Mitsugirly's PANORAMA detailed review and pictorial

[mitsugirly]

WELCOME TO 2024!! Where nothing is as it used to be back in the day. 

 

Ok, ok, I know you all HAD to have heard about these elevators on the Panorama right? If not, I'm about to let you in on how it works. 

 

It's not your normal "push the button and wait for an elevator to arrive" type of deal. Oh no, it's much more ?complicated? for some people. 

 

So you go to the screen and find the floor you wish to go to. Push that floor. BUT!!!! Make sure to push that button as many times as the people in your party. Otherwise, the elevator will only calculate room for that one person. Sometimes you'll see the elevator doors open and it will be full. Why is this? Because a family of 6 people pushed the button once and the elevator system thinks only one person got in and now there's not enough room in that elevator for your party. So...PUSH THAT BUTTON...several times if there's more than just you. It will tell you which elevator to wait at and will also flash.

 

The system seemed to work pretty good to me. The only gripe that I would have is the following...You can only do one person at a time. Then the system starts over and you have to repeat these steps over and over from the beginning. It should be smart enough to have a button you can just push it multiple times for the amount of people in your party instead of starting over each time. Sometimes by the time you (we) got done putting in 4 people, it would be giving us 2 different elevators to take. Um...I don't think so. 

 

Here's a short video showing how it works:

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Ok, for those of you that are just dying for menu's, I did manage to get a few of them for your viewing pleasure. Hopefully these will be big enough to read and expand to see.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[missholly24]

On 4/19/2024 at 8:09 PM, mitsugirly said:

Yep, it happened again...we were back on a cruise ship but this time with Carnival for Spring Break. WHEW! 

 

We haven't sailed with Carnival since 2018, but this would be our 7th cruise with Carnival and (I believe) our 24th cruise since we've been cruising regularly with our daughter Sakari.

 

After our NCL Encore cruise in December I made the executive decision that I WAS GOING SOMEWHERE NEW!!! I didn't care where, as long as it was some place different! We have been cruising the Caribbean (and land vacationing there) since 2010. The ports are "worn out" with us. We love them...don't get me wrong...and wouldn't hesitate to land vacation there, but deep in my soul I needed a change. I've had a bucket list for awhile that hasn't quite materialized into much over the years other than mostly jibber jab about "I'mma go here one day" and it was left at that. I get high anxiety of the "unknown" and have always felt more at ease with returning to familiar places but just doing something different each time. NO MORE I TELL YA! I'm spreading my wings and hopefully they were strong enough to endure the wind I was about to fly in....THE MEXICAN RIVIERA! 

 

Those that have followed my family for years on here and my travel website know that we 1) love the water 2) love the beach 3) love to snorkel 4) love to scuba 5) love the water 6) love the heat 7) love the beauty of the clear aqua sea and did I mention we love the water? Why have I held back for so long on visiting the Mexican Riviera...just plain scared...of...the water!  I read the stories, not crystal clear water, not the beautiful aqua turquoise color, not warm water (well unless you peed in it and we'll get to that at a later time...just saying), windy and the ship be rockin!  Ok, I got this! Cheers to new experiences.

 

We booked the Panorama from March 30 to April 7th. An 8 day glorious cruise to: Cabo, La Paz, Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta. Woo Hoo!

 

And so it begins...

 

 

OMG you and GaPearl were/are my two favorite gals on here that review cruises. I'm so happy to see you back!!!! 

[mitsugirly]

Some of the Main Dining Room Menus:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

21 hours ago, jedi bobs said:

I have been following you since your daughter was jumping off a 2 story lege into the ocean. She is making me feel so old.  How old is she now?

 

Oh gosh...I remind her of this often. It seems to come up in discussions here and there. She says "I remember that place!". She is making me feel old as well. It seems like just yesterday she was that little. She is a Sweet 16 now!

20 hours ago, DebOinKC said:

Mitsugirly you daughter has really grown up fast! Where does the time go LOL. Can't wait to read more of your review. Thanks for sharing with us. 

 

She has...way too fast. 

 

17 hours ago, LatinaInTexas said:

Love reading your reviews and following along on your family adventures. So happy for Sakari, her and Karl look so sweet together! 

He is going to have the time of his life thanks to you, can't wait to see it all unfold.

 

Aww thanks. He definitely had the time of his life and such a great new experience.

