Mitsugirly's PANORAMA detailed review and pictorial

[pirate4me2]

Awesome review, as always. Thank you for putting it together! I hope Karl can learn to SCUBA so he can enjoy it as much as you all do. I love seeing all your underwater photos with the colorful marine life!

[noshoobie]

Thanks again for your review! I will definitely refer back to it when we start making our plans for our 2/25 Panorama cruise.

[carohs]

On 5/13/2024 at 4:01 AM, mitsugirly said:

I would notice that they were calling self assist off the ship before they started calling those who had checked their luggage. Was there a blooper in the scheduling system when I had decided to check our luggage over self assist with the times? I'm not sure. That was the only reason why we had picked that instead. I know I was getting worried for sure. 

 

On the Radiance, I too saw they had us picking debarkation times for self-assist. I was even thinking maybe I imagined it but now that I see your posts, I know I didn't. In our case we picked the latest but it didn't seem to matter because like on your cruise, they called all the self assist before the checked luggage people. 

 

On 5/13/2024 at 4:48 AM, mitsugirly said:

I hope everyone enjoyed the review and maybe found some of the things we did interesting and it possibly helped you in deciding if it is something you might (or might not) want to do when in some of these ports

 

I enjoyed it lots! Your trip looked so fun, and is giving me ideas for our second trip to the Riviera next April for sure. The weather is slightly concerning, but we did a similar itinerary the second week of April last year and had 80 degrees in Cabo, and high 60s the day we were in Mazatlán. Keeping my fingers crossed we get that kind of weather again, and not your chilly experience.

[tootsiescurly]

On 5/13/2024 at 3:31 PM, mitsugirly said:

FINAL THOUGHTS:

 

Whew what a trip. I love "firsts"! I have been saying I'm expanding my travel horizon...except not on the Horizon but on the Panorama this time.

 

I have to say this was definitely different than what I had expected. I expected to have some chilly weather here and there. I expected to have cooler water temps. I expected to not have blue water. 

 

But I don't think I really expected it to be THAT cold for THAT many days during the trip.  I definitely didn't think the sea water would as cold as it was either. For a family that lives in the water...I'm pretty sure it threw me into depression. The color of the water...I was actually pleasantly surprised for the most part. It was definitely pretty (except for the green cloudy water during scuba). With it being so cold outside, it made it impossible to use the pools or the water slides, which we really wanted to do but wasn't willing to take on all the shivering afterwards. 

 

So my conclusions on cruising the Mexican Riviera...I will NEVER go again for Spring Break. It's just too cold for my liking. I WILL go back however, maybe during the summer, warmer months.

 

The PORTS:

 

CABO: I really had the most amazing time here. Seeing the show the whales put on is at the top of my list (and yes I have a very long list) of one of the most exciting things we've done. Never in my life have I experienced this and I highly recommend going during whale season. You won't be disappointed. If it's not whale season, taking a boat ride over to the arch, past the sea lion colony and pelican rock is still a great thing to experience. I really hope some day to go back and make it to Lovers/Divorce Beach. It looked a lot more beautiful than Pelican Beach. 

 

LA PAZ: I guess there's not a lot of beach choices for beach-y people like us but the one that we went to was definitely beautiful along with everything around it. Had the water been warmer, we would have definitely stayed longer and enjoyed our time there. Walking around the Malecon was beautiful and all of the statues they have there makes for a good day of exploring the area. Had the statues not been there, well I probably wouldn't have enjoyed it at all. The free bus service is an added plus and super simple to use...even with a long line, it moved rather quickly I thought. Hopefully they will continue this service.

 

MAZATLAN: Going to the aquarium was a good day/choice of things to do. It might seem a little on the expensive side to visit such a place, but we enjoyed ourselves and it gave us something interesting to do. I'm still amazed at the parrots that flew so far and managed to come back. The sea lion show was good, despite not being able to understand what they were saying. The aquarium itself, which is the highlight of the place, had so many aquatic animals to see and it was definitely worth it. Walking along the Malecon afterwards was pretty as well with the waves crashing against the rocks, various statues, and visiting the "Beatles" area was unique and great opportunities for pictures. I'm sad that we missed the cliff diving so we may have to give that another shot on a different trip.

