jerseygirlinAZ

We had no problem getting off in Cabo on our NYE's cruise. Just pay attention to the Fun Times to see when and where they are distributing the debarkation tickets. If I recall correctly, they gave them out at the Havana Bar at 3 p.m. the day before ... and they actually started to distribute them a bit early since the line got long. Only one person needs to wait. I'd focus on trying the specialty restaurants for lunch when they are free. You can go to Cucina, Pig N Anchor and JiJis, I believe, for lunch. You won't get the same options as dinner, but it's still great.

Be sure to get your big 1.5 liter (I think) of water as well. Welcome to gold! 🙂

It was a new process for us, so we just figured we'd get off when the time came. You were wise to have FTTF. As the time ticked by, we got concerned about missing our flight and just got in line to debark. We had no issues until, as previously said, we tried to get an uber and missed our flight anyway. Ah, memories. 🙂

I was able to order the night of from the vegan menu on our NYE's Panorama cruise. We had anytime dining. I had the mushroom soup, stuffed mushrooms, fried tomatoes, and Caesar salad, all of which I enjoyed. I also had he vegetable spring rolls, but they aren't new. I know there were other things I had, just can't remember. I will say that I don't recall having a bad dish.

Unfortunately, the debarkation part of the app was not working for most of the day/evening. We could never get on and heard from many others that they couldn't as well. Guess they still have some kinks to work out.

Love the Miracle! Like others have said, a longer cruise in January should be less likely to have any possible issues. I've taken a dozen or so Carnival cruises and have only seen one fight and it was late night in the casino. Have seen a few kids being a little cursey and rowdy once or twice , but nothing too crazy. That said, I teach special education and, thus, have to cruise during breaks and summers. (We also have an 8-year old.) Go and have fun!!!

We were in Dublin years (crap, decades, lol) ago and the Book of Kells was being restored. This is our number 1 priority when we cruise in July.

I am sad that the steakhouse no longer offers the cheese plate. It was truly my favorite thing to eat on cruises. So delicious!

We got it once after cruising the Panorama in May 2022. Have cruised five times since then and have been a-okay.

We just did this on our NYE's cruise. Was definitely the highlight of our time in port. Loved it!

We enjoyed hanging with Mat as well, but I agree that it wasn't a big party vibe and was a bit low key. Guess I'm getting old, lol. 🙂

We weren't going diving. We were to swim with the whale sharks. I did a lot of research and booked with a company that had high ratings on all the travel sites. Unfortunately, we never saw any of the people from said company because they apparently farmed us out to another company. (All of the people on our tour booked through different companies.) I'm glad you've had good experiences. Hopefully we'll have one in next time.

We did the sea lion excursion with Carnival. It was not out in the wild, but at a facility in a big pool. The sea lions had been rescued or injured. They had two and we were in two groups at opposite ends of the pool. It was a great excursion and our daughter loved it.

I think it's because the government only lets a certain amount of boats out at certain times. We sat on the boat just floating for a good 20 minutes waiting for the clearance to actually go toward the whale sharks. I've done many excursions with companies off ship, but I don't think I'll do anything water-related again. It was extremely stressful. I also heard that Carnival's policy is that you can't meet up at the next port and you have to meet up back at the port of origin if you miss the ship. Anyone know if that's true?

Definitely dodged a bullet! We literally thought we might capsize and, not trying to be dramatic here, die. I kept apologizing to my husband because, like I said, he had a really bad feeling and didn't really want to go. He was scanning the sea to see which was the closest boat to swim to in case we capsized. We have zero pictures from the excursion because it was rough enough that we couldn't have our phones out at all. We were all soaked because of the water coming into the boat. (Didn't mention that in my first post.) We did request a refund. I was only given 300 characters to explain why we requested a refund. (I needed like 3,000 characters, lol.) After submitting, it said it could take four to six days. We had half our money back within three hours. I guess I could have fought for more, but we did go on the boat and we did see a whale shark from the ship, and, honestly, I was just happy to put the whole ordeal behind us.

