First cruise ever

[Butterbean1000]

23 hours ago, 1stresponder2086 said:

Well I will be flying in the morning.  But that sounds like Good advice

Seriously, if you can change your flight, that would be a good decision.  There are so many things that can delay your flight.  We learned on our first cruise.  We booked an early morning flight on the morning of our cruise. Our plane  was late getting to our airport because of severe weather where it originated. We finally arrived at the port after 3pm.  Too close for comfort.  The anxiety at the possibility of missing our cruise put a cloud over our first day on board.

[Nachosdelux]

Double check that you have your passport every time you change location.

[ctlyf]

50 minutes ago, May1cruiser said:

-Enjoy the crew, they are amazing

-Many floors are cabins only, this will save time trying to find everything

-half the clothes, agree 100%

-Star gazing is encouraged. Also sunset/sunrise. Very special while at sea. 

-ENJOY!

Where is the best place to stargaze in Panorama? On Magic, we found the front of the ship was not lit on deck 4 (I think)... not sure if it was by design or not but it made for fantastic viewing. 

[ldubs]

23 hours ago, 1stresponder2086 said:

Well I will be flying in the morning.  But that sounds like Good advice

 

If doing a morning-of flight, try to be on one of the first flights leaving that morning.  Also give some thought to how you will get from the airport to the cruise ship terminal.  There are typically a lot of options.  If a first timer, unfamiliar with the airport and port areas, or just want some extra hand holding, consider using a cruise ship transfer. 

[1stresponder2086]

1 hour ago, Butterbean1000 said:

Seriously, if you can change your flight, that would be a good decision.  There are so many things that can delay your flight.  We learned on our first cruise.  We booked an early morning flight on the morning of our cruise. Our plane  was late getting to our airport because of severe weather where it originated. We finally arrived at the port after 3pm.  Too close for comfort.  The anxiety at the possibility of missing our cruise put a cloud over our first day on board.

I have the early morning flight.  Southwest out of Oakland.  I’m not worried.  Take. Like one day at a time

[1stresponder2086]

1 hour ago, ldubs said:

 

If doing a morning-of flight, try to be on one of the first flights leaving that morning.  Also give some thought to how you will get from the airport to the cruise ship terminal.  There are typically a lot of options.  If a first timer, unfamiliar with the airport and port areas, or just want some extra hand holding, consider using a cruise ship transfer. 

First flight.  Long Beach is easy.   I purchased the carnival transfer bus to and from.  Long Beach is small and easy

[1stresponder2086]

1 hour ago, Nachosdelux said:

Double check that you have your passport every time you change location.

I have a real ID and passport.   I have traveled all over Europe.  Just never a cruise

[Tapi]

First and foremost, you are going to have a wonderful time!
 

- Advice #1 of cruising:

Never fly on the same day of the cruise. Even if it’s an early morning, short flight, too many variables can quickly derail and ruin your vacation. 
 

- Advice #2 of cruising: 

Travel insurance. There are several comprehensive policies that cover everything from lost luggage, delays, cancelations, lost passports, illness and other medical emergencies, evacuation, work related issues, to repatriation of human remains.

 

If you cruise enough, sooner or later, you’ll be grateful for following these two pieces of advice. 😀

[1stresponder2086]

31 minutes ago, Tapi said:

First and foremost, you are going to have a wonderful time!
 

- Advice #1 of cruising:

Never fly on the same day of the cruise. Even if it’s an early morning, short flight, too many variables can quickly derail and ruin your vacation. 
 

- Advice #2 of cruising: 

Travel insurance. There are several comprehensive policies that cover everything from lost luggage, delays, cancelations, lost passports, illness and other medical emergencies, evacuation, work related issues, to repatriation of human remains.

 

If you cruise enough, sooner or later, you’ll be grateful for following these two pieces of advice. 😀

What if your flight gets cancelled or delayed the day before? Isn’t that the same problem? The sf Bay Area has flights to la area every 30 minutes.

[staceyglow]

4 minutes ago, 1stresponder2086 said:

What if your flight gets cancelled or delayed the day before? Isn’t that the same problem? The sf Bay Area has flights to la area every 30 minutes.

No, because if your day-before flight is cancelled you have 12-24 more hours to find another flight than if you fly in the morning of.  And most people aren't flying somewhere that has flights every half hour from their home airport.

[1stresponder2086]

5 minutes ago, staceyglow said:

No, because if your day-before flight is cancelled you have 12-24 more hours to find another flight than if you fly in the morning of.  And most people aren't flying somewhere that has flights every half hour from their home airport.

Well sf to lax

 is every thirty minutes. Not worried.  There no guarantee you will not have worse issues going cross country. If I cannot get a flight cross country with 6 to 8 hours, I m flying in the day of a cruise. 

