathroom. 

 

 

[blarko]

21 hours ago, mitsugirly said:

So here's a video I did of our whale watching tour. I hope you enjoy it. I really wish that I would remember to hold my phone sideways when I use it for video's. It never matches my GoPro video and you can always tell when I've switched to my phone by the small picture. Oops, one day I will get the hang of it. lol

 

 

 

 

 

I hope you enjoy it. 

Awesome video!!! Did it make you nervous that the whales seemed to get so close to the small boats that were in the water?

[mitsugirly]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They did have some construction going on over on the side.

 

 

 

 

They also had military presence on the beach. (I would notice this at every port stop as well). 

 

 

 

One thing I have to mention here (and found it odd) was that you had to grab toilet paper from a dispenser PRIOR to going into the bathroom stall. The stalls did not have any. So if you missed this, you were left to drip dry. I always check for toilet paper when I get in a stall so I was one of the lucky ones...others that came in after me was not and I had to help a few people out. lol

 

 

The kids decided they were going to get in the water. I felt how cold it was and I knew right then and there...I would not be going in. Heck, I couldn't even sit under our palapa in the shade because it was too cold. I planted myself out in front of it in the sun and bundled up with a beach towel. It wasn't long before the hubby did the same.

 

Sakari was coaxing Karl into the water...I seen a few quick tugs here and there and he was not liking it. 

 

 

 

Little by little they edged their way out into the ice cold water. 

 

 

 

It definitely took awhile, but they made it out waist deep. It didn't last long before they came back in trust me. It was just too cold to swim and enjoy it. But, at least they could say they were in the ocean.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well we all knew this wasn't the perfect "beach day" weather and decided it was time to pack up and move on. We spent a total of 2 hours here, drank a few cans of pop, enjoyed the beautiful scenery and that was all that we could really do here today. I imagine it would be a great place to hang out at if it was warmer. I wouldn't hesitate to come back again. 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

3 minutes ago, blarko said:

Awesome video!!! Did it make you nervous that the whales seemed to get so close to the small boats that were in the water?

 

I'm not gonna lie...I remember reading about a tour that was whale watching in Cabo back in 2015 and a breaching whale slammed into the boat and a lady died. These whales were VERY active but our tour guide and captain watched very closely and kept a safe distance away. I also noticed that where the whales were, you would see seagulls hovering above them. I would watch the seagulls location and just knew that a whale was about to come up. There's always that possibility it could happen again. I mean they are wild animals in their own habitat and we are merely there to observe. So yes, I was nervous at times because you never know what to expect. But oh the excitement! 

[mitsugirly]

We headed out to the bus stop and it was perfect timing. There were 3 of them pulling right up...the nice coach style buses too. 

 

Along the way we would see the statues at the Malecon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were off the bus by 11:15am so it was a very short ride. We started walking toward the Malecon 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They had so many beautiful statues along the malecon.

[mitsugirly]

At this point we found a line to take pictures with the LA PAZ sign. We knew we had to have ours done. 

 

Once we got up there, I handed Karl my phone to take pictures. There was a guy standing there that was taking pictures for everyone and wanting tips. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We knew we wanted Karl in the picture as well so we did end up handing my phone to the guy standing there. He snapped several pictures and handed it to me and wanted his tip. Me, being the frugal photographer I am, decided I wasn't handing over any money until I reviewed the pictures. I looked at them and showed the hubby and we were completely shocked at what he had taken...like seriously shocked. He probably took around 10 photos and this is just an example of what he did. 

 

 

 

Us not looking at the camera, us girls with ours hands up because our hair was blowing, walking up to the sign, deciding where to stand and switching positions, Sakari with her hand across her face, it was a mixture of a hot mess! I said, "I'm not paying for that crap are you kidding me"? We didn't have one good picture. I wonder how many people he does a day and just snaps pictures without people being ready and gets paid for it. Let this be a lesson...check your photos first before tipping someone to do a crappy job!'

 

We decided to move on and continue down the Malecon.

 

 

 

 

If you need to stop and use the restroom, this is the place: