kwokpot

I'll let you know in a few days. Being in Hawaiian waters the casino wasn't open on any day until last night after departing Kona. We didn't go since we have 5 sea days until Vancouver. But we have $1,500 Freeplay to play through, so we do have some work to do to keep as much if it and hopefully exceed that amount!

We are on the Ovation of the Seas following you to Vancouver albeit 3 days later. We are in a junior suite here which allows us only dinner (if space available) in the suites only restaurant, Coastal Kitchen. This is our first time dining in Coastal Kitchen and we are having a good experience here (although embarkation dinner was a disaster) with starters and entrees being a bit more straight forward than either Blu or Luminae. The filet mignon was outstanding, ribeye good but not great. Fish dishs good but not great ( fish is always hard to get perfect,but I think Celebrity does it better than some other cruiselines). Last night my husband ordered from the kids menu. Chicken noodle soup and spaghetti bolognese. Both were elevated preparations,large pieces of shredded chicken vs small, machine cut cubes and the bolognese sauce was made for adult palettes without a hint of jar sauce tastes. Having said all that Blu and Luminae are far superior than our Coastal Kitchen experience on Royal Caribbean.

Must be a new push. We were on the Ascent in January and there were no roaming photographers anywhere and even the photo setups near Cafe Al Bacio had limited timeframes and there wasn't a photographer available when we wanted one. My husband's casino status gives us a free digital photo package but we actually didn't take any photos because they weren't around when we wanted photos taken.

Just another perspective. I'm currently(May2) on the Ovation of the Seas anchored off Kona on an overnight here in Kona. We did the Na'pali Coastline all day on May 1st and we definitely weren't anywhere near that close to the shoreline. Is the Edge supposed to be here in Kona also? I didn't notice any other ship anchored off shore. Photos from our time off the Na'pali Coast of Kauai.

I actually like waffles that are crispy. To me, waffles should have a bit of crunch on the outside.

The onboard vendor for all the shops somewhat recently changed from when VV debuted. When we sailed on the Valiant Lady in January '23 with the original shops my husband accumulated enough casino comps from playing onboard that we had over $700 to spend in the shops. We bought a boatload 😉 of stuff with a mix of logo gifts (the packable mini backpack is my favorite) and designer clothes from top brands.

I really, really wish they would change the name of that entree.

That's the way to do it on EVERY cruiseline. We almost always never had extra onboard charges (yes,we are THOSE kind of cruisers) other than gratuities and casino slot charges. So there would be no charges that a casino host could 'wipeout',which technically they could do without notifying you. That's when,like you,on the last day we asked if we gambled enough for us to get some spending money to buy some souvenirs from the onboard shops. The casino hosts,on every cruiseline,will give us the exact amount we can spend,and then we go to the shops and buy stuff. A couple of years ago on a family Christmas cruise my husband,on the last day of the cruise had accumulated enough comps that he gave everyone in our family, 9 of us, $70 each to spend in the shops. It was a happy surprise to everyone in the family!

Haven't noticed this being offered. Maybe specific to certain itineraries?

Yes I would say that on Virgin the two sailings we were on the crowd was outgoing and looking to have fun. The employees on VV are allowed and encouraged to interact with guests in a more personal manner and less as 'service ' personnel. This also helps to encourage a more fun and social aspect on the ship. It should also be noted that although cruising in general attracts the LGBTQ community VV is even more open to this demographic. As part of this community I feel VV allows our community to be themselves moreso than other cruiselines (I mean each ship has a resident Drag queen) which means LGBTQ passengers, especially younger ones, will seem more visible and evident than on other cruiselines.

Thank you for the post drydock review. Are we to assume all the cabin showers had the curtains replaced with glass doors and not just those in Aquaclass?

That's too bad. We actually saw the show when it was in las Vegas at Bally's and then on the Valiant lady. It lost nothing in translation. The key to the show is participating as much as you can . It's not giving anything away but it's not a traditional 'show' but more like a bar game.

The other main difference is in the design of the ships. The guiding principles of VV ships is that it's meant to feel like you're on a yacht rather than a large, mass market cruiseship. As such the public venues are designed to be smaller, more intimate venues. Public venues are also designed to be separate, independent experiences. This means that in some areas there isn't a natural flow from one venue to another, and many venues are hidden. The pizza and ice cream areas are one such design example. They are tucked away in a corner and unless you're purposely seeking them out they're not in an obvious high traffic location. Many people remark that there's no signature dramatic focal point such as a huge main atrium or centerpiece cocktail bar. Again this is on purpose. People will also complain that the venues will seen crowded. Again this is on purpose.

Was it a REAL NY Strip steak or was it a slice of beef from a whole roast?

Another alternative, which we are doing, is to use Turo. They will meet us at the Courtyard hotel which is right at the foot of the tender pier. We will return the car there also. $103 all in.

That makes more sense as there's less liability than having passengers grill a steak at the same grills at the Lawn Club Grill.

Maybe the additional passengers vs smaller ships causes more bottlenecks?

As others have said Celebrity doesn't have theme nights - it's not that type of cruiseline.

I assume there were individual burners (induction?) set-up?

