Been a while since I've posted anything. I guess I will have to make this post count with LOTS of pics and videos! Over a year ago, after hearing Carnival was going to put it's biggest and newest ship in California, of course we had to go check it out. It's the first time in over 30 years a new ship was put into circulation on the West Coast. We sailed on the beautiful Carnival Panorama when it was just barely 2 months old.
The neighbor's cat was in our house as we were packing and he got into the suitcase. He wanted to go along. We didn't let him.
We drove down in one day and got to the hotel in Long Beach around 11pm and stayed the night. In the morning, they had a breakfast for us and they had this very interesting machine that made pancakes! Normally, they have waffle machines, but never seen a pancake one!
They were hot and cooked all the way through and were really good! I might have to get me one of these.
Our first view of the Panorama. It's about 134,000 tons and holds about 4500 passengers and 1500 crew. We didn't know it, but the week of President's Day is no school week in California. There were a lot of teachers and LOTS of kids on board! Later on in the week, we heard the cruise director say there were 1500 kids on this cruise.
As we normally do, we walk around the ship exploring all the areas so we know where we want to go later during the week. These nice seats were by the pool and were shaded and comfy seats
The ship was beautiful. Subdued colors and very calming
Of course we knew the "fee at dinner" restaurants offer free lunches, so we head up to the Mongolian Wok restaurant and had lunch with about 5 others in the restaurant. Later in the week, the lunch line had over a 1 1/2 hour wait when everyone else found out about it!
Some of the outdoor activities - Skyride track, Ropes Course, mini golf, etc
On the back corners, there were these interesting work-out things, that use your own body weight for resistance. They were very clever and very effective.
Hannah tried to recreate the photo from these chairs from a year ago when we were on the Splendor, but this time something was missing - Jacob was missing! We all felt him missing all week.
This was the adult area in the front of the ship. Very nice and comfy chairs.
The spa pool had these heated chairs which we tried out during the "spa tour"
Another recreation from the Splendor and the Breeze...again Jacob was missing
There are two atrium and each one has this funnel looking LED screen thing, along with the ones in the ceiling. It changed to different things all throughout the day and night
VIDEO: First ice cream by the pool
Time for the sail-away party to start! You can see the cruise director standing on the bench in front of the pool - in the red shirt. She was amazing. Emma. She is Carnival's first female cruise director and she is so good, they put her on their flagship. She never stopped smiling and was everywhere and overflowing with energy!
VIDEO Sail-away party just getting started:
MORE:
This violin trio played all the time in the atrium and were pretty good. Notice the funnel thing - dandelion or something.
Our cabin door had this poster on it so we always knew where our room was!
Clue the game is on all of Carnival's ships..it's a fun little game to play all week with clues being given each day
Cool night pic of the small pool in the back
Every night is movie night on the big screen with popcorn
The first day was sailing so we explored more. Here we are watching a dodge ball game - it was interesting and glad we were not playing
We spent a lot of time out on deck (in the quiet places) reading, napping, watching the ocean
I have no idea what this pic is. I should delete it.
For the elevators, you pick which floor you want to go to from a screen outside the elevators. Then it tells you which elevator to go to. It's supposed to group people together going to the same floors so you don't end up stopping at every floor. It seemed to work pretty good
If you got in the wrong elevator, you were stuck. There are no buttons inside - just a display of which floor it was going to stop at
We got some good chairs to watch the pool area activities
....and then some chairs in the quiet part to relax and read and look at the view
Being on the ship all day, we did a lot of walking - almost 12,000 steps by 3:30! And we try not to take the elevator...so this day we walked up 50 flights of stairs..Our cabin was on Deck 1, with the pool on 10 and other activities on 12
Time for one of two "fancy dinner" nights. We didn't get our own table and shared it with others and it wasn't so bad
Every night was "showtime" in the dining room, where you are supposed to twirl your napkins in the air and get up and dance as the waiters "perform" their dance routine. We were under red and purple neon lights as you can tell. It's not a sunburn
VIDEO: Showtime!
