Carnival Panorama Review

4.5 / 5.0
179 reviews

Great for Families

Review for the Mexican Riviera Cruise on Carnival Panorama
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Family Vacation Cruiser
6-10 Cruises • Age 50s

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Sail Date: Dec 2019
Cabin: Interior

We sailed on the ship's 4th voyage, over New Years 2019. Overall, we had a great time.

The positives - we always choose an inside cabin because I can't see spending big $$ for the amount of time you are in your cabin. This is our 8th cruise and I have to say these were the best inside cabins we've been in. They were spacious (actual room to walk around the bed) and the bedding was quite comfortable. The free on demand movies were great too. Before bed time each night we watched a movie, saw 5 in total. Typically cruise TV consists of a loop of pre-recorded stuff. We actually got CBS news, HGTV and Food Network, along with a few other channels. We also enjoyed all of the fun activities that were planned for families (i.e. Interactive Trivial Pursuit, trivia contests, Sky Ride, Ropes Course, Fooseball Tables, nice workout facilities, Sky Zone (costs extra), Lip Sync Battle, etc.). Emma, one of only a handful of female cruise directors at sea, was terrific! She is loaded with boundless energy and conducted a very informative Q&A session with guests, which we attended, in which guests could ask her anything about life on a cruise ship. Even though there were 4,000 passengers on board, it never felt that way. We didn't feel like we had to push to get food or rush to miss out on getting a seat. Probably because there are so many things to do, passengers are doing things at different times, which helps to spread out the crowds. We took excursions in each of the three ports, two of which were booked through Carnival and one we booked independently. Actually, the one we booked independently was the one we enjoyed the least. At Cabo, we took the camel excursion, which was excellent! In Mazatlan, we booked our own tour and in Puerto Vallarta we booked the Extreme Adventure excursion, which was extreme, but so much fun!

The negatives - You almost had to bribe someone to get you any fresh fruit. It became a running joke in our family. We are in Mexico, for crying out loud, so where are the fresh pineapples, mangoes, and so on?? I wanted a banana one morning and I asked our waiter for one. The look on his face when I mentioned 'banana' was priceless! My family told me I just ruined his day. He eventually came back with half of a mushy, overripe banana, but I am not picky, so I gladly took it. On the buffet each morning on the Lido deck, was just canned peaches, grapefruit, cantaloupe and honeydew. No grapes, pineapple, banana, mango, etc. Very strange.... Being that this was our 8th cruise and having sampled many buffets, this was our least favorite. Carnival needs to up their buffet game. We ate there the first day, because there wasn't another choice, but only returned each day afterwards to see if anything had changed. It's more quantity over quality. Even the presentation was bland. Simple rectangular trays lined up over warming plates, in a small, crowded space. The salad bar was nothing more than plain lettuce (no spinach or anything else) and a few toppings. When I say few, I mean few, bordering on pathetic. Norwegian and RCCL buffets blow away Carnivals - not even a comparison. So, we scoped out other places to eat, like the taco stand, which was tasty.

Cabin Review

Interior

Aft and higher up, so you did feel some of the motion, but we are used to it. The location was great. Just a couple of flights of stairs up to the main pool and dining areas. And a couple of flights of stairs down to the main trivia and social spaces.

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