Kingsmom

I have to agree. I recently spent WAY too much time planning a cruise around what I thought would make my 17yo son and his friend happy. The water slides and ropes courses weren't it.

I thought I would add some photos of our trip. I REALLY enjoyed our cove balcony (#2294). The location was perfect and our view was spectacular. I would book that room again in a heartbeat! We also were pleased to witness a young whale having the time of his/her life frolicking around. Now that we've been home for a bit, I can reflect on what a good time we had. Even the teens are still talking about it. I think they really did enjoy themselves. 😉

I'm flip flopping all over the place trying to decide between flying into Seattle or Vancouver the day before. I have hotels book in both places. Just saw a Queen room at the YMCA open up and it ended up being $50 less than the BH. So, if I go with Vancouver, I will probably stay there versus the BH. I really enjoy planning but making a decision is not my strong suit!

Yes! That was my mistake. I've corrected that error!

Thank you! I will take a look at some of these.

I completely revamped my upcoming cruise itinerary and my husband and I have decided to fly into Seattle the day before our Alaska cruise and take the train up to Vancouver the morning of. Financially, it just worked out WAY better. Plus we've never been to Seattle. Therefore, I ask you experts.....where should someone stay who has never been to Seattle that is convenient to the catching the train but also seeing some of the sites? Also, which train station do we depart from? I'm assuming the King Street Station? We fly in from SFO around 11:00am on a Tuesday in July. Looks like the earliest train to Vancouver on Wednesday leaves around 6am, the next around 7:00am. I appreciate your help. Edited to add: I think I have the wrong schedule for the train.... Seattle King Street to Vancouver Pacific Central Station leaves SEA at 8:30am.

I just double booked both the YMCA and the Blue Horizon for early July. The YMCA ended being $1 more. Is there any reason to choose one over the other?

I think (hope) so. I just put a deposit down for a July trip on the Grand Princess to Alaska. I plan to use the AARP GC's to pay for the balance. When we cruised Carnival, I brought several on board and was able to use them to pay down my on board credit. I will do the same on the Princess cruise. I tried, unsuccessfully, on the Carnival cruise to add GC funds to my casino account and then cash it out. So whatever you don't use, you lose unless you have them put it back on the gift card for a future use. It's a delicate dance. I just ended up gambling away the extra (it was not a lot).

The problem that *could* arise is the shuttle service having difficulty GETTING INTO the port area Saturday morning to pick you up at your requested time. It is an absolute nightmare getting into port.

I started reading through this post a while ago when an Alaska cruise was a far off dream. I've been wanting to cruise to Alaska for years. Well, today, I put a deposit down on one. It's not 100% what I would have chosen but close enough. What made me finally pull the trigger was that the dates line up, it is a one-way (NB) through IP, the fare was discounted, and the room I wanted was actually available. I am very excited to now go back through all of these posts and actually start the detailed planning! I know the costs are going to start adding up but the rates right now seem so much more manageable than if I waited a year.... Enjoy your cruise. I cannot wait to hear more about it.

This is very helpful. I just booked the NB route this morning on Grand Princess. Ideally, I would have done the SB route to catch this section during more ideal viewing hours but it is what it is. I'll plan to sleep less during these hours 😉

We never had an issue. Longest wait was probably 5-7 minutes while they cooked more. I always saw at least two people working.

We didn't smell any either....anywhere! Glad to have a first hand report on the public transport in LB. We thought about taking the bus to port as well. There was a stop right outside our hotel but we WAY overpacked! Sounds like you had a great trip.

Ugh. I thought I saw one there.