 

PUERTO VALLARTA: If you have a chance to either snorkel or scuba at Los Arcos...you MUST go. Simply amazing. I've never witnessed anything like that before...even in Roatan. You won't see the beautiful coral as you would in the Caribbean but the traffic jam of fish definitely makes up for that! All the unique fish we've never seen in the past...so many firsts for us!  If you ever want to see a puffer fish...THIS IS YOUR PLACE!!  I have to make note of that unclear green water on the swim there though is less than desirable. Just saying...   Of course all the things I said I had on my list do to...I'm definitely going to have to return here one way or another (either by ship or land vacation). I will one day make it to Bandaras Bay/Marietta Islands some day and I will make it to Las Caletas Beach (during the day) to experience what a beautiful place it seems to be and also going back at night for Rhythms of the Night. On my bucket list of things to do for sure!!!

EMBARKATION: It was super simple and super fast, other than our blooper of not printing off our boarding passes on separate pieces of paper. Oops. I'll know next time to change my printer settings. I know people have said it was a cluster...but our experience was totally opposite. Maybe it was because we were a little late to arrive at our scheduled time and we were catching the tail end of our group going in? The traffic...well, that's another story. People are not lying when they say they waited in traffic to get there...forever!

 

DEBARKATION: It was a lot slower than getting on for sure. But, we were constantly moving for the most part and it was super easy to walk up to security, scan your beautiful face, then walk on out. 

 

THE SHIP: Oh the ship. What a beautiful and clean ship she was. With over 4000 people on it, and during Spring Break, I have to say I was a little skeptical about how crowded it would be. I had read that the flow of the ship makes it feel like there are not as many people on there with you...and people were right. We never really felt overly crowded and needless to say, I was shocked. It was pretty comfortable. The elevators, I think during the muster drill, there needs to be a short presentation on how to use them so that everyone knows...push the button for as many people as you have in your party and life will go so much better. The non-existent bar in the casino was definitely an issue and if this is going to be what they do, they need more bartenders running around. The service was terrible and those people were running around trying to please everyone. I definitely didn't get my "free drinks on us" from the casino as much as I had planned. 

 

OUR ROOM: Our room steward was great. Always cleaned everything nicely and even left clean towels...even when we would hang them back up saying we'd use them again. He always spoke to us in the hallway and was always pleasant. He brought me ice daily and even gifts we had no idea where they came from...too bad it wasn't something we could use. LOL We were excited to see a new towel animal each day. We definitely picked the right side of the ship to be on while cruising and I was happy about that. 

 

The shows: Ehh, they were ok but not as good as other ships we have been on. I felt like only a few of the singers could really sing. They were all very energetic though and put on quite the show so props for that. My favorite was the show with the drones. The comedian was good and we enjoyed him. Jonathon Timpanelli has an AMAZING voice and we liked his show. Tenna Torres had an amazing voice as well...just it wasn't an interesting show. 

 

THE FOOD: To us, it was a hit or miss. Some days were good and others not as good. This is in the buffet. I mean it kept us alive, but.... Now the MDR the food was always good but the service was a hit or miss. You win some then you don't. The Dr Suess Breakfast just wasn't the same and I will not do that again...especially for the price. We all know the JiJi story so I'll let that be.

 

THE PARTIES: They were all fantastic and Dion knows how to get the party going. He is entertaining, can really sing and dance and we had a blast. Just the repeated singing at the end after the music stopped and him getting carried away was only funny the first few times. Just saying... His announcements that always started out with "Heyyyy yaaaaaaa'lllll. I sAid Hey" got to be a little annoying...especially when my kids would non-stop say it after the first few days. I've heard enough Hey ya'll's to last a lifetime by now. Of course our absolute favorite party was the Silent Party. We will always seek this out now for sure.

 

 

THE PHOTOGRAPHERS: I normally don't mention them too often but they were amazing and took so many pictures that you are sure to get a good one that you liked. Bravo! It wasn't a click one and done type of deal. 

