PANORAMA...give me those cruise reviews to Mexican Riviera

[mitsugirly]

2 minutes ago, travelinjess85 said:

When I want they let us take as many as we wanted and even took the ones of both of us at the arch. they just tried to sell theirs at the end. But I was happy they weren’t restrictive at all and some of theirs were great we just didn’t feel like spending the money haha. But I took a ton of pics and videos and they were fine with it. Didn’t hear them say anything about no go pro or anything either so seemed like those were allowed too! 

 

Thank you!

[Ranyw]

On 1/23/2024 at 4:08 AM, mitsugirly said:

 

I have seen a lot of people mention the clear glass boat tours and enjoying them. What makes them so great? Tell me more please. I'm just picturing in my head previous tours I've seen on glass bottom boats and the glass is so cloudy it's hard to make out what's down there other than shadows of things swimming by. I looked up Envatours to see their boat and it does look amazing and clear. The price is only $39???? That seems awfully cheap for a tour. Even $468 for a private tour. 😶  Do you know if they have more than 1 boat? This just got me really excited. LOL  Do they allow you off the boat for snorkeling or to go to a beach?

We always seem to do the same thing in Cabo.  It’s become a tradition.  Once you take a tender to shore there are multiple vendors offering a glass bottom boat tour.  Usually it’s a smaller boat with a “hole cut in it” and a piece of glass put in.  The water in Cabo is usually pretty clear.  The boat leaves the Marina and heads to the famous Arch.  Once there most of the captains will throw some corn tortillas overboard and hundreds of colored fish come to eat it up and you get a great view.  On our last trip one vender even had a boat that was made out of plexy-glass and was completely transparent. Most of the vendors charge $8-$15 per person and the dock adds a $1 tax per person.  Once we’re done with the tour we ask the captain to drop us off at medrano beach to have lunch at the plentiful restaurants on the beach.  Nothing like a cold drink with your toes in the sand.  It’s an interesting experience because there is no dock on the beach, the boat just pulls up in the sand and you time your exit to miss the waves.  Have fun!

[sjn911]

Thank you all and Mitsugirly for this topic..I really have been watching this cruise and the Beautiful Panorama..so nice California is getting a few more ships and choices.

[mitsugirly]

6 hours ago, Ranyw said:

We always seem to do the same thing in Cabo.  It’s become a tradition.  Once you take a tender to shore there are multiple vendors offering a glass bottom boat tour.  Usually it’s a smaller boat with a “hole cut in it” and a piece of glass put in.  The water in Cabo is usually pretty clear.  The boat leaves the Marina and heads to the famous Arch.  Once there most of the captains will throw some corn tortillas overboard and hundreds of colored fish come to eat it up and you get a great view.  On our last trip one vender even had a boat that was made out of plexy-glass and was completely transparent. Most of the vendors charge $8-$15 per person and the dock adds a $1 tax per person.  Once we’re done with the tour we ask the captain to drop us off at medrano beach to have lunch at the plentiful restaurants on the beach.  Nothing like a cold drink with your toes in the sand.  It’s an interesting experience because there is no dock on the beach, the boat just pulls up in the sand and you time your exit to miss the waves.  Have fun!

 

The glass boat sounds wonderful but I remembered that if you want to see whales...Cabo is the place to do it. So, I think we are going to see about getting a whale excursion. Anyone have any recommendations on a company? I've been looking at a few and have narrowed it down to:

 

Cabo Expeditions

Whale Watch Cabo

Cabo Trek

Kelly Boat Cabo

 

If anyone has any experience with any of these (or others you might have used), please let me know. I'm going to post over in the port section too just in case. 

[mitsugirly]

Also, I just wanted to verify with everyone...Cabo is a tender port right? Does anyone know where they bring the cruisers into the port at? Like on a map...what part of the area is it? I'm trying to see if any of the places I'm thinking about doing a whale watch with is within walking distance from the port or if I'll have to get a cab. 