 

12 hours ago, graphicguy said:

Kim….great to see you cruising, again.  

 

Can’t wait to follow along.

 

Funny, I was just reading an article today about the best Japanese cars of all time.  Thought of you because they listed these….

 

 

Hi and thanks!  Ah ha! Yes...that's great and how me and the hubby met 22 years ago...our Mitsubishi's.  

 

 

8 hours ago, Momma1980 said:

Nice to see another EPIC review from you!

Haha, thanks... great memories of our first cruise together in 2010 on the EPIC. What started it all. 

 

44 minutes ago, ninjacat123 said:

Did Karl have any "seasickness" issues?

 

Not on the ship...but....

 

6 minutes ago, missholly24 said:

OMG you and GaPearl were/are my two favorite gals on here that review cruises. I'm so happy to see you back!!!! 

 

Aww thanks so much! I appreciate it. Back on Carnival, but have cruised with NCL still and land vacations of course on my website (if you've missed it). 🙂  Shameless plug.

[mitsugirly]

SUNDAY MARCH 31: EASTER SUNDAY

 

We were up by 6:45am and so was the sun already. 

 

 

 

 

I would find that it was still extremely chilly as I stood on the balcony reflecting on my decision to not sail somewhere that was warm. This is so not me. But I'm going to pull up my big girl britches and suck it up. I'm on vacation and the sun beaming through the dark clouds with rain off in the distance gave me a bit of hope.

 

Karl was now awake and glaring at me. "What???"    He said, "I need Melatonin tonight!" The audacity of him suggesting that I snored last night was ludicrous. No way...not me! I'm sure that when I woke up in the middle of the night with a completely dry mouth from having it open and not being able to breathe due to my sinuses being stopped up did not mean I snored. Geesh. Such white lies he told that morning. 

 

We headed up to the breakfast buffet to see what goodies they had. Mmmm bacon. Of course on Carnival, they have the bacon police and you must beg for your pork (unlike other cruise lines). But, just know they are willing to pile as much as you want on your plate so no worries (which really defeats the purpose of them monitoring it to begin with right?). 

 

I really don't understand why ships don't have shredded cheese out for breakfast. I love cheese on my eggs and there's none to be found. But, you will find sliced cheese available over by the fruit. Better some than none I guess. 

 

 

So let's see what is on the agenda today...

 

 

I really don't like sea days. Even though there's a million things to do on a ship, I'm still bored and not sure what to do on those days. I would much rather have a port day every day of the cruise! I like to keep busy exploring and doing new things. 

 

We just walked around until it was time for the first event we had decided to do. The Fun Times listed a "Crafts" event and well, that's right up Sakari's alley right?

 

It was held in the Ocean Plaza and they announced they would be making Easter Cards.

 

The kids went up to get their supplies.

 

 

 

They returned with a bunch of goodies and I could not wait to see what they would come up with. 

 

 

Sakari immediately got to work...cutting different shapes out and grabbing a pair of googly eyes while Karl looked on wondering what to do. 

 

 

The events person announced that they were not supposed to take the scissors from the stage area and only cut what they needed there because they did not have many pairs...and by not many pairs, they said they only had two!!! Yes, you heard that right...2!!!!! Um...you have an event like this with tons of people/kids participating and you only have two pairs of scissors for everyone to share? I thought that was odd. Then let's us talk about the glue bottles they provided to put things together...they were all dried up. You had to remove the top and dig the rubbery substance out. It was a mess. 

 

As Sakari would head back to the stage to wait for her turn for the scissors, Karl decided he liked the shapes that Sakari was cutting out and started stealing them one by one. When she returned, she was somewhat puzzled and went back up to cut more only for him to steal another and glue it on his card. Eventually she came back and caught a glimpse of his card and said "Wait a minute! There's where my shapes went!" She laughed and continued to design her card. She has such patience and so calm.

 

 

 

See, I told you he answers to the given name of Karl by our family. He even signed his card Love Karl. LOL

 

 

 

Sakari finally put her card together and showed us hers. Karl thought she was very creative considering the short time they had to do these and her having to cut her shapes out multiple times due to his pranks. 

 

 

 

 

[Destaw71835]

Smart elevators 😱

 

I agree with you about sea days, I don’t care for them either. I also could never just stay on the ship even if it’s a port that I don’t really care about.