I would love to tell you that you would be fine but there are so many variables at play. We were lucky in that: - The boat arrived on time back in Long Beach from Ensenada (7:30am) - We opted for the Express Debarkation and carried off our luggage (9:30am) * They did have earlier options and if you get FFTF you may even be earlier. - We had passports which allowed for an easier walk through customs - The line for the taxi was fairly short (waited approx 15 mins). Turn left immediately once out of the terminal. Taxi's are to the left of the parking garage. The larger the car you need, the longer the wait. - There was no traffic getting to LGB (about 10 min drive) - The TSA line was unbelievably short (like we were the only ones in line) - We started boarding at 11:40am and were in C group (literally the last people on the plane) Any hiccups in any one of those situations could potentially set you back. What airline are you flying? We flew Southwest and had the option to chose standby (or pay to guarantee) once I realized we would make it. We kept the later flight just in case. Once approved for standby those tickets were moot. Good luck! It certainly was nice to be home earlier. But if it will add more stress to the end of your vacation it may not be worth it?

I forgot to mention.... We did NOT have the WIFI package. Once we got on board we all purchased the chat feature in the HUB app for $5. Come to find out, we didn't need it. The three of us with iPhones were able to text one another without issue. I was even able to text my mother back home. You couldn't send pictures, but could easily send a quick text update. Also, the ship never felt crowed. Yes, there was an occasional line but they really do a great job with the open spaces and gathering areas. Even at the pools, there was always a nook or cranny to sit and relax. It was a beautiful ship and Deon the Cruise Director (Can I get a "Hey Deon"?) was really the highlight of the activities. He really is good at his job. The staff all seemed to enjoy being on board.

Ship - Carnival Panorama Deck - 2 Stateroom # - 2294 Stateroom Category – Cove Balcony Starboard or Port Side - Port Quiet Stateroom? (With comments on problems) – The stateroom was very quiet. We had no noise from the dining room above. The room is closer to being under Guest Services. Easy walk to the front stairs/elevators. Was stateroom a connecting stateroom? - No Balcony View - Give comments on view, noting if location of any obstructions was an issue. – This Cove Balcony did not have a lifeboat directly above. Some overhead obstruction when looking forward or aft due to other lifeboats but it was really not an issue. Balcony Size? Normal or oversized for class? - Normal Cove Balcony Was wind a problem? - No. If an aft cabin, was soot a problem? - N/A Any specific problems with this cabin? - none Any other comments? - Would stay in this room again! Loved it.

