Willdra's Paramount Carnival Panorama October 15-21 Cruise

[willdra]

Cabo San Lucas Day 1

 

 

We got up around 9:15. Our excursion wasn’t meeting until 11. It was a sluggish morning. Before I officially got up, I said a silent “Thank you, and good looking out boss lady” to myself for picking late excursions. I know me. I never want to wake up early. Waking up early on vacation is unholy. Except when I miss Blue Iguana for breakfast. Which is exactly happened.

 

After we got most of the debris and rubbish off of our bodies, W and I went to scavenge for food. By scavenge, I mean we just walked down the hall y’all. When we got outside I could see long lines on both sides of Blue Iguana. There was also a crew member in the back of the line holding a sign that said they were closing. Womp womp. I didn’t make the cut. It was alright that time, I didn’t have my mouth ready for Arepas and Huevos Rancheros quite yet. I would be ready the next day tho.

 

The inside buffet area was sheer insanity. The stations are setup to minimize line forming and wait. However, people were forming lines and waiting. I got a table first then went and joined the madness. W got in the omelet line. I looked over at him and he was visibly irritated. We underestimated the amount of people who would be doing the same thing as us. Shocker.

 

After we secured our bounty we got situated. While I was digesting, there was a family behind us talking to another family. The only reason I noticed them was because one of the men was complaining about being able to feel the ship move. He was saying “On our last cruise ship, I only felt the ship move a couple of times, but on this ship I’ve felt it so much more. I don't like that”. I don’t know if anyone explained this to Waldo Geraldo Faldo or not, but ships move. That’s literally their job. If you “feel it”, it hasn’t somehow failed. It’s doing its job and getting us to our next destination. Sheesh.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[willdra]

We took our time eating. There was no need to rush, we had an hour to get to our excursion meeting point. We made our way down at 10:50. The ship wasn’t even docked yet. The excursion meeting point was in the Horizon Dining Room. Most of the excursions met in there and when they called the excursion, everyone in that excursion went down as a group.

 

We lined up, and as soon as we got down to Deck 0, we joined a million and 3 people down there trying to get off. They sent us either right or left at Deck 0. Both sides were packed, so it didn't matter which one we chose. Next, we boarded a very tight water taxi, then we took off. As we were sailing towards the pier, people were taking pictures by standing up and contorting their bodies in strange ways. There was a lot of stumbling, and almost falling. I thought to myself “You will have much better photo opportunities on your excursion or on your return to the ship. Don’t unalive yourself for these mid pictures”. As always tho, I kept my pie hole shut, and minded my moisturized business.

 

 

 

[willdra]

The ride was short, it lasted maybe 8 or 9 minutes. Once we got to the pier we found the signs for our tour and waited there. Very soon, they called our excursion to line up. We were on the Pirate Ship Sail, Snorkel, and Lunch excursion, that I purchased thru Carnival. After we signed the waivers, we got onboard.

 

It was rowdy y’all. After we left the dock, it went from 0 to 100. Real quick. They started serving drinks and they pretty much had all types of liquor in the bar. The bartender also had a tiny gimpy hand, but that stopped nothing. He was getting those drinks out faster than we could order.

 

I asked for a water first. Big mistake. I thought I would get a safe bottle of water. Nope. He poured the water from a jug. A random suspicious jug. Now I’m not biased about drinking water in different countries, but after K’s Rotor Rooter situation on our last cruise, I'm going to be more careful about what I consume in different countries. One thing I’m not gonna do, is drink weird water. Sorry. Not sorry.

 

So the bartender hands me the cup of water and ice. I took it, and just stared at it. I was thinking “how can I ditch this without making it obvious and hurting anyone’s feelings?” I didn’t have an opportunity at first, so I held on to it for a long time. I was even holding it while trying to take pictures and type my notes. That's some serious tenacity. After the ice melted, and I just couldn’t take it anymore, I handed it another crew member, and she tossed it for me. Whew. Thank goodness! Weight lifted. I was then free to enjoy the festivities.

 

As we sailed out, they celebrated birthdays, anniversaries, and they even had a dance competition. The crew did a good job of entertaining us on the way to the snorkel spot in Chileno Bay.