[Tapi]

25 minutes ago, 1stresponder2086 said:

What if your flight gets cancelled or delayed the day before? Isn’t that the same problem? The sf Bay Area has flights to la area every 30 minutes.

If you’re flying in the day before the cruise, you’ll have considerably more time to figure out plan B. Even if you had to hop on a car and drive at the last minute, you can make it happen. 
 

It’s not only a flight cancelation. It can be early morning fog (very typical of the SFO Bay Area) causing rolling delays and where ALL flights are affected, or an accident on the way to the airport that makes you miss your flight, or longer than usual TSA lines, or lost luggage that doesn’t arrive with you and now has to play catch-up. We’ve had that happen, where we made it to the port city, but our luggage didn’t and it arrived after our ship sailed. We went on the cruise with just what we had in our carry ons. Our big luggage never caught up with us.
 

Also, keep in mind that, even if they have flights every 30 minutes, that doesn’t mean that they’ll have a seat for you on the next available flight, specially these days when flights are operating close to full capacity. If your flight cancels, now they’ll have 180 passengers to re-accommodate. If there are only 5-10 seats open on subsequent flights, you may be out of luck. 
 

Besides all of the possible scenarios that could make you miss your cruise, it’s always nice to arrive one day early, unwind, go out for dinner, sleep in a bit, and arrive refreshed at the port, instead of exhausted after being up since before sunrise. 
 

The advice that I’m giving you is not only based on 40+ years of cruising experience, but also based on my experience working for the airlines for the last 30 years. 
 

 

Edited October 15, 2023 by Tapi

[pinto18]

9 minutes ago, 1stresponder2086 said:

Well sf to lax

 is every thirty minutes. Not worried.  There no guarantee you will not have worse issues going cross country. If I cannot get a flight cross country with 6 to 8 hours, I m flying in the day of a cruise. 

You will be fine...we usually drive down from the Bay Area that day ..

 

[Pellaz]

7 hours ago, Butterbean1000 said:

I have never been able to see the stars on the ship.  Too many lights.

On ships with the "secret decks" in front, stand behind the forward riding light.  You should then be in an area with almost no incident light and on a clear night without too much haze, you should see the stars jump out at you.  We saw the arch of the Milky Way (the Galactic disc) for the first time in YEARS.  

 

@ctlyf to answer your query, the Panorama has these "secret" decks in front.  

Edited October 15, 2023 by Pellaz

[jsglow]

OP, the 'fly evening before' is a pretty standard recommendation from seasoned cruisers. That said, many folks fly 'day of' very successfully.

 

Here's the one thing that makes cruising different from any other type of vacation. Your accommodations actually leave! So it's not at all like flying to Europe and being 12 hours late for a land based trip. In your case, that very early SWA flight non-stop to Long Beach is certainly something many, many people do and a reasonable choice. But we've also seen folks really push the envelope with connecting flights that land them in their port city from somewhere across the country 2 hours before the ship leaves. Or worse yet, an overnight flight to Europe for a cruise departing that same day. THAT is insanity.

 

We always have to fly; sometimes NS or direct, sometimes with a connection. I did the math once and I recall coming up with a 10% failure rate meaning that if we had flown 'day of' we would have missed our cruise. But because we were flying the day before, options existed and they got us there.... painfully, but never at risk of missing the ship. My BIL actually did miss a cruise about a year ago owing to thunderstorms in MIA attempting 'day of' from Nashville. Only you can judge your risk tolerance. But that 'ship leaving' scenario is something new cruisers naively leave out of their mental calculation.  Folks here just want you to consider that factor. 

 

I really hope you enjoy your cruise. Panorama is a wonderful ship. As others said, pack light and pack patience. 

Edited October 15, 2023 by jsglow

[ultrafighter]

The free Carnival Hub app is going to be very helpful while on board (there's not really anything you can do before you sail besides it being a countdown).  I know a lot of people complain about it being pushed so heavily because they like to "lock their phone in the safe" while on vacation, but it really is a handy tool.  The daily schedule and menus and things are on there (yes, you can still get printed copies), and you can stick a heart on activities you're interested in so you get a reminder later.  There is an optional chat feature on there you can use to communicate with other people in your party, and it's $5 per device for the whole cruise.  But you can get along just fine without the chat.  Make sure you put your phone on airplane mode after you connect to the ship's wi-fi to use the app.

[PortSideCruzan]

On 10/13/2023 at 12:40 PM, 1stresponder2086 said:

On Dec 9, I’ll be sailing on the Panorama.  For me, it. Is only a 50 minute flight.  Any tips for this ship?  Thank you

 

Here's a Video Tour that will show you EVERY 'Observation Deck' on board Carnival Panorama. Some cruisers refer to them as 'Secret Decks', but they are really called 'Observation Decks'.