Hannah posing for the camera
Just one of the yummy desserts
The next day we were in Cabo. Hannah got my phone and like she usually does, runs away from me taking like 100+ pics of herself along the way
The lifeboats were very interesting on this ship. Normally the life boats hang over one of the lower decks. On this ship, they actually hang over the water..so they weren't in the way of anything
Hannah tried to beat or match her record from a year ago of having 45 ice cream cones. She didn't beat it. She said if Jacob was there, she would have.
Cabo is a "tender" port, meaning the ship can't dock so it parks out in the ocean and you take either the life boats or other boats provided by the port to get onto land. This offers some good views of the ship
As we normally do in Cabo, we went whale watching. You can see all other boats too - we were all in the same place.
We all followed a momma whale and her calf as they swam around in circles basically.
We stopped at the market that has about 169 stalls/booths and every one sells the same things....tee shirts and vanilla
This one actually had some different things to buy
Carnival likes to surprise you each day with a new towel animal in your cabin
Back on board, we were hungry. Our favorite menu item on Carnival ships is Guy Fieri's Burgers - they are amazingly so good...and free....and messy...and good.....
Ice cream time
Almost time to leave....sunset in Cabo
The production show this night had a scary halloween theme....
The next day we woke up in Mazatlan. We normally go to the beach, but we weren't necessarily feeling it this time. So we just got off the ship and let the wind take us
There is a blue line to follow about 3/4 mile that will take you to "town" for shopping, sight seeing etc.
We opted to hike up to one of the highest lighthouses in the world. Most lighthouses are at sea level, but this one is up atop a small mountain. It's only about 1 1/2 miles from the port, but we took a little "taxi" to get there. This is our driver
"Faro" is lighthouse
Our driver would pick us up in about 90 mins
Soon the view got very good. Notice the "white rocks" in his pic.....keep that in mind
About half way up, the trail turns to stairs....Almost 400 stairs later, you are at the top. And there were cats all over the place. Meow.
Inside the small lighthouse
They also have this glass overhang you can walk on for $1 per person. We just watched
VIDEO: On the way down, Hannah did a little interview to get opinions of the hike:
We then met our driver and he took us around town a bit to show us around. Here is the mountain where the lighthouse is
Our driver stopped TWICE in case we wanted to get pics of the famous "white rocks". He said, "here are the famous Cabo white rocks. Do you want to go take a picture?" I said, "uh no. We've seen white rocks before" He was shocked we didn't want a pic of the white rocks.
Look closely under the steering wheel - it's hard to see, but there are tons of wires there...all exposed and crimped together
And this is his seat......it needs some work.....a new seat actually. I had to hurry and take these when he wasn't looking and he was outside of the car
We saw the divers.........
VIDEO: Diving
....and this strange thing......
...and the famous church....maybe the church was made from the white rocks??
Time to go back
All the doors look the same....good thing we had that poster on the door to find our room
Uh oh.....we went "exploring" and might have ended up somewhere we weren't supposed to be.. Oops...Jacob would be so proud of us!
a little relaxing time before dinner
Tonight's menu
The ham/pineapple/mango appetizer
Chicken Milanese
Salmon
Some chocolate dessert......many many chocolate desserts
This cheesecake was much better than the chocolate dessert
Once again, it's showtime!
VIDEO: Showtime!
Tonight's show was a rock & roll show
After the show, Hannah went out on deck and put on a dance show herself
We walked to the front of the ship and it was SO dark and you could see SOOOOO many stars...This white blob is the Princess ship we followed every day.
We didn't watch the outdoor movies, but we ate the popcorn each night! We got the popcorn and then went to the production shows
Yummmmmmm.....we loved this candy store
The White Hot dance party....Notice Emma on the bar.....the people at the bar stayed there the whole time while she was walking all around them...she never spilled anyone's drink!
VIDEO: White Party: This video has some back story. Emma always tried to get everyone involved, even those who just watch (like us) and those on the third floor ("top shelf") like us. There was one guy on the third floor, we couldn't see him because the LED funnel was in the way. He was just watching....not doing anything and had on a blue shirt and blue shorts. Emma called him Mr. Blue - she picked him out of the crowd and said he had to get involved and start dancing on the first two beats of this song....He didn't....so she did it again....and again...and again..and finally he did it! Then she kept looking at him to make sure he was dancing and having fun!