I'm currently in Waikiki right now. For a totally different type of lunch the famous Marugame Udon is well deserving of its reputation. On the same block is Donut King Waikiki with the most amazing donuts you will ever have! https://maps.app.goo.gl/k4C41JjhCwJdxCvx5 https://maps.app.goo.gl/6rVyqKtvnQ5CfaHr7

The former Spruce goose hanger dome-turned cruise pier while unique and interesting (reminded me of the old Space mountain ride in Disney World) isn't the most user friendly facility. I didn't mention that we actually stayed pre-cruise at the Residence Inn right on the same island as the cruise pier. We did a pre-embarkation walk to scope out where how to get there and there's this great waterfront pathway from the hotel ( amazing views of downtown Long Beach) past the other hotel Doubletree and then towards the Queen Mary. An easy 20 minutes walk and the hotel was just fine. It's also about a 20 minutes walk over a bridge (looks more daunting than it really is) right to the Long beach waterfront area with all the restaurants and ships. I would highly recommend staying there if you're departing a cruise from the dome.

Sorry your experience wasn't any better. Wasn't it 8:30 for diamond meetup?

We are currently in Waikiki Beach for a three night pre-cruise stay before embarking on the Ovation of the Seas cruise from Hawaii to Vancouver. I had originally booked a 12:00 flight from LAX to Honolulu post Panorama Cruise but with advice from here on CC we changed our flight to 3:00 on another airline. We figured if we were to leave with the Diamonds at 8:30 we would be too early to check our bags AND too early to enter an airport lounge. That's why we chose a 9:50 debarkation which if things had gone to plan would have put us at LAX around 11:15 or so. In hindsight we should have departed with the Diamond debarkation. In any event we had just enough time for a quick lunch at the airport lounge despite it being two terminals away from our flight.

I like to give a few thoughts on my just completed 4/20 sailing on the Panorama. For context this is our 29th Carnival cruise, Diamond member, 112th cruise overall with all cruiselines. First time sailing from Long Beach on the Panorama. It won't be a day by day cruise review but bullet points of thoughts and observations. *This was the first time back on a Vista Class ship since 2019. Previous sailings post pandemic have been on the Mardi Gras, Celebration, Pride,and Luminosa. As such I've forgotten how nicely laid out the Vista Class ships are and there's almost no negatives besides the Liquid Lounge and the cabin bathroom designs. The ship is in immaculate condition. *Service was excellent throughout our cruise. Employees were friendly and accommodating. *MDR service was very good. Food was good for the most part and I enjoyed the new entrees and starters, especially the special Emeril selections. TBH I actually prefer the aft dining room on the Vista Class vs the Excel class as I have consistently found the MDR on the Mardi Gras and Celebration dark with a convention center banquet dinner like atmosphere. On the Vista Class natural light seems to flood the entire dining room and there's a much larger atrium opening than on the Excel Class ships which further the more open and less claustrophobic environment. *Buffet food was pretty good overall. Guy's was excellent as usual. The pizza was a tale of two cities. The first time we had pizza it was some of the best pizza of ANY cruiseship we've been on. It was hot, the crust was thin and wonderfully crispy, and the cheese and sauce was just perfect. I was in heaven! The next time we ordered though, it was totally the opposite. It had skimpy toppings, and the crust wasn't baked enough so it was a soggy messy. I two two bites and didn't finish the rest. It was obvious that it was a totally different person making the pizza and it was just terrible. *The other thing that was disappointing was the banana cream pie. That used to be such a yummy dessert but now it's nothing like the previous versions and honestly not very good. *We were disappointed with the Mongolian Wok lunch since it's now just a handful of set choices with no customization allowed. No extra side dishes are available like in the past. Although it's so much faster now TBH it's really not worth it. I guess you can shlep up some additional food/sides before going up so you can gave a complete meal all at the same time. *I enjoyed using the fitness center every day and it was great having the free sauna in the spa/gym men's locker room that's available for everyone to use. *We enjoyed get our Americano coffees at Java Blue every day. *Alchemy Bar is my favorite and everyone there was friendly. One of the bartenders there, Marina, remembered me from the Luminosa when we sailed the 30 day TP from Seattle to Brisbane last year. *Our cabin attendant was great and we had no issues with our room. One major thing we miss from the new Excel Class ships are sliding balcony doors vs right a regular glass door. You wouldn't believe the amount of balcony door slamming,it was constant, loud, and disruptive. Why people can't hold onto the balcony door handle and close it gently is beyond me. *The casino was busy and smoky as usual. My husband and I came out nicely ahead so that's always a good thing! *As the old saying goes, Dione the cruise director wasn't my cup of tea. That's all I will say about that. *The phone app always worked well and we enjoyed the additional functionalities that have been added to the app. This brings me to the new disembarkation on the mobile app. *I'm sure at a different embarkation port the mobile app disembarkation will be better than the old way. One problem it solves is how Carnival did self assist disembarkation. Previously if you wanted to self disembark with your own luggage everyone didn't go down at the same town. Instead it went by Decks:Whatsmore general disembarkation started before self disembarkation finished, if you wanted to catch an early flight it made no sense to do self disembarkation. This new method you actually choose the time you want to get off the ship,in 20 minutes intervals. You are then assigned a Group letter and you will get a notification from the app when your group letter has called. So when it works correctly,it's far better than the old method. *On the our 4/27 disembarkation there were MAJOR delays which weren't explained. Our group was supposed to disembark between 9:50-10:10 but we didn't get the message u til 11:15. There was also major crowding and it wasn't clear as to where the queues where to disembark . It was a total mess that was exacerbated by the lack of regular updates from the cruise director, leaving everyone wondering what was going on. We didn't get out of the terminal until 11:45 and we went even the last group by far. Everyone was frustrated and angry with the disembarkation and it put a damper to an otherwise great cruise vacation. *My final piece of advice is to disembark as early as you can, even if you don't need to. Trust me, you'll save yourself a lot of frustration and angst.

Yes,I bought my shares when it was $9.99/share