 

I ordered margaritas as my next 2 drinks. They were good but I could feel the heartburn building with every swallow. The tequila was not top shelf, so heartburn should've been listed as an ingredient. Or better yet, a warning. Danger was imminent.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[willdra]

When we got close to the destination they gave out snorkel gear. I passed, I wasn't getting in. W was going tho. The bay was very calm. I enjoyed the empty boat with a few other passengers while watching the brave snorkelers. Shout out to the cool couple from MS who recognized that my toes were painted in Mardi Gras colors (cuz I like the color combination).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[willdra]

After snorkeling concluded, lunch was ready. They really had it down to a science. It was efficient and quick. W went thru the line for both of us. He brought me back a burrito, pasta salad, and chips with guacamole. I liked everything. Too much.

 

After everyone got back on board the party began. They performed a very interesting pirate show. The bar was still open, so drinks were free flowing. During the voyage, there was a photographer taking pictures of everyone. Towards the end, they tried to get everyone to purchase the pictures, but there wasn’t enough time to get around to all of the guests. They should’ve gotten the ones who stayed aboard first, then everyone else. When it's time to go, most people are ready to go shopping or get back on the ship. Personally, I'd rather drink boiled spaghetti water, than hang back to view and purchase pictures, so we were not sad when we missed it. 

 

We got back to the pier fast. W and I collected our crap, and we tipped the crew heavily, cuz it was that good. We more than got our money’s worth. In drinks alone.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[willdra]

When we got back to the Panorama, security scanned us in, and we went straight back to our cabin. I fell asleep and didn’t get up until W woke me up around 8 pm. 8 pm! I missed the Silent Party and I missed dinner. W would rather walk thru hades with gasoline underpants on than wake me up, but he really should've taken a chance here. I would've been nice-ish. Especially if he told me what I was about to miss.

 

Pig and Anchor was pretty much my only option for food that late. I showered and threw on a dress to go and eat. The restaurant was empty. Prolly cuz everyone else had good sense and went to dinner like they were supposed to. The server showed up, and I ordered the Dragon Chili Cheese Fries, and the Prime Time Prime Rib. W also got the Backyard Brownie. Each one was a full meal on its own. There was a lot of food. As I was eating, I checked the app and realized that we were also missing the Love and Marriage Show. Huh? It was like they had all of the activities that night. W said that I really looked tired when we got back, so he let me sleep. Believe it or not, I was still sleepy.

 

We ate quick cuz we were in a refrigerator. It was Stone Cold Steve Austin in there. I wish we could have stayed longer, that live singer could blow, but there were icicles forming on my pinky toes. Not ideal.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[willdra]

In order to make it to the 80's Rock N Glow Party, we went straight to the Lido after dinner. I wasn't about to get distracted and miss it. We were a little early, so we just chillaxed until the party started.

 

Our CD "Gerry with a G" did a great job. There were new dance challenges that we had not seen before. One word of advice tho. Before entering a Michael Jackson Dance Competition, please only do so if A. You’ve heard of Michael Jackson, b. You’ve seen him dance, and 3. You have practiced a few of his dances. In front of brutally honest people. Don't try to get in there and wing it. Michael Jackson cannot and will not be winged (or is it wung?). Please and thank you.

 

It was extremely humid out so we left about 10 minutes before the end. It was also very warm. Like brick oven warm. Yow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[willdra]

Back in the cabin W said he was going to get ice and he would get me a Starry (seriously why did you name it that Pepsi? Was there no other name available?). While he was gone I decided that I wanted to get water too. So far, I had not consumed enough H2O. Dehydration is not attractive. I got the water, then for some reason, my feet took over, and instead of taking me back to 10239, they took me outside to the pizza stand. I made a mental note to shop for new feet, then I saw that there were only 3 people in the pizza line. Naturally I stayed and got a slice. It was hot right out of the oven. I was thrilled that the cabin was such a short walk away from food and drinks. I still reprimanded my feet for disobeying and disregarding direct orders tho.

 

W was back when I returned. We talked about our day, then read some of our books before turning in.

 

 

 

[willdra]

Before I fell asleep I said a prayer thanking God that I didn’t drink that cup of water on the pirate boat. When W looked at it and said “You’re not drinking that are you?”, I already knew that I wasn't going thru it, and it wasn't going thru me. If W questions a consumable thing, it’s a pretty good indicator that consuming said thing will have never ending negative consequences. A cruise is the worst place for those types of negative consequences. Therefore my gut and my butt thank you for sparing us God. Amen.