The next day we woke up in Puerto Vallarta. As we normally do, we went zip lining. We have never been to the same one twice, so we like to try them all out. This one is Noglito Eco Park.
This is not us, but there two lines they let you do it this way. Hannah and Jacob did it this way the last time we went zipping
VIDEO: I found this video of the place we went to...watch just a few mins and you will get a good idea of how it was. It was way up in the mountains, and at times, we could see the ocean way off in the distance
This dog just got done zip lining....he was taking a rest
As is normal with all the zip line places, they don't let you take your camera/phone...they say it's to keep you safe..so you don't drop it...but we all know it's really so they can try and sell you the pics they take of you...because you want to remember it and the only pics are the ones they take......at about $50. So here we are zip lining. If you squint, you might be able to see us
Also as with all the zip line places, they have "free" tequila tasting and they give you time after that to have lunch at their convenient restaurant. This one seemed authentic with this lady making tortillas for tacos
We had some chips and guac
I got up to ask for the bill and birds immediately flew down to the table to eat the crumbs
We made it back to the ship early
We were greeted by this bunny? something else?? hangin off the bed
Puerto Vallarta is very very flat..you have to go to those mountains in the background for all the zip lines
We took advantage of the empty ship and went on the skyride a few times, as there was no line. Previously, the line was about an hour every time we checked. It was actually much funner than you would think. You pedal it to make it go
These very yummy looking desserts were always out tempting us...so we gave in and tried one....two....three.....
More relaxing time. In this port we were joined with a Holland America ship as well as the same Princess ship we followed
VIDEO: Horns
As we were sitting out on deck next to the Princess and Holland America ship, the Holland America ship was leaving. Princess first blew their horn which is the theme to the TV Show "The Love Boat" as that was a Princess ship. Then Holland America and Princess and Carnival kept blowing their horns at each other. Unfortunately I didn't get the Princess horn melody - it caught us off guard. But you can hear how it goes from the first 15 seconds of this video:
Then here is the rest of it as we were sitting out:
I think Hannah was full after dinner
Tonight was the 80's Party on deck
VIDEO: 80's Party:
VIDEO: 80's Dance Contest:
We woke up to the middle of the ocean, as the next two days are days at sea as we head back to California
A little ping pong.....
Mini golf.....
Hasbro game show is pretty fun to watch
They have these hand washers around the buffet area..you put your hands in and leave them in...it washes and sanitizes your hands in about 30 seconds
More candy......
the hairy chest competition is always a crowd favorite
Here is a close-up on the big screen
All the competitors
Part of the competition they had to go in the audience and dress themselves up
Part of the competition was "Tarzan", walking in the jungle (isle), and then coming across a large poisonous snake (towel) and then killing the snake and then walking up to "Jane" and giving her their best Tarzan yell like in this video:
VIDEO: Another:
VIDEO: Haven't had enough yet? One more:
VIDEO: The fashion show portion
Yummmmm more burgers for lunch
Towel animal zoo
Second fancy dinner night
Tonight's production show was a little abstract...Hannah didn't get into it
Once again, Hannah went out after the show to the front of the ship.....it was SOOOOOOOOO windy this night! It was actually had to walk
VIDEO: Walking in the wind to the front of the ship:
All the stairwells had nature photos like 3D
Our last sea day was much much cooler...and it was rainy and cool in LA so the further north we went, the cooler it got
Lobby area near the elevators.....the decor is very modern and calming
Our last sunset
Our tablemates - we had 3 others that came for 2 nights and then stopped coming. We must have scared them off
As on all Carnival ships, they have Lip Sync Battle all week with tryouts, mini-competitions and then the final night one man and one lady compete on the main stage with backup dancers and costumes
This guy won - he's dressed up as Tina Turner and it was so good!
VIDEO of the winner:
Unsure of what Hannah is doing here
She found something funny
but wouldn't tell us what it was....
We each get a free drink the last night....this half/half strawberry margarita and Piña Colada was very yummy! No more plastic straws either..these are sugar straws
Nevermind the Carnival watermark all over this pic....squint until you can't see it
Our tradition is when they come around to take pics in the dining room, to make funny faces...they never say anything and they never say let's do that one again..they just smile and move on
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