Reading through all of the Cruise Critic reviews has been such a help in planning this trip so, as promised, here is my review of our Carnival Panorama 6 night cruise - 2/18/24 through 2/24/24. Overall, we had a very nice time. There were four of us traveling. Myself (49), DH (50), our son (17) and his buddy (17). We had two rooms. DH and I in a cove balcony (2294) and the boys across the hall in room (2296). DH and I had cruised before but the boys had not. PRIOR TO EMBARKATION: We flew into Long Beach Airport the evening prior to embarkation. We stayed at the Hotel Metropolitan which was located in the downtown area. The hotel itself does not have an elevator but we had no trouble schlepping our luggage up three flights of stairs. The room was spacious and had a small kitchen with full size fridge. The neighborhood was lively but we never felt unsafe. We walked around the first night and had dinner at Congregation Brewery. They had a great selection of beers on tap and the food was good with very large portions. There was a huge reggae festival in town so there were many people out and about. We walked to the festival area after dinner but security was pretty tight. The boys enjoyed seeing all of the tricked out cars and hearing the music. EMBARKATION: After searching around the neighborhood for coffee, we took the two-block walk to the beach. There is a long biking/jogging path that runs along the beach and it gave us our first glimpse of the Panorama. After stopping at VONS (across the street from hotel) to get our wine/soda we packed up and called for an Uber. Our embarkation time was 10:30-11:00. I called for the Uber at 9:47 and they arrived at 10:07. The traffic getting into the port area was nuts. It took us 50 minutes to go 2.6 miles ($15 +$10 tip). We were stopped for so long that Uber called me twice to make sure we were not "in danger". Once we actually made it into the terminal, we were on board in less than 30 minutes. We hurried to Guy's Pig and Anchor for the complimentary sea day lunch. It was very good. Rooms were ready promptly at 1:30. ROOMS: The rooms were great! We loved having the cove balcony. It was nice being so close to the water and due to the location of the room, we had no noise from the dining room above. I picked the room specifically for its location under Guest Services and it had very little view obstruction from lifeboats. In fact, we did not have a lifeboat directly above us. We spent a lot of time on the balcony people watching while in port or simply relaxing. The interior room was perfect for the boys although they did comment on how they could never tell what time of day it was when they woke up. If traveling with teens/kids in a separate room, I suggest asking Guest Services for an "entry only" key to their room. It was a struggle to wake them before I realized I probably could get a key made and go in and wake them myself. Again, both were very quiet. We heard no door slamming (at night) and had no neighbor noise. Our steward Kaschun was wonderful and always called us by our names when she would see us in the hall. We had zero requests and were very happy with how clean and well stocked the rooms were. I will say, I appreciated that our neighbor had hung celebratory streamers from the ceiling in front of their cabin. Going forward, I will make sure to bring something along as it was very helpful in finding our way down the long hallway. FOOD/DRINKS: We rarely ate with the teenagers. They mainly stuck to Blue Iguana, Guys Burgers and the Pizza place. They enjoyed the food at these locations very much but told us they missed having the option for a salad. They both had the Bottomless Bubbles package but neither used it. It was a huge waste of money for them. They did dine with us in the main dining room once and said it was "just okay". They never tried the Lido Marketplace. Together we did enjoy Bonsai Sushi and Bonsai Teppanyaki. The food was delicious at both and the experience was very nice. I am very glad we paid the extra money to enjoy them. I highly recommend them both. DH and I went daily to JavaBlue for our morning coffee. Going right when they opened was key as they did get very busy. We really enjoyed lunch at Guy's Burgers and breakfast at Blue Iguana. We tried the Sea Day brunch once and it was mediocre. Our experience with the Main Dining Room was just okay. We did elegant night with the boys and one other time just the two of us. It was nothing to write home about but it was edible. I did enjoy the Indian Vegetarian dish. On our second sea day, we went to Pig & Anchor again and once again enjoyed it very much. We did have pizza on several occasions for a meal or snack it was very good. DH and I had the Cheers package. Honestly, we both felt somewhat pressured to drink a lot to make it count! I don't know if we would get it again but cannot say for sure. With bottled water, coffee and the ability to have drinks we normally wouldn't definitely made it feel like it was worth it but I have nothing to compare it to. DH really enjoyed the Bloody Mary's at Pig & Anchor. They are a meal in a glass! We spent most of our time in the Atrium Lounge because it was only one floor above us. However, we also enjoyed drinks from many of the other bar locations with the exception of Alchemy. I wanted to try it but never made it happen. ON BOARD ACTIVITIES/EXCURSIONS: I’ll start with the teenagers. They report that they got bored with the on board activities by day 3. They told me that they don’t think they will do another cruise. It just wasn’t what they expected. They did not seem to connect with other teens at the teen club, stated the games at the arcade were all broken and that once