 

 

 

 

 

[HolySpearit]

Late but following along, great review as always! 
 

Im also now questioning if I’ve been musty dusty my whole life and nobody has told me and ordered some Lume for our land trip next week. They should give you a kickback 😁

[edspec]

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?

[pirate4me2]

That excursion looks like fun! If I ever get up the courage to get my arse on a plane and do a cruise out of CA, I will have to check it out.

And I love the gasoline underpants reference....I have used that a few times and people look at me like they have never heard it before. 

[CBussey64]

It's been awhile since I've check in on Cruise Critic boards and am loving the first review I came upon.  Very entertaining!  

[TinkLoverSam]

I play "spot the Disney Ship" in cruise reports. With the first picture I deduced it must be the Magic as she has taken over the West Coast cruises while the Wonder is in Australia. Your next picture confirmed it for me!

[willdra]

10 hours ago, HolySpearit said:

Late but following along, great review as always! 
 

Im also now questioning if I’ve been musty dusty my whole life and nobody has told me and ordered some Lume for our land trip next week. They should give you a kickback 😁

LOL 😂😂😂 Thanks for following and for the Lume laugh! That stuff had me questioning my whole life! 😭🤔

[willdra]

9 hours ago, edspec said:

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?

It was a very fun excursion, and definitely worth a try! ⛵️⛵️⛵️
Latitudes was awesome as always! It actually gets better and better every time we visit. Which is what I don’t want,  cuz that means W and I will be trying to move down there with them sooner than we should! 😜

[willdra]

8 hours ago, CBussey64 said:

It's been awhile since I've check in on Cruise Critic boards and am loving the first review I came upon.  Very entertaining!  

Welcome back! Glad that you’re here! 😍😍

[willdra]

8 hours ago, TinkLoverSam said:

I play "spot the Disney Ship" in cruise reports. With the first picture I deduced it must be the Magic as she has taken over the West Coast cruises while the Wonder is in Australia. Your next picture confirmed it for me!

Wow 🤩 you’re good! I didn’t even realize which ship it was until you posted this! 😆

[willdra]

9 hours ago, pirate4me2 said:

That excursion looks like fun! If I ever get up the courage to get my arse on a plane and do a cruise out of CA, I will have to check it out.

And I love the gasoline underpants reference....I have used that a few times and people look at me like they have never heard it before. 

The gasoline underpants line is one of my personal favorites. It’s so versatile, it can be applied to a multitude of situations! 😂😂🔥🔥

[willdra]

Cabo San Lucas Day 2

 

 

This is the reason that we booked this cruise. The last time we sailed on the Panorama we fell in love with Cabo. It is so beautiful, we wanted to spend more time there. When I saw that this sailing does 2 Cabo days, I jumped on it. Before the cruise, I read that sometimes the ship isn’t able to return the 2nd day due to the weather or seas, so I petitioned the man upstairs to calm the seas please. Welp it must’ve worked cuz we were docked on the coast of Cabo again when we got up at 8:20am. Blessed.

 

For this Cabo day, I purchased day passes at RIU Palace on Resort For A Day. I thought we were going to breakfast then getting off at our leisure. As I was getting myself together, W suggested that we get off with the Diamond/Platinum group, and just eat at the resort since it was all-inclusive. The Diamond/Platinum groups were meeting by Guest Services between 8-9.

 

W said he didn’t want to have to deal with getting a tender ticket. I could see the benefit of that plan, so I went along with it. However, that only gave us 15 minutes to get down there.  I hurriedly finished trying to make sure my breath didn’t smell like a haunted house. When I was almost sure that it didn’t, we went downstairs around 8:55.

 

 

 

[willdra]

First, since we were cutting it so close, I went into the Guest Services line to make sure we weren’t too late. There were 2 ladies who looked like they babysat Captain Kangaroo in front of me speaking with the rep. They were telling her that they paid for an Ocean View Cabin but they received an Interior Cabin. They gave her their confirmation and boarding passes.

The Guest Services Rep said “It says on here that you booked an Interior”.