[mkcurran]

2 hours ago, mitsugirly said:

Also, I just wanted to verify with everyone...Cabo is a tender port right? Does anyone know where they bring the cruisers into the port at? Like on a map...what part of the area is it? I'm trying to see if any of the places I'm thinking about doing a whale watch with is within walking distance from the port or if I'll have to get a cab. 

It'll be in walking distance. There's only one marina and everything is very walkable.

The tenders pull up in the red circle, tours leave from the yellow circle. 

[mitsugirly]

8 hours ago, mkcurran said:

It'll be in walking distance. There's only one marina and everything is very walkable.

The tenders pull up in the red circle, tours leave from the yellow circle. 

 

Thank you for the visual. So, if a meeting place is on the far end of the marina, how long would you estimate the walk to be (normal pace, no slow pokes lol). 

[fligster]

Here is a link to the playlist on Youtube for the 13 videos I made during our Carnival Panorama Mexican Riviera Cruise. 

 

 

Here's a video fro a different Mexican Riviera cruise of another visit to Cabo.

 

 

 

Edited January 30 by fligster

[mitsugirly]

7 hours ago, fligster said:

Here is a link to the playlist on Youtube for the 13 videos I made during our Carnival Panorama Mexican Riviera Cruise. 

 

Here's a video fro a different Mexican Riviera cruise of another visit to Cabo.

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for the videos!

 

On your walk to the beach video: When you got along that back half, right after you said  that it was a long walk, do you remember how long it took you to get there?

 

Also, in the beginning, you were walking along the water, then it looked like you went outside that area (where you are by the surf boards in the circle) and then ended up back by the water again. Can you not walk along the water the entire way? Or is this the way to get out?

[fligster]

2 hours ago, mitsugirly said:

 

 

Thanks for the videos!

 

On your walk to the beach video: When you got along that back half, right after you said  that it was a long walk, do you remember how long it took you to get there?

 

Also, in the beginning, you were walking along the water, then it looked like you went outside that area (where you are by the surf boards in the circle) and then ended up back by the water again. Can you not walk along the water the entire way? Or is this the way to get out?

 

I had done a "walk" on my apple watch on the way back. It was about 1.75 miles and took about 47 minutes walking slowly. We were slower than normal as my wife wore the wrong shoes to be walking 3.5 miles or so total (roundtrip).

 

You can stay by the water the entire time. When you get off the tender, after you walk down that dock you have the option to go left, straight or right. We had gone straight to see what was there and ended up "outside" the immediate port area and circled around to come back into the port area by the Surf Boards and be in the port and by the water. If you turn right at the end of the pier from the tender you will stay next to the water and come to the surfboards that way. You would turn right again before the surfboards to walk by the water towards the town. Follow the arrows below to get to the same surfboard spot but by walking by the water. I believe there is also a boat you can pay and take from the pier to get to near the beach rather than walking.

 

[mkcurran]

14 hours ago, mitsugirly said:

 

Thank you for the visual. So, if a meeting place is on the far end of the marina, how long would you estimate the walk to be (normal pace, no slow pokes lol). 

Normal pace no more than 30 minutes. Give yourself 45 minutes, if you are nervous. 

I know we've walked all the way past all of the vendor docks in about 45 minutes. 

There are lots of fish that hang out in the marina, so we stop often to look. 

[mitsugirly]

1 hour ago, fligster said:

 

I had done a "walk" on my apple watch on the way back. It was about 1.75 miles and took about 47 minutes walking slowly. We were slower than normal as my wife wore the wrong shoes to be walking 3.5 miles or so total (roundtrip).

 

You can stay by the water the entire time. When you get off the tender, after you walk down that dock you have the option to go left, straight or right. We had gone straight to see what was there and ended up "outside" the immediate port area and circled around to come back into the port area by the Surf Boards and be in the port and by the water. If you turn right at the end of the pier from the tender you will stay next to the water and come to the surfboards that way. You would turn right again before the surfboards to walk by the water towards the town. Follow the arrows below to get to the same surfboard spot but by walking by the water. I believe there is also a boat you can pay and take from the pier to get to near the beach rather than walking.

 

 

Ok, thanks for that. I figured that you could but your video had me double guessing it and thought I would clarify. 

