This was a great cruise...cruising in general has lost some allure for us because it feels more controlled and inflexible compared to our last few vacations. We like more control of the details and a loose itinerary. There will surely be times when we want this more controlled experience & we will definitely come back someday to Carnival Panorama.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
We were notified a day ahead that our embarkation time would be 30 minutes later than originally scheduled. We came at the new time and it was extremely smooth & it felt like we were on the ship in no time.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
5 out of 5
We really enjoyed 90 percent of the food in the main dining room. We enjoyed Guys burgers & Blue Iguana. We only used the buffet once & it was mediocre as we expected.
Horizon and Vista Restaurants
5 out of 5
Really enjoyed 90% of the food in the Horizon Dining Room. We had the best MDR service of any of our cruises! Win, Cesar, & Renderlyn were completely outstanding!
Guy's Burger Joint
5 out of 5
Excellent as always. Tasty & fast. Mix some mayo with Guys bourbon brown sugar sauce (in the squeeze bottle) at the condiment station for an incredible fry dipping sauce.
BlueIguana Cantina
5 out of 5
Enjoyed the tacos, the burritos, and the breakfast burritos...all were great. Fast service. Wish they stayed open a little later.
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
We had fun on the sports deck, sky ride, ropes course, mini-golf, comedy shows, just chilling in deck chairs which were not hard to get. The last sea day had bad weather and most of the outdoor stuff was closed, even some of the outdoor decks and seating. We struggled with some boredom that day. We did go to Celestial Strings and it was ok, stage shows aren't really our interest. Most of the indoor activities that day felt more targeted to an older demographic.
SportsSquare
5 out of 5
Lots to do & mini golf on a cruise is 10× more fun than on land. Enjoyed the ropes course too.
Carnival Waterworks
5 out of 5
We had no kids with us but we still played a little in the waterworks. I like this option for cooling off way more than the pools.
Sky Ride
5 out of 5
More fun than I expected! Glad we tried it & happy they let me use my gopro on my head.
Entertainment
4 out of 5
I loved the mix of genres played by the DJ's on the lido deck. Comedy shows were kinda fun. We aren't really stage show enthusiasts but we did go to Celestial Strings & it was ok. I liked listening to the musical acts while they performed in areas like the atrium...Flying Fingers stood out the most. I enjoy the music more in that environment without the theatrics.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
MDR service was the best we've ever had! (Win, Cesar, Renderlyn). Excellent Stateroom Attendant Francisco, who has been with Carnival for something like 29 years...he was a daily friend & so great to talk to. 99 percent of staff we encountered were fantastic & gave great service! 👏
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
This whole ship was constantly being cleaned & staff was doing a great job. I just saw today that Panorama got a 100% percent score from the CDC for 2023 & I'm not surprised after seeing how this ship is cared for. We made a goal to not use the elevators at all & be more active on the stairs. The stairwells are nice and wide and had a very gorgeous backlit scene on every landing...we spent lots of time on the stairs and they became kinda a favorite place for me, oddly enough.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
We had an inside room which is obviously lacking the natural light and perks of a balcony, but that was our choice. We like to spend less on our cabin and more on excursions. This cabin felt so much like home. It was quiet and so clean. Bed was comfortable, little cooler kept our drinks plenty cold, had great water pressure in the shower, zero plumbing issues. I heard some mechanical noises a couple times in the night but very minor.
Ship tip
I got the social internet package to keep in contact with my kids & I thought it worked exceptionally well. Commit to taking the stairs as much as possible if you can. We completely avoided the elevators and physically felt better on this cruise than any other. We loved the beautiful back-lit scenes on every landing in the stairwells.
Beautiful city that seemed safe. We did the Carnival excursion to snorkel Majahuitas and visit Yelapa. We both got several jellyfish stings at Majahuitas but they were not super painful & we had so much fun & got some unique underwater footage with our gopro. Yelapa village was charming & interesting & the beach there was gorgeous. The waterfall was underwhelming this time of year but we loved it overall and the crew of Vallarta Adventures was exceptional.
Cabo was our favorite port...can't wait to go back there for longer. We booked an excursion through Shipmate with Esperanza's Tours and it was the best excursion of the cruise! Called "Snorkel Pelican Rock" Small group size, great guides, great lunch, great views of all the popular sights out on the water and we snorkelled at Pelican Rock. Water was very clear and tons of beautiful fish. They took underwater pictures of us and emailed them to us for free.
I actually thought Mazatlan was prettier than expected. Enjoyed seeing malecon & Golden Zone from our bus. We did the Carnival sport fishing excursion. We saw sea turtles and we saw Dorado chasing our lures but no one on our boat caught anything. We thought the trolling speed they used felt too fast. 3 of the 5 boats that went out didn't catch any fish. The weather and sea couldn't have been any better, people on our boat were awesome, and fishing will always be an unpredictable adventure - it was still a nice day. The sunset as Panorama was leaving Mazatlan was incredible!
There is good and bad about everything. Your are very right that a cruise is a controlled itinerary. You can’t just decide to stay another day at a port for example. But that also reduces the cost and headaches caused by spontaneity. How fortunate we are to get to pick the type of vacation we want at the time.
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