you did the ropes course, water slides and other games that was enough. They loved the ports (Cabo + Ensenada) and wish they had had more time to explore. Oddly, they preferred Ensenada over Cabo. At 17, they really wanted to go to the Comedy Club but weren’t willing to give the PG version a try assuming it would be “lame”. They did try to go to the 18+ version but were turned away at the door. The pools and hot tubs were always packed with kids and although they got in a few times, they didn’t really enjoy the vibe. DH and I enjoyed the two comedians we saw. We also watched a few of the trivia games but never actually played. We did however play Bingo twice which was fun (can get expensive) and played Deal or No Deal which we also enjoyed. We enjoyed the theme parties very much. We danced like we were young again and stayed up way past our normal bedtime. We also had a blast dressing up for 80’s night and taking photos at the different photo “booths”. We lounged by the pool a few times but never actually got in. DH really wanted to do the hot tubs but they are literally filled to the brim with children. Those Havana rooms started to look pretty nice… Day One in Cabo we got off the ship and walked around. We strolled through the port area and over to Medano Beach. It was a fairly long walk and we probably said “No Gracias” a million times along the way. The beach area is very nice and the boys enjoyed swimming in the ocean. Day Two in Cabo we did the Carnival “Catamaran and Snorkel” excursion. It was roughly 2 hours with the first hour being the snorkeling portion. We saw tons of fish. Although way to short, it was a great experience. The second hour we went out to the arch and got an amazing view of a young whale frolicking about. I would do that excursion again. The fact that it was affordable and it did not take up the entire day was a plus. In Ensenada we had hoped to do the Carnival “Surf Lesson” excursion but it was sold out. So we simply went into town. The boys wanted to shop and so we did just that. There are a ton of people/shops that sell pretty much the same types of things. They all want you to stop and look at what they have. It’s easy to acknowledge them, take a quick peak and continue on. Knowing how to barter is a plus. DH speaks pretty good Spanish so we were able to negotiate some pretty good deals. Once we were done shopping we took a taxi to Playa Hermosa. This is the beach where we thought the surfing excursion would be. We thought maybe we could rent a surf board and do our own activity. No such luck. There was no one there. No one surfing and hardly anyone on the beach. I learned later that the formal excursion had been cancelled. We ended up walking back to town which took roughly 30 minutes. DEBARKATION: Was a breeze. We express debarked with an exit time of 9:30. We left our room about 8:30, hung out on the 5th floor until it was time, then down to the 4th floor and kept on walking. Once outside we waited the most time for a taxi to the airport ($40+ $10 tip). I had originally booked us out of Long Beach at 12:10 and then changed it to 3:00 thinking that we would not make it. However, we got to the airport and I was able to get us on the 12:10 via standby. That request was accommodated and we were able to catch the earlier flight with about 30 minutes to spare. Flying in/out of Long Beach is amazing. WRAP UP: Overall it was a very nice trip. In retrospect, I would have included (insisted) the teens in more of our activities like bingo and trivia. I would have walked them through the HUB app and explained things better but I honestly though they would figure it out. I also assumed they would enjoy all of the activities and connect with other teens. I think 17 is a weird transition age. They were too old for some of it and too young for the rest. I also wished there were more mid-day activities. Maybe I missed them but there seemed to be a period of the day where not much happened. We’re not night owls so staying awake until 10:00pm when most of the fun happened was HARD! DS and I suffer from extreme motion sickness. We started taking Meclizine the night before we were to fly to Long Beach. We then took one tablet every night and every morning until we got home. We has ZERO issues. Although mostly calm there were a few bumps and rocks along the way. It was nice to not be sick. Also, DH and I appreciated the automatic handwashing stations… DH and I are looking forward to our next cruise. But we will probably leave the kiddo at home next time!

Yay!! Thank you SO much for the review. It has been very helpful. As I mentioned, I board on Sunday for the exact same 6 night itinerary. Your review has me super excited!!!

I felt the roller skating was a bold choice. A very good choice, but one wrong move and it could have gone sideways real fast.

My phone only showed the drink picture with the description. So for a hot second I thought the drink had mushrooms. 🤦🏼‍♀️

Thank you! I'm ready to test my ability to stay up after 10:00 to enjoy all of the fun. I have my 80's wear already set aside! I appreciate all the info.

Thank you so much for the great review. It got me all pumped and ready to board!

Thank you for this. Good to know about the trampoline park! I will make sure they go to the teen club on that first night at least. I think your comment about it being level ground is important. They don't have to go back after that if they don't want to but should at least go on Day 1. I'll make sure to pack some Tums for all the burgers. 😉 I love it that your group of boys enjoyed themselves! Sounds like a fun trip.

I agree. I will admit, that after I read one, I went and read them all starting from the beginning!