 

FLYING INTO/OUT OF LONG BEACH: We absolutely loved it. I love small airports. It seemed to run efficiently and didn't seem too crowded. I will probably always do this when I take a cruise out of here. 

 

HOTEL: We really enjoyed our stay at the Hyatt Regency Long Beach. It was a beautiful hotel. We loved the location and being within walking distance to almost anything we needed. It was an added plus that they had the swan boats there as well. Even though it was colder than all get out, it was fun. The staff there was so amazing and friendly and the room was clean. There was only the one blooper with no electric during the middle of the night (although I should have been in bed sleeping) but management did reach out to me via email after our trip apologizing and told me there was some type of outage in the area and it had never happened before. Of course I did get a discount during check out so I was happy about that. I would 100% stay here again in the future. 

 

That's all I can think of right now. It's been a busy day at work and my brain is spent for the day. If you have any questions, please let me know and I'll try to answer them the best I can. 

 

Yes, I will be back to the Mexican Riviera. Yes, I will repeat this cruise some day in warmer weather. Until then...it had me wanting to head back to the Caribbean. 😄

 

 

I'm looking into doing a land vacation next. Probably some time in August. So many things swirling around in my head for options:

 

Curacao

Bonaire

Anguilla

Dominican Republic

Turks & Caicos

Costa Rico 

 

Some of these Southwest fly to and others do not. Sometimes that's a factor on what we decide...sometimes not depending on the price. 

 

We were looking at a few older vacation photo's with Karl and he loved the idea of trying out a SeaTrek walk too. They do have them in Curacao, Anguilla, DR. But he's just excited to go anywhere again at this point. All he has talked about it trying scuba again. I told him I think I'm going to take him to the local dive place here (where Sakari first took her PADI seal diving classes when she was 8 years old) and have him to a few Discover Scuba Dives there in the pool to get used to it and actually SEE what he's supposed to be doing. I think that will help him a lot. 

 

Until our next adventure...HAPPY CRUISING!!

 

The diving in La Paz is awesome! I did my open water cert there. We have gone back several times!

[Doctorsbaby]

Thank you for another amazing review! I have referenced your reviews when planning things to do on other trips. My daughter loves being a mermaid, so always loved your pictures of Sakari! And I think I bought her tails based on a recommendation from you. 

 

For PV - definitely try Rhythms of the Night on a future trip. It is bookable on a land based trip as well. Super awesome experience, very Cirque de Soliel but outside. I’m going to keep the info about diving around  the arch in mind, the pictures were amazing..but wetsuits are miserable 🤣🤣

 

I’m open water PADI certified (husband & daughter dive too) but have very little interest in diving past 40ish feet for the most part. But certified dives are normally $50+ per person cheaper than DSD dives. I just tell them when booking that I prefer shallow, easy dives. 

[mitsugirly]

21 hours ago, SenatorsFan said:

Thanks for another wonderful review, Kim! Have fun planning your next adventure. All the places you're considering sound great. 🥰

 

Thanks so much! 

 

20 hours ago, pirate4me2 said:

Awesome review, as always. Thank you for putting it together! I hope Karl can learn to SCUBA so he can enjoy it as much as you all do. I love seeing all your underwater photos with the colorful marine life!

 

I hope so too. He was just talking about it again yesterday. The marine life in PV was simply amazing!

 

18 hours ago, noshoobie said:

Thanks again for your review! I will definitely refer back to it when we start making our plans for our 2/25 Panorama cruise.

 

Thanks and I hope you found something useful. 

 

12 hours ago, carohs said:

 

On the Radiance, I too saw they had us picking debarkation times for self-assist. I was even thinking maybe I imagined it but now that I see your posts, I know I didn't. In our case we picked the latest but it didn't seem to matter because like on your cruise, they called all the self assist before the checked luggage people. 

 

 

I enjoyed it lots! Your trip looked so fun, and is giving me ideas for our second trip to the Riviera next April for sure. The weather is slightly concerning, but we did a similar itinerary the second week of April last year and had 80 degrees in Cabo, and high 60s the day we were in Mazatlán. Keeping my fingers crossed we get that kind of weather again, and not your chilly experience.