 

Happy sailing!

 

 

 

[Kermarkim]

My recommendation is to try as many foods as possible in the main dining room especially foods you would never generally order or pay for at a restaurant.  If you don’t like it, you can always get something else.  I did not know on my first cruise over 30 years ago that you can order more than one thing and left a little dissatisfied with some of my choices.   It never happened again😜.  However, Carnival has a new dining room policy:  you can still order as many appetizers as you wish and desserts but only the first two entrees are free (or included). They now charge $5 for the 3rd+ entree which you probably won’t need a 3rd after all the appetizers but it’s still good to know.

 

My other suggestion is to download the carnival hub app and scan each days programs and mark which ones you would like to do.  The app will notify you when one of your favorite activities are about to happen so you don’t forget and miss anything.  The app is free.

Edited October 15, 2023 by Kermarkim

[1stresponder2086]

5 hours ago, Kermarkim said:

My recommendation is to try as many foods as possible in the main dining room especially foods you would never generally order or pay for at a restaurant.  If you don’t like it, you can always get something else.  I did not know on my first cruise over 30 years ago that you can order more than one thing and left a little dissatisfied with some of my choices.   It never happened again😜.  However, Carnival has a new dining room policy:  you can still order as many appetizers as you wish and desserts but only the first two entrees are free (or included). They now charge $5 for the 3rd+ entree which you probably won’t need a 3rd after all the appetizers but it’s still good to know.

 

My other suggestion is to download the carnival hub app and scan each days programs and mark which ones you would like to do.  The app will notify you when one of your favorite activities are about to happen so you don’t forget and miss anything.  The app is free.

Thank you

[1stresponder2086]

8 hours ago, ultrafighter said:

The free Carnival Hub app is going to be very helpful while on board (there's not really anything you can do before you sail besides it being a countdown).  I know a lot of people complain about it being pushed so heavily because they like to "lock their phone in the safe" while on vacation, but it really is a handy tool.  The daily schedule and menus and things are on there (yes, you can still get printed copies), and you can stick a heart on activities you're interested in so you get a reminder later.  There is an optional chat feature on there you can use to communicate with other people in your party, and it's $5 per device for the whole cruise.  But you can get along just fine without the chat.  Make sure you put your phone on airplane mode after you connect to the ship's wi-fi to use the app.

The hub app seems very useful. Thank you

[1stresponder2086]

22 hours ago, staceyglow said:

No, because if your day-before flight is cancelled you have 12-24 more hours to find another flight than if you fly in the morning of.  And most people aren't flying somewhere that has flights every half hour from their home airport.

Nope. Not going west to east. 12-24 hours means a next day flight

[1stresponder2086]

I want to thank all the positive help

[mamiamjo]

5 hours ago, Kermarkim said:

My recommendation is to try as many foods as possible in the main dining room especially foods you would never generally order or pay for at a restaurant.  If you don’t like it, you can always get something else.  I did not know on my first cruise over 30 years ago that you can order more than one thing and left a little dissatisfied with some of my choices.   It never happened again😜.  However, Carnival has a new dining room policy:  you can still order as many appetizers as you wish and desserts but only the first two entrees are free (or included). They now charge $5 for the 3rd+ entree which you probably won’t need a 3rd after all the appetizers but it’s still good to know.

This is a great point. Thinking about trying something but not sure you'll like it? Go ahead and order it along with something you feel confident you'll like. Or, just get two of something that you know you'll love 🙂

[1stresponder2086]

2 minutes ago, mamiamjo said:

This is a great point. Thinking about trying something but not sure you'll like it? Go ahead and order it along with something you feel confident you'll like. Or, just get two of something that you know you'll love 🙂

I guess my gym clothes are coming

[ctlyf]

7 hours ago, Kermarkim said:

My recommendation is to try as many foods as possible in the main dining room especially foods you would never generally order or pay for at a restaurant.  If you don’t like it, you can always get something else.  I did not know on my first cruise over 30 years ago that you can order more than one thing and left a little dissatisfied with some of my choices.   It never happened again😜.  However, Carnival has a new dining room policy:  you can still order as many appetizers as you wish and desserts but only the first two entrees are free (or included). They now charge $5 for the 3rd+ entree which you probably won’t need a 3rd after all the appetizers but it’s still good to know.

 

My other suggestion is to download the carnival hub app and scan each days programs and mark which ones you would like to do.  The app will notify you when one of your favorite activities are about to happen so you don’t forget and miss anything.  The app is free.

I don't know if they still do it, but I think you can order an entrée as an Appetizer... they bring you a smaller portion. I've done that before if I can't choose between entrées. It's worth asking your waiter.