[mitsugirly]

As we walked around, I was on the hunt for Ducks. I looked everywhere and everywhere I looked I would see little munchkins with them in their hands. How are they finding these? Where are they finding these?

 

We came across the Library and decided to go in. It was time for a little competition. Now Karl had never played chess until a few months ago when Sakari showed him how. They challenge each other online in the evenings on their phones. Well, he's gotten pretty good, but don't tell him I admitted to that. We challenge each other to everything we do...trying to be the best and beat the other at games. 

 

 

 

The kid is smart I tell ya and he catches on quick. He beat Sakari. He beat the hubby. He challenged me...and beat me as well. Of course he gloated and I swore I wasn't talking to him the rest of the day...or feeding him. Oh wait, we're on the ship and he's already managed to learn how to get to the buffet.

 

 

 

 

Ok, I have had enough of him making fun of beating all of us. I'm challenging him to a game of UNO. He won't beat me in that...and he didn't. I won over and over and over. My turn to gloat! Take that Karl!

 

 

It had rained a bit while we were inside but the sun was out now. We decided to head outside and get comfy. But it was still cold. We wouldn't realize that the rain still had the cushions to the chairs wet (although you couldn't tell on the one's we sat on) and we would all get up with wet stains on our tush.

 

 

 

Inside they were having a BIG SALE...like never before. End of season sale that I'm sure they end their season every 8 days. But this time, just for our cruise, it was a special event!

 

 

 

As we continued to kill time waiting for 1:30pm to roll around, so that we could get the earliest tender tickets possible for Cabo the next day, we made our way up to the pool deck to find that the Easter Bunny himself was there. The kids took pictures with him/her but I did not purchase them. 

 

 

 

They also had an ice carving event going on around the pool. What would it be? It ended up being a fish...one of many I hope to see this cruise...only in the water. 

 

 

 

 

As soon as the fish was revealed, we briskly walked down to the Havana Bar area where they were going to be passing out the tender tickets. Karl took about 20 steps to get there and we took probably around 50...just saying.

 

We would find that there was already a VERY long line waiting on the tickets at 1pm. I guess everyone had the same idea as us...get there soon to get the best tickets. We stood around waiting and at 1:30pm they started passing out the tickets. We got 3rd place in the race. I'm not sure if it was because everyone ahead of us took 1 & 2 or those tickets went to the VIP people. 

[jerseygirlinAZ]

On 4/20/2024 at 5:26 AM, mitsugirly said:

Boarding the plane, Sakari has always touched the plane before entering for "good luck" and this time we would have extra good luck this time around. This momma was gonna need it!

 

 

 

 

I do this, too!  Kiss my hand and touch the plane, every single time.

[mlshum]

Hey, so glad to see you back!  I’ve missed reading your reviews!  I’m all settled in to enjoy your cruise!

[mitsugirly]

10 hours ago, jerseygirlinAZ said:

 

 

I do this, too!  Kiss my hand and touch the plane, every single time.

 

🙂 So she's not alone. 

 

5 hours ago, mlshum said:

Hey, so glad to see you back!  I’ve missed reading your reviews!  I’m all settled in to enjoy your cruise!

 

Hi there and glad to have you back. 

[mitsugirly]

All this waiting in line for tickets has made someone very hungry...

 

Off for a big juicy Guys Burger for us!!!

 

I opted for the Pig Patty because...well bacon is because!

 

 

 

 

The line was super long for Guys and going all the way across the pool deck and over to the side with the burritos. I would only notice, once we got up there, that there was actually 2 lines and the other line was WAY shorter coming from the other direction!! It pays to pay attention I guess. 

 

 

.....as if a burger and fries wasn't enough... I had to have desert and headed inside to see what sugar free goodies they might have to counter act the carbs I just took in LOL

 

 

 

 

We had planned on attending the Tina Turner Timeless Grooves Dance Class at Ocean Plaza but our lunch ran over too long and missed it. So, the kids decided they wanted to get in the hot tub. I'm still freezing to the bone with the cold air and refused to even consider this. 

 

They headed to the hot tub and we headed to the casino for a little fun. 

 

I found a few games that more than doubled my money for the day and was happy to walk away a "winner". 

 

My philosophy is always to put $20 in and if I double or come close to it, I cash out and walk away and try a different machine.  This Fireball game was...well on fire! They had 3 of them lined up and I won on each one of them. I would rotate to the next and then to the next and so on. Then I actually started over again and still continued to win.