Somebody's Nana: “Yes but we thought it was a mistake because we specifically asked for an Ocean View and that’s what we paid for”.

Rep: “You confirmed the booking online for an Interior Cabin”

Nana: “Yes but we thought it would change. Should we talk to the person who booked us?”.

Rep: Smiles in “I can’t believe this”. Then says: “Yes we aren’t able to change that now”.

 

2 twirls and a drop it low go to the rep for her cool, calm, and collected demeanor.  I know she wanted to say “It’s now Wednesday. You’ve been on this ship since Sunday. Why are you just now realizing you have the wrong cabin? Why didn’t you sort it out before the cruise? Why did you confirm it? Who booked you? What were you hoping would occur? You better lean on the promises of God, cuz I don’t have anything for you. Now sashay away” Jiminy Cricket. People are really peopling this morning.

 

When it was my turn I asked if we missed the window to be taken off of the ship with the group. I was told to just wait in the lobby and they would collect us. We did that, but by 9:11 we were still there. I know we were there on time cuz I took my first picture at 8:59 and that was after I waited in the Guest Services line behind Lucy and Ethel. While we were sitting there, a Crew Member came and got a couple of people then left. She came back a few minutes later and got somebody else, so we asked if she was supposed to take us also. She said "Oh you had to be here by 9".  We said: "We were". Then she said “Did you tell GS that you were waiting?”  "Yep. Did that too. Now what?".  “Oh ok then you can go down now". All she did was push the button for the elevator, and sent us all down to Deck 0 unescorted. We could’ve done that ourselves. When we got down there, we walked right onto the tender. And left.

 

 

 

[willdra]

The Resort For A Day instructions stated that we had to print out our pass beforehand, which I did. We walked all the way out of the port area where there were taxis waiting. They asked where we were going, and I told them RIU Palace. They said they would take us, and it was $17. It was a short ride over. 12 minutes tops. At the entrance to the hotel zone, the driver stopped and a security guard popped his head in and asked to see our reservations. I showed him my printout and he let us go in. When we got to the hotel we went through the Guest Services line.

 

A very nice gentleman checked us in, took our payment for the balance of the reservation, gave us wristbands, and 2 cards for towels. We were also given instructions and info on the property. We had access to all of the bars, food, and amenities.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[willdra]

A very nice gentleman checked us in, took our payment for the balance of the reservation, gave us wristbands, and 2 cards for towels. We were also given instructions and info on the property. We had access to all of the bars, food, and amenities. They were still serving breakfast when we arrived, so we went there first. The buffet was ginormous! There was almost every kind of breakfast food that one could imagine. There was even a mimosa bar. Between that and all of the open bars that we passed, they were dranking dranking over there at the RIU. It was impressive. If I ever go back to Cabo on an all inclusive, I would absolutely stay there. The only negative was the heat. They had the windows open, but that heat was standing on business. It would not be ignored.

 

W and I loaded up our plates then we sat down to eat. Everything on my plate was delicious. Especially the donut with Nutella(manna from heaven).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[willdra]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[willdra]

After we were 2 stuffed turkeys, we went to find a spot for the day out back. There are several large pools back there. We found some shade and I took a few pics. Next I caught up on my notes, then went to get in the pool with W. We had to leave at 2, so I wanted to make the most of my time there.

 

Before W and I decided to cruise exclusively, we stayed at several RIU All Inclusive properties in the Caribbean. One thing that we remembered (not so fondly) was the drinks. The bar tenders are very generous with their alcohol pours, however the drinks don’t really taste good. I had a Strawberry Daiquiri, a Rum Punch, and a Margarita. The first two tasted like they used sugar free mix. They had a weird aftertaste. That's when I switched to the Margarita. Welp, all I could taste in the Margarita was tequila. The mix that they used had to be fighting for its life(and losing) in that cup. I wasn’t mad about it, by that time my taste buds had clocked out. It felt like I went to the pool bar to have a few drinks, but those drinks ended up having me. Between the breakfast mimosas and the pool drinks we had plenty of alcohol. Our cup runneth ova.

 

 

We chose to chill in the infinity pool for the remainder of our time, cuz it had stools and benches in it. It was a good place to park it for the day. We had a sweet view of the Panorama and the Navigator of the Seas that pulled up a little later. It was very beautiful and picturesque out there.