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@willdra DH and I have the talk about where we were and now here we are. We were so, so broke in the early days and now here we are comfortable and able to take lovely vacations. It's odd how it happens, one day you're checking over every item in your grocery cart, balancing the bank statements, staying up nights trying to figure out how to pay a bill and then slowly it starts to get better. I still remember going into a gas station in 1996 and buying a soda since I was thirsty. A really big deal as money for something like that was absolutley not available up to that point. Your review has decided me, we need to do another Panorama or Firenzia cruise before we leave California. We're buying in Latitudes Hilton Head so need to take care of our west coast cruises before the move.

That excursion looked fun, we'll have to try it next time we're on Panorama, which with all the recent great reviews will be soon. On another note, how was Latitudes?

@WatermelonSugarHighI’m an early to bed, early to rise person so the the nightlife wouldn’t be a factor for me. Their app also seems to be wonkier than most and their website isn’t particularly user friendly either. Good thing we don’t all want the same thing 🙂

I occassionally come over to this forum to see if I should change my mind about VV. Thank-you for this thread @WatermelonSugarHigh, it reinforced my decision to avoid VV. Too many other cruiselines that are a better fit for me.

On Panorama the Imax theatre was replaced with the trampoline area.

What’s up with the wind? Is it time of year, route, ship design or a combo?

DS was a 1 pm nap boy. If he fell asleep in the car before that it was power nap and then Mr. Cranky the rest of the day. I learned early on to schedule our day around that two hour nap. We didn’t cruise in those days, just as well, we’d have been limited to TAs.

Have a great time!

Oregon too. I grew up in Portland and I5 logging towns.

Dole Whips are the best!!!

Carnival has Panorama at Long Beach, great ship, 2019. I would be happy to sail on Navigator but I don't do 3 or 4 day cruises and the 7 day cruises are few and far between.

Really great post.

Yay!! Been waiting for this, thank-you.

Yay! I've been looking forward to this.

We used to do WDW a lot but then switched to cruising. The Aurea experience on MSC is very nice, enjoy. You will find many on this board that promote Yacht Club and while I'm sure it's lovely I wouldn't do that my first time with a cruise line. Figure out if this is a vacation that you enjoy and if so then you can experiment w/ different types of experiences or cabins. TBH, we've sailed in everything from interiors to suites with Genie service and we've enjoyed all of them.

March 10 day will probably have a lot of kids. 1. Easter and spring break are no longer tied to each other. 2. Huge increase in homeschoolers since Covid. 3. Parents are very different in regards to attendance since Covid. There is a feeling that since schools were shut down so long and kids learned (theoretically) that it is okay to take them out for vacations. I'm a school admin for a homeschool organization here in California so lots of experience with the above three points. Also, we did a 7 day DCL the week after Thanksgiving, in years past a pretty good week for cruising without a lot of children. Many, many kids and none of them appeared to go to the clubs. We've cruised DCL a lot and you used to see the kids up through dinner the first day, and then they were in the clubs till late afternoon of the last day. No more. So I wouldn't count on them staying in the Princess clubs either.

@harryfat1 Thank-you for info on Ifly and Northstar, I wasn't aware of needing to book immediately once onboard. It will most likely be just me and there won't be a lot of options due to our itinerary, two port days and eight sea days. I'm another one that doesn't want to see a messy cabin. Sometimes when I'm walking down the hall and see the state of some cabins I'm baffled. How many bottles of hair product, lotion, etc... do even four people need for one week? And clothes all over the place. Ick.

This is not true in all cases. I've seen some videos where connecting vs. non-connecting have different furniture but we always buy connecting cabins and the furniture always matches the videos of non-connecting. I'm another one that doesn't care for bothering the stewards when they're working their behinds off.

@ShortCruising Same here. DS would be terrified if he saw violence up close. He tries so very hard to do the right thing which means he assumes others will do the same.

Conjecture on my part. I like to give my autistic DS as much independence as possible so I'll set up situations for him to act on his own. Granted, I'm always sitting w/in sight but I would prefer if I felt confident to let him do things w/o my constant vigilance, I'm sure he must get sick of it. Could be that mom was giving her daughter some autonomy and felt comfortable since she was on a ship in a closed environment. It could also be that she didn't learn about previous bullying until after the incident the OP described.

@mitsugirly Here is a link to the QM site, https://queenmary.com/ and a link to an article on what's been going on w/ her since we stayed in December 2019. https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-01-04/queen-mary-once-a-sinking-white-elephant-shows-signs-of-remarkable-revival#:~:text=Although the ship still needs,for weddings and other gatherings. What I didn't like about the hotel in 12/19 was that our rooms weren't decorated in a glamourous Art Deco style, more of a mid 60s hotel decor with what looked like indoor outdoor carpet. Also, we had drinks at the Observation Lounge and the carpet was filthy. The LA Times article explains that there was some upkeep, including a revamp of the Observation Lounge and new flooring. Given that I will definitely book QM again. The ship itself was amazing. A huge promenade deck with larger than life size blow up photos of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor and other historical figures. There are a lot of tours you can take as well, depending on interests and arrival/departure time. Finally, you cannot beat skipping across the parking lot to the terminal 🙂

Residence Inn, The Maya, and Queen Mary are all on the terminal side of the harbor so all within walking distance. We stayed at the Queen Mary the first time we sailed on Panorama. The night before boarding Panorama I told DH it was ok but I didn't need to stay there again. When we walked across the parking lot to the terminal the next morning I changed my mind. QM was closed during Covid but recently re-opened. If you want to combine history with a modern cruise you may want to give it a whirl. Also, parts of the Poseidon Adventure were filmed on QM2 so there is that cruise connection.

Here's mine, Also, the ship and port times are often different. I find it easiest to wear a not smart watch to track ship time, and my phone for port time. I've been on Panorama three times, all three great cruises.

Has your family traveled with the friend before? I ask because I remember an absolutely horrific trip with my cousin in 1974. She brought her boyfirend, they fought w/in the first two hours of the car ride and didn't speak other than through me for the remainder of the week. I promised myself then and there I would never bring a friend on a vacation. That's me though 🙂 Also, the suites that are supposed to hold 8 do in theory. My family of 3 were in a two bedroom Aqua Theatre suite and there is no way I would want any more than 4 people in there, but even that would be pushing it. I'm not one for having a sofa bed open, blankets and pillows sitting around, etc... I'd go with two connecting as others have suggested.

Thank-you @matymil I have an autistic adult son so understand the mom's tears. I don't think the gangs of kids are solely a NY thing, read of some similiar actions on ships leaving from Florida. That said I would be cautious about booking a cruise from NY unless I was on Cunard or Princess where there is less likelyhood of roaming adolescents. Unfortunately you can't count on the traditional few/no kid's weeks since there are a lot more homeschoolers and since Covid attendance at traditional schools is way down. Carnival needs to take these gangs more seriously, best solution is to kick the family off at the next port and put them on the No Sail list. I don't like to do laundry but I appreciate laundry rooms on ships. Sometimes it's just easier to do a load of clothes and it makes packing easier. DS is very fussy about his clothes so goes through at least two clothing changes per day which equates to a lot of luggage. If I can keep up with the pajamas and socks I can get through the week w/ a carry-on. Thank-you for your balanced review.