 

 

 

I always seem to take a picture right when the machine starts counting the wins and it makes it look like I won a small amount. LOL   I guess I should wait until it's done but oh well. 

 

 

I did find out that I was "charging" the wrong amounts in the slots. Every time I cashed out and went to another machine, I hit the charge room button. I didn't even notice that you could use the button for the winnings in the players bank. Oops. Every time I cashed out, it would go into the players bank. Before long, I had $180 in my players bank and had managed to charge my room $60. I learned after that thanks to the hubby. LOL

 

 

Now one thing I want to mention about the casino here. There is NO bar that you can go up to and get a drink. This really sucks!!!! What kind of a casino doesn't have a bar in it? We are at the mercy of one of the few servers running around the entire casino to get you a drink.  When I booked this cruise, it came with "free drinks on us in the casino while playing".  How well do you think that went? I was in there playing for over 2 hours and NOT ONE person come up to ask if I wanted a drink! NOT ONE! I actually had to hunt someone down. When I did, they said "You earn your free drinks by your points and you do not have enough points yet". Um...might want to check my account. I'm supposed to get free drinks while playing...it came with my booking. They finally decided to get me a free drink, I went with a Bahama Mama, and then I'm pretty sure they hid after that because I never could find them again. 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

We decided to head out and find the kids. On our way to the pool deck I spotted an egg. Hmmm....did someone just leave this laying around? Nope, people were hiding eggs now AND ducks I guess. 

 

Inside was a Reese's cup. Karl begged for it and Karl got it. 

 

 

The kids changed and we all headed up to the "fun" and games area where the kids played a little bit of ping pong and then Karl challenged "Popa B" to a life sized chess game (he calls us popa and moma B). 

 

Guess who won...it wasn't popa!

 

 

 

 

The Sky Ride was not open today...it was just too windy, however the ropes course was, which I found odd. However, Karl didn't have closed toed shoes on and the kids decided not to try it out yet.

 

Once back in the room...THERE WAS A TOWEL ANIMAL!!! Oh how we've missed them! (NCL does not do them anymore...or maybe only does them if you ask for them??? I'm honestly not sure at this point but we have missed them so much). Sakari was so excited to show Karl. 

 

 

 

 

Carnival just upped NCL a few times on this cruise so far...they have towel animals and they serve Pepsi products...I know, the whole Pepsi versus Coke thing is a debate on here. I'm a Pepsi drinker, the hubby likes Coke. I win on Carnival, he wins on NCL. 

 

[mitsugirly]

We decided we wanted to see a show and we all love comedy. Tonight, at 6pm was Lisa Alvarado in the Limelight Lounge. We all headed there to find that it was VERY crowded...even standing room only in places. We laughed and had a good time and then headed back to the room for showers and to get dressed for dinner. I wanted to go to the MDR for Easter Dinner. 

 

We do anytime dining...it's just easier for us to go when we are hungry than when we have to go. 

 

To schedule your table, you get on the Carnival Hub app, put in for a table and then it notifies you when it's ready and gives you a table number. Your table number determines what floor you are on and where to go. Tables 200-400 was deck 3 and 500-700 was deck 4. 

 

We had a 40 minute wait when we scheduled our table.  That gave us plenty of time to get ready. The app would update itself every 10 minutes. Then when the table was ready, it told you and you had 10 minutes to get there.

 

 

 

 

We were seated at 8:04pm and they immediately had our drinks out to us (our pop) within 5 minutes. Wow, great service. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, that's where the quick service ended. After that, it would be LONG drawn out night of waiting. 

 

When we ordered, Sakari wanted the Surf & Turf. Then we would discover they charged an extra $23 for it???? Seriously? I don't ever remember them charging for this? NCL doesn't charge extra for it. I thought that was weird and immediately told Sakari to pick something else. 

 

 

 

 

Our appetizers came at 8:49pm. I had the Spinach Artichoke Dip:

 

  

 

Hubby had a salad:

 

 

 

Our mains came out at 9:12pm

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Desert came at 9:33pm and Karl has discovered the Chocolate Melting Cake...help us all. 

 

 

 

There has been a lot of complaints lately about the chocolate being liquid and gooey. Well, they were right...it was! Not really cooked at all and it was like a soup. However, I'm pretty sure Karl licked the bowl anyhow. 