 

Thanks and I hope you found something you'd like to do in it. Yes, that weather was not at all what I was expecting. I'm not taking any more chances. 😄 

 

 

11 hours ago, tootsiescurly said:

The diving in La Paz is awesome! I did my open water cert there. We have gone back several times!

 

 

Really? Is it clear enough to really see? I hadn't read anything about diving there when I was researching. Some people mentioned Mazatlan, over by Deer Island, but it seemed to be a hit or miss on whether you'd get clear water or not. If I would have known La Paz was good diving I would have probably found a place there so that we would have been able to do one of the other places I had on my list to do in PV. 

 

7 hours ago, Doctorsbaby said:

Thank you for another amazing review! I have referenced your reviews when planning things to do on other trips. My daughter loves being a mermaid, so always loved your pictures of Sakari! And I think I bought her tails based on a recommendation from you. 

 

For PV - definitely try Rhythms of the Night on a future trip. It is bookable on a land based trip as well. Super awesome experience, very Cirque de Soliel but outside. I’m going to keep the info about diving around  the arch in mind, the pictures were amazing..but wetsuits are miserable 🤣🤣

 

I’m open water PADI certified (husband & daughter dive too) but have very little interest in diving past 40ish feet for the most part. But certified dives are normally $50+ per person cheaper than DSD dives. I just tell them when booking that I prefer shallow, easy dives. 

 

Aww thanks. I'm glad you enjoyed it. 

 

I will definitely get to ROTN one day. As far as booking on a land trip. I found that the only place that takes you there was Vallarta Adventures and I had emailed them about something else (asking if they did a discover scuba because they had it listed on their website). They responded those on cruise ships needed to book with the cruise line to assure getting back in time and blah blah blah with a bunch of other information that had nothing to do with what I had asked them. Then said "I hope this answers your questions". I responded back that it answered none of my questions and also about the ROTN with no response. 😕  So I gave up on doing anything with them.

 

Several dive shops, while on vacation, have told us if we didn't want to get certified there's another level to it that we can obtain that would let us dive without having to do the class each time but yet not be completely open water certified (I can't remember the name, others on here have mentioned it too). I've checked into it once before with our local shops and they all said it's about the same price as getting certified and you still do all the classes/modules that becoming certified does except maybe one of two of them. So they always act like they don't want to do the class and try to convince you to just "go all the way". So, I always just drop it. Although we've been down to 70' before, I still have no desire to go any deeper than 40', do any night dives, go without an instructor/guide or anything else. I'm perfectly happy with what I'm doing now. So the class they are talking about would be perfect for us...if only we could just do that. 

[Jamman54]

Kim, fantastic review as always! Looking forward to your next one! 😃

[mkcurran]

Wonderful review! FWIW, Puerto Vallarta is a great place for a land vacation. We did one a couple of years ago and enjoyed it. 

[tootsiescurly]

11 hours ago, mitsugirly said:

 

Thanks so much! 

 

 

I hope so too. He was just talking about it again yesterday. The marine life in PV was s

 

 

 

 

Really? Is it clear enough to really see? I hadn't read anything about diving there when I was researching. Some people mentioned Mazatlan, over by Deer Island, but it seemed to be a hit or miss on whether you'd get clear water or not. If I would have known La Paz was good diving I would have probably found a place there so that we would have been able to do one of the other places I had on my list to do in PV. 

 

 

Aww thanks. I'm glad you enjoyed it. 

 

I will definitely get to ROTN one day. As far as booking on a land trip. I found that the only place that takes you there was Vallarta Adventures and I had emailed them about something else (asking if they did a discover scuba because they had it listed on their website). They responded those on cruise ships needed to book with the cruise line to assure getting back in time and blah blah blah with a bunch of other information that had nothing to do with what I had asked them. Then said "I hope this answers your questions". I responded back that it answered none of my questions and also about the ROTN with no response. 😕  So I gave up on doing anything with them.