[LaRue1975]

I have been on two Panorama Mexican Riviera cruises and two of the Baja cruises that go to Cabo twice in the last year. We were on the Panorama for the 8 day NYE cruise that goes to La Paz. I am just going to throw out some random info on our experiences. First, it is definitely different out here on the West Coast, the water is cold year round and not crystal clear blue like the Caribbean. On the Mexican Riviera you stop at two large cities, Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta which is a nice change, lots of history and culture to explore in both cities. The ride home up the Baja Coast is usually cold and rough although in October and early November it was warm enough during the first sea day to enjoy sitting in the sun on deck. In a January it was freezing, lol! 
 

In Cabo if you do not have priority boarding you might want to book a Carnival excursion to ensure you get off the ship early and I would be leery of booking a private excursion, especially if it is early. On the first Baja cruise tendering was a mess the first day in Cabo and a lot of people were not able to get off and the ones that did were late. One large group mentioned on our Facebook page they lost over $1000 for an excursion they had pre booked and missed. On the Baja cruise after NYE the priority tendering was a mess too, very unorganized and I am almost sure half the people in line were not priority, no one was checking. It took us over an hour waiting in line to finally get on a tender. When we have had an excursion booked you are very VIP and are quickly escorted past all the suckers waiting in the long lines, lots of dirty looks! 😜

 

On the NYE cruise our group did the whale watching excursion on the big boat, it was fabulous! The boat was huge and very comfortable, the 10 of us sat at a large table on the back of the upper deck. The drinks were flowing as soon we left the harbor and they kept the coming the whole time. We saw a ton of whales, initially just backs and tails but it was still really cool. It’s just right off the coast too, you stay with in sight of the harbor. Towards the end of the excursion the whales started breaching, oh my gosh, that was bucket list for sure. Five times a whale came straight up and all the way out of the water before turning sideways for the big splash down. One of the best experiences ever! This is prime whale season so not sure if there will be as many whales when you go. Tip: when doing excursions involving a boat try to be in the front of the line behind the guide when they walk you to the boat, that’s how we got the prime table. 
 

We have also done the yacht excursion in Cabo with another group and really enjoyed it too. It’s a very large older wooden yacht, again we managed to get on first and had a prime table. It was very comfortable and the drinks and lunch were very good. The snorkeling was a bust in deep water with nothing to see but the water was surprisingly warm in October, closer to Caribbean temps than California. We all enjoyed the swim and I would do this excursion again. 
 

The second day in Cabo during the October cruise we booked a water taxi in the port for an arch tour with a drop off and pick up to Medano Beach after. When you enter the port you will be swarmed by people offering the tours, we found one we were comfortable with and booked it for $17 per person and because we had 7 people we got our own boat. The tour of the arches was fabulous! It is amazing how well they can maneuver those little boats, it was quite an adventure! You give your captain a time you want to be picked up before he drops you off at the beach and you are required to stay at least two hours. It’s a bit crazy getting off the boat but they have strong young men waiting to grab the boat and they help you get off. They dropped us in front of the Hungry Shark so we went there for the day. There are many restaurant/bars to choose from, Mango Deck and the office are most popular ones but we loved the low key vibe at Hungry Shark. We loved Medano Beach, the water is gorgeous, as close as you are going to get to the Caribbean on the Mexican Riviera. The food and drinks were good and extremely reasonably priced and the vendors are kept behind the rope on the beach. You can invite them in or go to rope for purchases, we enjoyed it and bought a few things from them. We were picked up at the time scheduled and it was a great day. 😎 I am going to try to add some pics and will post more later, this one is way too long. 

[mitsugirly]

41 minutes ago, mkcurran said:

Normal pace no more than 30 minutes. Give yourself 45 minutes, if you are nervous. 

I know we've walked all the way past all of the vendor docks in about 45 minutes. 

There are lots of fish that hang out in the marina, so we stop often to look. 

 

What do you mean by "if you are nervous"?