 

WE would discover that the MDR has sugar free ice cream!!! I'm not sure why you can't get this anywhere else. We love our nightly ice cream at home and this cruise...we were only going to get it if we came here. Kinda a disappointment. Plus 1 for NCL for having it every night in the buffet area.

 

 

 

With our bellies full, we all headed back to the room for the night and was in bed by 10pm. I drifted off thinking about our first port day tomorrow and couldn't wait!  

 

Cabo here we come!!!

[mitsugirly]

Ok, gotta get ready for work. I'll attempt to come back later for our first port day. It all depends how busy I get. I hope you all are enjoying the review. So much more excitement to come....trust me!

[Djacksonterp]

I like the plot twist with Kendra and the jail phone call, I'm totally invested in this story now, gotta see what happens to Kendra!!

Edited April 23 by Djacksonterp

[ASR1996]

Thank you so much for sharing! I am so looking forward to more.  

[MistyRo76]

On 4/19/2024 at 8:09 PM, mitsugirly said:

Yep, it happened again...we were back on a cruise ship but this time with Carnival for Spring Break. WHEW! 

 

We haven't sailed with Carnival since 2018, but this would be our 7th cruise with Carnival and (I believe) our 24th cruise since we've been cruising regularly with our daughter Sakari.

 

After our NCL Encore cruise in December I made the executive decision that I WAS GOING SOMEWHERE NEW!!! I didn't care where, as long as it was some place different! We have been cruising the Caribbean (and land vacationing there) since 2010. The ports are "worn out" with us. We love them...don't get me wrong...and wouldn't hesitate to land vacation there, but deep in my soul I needed a change. I've had a bucket list for awhile that hasn't quite materialized into much over the years other than mostly jibber jab about "I'mma go here one day" and it was left at that. I get high anxiety of the "unknown" and have always felt more at ease with returning to familiar places but just doing something different each time. NO MORE I TELL YA! I'm spreading my wings and hopefully they were strong enough to endure the wind I was about to fly in....THE MEXICAN RIVIERA! 

 

Those that have followed my family for years on here and my travel website know that we 1) love the water 2) love the beach 3) love to snorkel 4) love to scuba 5) love the water 6) love the heat 7) love the beauty of the clear aqua sea and did I mention we love the water? Why have I held back for so long on visiting the Mexican Riviera...just plain scared...of...the water!  I read the stories, not crystal clear water, not the beautiful aqua turquoise color, not warm water (well unless you peed in it and we'll get to that at a later time...just saying), windy and the ship be rockin!  Ok, I got this! Cheers to new experiences.

 

We booked the Panorama from March 30 to April 7th. An 8 day glorious cruise to: Cabo, La Paz, Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta. Woo Hoo!

 

And so it begins...

 

 

Excited for this one....I was literally just looking at this cruise on the same ship for 2026 - for my 50TH birthday/spring break cruise! 🙂 I've done one Mex. Riviera cruise but it was in 2010 and and didn't include La Paz. So I'm totally here for this one! 🙂  

[luvcruzing]

@mitsugirly I’m so glad you’re back on CC.  You’ve been missed. 
 

In case you don’t know, always-hungry-Karl can order a second dinner at no charge.  A third dinner would incur a $5 fee.

[luvcruzing]

Kim, just to be clear, I know your cruise is over, but reading your review makes me feel as if I’m onboard with you in real time.  

[Ranyw]

Hi! We were on the same sailing as you guys!  I’m going through your pictures and it’s like Deja vu!  We even stayed at the same hotel pre-cruise!  Great review so far!

[Krisco]

Catching up.  Your reviews are the best.  Your website also. I have gone on so many excursions you recommend or stay away from those not so good.  Looking forward to the rest.

[luckiest1cruise]

My friend & I are getting on the Panorama on Saturday April 27 so I'm enjoying your review & pictures and look forward to more!

[mkcurran]

2 hours ago, luckiest1cruise said:

My friend & I are getting on the Panorama on Saturday April 27 so I'm enjoying your review & pictures and look forward to more!

See you there!

[Jenny in TX]

I have always enjoyed reading your reviews.  Looking forward to this one!  We were booked on the Panorama out of Long Beach for this cruise in October 2020 and we all know how that ended.  We haven't rebooked it yet, but I have been thinking about it.  After seeing this I need to take the plunge and just book it!