Wonderful Memories for a Lifetime
Carnival Panorama Cruise Review to Mexico
Contributor Level:
Purser
Cruises: 2-3 cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 11
8 Night Mexican Riviera (Los Angeles Roundtrip)
Sail date: May 25, 2024
Ship: Carnival Panorama
Cabin type: Balcony
Cabin number: 6222
Traveled as: Family (young children)
Reviewed: 3 months ago
Review summary
We had a great time on our cruise from the boat experiences (sky ride, Ropes course, karaoke, Hula Hoop contest, dive in movies, etc) to shore excursions (camels, horses, and dolphins). The trip was the perfect amount of time on the boat and at beautiful destinations and beaches. Everyone on board and at every destination was friendly. We are grateful for this experience and look forward to another family cruise in the near future. These are memories we will take with us for a lifetime.Embarkation
This was the most challenging and least relaxing part of the cruise. The process to check in on the ship consisted of several people "herding" cattle, which consisted of a lot of yelling at guests. It was confusing where to put luggage as my family visited the Queen Mary the day we were dropped off so there were not clear signs from that direction where to put luggage. A staff member continued to yell at people toget in line or get out of the area. We had our 8 year old and I didn't want her to lose her passport, so as we were going through the lines I was holding it for her. Another lady literally yelled at me to, "give everyone their own documents", several times. It was hectic and stressful. We got through that chaos and started to relax a bit more when we got on the boat, but direction and room key locations were not clear.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
We enjoyed the restaurant and buffets during our trip. The only reason I'm giving a 4 instead of 5 is because when I think of dining perfection, I think of our Disney Cruise meals and nothing can top that. The dining locations had a great ambiance, the food was delicious (especially the frog legs and key lime pie). My daughter had pasta with red sauce every night and was so happy. The staff was great, although again compared to Disney where we are the center of attention, in the Lido many of the servers and those cleaning the dishes would focus on chatting with each other more than helping guests (this happened 2x in the Vista as well). They would hover by the tables and just chat with one another, which was not so comfortable while eating with my family.
Onboard Activities
We loved the Sky Ride and the two employees working the ride the first two days at sea where awesome and funny. It was a great way to start our trip. The ropes course was a blast and we enjoyed that on several occasions. Having both of those open several hours more during the trip would have been nice, though. We had a ton of fun on the slides and we watched a dive in movie almost every day.
The pool was a little cold and kids were kicking and hanging on us a lot, but still fun.
My husband enjoyed the fitness center every day.
We also discovered arts and crafts the last day, which we loved. Karaoke was a blast too. The machine had some technical difficulties the night we were there, but quite fun overall.
Overall great activities.
Entertainment
We enjoyed the DJs in the lobby and at the pool. We loved the 2 violins that played many nights.
We were bummed that most shows cost money and that the Comedy shows displayed a "seating time" and not a show time, as we dropped our daughter off at kids club and where going to pick her up after show time. Come to find out it wouldn't start until the time we had to pick her up.
Children's Programs
My daughter had a great time. She loved the video games, and one of the highlights was interviewing the captain. She told us all about him and the ship after!
I know she felt at 8 that she would have fit in better with the sharks, so she was glad one day when she got to hang out with them more.
Service and Staff
Overall great staff, but as mentioned in the dining session, when comparing to Disney it falls a bit short because several employees focus on chatting with each other instead of focusing on their guests. That being said, the following staff members went above and beyond to make the trip enjoyable and welcoming:
- Sparkles from the Fun Team
- The person who ran the Hula competition (DJ KZ?), he made my daughter feel so welcome
- Isaiah from karaoke was friendly, welcoming and entertaining
- Washington the photographer was the top employee in our eyes. Whenever he saw us on ship he'd ask how we were doing and how we were enjoying the trip, he was very genuine, friendly, and was someone we looked forward to seeing and catching up with every day. He paid attention to detail and when we were at the Cat in the Hat Breakfast I saw him before he or other photographers took pictures seeing anything that may make the photo "less desirable", like keywords, etc. Asking if the wanted to move them or adjust them. His photos were our favorites because you could tell he cared
- We also appreciated our servers and the Staff in the Cat in the Hat area
- The 2 Sky Ride employees the first 2 days were awesome
- Dennis our housekeeper went above and beyond always calling our entire family by name, checking in on us, finding the best time to clean our room, and making my daughter special animals every day, including a monkey hanging from the ceiling. He was fantastic.
Ship Quality
Overall amazing. The only critique was the smoking areas of the ship carried into other sections, which was not enjoyable during dive in movies and when around the casino.
Cabin / Stateroom
The room was nice, but there was not enough space for an 8 day cruise with our clothes and toiletries. The comfort of the bed and balcony were nice.
Ship tip
Review the schedule as soon as you get on the ship, it wasn't until the last day that we realized they had arts and crafts available that we would enjoy. The dive in movies repeat some days, so seeing the schedule and consider when you really want to do activities.
Thumbs up
0
Ports of call
Long Beach (Los Angeles), California
I live here, so no excursion necessary. The port in comparison to the surrounding is a bit run down and hard to access.
We did a Camel ride in Wild Canyon and loved the experience. We did an afternoon tour, which was a bit stressful to get back to the boat on time, so I would have done a morning one if I could turn back time, but the boats to the shore were challenging to get tickets for early departure from the ship.
We had an animal/reptile zoo visit planned but it was canceled by the boat. We were bummed, but the beach and downtown areas were beautiful to visit and the people were so friendly. We would definitely go back.
We did a horseback ride on the beach and hung out at the beach. It was beautiful and relaxing. Everyone was so friendly here.
We did a dolphin experience at Dolphin Discovery in the Aquatics park. This was amazing and we loved it. The downside to this port was the taxis. We had to go to the street to get a reasonable taxi. The people in the port area were charging 2-4x the amount of yellow taxis and the ride back in the white taxi was the same price as the yellow, so the ones by the port were way over priced and frustrating. Beautiful port though.
Disembarkation
This was similar to getting on the boat, but a little smoother. The Long Beach staff yelled quite a bit when getting off and made the process more stressful. The boat did a good job preparing us for what to expect though. There were such long lines fir passport guests to exit though.