 

 

 

 

I'm trying to decide on a whale watch tour and have come up with these 4 vendors I'm interested in. Just trying to see the walking distance involved, since it is a tender port, and there will be time involved in coming over by tender, then walking, and I don't want to get left behind. So, this may help us decide on which to use. 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

41 minutes ago, LaRue1975 said:

In Cabo if you do not have priority boarding you might want to book a Carnival excursion to ensure you get off the ship early and I would be leery of booking a private excursion, especially if it is early.

 

I was thinking about maybe buying the F2F to get priority tenders. As for the excursion being early, the vendors I have talked to know our time of arrival (10am) and have suggested times that would fit our arrival.  It does look like we will be in port with a Princess ship as well. 😞 

 

41 minutes ago, LaRue1975 said:

On the NYE cruise our group did the whale watching excursion on the big boat, it was fabulous! The boat was huge and very comfortable

 

I have been reading that the bigger the boat, the slower they are and not able to turn around quickly enough to get to the whales when spotted and being on a zodiac is usually better. When you say "big" how many people are on there? Is that the boat in the 3rd picture you posted?

 

Carnival offers the whale watching excursion for $129.99. Private vendors offer it for $79-$89. That's a big difference when you have 4 people going ($51 x4 =not chump change 😉 ) That's why I'm considering it. We usually do private excursions outside of the cruise line because you usually get more time on the excursion, less people on the excursion, and more personalized.  Although all the positive reviews on Carnival is very encouraging, but probably still not enough for us to book with them. 

 

I loved all of your pictures! It looks like an amazing time! Did you get any of the whales?

 

I appreciate your input. It gives me a lot to think about.  

 

 

Oh, almost forgot....do you know the name of the vendor Carnival was using for your whale watch?

 

Edited January 30 by mitsugirly

[mkcurran]

37 minutes ago, mitsugirly said:

 

What do you mean by "if you are nervous"?

 

 

 

 

I'm trying to decide on a whale watch tour and have come up with these 4 vendors I'm interested in. Just trying to see the walking distance involved, since it is a tender port, and there will be time involved in coming over by tender, then walking, and I don't want to get left behind. So, this may help us decide on which to use. 

 

 

Nervous about getting to the tour on time. lol.

I'm sure you will be fine, no matter who you go with. They are all experts about getting back to the ship on time.

[mitsugirly]

14 minutes ago, mkcurran said:

Nervous about getting to the tour on time. lol.

I'm sure you will be fine, no matter who you go with. They are all experts about getting back to the ship on time.

 

Oh ok. I wasn't sure if I was missing something (like a dangerous port or something). 

[LaRue1975]

2 minutes ago, mitsugirly said:

 

I was thinking about maybe buying the F2F to get priority tenders. As for the excursion being early, the vendors I have talked to know our time of arrival (10am) and have suggested times that would fit our arrival.  It does look like we will be in port with a Princess ship as well. 😞 

 

 

I have been reading that the bigger the boat, the slower they are and not able to turn around quickly enough to get to the whales when spotted and being on a zodiac is usually better. When you say "big" how many people are on there? Is that the boat in the 3rd picture you posted?

 

Carnival offers the whale watching excursion for $129.99. Private vendors offer it for $79-$89. That's a big difference when you have 4 people going ($51 x4 =not chump change 😉 ) That's why I'm considering it. We usually do private excursions outside of the cruise line because you usually get more time on the excursion, less people on the excursion, and more personalized.  Although all the positive reviews on Carnival is very encouraging, but probably still not enough for us to book with them. 

 

I loved all of your pictures! It looks like an amazing time! Did you get any of the whales?

 

I appreciate your input. It gives me a lot to think about.  

 

 

Oh, almost forgot....do you know the name of the vendor Carnival was using for your whale watch?

