Mexican Riviera Cruise on the Carnival Panorama

Embarkation -- January 21, 2023

Before embarkation, we walked back to the beach again. This time, it was our ship.

Travis found that Long Beach offered a free rides to the port on a bus called Passport. I read that ubers, etc. getting into the port had to go into the parking and get a ticket creating a long delay, so this was good. We went to the bus stop, they had space for our big suitcase/luggage racks, and we were the only ones on for the full ride. It worked great! It stopped at Harry Bridges Memorial Park near Queen Mary. We stopped by Queen Mary for a quick snack. I found mountains that looked great!

Another view of the lighthouse that we visited the night before, and another view of Queen Mary.

We headed toward the cruise terminal, following the sidewalk where others with luggage were coming out. We ended up on the side of the terminal and went to the front/the parking garage to dropped the bag with the porter.

Our embarkation check in slot was 11-11:30 am. Unfortunately, when we got there a few mins after 11am, they were calling any boarding time could get in line. However, our boarding pass had a pre-assigned boarding group C01, so we did not lose that spot. Check-in was pretty quick; they checked our passport and that is all. Then we went through security. They did a small rip in the 12 can soda cardboard box during the check, but I had a bag to hold the sodas if they needed to destroy the box (I have heard that they may do that). Then we sat and waited for boarding to start, and this was slow. When they began boarding, they boarded in the following order: suite guests, Diamond, Platinum, Faster to the Fun, A01, A2, A3-10, B01 to C01 (us). Then we slowly moved in a long line until finally reaching the ship. Embarkation took a little over an hour and a half, so not speedy.

On board, we were directed the the safety drill check-in to find our muster station (Vista restaurant) and then had to wait for enough people for a life jacket demo. It was still much better than the traditional muster drill that I have heard NCL brought back -- grrr, we are booked for July.

After, we excitedly headed to JiJi's Kitchen or the Mongolian Wok at lunch, complimentary at lunch, before everyone discovered it. I had the steak bowl, which was supposed to be spicy, but was not too spicy. Travis got the ginger pork; his was really good with big chucks of meat. We started talking to the couple at the table next to us and all ordered at the same time. Theirs came, then mine, and Travis was sitting wondering when or if his would come. I guess the big pork took longer to cook, but they should have mentioned this when bringing mine. So that, we did not worry.

Of course, even though we just ate, we had to go check out the buffet. Travis tried the gelato. Gelato is supposed to be dense, but it was like soft serve. Maybe, being the first day, the machine could not keep up with freezing it. I never found a flavor that I liked and wanted to try, but did not remember to look everyday. Travis tried coffee, mango, and raspberry. They always had chocolate chip cookies and very good cakes (though lines with only two cake stations, though 4,300 people on the ship). Cakes and lunch buffet were only open for lunch until 2:30 pm. I never saw all buffet stations open, and food choices were repeated at different stations. So, the options were more limited than desired, and the buffet did not seem big enough to handle 4,300.

We did some ship exploration and did the rope course. I had done it on another ship, but it started out terrifying. Then either the obstacles got easier, or I got more comfortable because it was easier at the end. Still, going around once was enough for me; Travis went around twice and did it again later. The SkyRide had a 30 minute from here line, so we skipped it for today. We played a little putt-putt, but it was very crowded with kids. We could not believe how many kids were on the cruise! Our kids were in their second week back to school after winter break. During disembarkation, the Cruise Director, Marty, said there were 4,300 people to disembark; looking up the published capacity, I calculated that we were at 107% capacity. Eek, we only went one post-covid cruise with lower capacity, but I have heard such good things about not having a full ship.

Goodbye Long Beach

This was the Upper Promenade. It was nice with good seating spots and some restaurants' al fresco dining -- mainly the Guy's Pig and Anchor. However, it was not good for walking the promenade; it was closed off at the front for crew area and at the back for the Havana pool area (Havana only room guest allowed). The Lower Promenade was labeled inside the ship, but it was unclear if we were allowed to be on it. One crew member told us that we could not be, but we had passed other crew members that said nothing and some dressed like they were higher up. So, we stopped walking the Lower Promenade, but I don't know. When going back in, we ended up in the casino where someone commented -- ah, fresh air. The jogging trail at the top was crowded with putt-putt players and not covered and protected from the wind, like I enjoy about a promenade deck.

Then our room was ready. When they were supposed to be boarding us in the terminal, they were announcing that rooms would be ready after 2:30 pm -- late. We went down 2 minutes early, and it was ready with our Sign & Sail cards on the room number "mailbox" slot. It took awhile for our luggage to come. With luggage delivery, the mid-ship elevators were closed. I'm not good at stairs. I try, but we were on deck 1, so that's a log of decks. We did 10 once and 14 the next time -- that's a lot of stairs! The room was good, and our room steward, Rodrigo, was awesome. He stopped by and asked what we needed the first day and delivered it flawlessly the entire cruise. We had our ice bucket filled once a day, always had my extra hair towel, and a towel animal each day. He kept our room perfectly clean. He always greeted/talked to us in the hall. (Yes, this made it into the Carnival survey!) I don't have a desk area picture, but we also had a desk area with a mirror with lights all around for getting ready. It had 2 USBs, 2 US plugs, and 1 European plug. The shower looked small, but I did not have any complains using it -- the shower curtain did not cling or attach itself to you while showering. Our closet was a bit small, and crammed full hangers. I took some down and set them at the bottom of the closet. The extras were normal plastic hanger, not all the cruise line's wood ones, so someone brought and left extras. There were plenty of shelves and drawers. We had an empty mini-fridge (I heard it was just officially a cooler, but our sodas were plenty cold or really we added ice anyway) under the TV. The switch above the bed turned all room lights off; it is high enough not to accidentally bump it in the middle of the night.

We had "Your time dining", which now you reserve your table on the app. When ready, the app updated, though it was not very obvious. We both refreshed to not miss. They would hold the table for 10 minutes. It gave you a table number that you have to tell the hosts. The app does not tell you this, so we was swooshed to the side as unprepared the first day. Being our first day, if the app does not tell you to be prepared with the number, then how would we know? We always ate early, so we got a table quickly. You also reserve a table for Sea Day brunch and breakfast in the MDR. You can pick to share a table when reserving a table in the app; we like to share but never ended up doing it. Next time.

Your time dining was in the aft restaurant, which sound good because they normally have great views. However, they were not, some views, but many areas were not windows because they would have shown the lifeboats.

Travis had cocktail shrimp, strawberry soup, mahi mahi, and tiramisu (though it was not as good as it has been before). I had calamari (very good), brisket (very good) with potato mash (not so good), and Carnival melting cake (always very good). I was surprised that they only had 1 or 2 different daily dessert with the daily usuals -- cheese plate, fruit plate, Carnival melting cake, and ice cream. They still had a longer selection of appetizers.

Strawberry soup, calamari (ok, I took the picture a little late), mahi mahi, and brisket.