You were very wise not to swim with the whale sharks. We did this (well, tried to do this) as our eight-year old had her heart set on it. Hubby and I went back and forth and back and forth on it. (He had a bad feeling.) I did a ton of research and asked for feedback in multiple forums/facebook sites, especially regarding our daughter. Ultimately, we decided to give it a go. We booked ahead of time for 10 a.m., knowing that the time could change a bit due to regulations. The day before our tour, I got a call from the company saying that their turn was at noon. We could either go or cancel. (Should have cancelled, but more on that in a minute.) I was a little concerned, but it seemed like we'd still have plenty of time to make the ship, so we decided to go. The next morning, I got a text saying they had a cancellation for the 10 a.m. tour. Would we want to go then? (This seemed shady to me as we actually requested the 10 a.m. tour, but they said they didn't have a turn til noon.) No matter ... yes, we'll go at 10. Checked in at 10 as instructed. Guide said we were waiting for a few more people. We asked if we could grab a quick bite and be back at 10:30. Guide said to be back at 11. Hmmm. Got back to the meeting site at 10:40. Waited. And waited. And waited. Didn't go out on the boat until almost 1 p.m. Texted the tour guide who I had been in touch with and expressed my concern about making it back to the ship on time. He texted me back in ALL CAPS that back to the ship is guaranteed. So, after waiting around for three hours, it was suddenly rush, rush, rush. They put 14 of us on the boat and started throwing out lifejackets for everyone to wear. We took off really fast and the boat kept slamming against the waves. My daughter was singing a made-up song about the whale sharks, which was really cute. I, however, regretted getting on that boat. It was not a nice ride. We rode out really far to where the sharks were supposed to be. After a long time, the crew finally spotted some. By now, the water was really rough and the weather was cloudy. The crew handed our snorkel gear, some of which did not have clips to attach the tube to the goggles. The y offered wet suits and fins, but there was not space to put any of that stuff on in the crowded boat. One lady was vocally complaining about how it was not safe for any of us to be out in that water. Most people just brushed her off. The two-man crew only spoke Spanish, which was fine except that the tour said we'd have an English speaking guide. I can speak a tiny bit of Spanish so I could understand a bit of what they were saying. There was a bilingual couple on board with us that translated some things, especially when things got dicey. The first four people got ready to get into the water with the whale sharks. They were the least concerned about the conditions and couldn't wait to get in. The got in with the guide, went under the water, lost some snorkel gear, and called immediately for the boat to come get them. They got back in the boat and the "captain" asked who was next. Every single person on the boat declined to get in the water after that. One lady who didn't get into the water wanted a video at least since she paid for the tour. So the first mate, I guess, got in and took a video for her while he swam with the whale sharks. Meanwhile, the clock is ticking and we are WAY far out in the Sea of Cortez. First mate gets back in the boat and the water is really rough now. One guy is puking over the side of the boat. White cap waves are tossing the little boat we're in. Captain moves all the people around to more evenly distribute the weight, puts on his lifejacket, and slowly tried to maneuver the big waves. Tick, tick, tick. Once the waves started to smooth out, we started hauling butt back to shore. We were watching the clock the whole time, terrified that we wouldn't make the ship on time. Just when we thought we had a decent chance, the motor of the boat died. My heart SANK. Our fellow passenger who was bilingual (and not a cruise passenger) said we were out of gas. I almost died. Thankfully that wasn't the case. The boat was taking the waves and crashing down so hard that the battery disconnected. They were able to fix it though and we continued toward shore. Tick, tick, tick. We were told we'd be let off at a dock closer to the ship and a van would be waiting for us. (Nine of the 14 of us were cruise passengers.) Not the case. The boat dropped us on a beach. No one helped us off or secured the boat. My husband got injured getting off the boat. We grabbed our stuff and ran toward the road. Ship leaves in 10 minutes. Thankfully, we found a van taxi. Husband flagged him down and our party of three and the party of four that went in the water got in. As we drove off, we saw that the other couple trying to make it back to the ship was able to get a taxi as well. (We would have invited them to join us, but they were behind us and there was no room.) As we were driving to the ship, the tour operator called me to see if we still needed the van. I lit him up. Told him it was the worst excursion ever and that we might miss the ship. Thankfully, we made it with five minutes to spare. As we were getting out of our van, we saw the other couple pulling up as well. So, we all made it, but it was really scary for a bit there. As we walked onto the ship, my husband kissed it, lol. As I was walking onto the ship, the crew member said, "watch your step" and I immediately tripped and fell on me knees. Ugh. I was so exhausted and just trying to get on board. My knee still hasn't healed, but at least we didn't miss the ship. So, moral of the story? Trust your instincts. (I almost cancelled twice.) And listen to your partner when they say they have a bad feeling. Sorry to hijack your review, deladane.