 

I don’t remember the name of the vendor but we definitely did not get as close to the whales as the smaller boats. If you are going with Carnival you would probably be happier with the Zodiac. The only pic of that tour is the first one. I didn’t try to get pics of the whales, just wanted to experience them. If you book private choose one that leaves later in the day so you don’t miss it. There is no guarantee you will get off in time. The people that lost the $1000 booked the pirate ship that was offered through Carnival also so they were probably trying to save money but it didn’t work out. I like to book private too and I think I might take a chance in Cabo but not for one also offered through Carnival, why take a risk for that? We stayed on board for the next cruise and I wanted to book one of the small boats at the pier but couldn’t talk the hubby into it. Also do some research to make sure the whales will still be there in early April, not sure when they head back to Alaska but they offer the tour on my August cruise this year and I am certain the whales will feeding in Alaska then. Also be sure look for the when they are handing out the tender tickets and get there early. It will be on the sea day before Cabo.

[mitsugirly]

44 minutes ago, LaRue1975 said:

I don’t remember the name of the vendor but we definitely did not get as close to the whales as the smaller boats. If you are going with Carnival you would probably be happier with the Zodiac. The only pic of that tour is the first one. I didn’t try to get pics of the whales, just wanted to experience them. If you book private choose one that leaves later in the day so you don’t miss it. There is no guarantee you will get off in time. The people that lost the $1000 booked the pirate ship that was offered through Carnival also so they were probably trying to save money but it didn’t work out. I like to book private too and I think I might take a chance in Cabo but not for one also offered through Carnival, why take a risk for that? We stayed on board for the next cruise and I wanted to book one of the small boats at the pier but couldn’t talk the hubby into it. Also do some research to make sure the whales will still be there in early April, not sure when they head back to Alaska but they offer the tour on my August cruise this year and I am certain the whales will feeding in Alaska then. Also be sure look for the when they are handing out the tender tickets and get there early. It will be on the sea day before Cabo.

 

Thanks for the info and thoughts. 

 

They say the whales are there until around April 15th. We will be there on April 1st. So, I'm keeping my fingers crossed. We may not see as many but I'm hoping for a few. 

 

How do I know when they will be handing out the tender tickets? How do they do it if you have F2F?

[LaRue1975]

It will be in the fun times and should be on the app what time and where they will be handing out the tender tickets. Whatever time you get is not set in stone because it can take longer to get anchored and first they will make sure they get all the excursions off and then the priority people. After that they will start with the people with tickets. Our first time in Cabo last October they were running way behind from the start as there weren’t enough tenders and the Disney ship was already in port when we arrived. The seas were rough too, it was scary getting from the ship to the tender, my friend fell down the stairs on the tender but fortunately wasn’t injured. They have smaller ones and big two deck boats and in the morning the big boats weren’t running, I think this was the problem and probably due to the rough water. So the people with tickets were hour or more behind their ticket time from the beginning and it got worse from there, lots of people were not able to get off at all. The people that had spent $1000 on the private excursion did not get a refund and were super upset about it. 
 

The next day we were the first to arrive, the seas were calm and the tenders ran like clock work all day, no need for tickets. I have been in Cabo 4 more times since then and it has run fairly smooth except on the cruise after New Years when the priority boarding was a mess. They weren’t checking to see if you actually were priority and people kept jumping in the line. It took us over an hour to get on a tender and get to the pier. The three times we booked a Carnival excursion it couldn’t have been any easier. I would add in the cost of FTTF to the private excursion to see if it is worth it and you could just risk it, there is a good possibility it will not be a problem too. I looked but can’t find a pic of the whale watching boat, it was a big two deck catamaran. I think you would enjoy a smaller boat more and it can go faster to chase the whales since there will not be as many. We didn’t have to go far at all, they were all over the place. You can also book a whale watching tour on the pier,  they were asking $45 for a 90 minute tour. I’ll be back there in three weeks, if I do one I’ll let you know how it was. 

[mitsugirly]

9 hours ago, LaRue1975 said:

It will be in the fun times and should be on the app what time and where they will be handing out the tender tickets.

 

Ok, I figured that it would be but wanted to double check. If you do have F2F, do they bring tickets to your room automatically? Or do you still have to go pick up tickets?

 

9 hours ago, LaRue1975 said:

I would add in the cost of FTTF to the private excursion to see if it is worth it and you could just risk it, there is a good possibility it will not be a problem too.