 

Several dive shops, while on vacation, have told us if we didn't want to get certified there's another level to it that we can obtain that would let us dive without having to do the class each time but yet not be completely open water certified (I can't remember the name, others on here have mentioned it too). I've checked into it once before with our local shops and they all said it's about the same price as getting certified and you still do all the classes/modules that becoming certified does except maybe one of two of them. So they always act like they don't want to do the class and try to convince you to just "go all the way". So, I always just drop it. Although we've been down to 70' before, I still have no desire to go any deeper than 40', do any night dives, go without an instructor/guide or anything else. I'm perfectly happy with what I'm doing now. So the class they are talking about would be perfect for us...if only we could just do that. 

Yes, the water is beautiful. You can dive with the sea lions. They also have plentiful fish, dolphins, and whales. The first time we flew in there the beauty of the water made me very excited. Worth a try. There are several great dive operations there - The Dive Gurus, Fun Baja, and The Cortez Club. Luke Inman who owns the Dive Gurus is awesome. I did my open water dives with him.

[mitsugirly]

22 hours ago, Jamman54 said:

Kim, fantastic review as always! Looking forward to your next one! 😃

 

Thank you so much! Glad you liked it. I'm gonna head over to read yours now. 🙂 

 

19 hours ago, mkcurran said:

Wonderful review! FWIW, Puerto Vallarta is a great place for a land vacation. We did one a couple of years ago and enjoyed it. 

 

Yea, I can believe that. It's definitely a place I would want to try for a land vacation (and maybe even Cabo). 

 

12 hours ago, tootsiescurly said:

Yes, the water is beautiful. You can dive with the sea lions. They also have plentiful fish, dolphins, and whales. The first time we flew in there the beauty of the water made me very excited. Worth a try. There are several great dive operations there - The Dive Gurus, Fun Baja, and The Cortez Club. Luke Inman who owns the Dive Gurus is awesome. I did my open water dives with him.

 

Thanks for the info. I will definitely check into it the next time we do this route. That would give me the option to do the other things I want to do in PV then. Appreciate it. 

[Crusin Karen]

Just read this thru! I had started to read it then was in a cruise for 11 days so went back to page one! 😉😁 I love your reviews for the snorkeling pictures and your knowledge of all that you see. I don’t snorkel and I love  that you share that. Video was amazing! I was on Venezia for Mother’s Day and it’s also our anniversary! (Would have been 45 years) have fun planning your next adventure! 

[Crusin Karen]

Kim I was just at my stop and shop. They have 12 packs of coke (aka pop lol) on sale for $10.49- buy 2 get 2 free which I did. According to my

trusty calculator that comes to 43 1/2 cents/can. I thought of you refusing to pay outrageous prices in port! 😉

[mitsugirly]

On 5/23/2024 at 8:04 PM, Crusin Karen said:

Just read this thru! I had started to read it then was in a cruise for 11 days so went back to page one! 😉😁 I love your reviews for the snorkeling pictures and your knowledge of all that you see. I don’t snorkel and I love  that you share that. Video was amazing! I was on Venezia for Mother’s Day and it’s also our anniversary! (Would have been 45 years) have fun planning your next adventure! 

 

Aww. thanks for reading and glad you enjoy the snorkeling pictures. We are currently working on our August land vacation and can't wait! Narrowing it down to 2 places. 

 

 

On 5/24/2024 at 2:08 PM, Crusin Karen said:

Kim I was just at my stop and shop. They have 12 packs of coke (aka pop lol) on sale for $10.49- buy 2 get 2 free which I did. According to my

trusty calculator that comes to 43 1/2 cents/can. I thought of you refusing to pay outrageous prices in port! 😉

 

We have sales all the time at our local Kroger (usually $9.99 for a 12 pack) with buy 2 and get 3 free. I always jump on that and stock up. But I can remember that they used to cost about $3.99 a carton prior to the pandemic. Prices are outrageous. And no, I haven't thought about giving up my habit. 😄 

[grima625]

Fantastic review!  I’m looking at doing a Mexican Riviera cruise, and you share such great information. I’d love to go and see whales, but I think the weather might be an issue. Thank you for taking the time to share your vacation.