Oh, another thing about Panorama is that great feature in the atrium!

Love the Panorama! Probably my favorite ship! One of my favorite parts of Panorama is the steakhouse. It is right next to the piano bar and they open the wall so you can hear the piano music during dinner. Just love it! In PV, we've done the swim with sea lions and Rhythms of the Night excursions. We loved both of those. Different kinds of fun, but tons of fun nonetheless. Gotta see the arch in Cabo. We did a pirate ship excursion (we have an 8-year old). It was okay. A little cheesy, but fun. If you like massages, Sandbar offers them. It's a beachfront bar/restaurant with the massages happening on the second floor. We tried to get in for some on our last visit, but we didn't book ahead so we were SOL. I feel like Cabo is just fun regardless of what you do. Medano Beach is great and just walking around is cool, too. In La Paz, we attempted to swim with the whale sharks. I know everyone says to do this, but we had an awful experience. Tour company kept changing the time on us. I get that the government regulates how many boats can go out and at what time, but don't tell me to check in at 10 if we aren't going out until 1 p.m. We waited three hours for our tour to leave. I was nervous about getting back to the ship on time. They assured me we would make it. We had horrible seas that day. The boat was overloaded. The offered wet suits and fins, but there was no space to actually put them on. After a long time, we finally spotted some whale sharks. The first four people went into the water. They lost their snorkel gear and immediately called for the boat to come get them. The rest of us ten passengers refused to get into the water. The swells were so high and the boat was slamming down so hard that the battery disconnected multiple times. The operators said they would drop us at a port close to the ship and have a van waiting for us. They didn't. They put us off on a beach without securing the boat. My husband got injured getting off the boat. We ran to the road and just happened to see a taxi. We flagged him down and he got us to the ship with five minutes to spare. Of the 14 of us on the boat, nine of us were cruise ship passengers. I've never been so stressed. I know others have had great experiences doing this and I wish we had, too, but that's not how it was. In Mazatlan, we went to Stone Island and enjoyed a beach day. Had a nice time. On our second time to Mazatlan, we wanted to hike to the lighthouse, but it was the day after La Paz and we were both feeling sore from the previous day. You'll have a blast in Mexico! It's a great place and Panorama is a great ship!

The ship changed time twice during our NYE cruise on the Panorama. We went forward an hour early in the cruise and then went back an hour later in the cruise. I can't remember what the time difference was in PV. I don't believe we were ever more than an hour different between ship and port time.

Is there a company that anyone here could recommend? The ones I've seen recommended elsewhere require a three-day rental minimum. Thanks!

Definitely breezy and chilly at night. Most people watching the movies on lido were bundled up in their blue towels and blankets.

I'm sorry your New Year's Eve didn't turn out as planned. That's kids for you, right? We actually celebrated in the AFT by the pizza place since my daughter doesn't like loud noises. It was just us and some crew members. Was actually perfect! And, we got pizza before anyone else. You can see that they knew people would be heading over for pizza after the party!

I'm not sure how much this will help you since we did the tour, gawd, 25 years ago, but it was absolutely wonderful. We weren't on a cruise and stayed in Dublin 9. Our tour included the brewery and a tasting at the end. We got to keep our tasting glasses. There was a little restaurant at the end and it had the best soup and brown bread I've ever had. We did the hop on, hop off bus and saw a lot of things in a short period of time. (And, if you like whiskey, check out the Jameson Distillery.) Thanks for letting me relive a fun time, even though I wasn't much help. 🙂

So glad you posted this! Just went to check on a cruise my husband booked and found that only 8:15 p.m. is open. I didn't realize he hadn't made a selection at the time he reserved the cruise. Hopefully we can make a change on board (cruise is in June) because 1. we have an 8-year old and 2. we are cruising with my parents and I am certain that they have already booked early dining. If not, we'll deal. 🙂

Hi all! If I have a drinks on us anywhere offer from the casino, is my partner required to purchase cheers?