 

I just ended up booking a private whale tour. By private, it's private...just our family. So, they will wait on us for whatever time we get off so I don't think it's going to be an issue either way. I did inform them that sometimes it takes awhile to tender off the boat and told them how it's been reported sometimes it can take an hour. They told us no problem. I guess I don't have to worry about that now. 

 

9 hours ago, LaRue1975 said:

I think you would enjoy a smaller boat more and it can go faster to chase the whales since there will not be as many. We didn’t have to go far at all, they were all over the place.

 

Yea, after thinking about it, that's why we booked one like this. I hope it works out in our favor. 

[mitsugirly]

Does anyone have any pictures of a balcony room that fit 4 people and what the sleeping arrangements are? I assume the couch pulls out into a bed and maybe a bed coming out of the wall above it?

[LaRue1975]

5 hours ago, mitsugirly said:

 

Ok, I figured that it would be but wanted to double check. If you do have F2F, do they bring tickets to your room automatically? Or do you still have to go pick up tickets?

 

 

I just ended up booking a private whale tour. By private, it's private...just our family. So, they will wait on us for whatever time we get off so I don't think it's going to be an issue either way. I did inform them that sometimes it takes awhile to tender off the boat and told them how it's been reported sometimes it can take an hour. They told us no problem. I guess I don't have to worry about that now. 

 

 

Yea, after thinking about it, that's why we booked one like this. I hope it works out in our favor. 

You now have the perfect plan. 😎🐋😎 FTTF is the same as platinum/diamond so you will get a letter the day before where to go and what time. It will most likely be the Liquid Lounge, get there early. Then sit near the exit and when they announce that it is time to board the tenders get up and move quickly to line up behind the Carnival person that will lead everyone to the tender.  The small boat is definitely the way to go. We were a group of 10,  my hubby and I were the only ones with priority and I knew the NYE cruise would be packed to the gills and have lots of Platinums and Diamonds which it was. We booked the easiest option and it was a success, we got our own big table on the boat, the drinks flowed the whole time plus we saw tons of whales. You will also board early and be able to drop your bags in your cabin at embarkation and use the Diamond/Platinum line a guest services, bonus perks! 

 

[mitsugirly]

2 hours ago, LaRue1975 said:

You now have the perfect plan. 😎🐋😎 FTTF is the same as platinum/diamond so you will get a letter the day before where to go and what time. It will most likely be the Liquid Lounge, get there early. Then sit near the exit and when they announce that it is time to board the tenders get up and move quickly to line up behind the Carnival person that will lead everyone to the tender.  The small boat is definitely the way to go. We were a group of 10,  my hubby and I were the only ones with priority and I knew the NYE cruise would be packed to the gills and have lots of Platinums and Diamonds which it was. We booked the easiest option and it was a success, we got our own big table on the boat, the drinks flowed the whole time plus we saw tons of whales. You will also board early and be able to drop your bags in your cabin at embarkation and use the Diamond/Platinum line a guest services, bonus perks! 

 

 

Welp, I guess F2F is not an option for us. They must be all sold out. So, we will just have to try to get the best tender tickets we can. I'm really glad we decided to go with a private tour now. (I seen a lot of complaints about people buying the F2F not really getting any benefit out of it, not getting to their rooms in time or luggage until really late saying it was a complete waste of money). So...I guess I won't be finding out if there was any benefit to buying it. LOL

[LaRue1975]

1 hour ago, mitsugirly said:

 

Welp, I guess F2F is not an option for us. They must be all sold out. So, we will just have to try to get the best tender tickets we can. I'm really glad we decided to go with a private tour now. (I seen a lot of complaints about people buying the F2F not really getting any benefit out of it, not getting to their rooms in time or luggage until really late saying it was a complete waste of money). So...I guess I won't be finding out if there was any benefit to buying it. LOL

They are going to wait for you so you’ll be fine, especially since you’ll be there all day. You should have time to explore the port after too. Our grandson had fun with us at Senior Frogs but we were there early, might not be kid friendly later in the day. And you saved $$ not buying FTFF, win, win! I should have time this afternoon to share what we have done in the rest of the ports.