jerseygirlinAZ

On 1/17/2024 at 8:42 AM, deladane said:

I ordered 2 entrees tonight.  The filet mignon was excellent!  It was cooked perfectly- rare as I ordered it.

 

 

I also ordered the pappardelle, and this was another dish tonight that was served differently from what I was expecting.  The description said “butternut squash, portobello ragu, pine nuts, pecorino,” so I was expecting a mushroom sauce because of the “ragu,” or maybe possibly a butternut squash puree sauce.  This dish was served with an alfredo cream sauce, with diced pieces of squash and slices of whole mushrooms.  It was delicious, but very different from what I expected.

 

 

Ian woke up before dessert came and he wouldn’t stop crying.  We decided we needed to get Ian out of the MDR as he was likely bothering the tables around us.  Raf saw us getting up to leave and we explained we would need to skip dessert to take Ian back to the cabin.  Raf suggested he get our dessert to go and we could take it back to the cabin, which was so nice of him.  Jason took Ian back to the cabin, and I waited a few minutes for Raf to bring our desserts with lids over the plates.

 

Sometimes when Ian wakes up from a nap, he is cranky and he needs some time to snap out of it.  Tonight, he was at a whole different level!  He was hysterically crying, angry, refused to have a diaper change, and would not go to bed for an hour.  It was miserable.  Our original plan was to drop him off at camp and go see the 7:30pm production show Soulbound in the main theater.  That plan was out the window.  It was after 8pm by the time Ian finally calmed down.  We considered taking him to camp at that point because he was wide awake (thanks to his power nap through dinner), but we decided to just put him to bed and hopefully he would get a good night of sleep.  Of course, Ian had other plans!  He wouldn’t settle down and he was having so much fun running around the cabin and playing with the NYE top hat. 

 

 

 

While Ian burned off some energy, I packed up the bags for tomorrow in Cabo and Jason and I took turns getting ready for bed.  Ian finally fell asleep at 9:30pm.  We were about to go to sleep when we remembered we still had our desserts from dinner!  I got the Triple Chocolate dessert.  I’m not really sure what it was supposed to look like on the plate, and what was going on with the colorful frosting.  By the time it got back to the cabin and sat on our counter for 2 hours, it looked very messy, but I don’t know if that’s what it was meant to look like.  Either way, it was delicious!

 

 

We went to sleep right after that.  This meant that we did not get to enjoy any of the NYE festivities on the ship.  I was very disappointed at how tonight went.  I have never been on a cruise ship for NYE before, and I was really excited for the big deck party at midnight.  Had the calendar worked out that NYE fell towards the end of the cruise, I think things would have played out differently.  With this being our first full day, Ian was still adjusting to life on the ship and to the drastic change in his routine.  We knew that cruising with a toddler would be very different from when we used to cruise as just a couple, and this was one of those moments.  I think this was the first time I ever missed a production show on a cruise, but I know for sure that it was definitely not the first time I’ve fallen asleep before midnight on NYE!

 

Up next: Cabo San Lucas!

I'm sorry your New Year's Eve didn't turn out as planned.  That's kids for you, right?  We actually celebrated in the AFT by the pizza place since my daughter doesn't like loud noises.  It was just us and some crew members.  Was actually perfect!  And, we got pizza before anyone else.  You can see that they knew people would be heading over for pizza after the party!

I'm not sure how much this will help you since we did the tour, gawd, 25 years ago, but it was absolutely wonderful.  We weren't on a cruise and stayed in Dublin 9.  Our tour included the brewery and a tasting at the end.  We got to keep our tasting glasses.  There was a little restaurant at the end and it had the best soup and brown bread I've ever had.  

We did the hop on, hop off bus and saw a lot of things in a short period of time.  (And, if you like whiskey, check out the Jameson Distillery.)

Thanks for letting me relive a fun time, even though I wasn't much help. 🙂

So glad you posted this!  Just went to check on a cruise my husband booked and found that only 8:15 p.m. is open.  I didn't realize he hadn't made a selection at the time he reserved the cruise.  Hopefully we can make a change on board (cruise is in June) because 1. we have an 8-year old and 2. we are cruising with my parents and I am certain that they have already booked early dining. 

If not, we'll deal.  🙂

Hi all!

If I have a drinks on us anywhere offer from the casino, is my partner required to purchase cheers?

7 hours ago, LaRue1975 said:

On 1/12/2024 at 9:14 AM, deladane said:

 

I was on this cruise also and am thoroughly enjoying your report, can’t wait for the rest! And I agree, our Facebook group for this cruise was the BEST and our administrator did an awesome job keeping us all informed during the repair saga.

Jim is awesome.  I did my first Panorama cruise with him and had a blast.

On 1/10/2024 at 2:32 PM, Kingsmom said:

Looking forward to your review.  We board the Panorama in 38 days, 22 hours, 28 minutes.  Not that I'm counting. 

 

Edited to add:  I'm getting a bit concerned I haven't left enough time to disembark and get to Long Beach airport.  Flight leaves at 12:45am.  Next available is 3:00pm.  I live 3 hours from the nearest airport......hoping I can make the early one!

I would schedule an Uber ahead of time.  Our flight was at 10:55 and we almost made it.  But again, we took an off-the-clock Uber driver.  

On 1/10/2024 at 7:17 AM, deladane said:

 

I hope you had a great cruise!  I am definitely going to talk about our experiences with embarkation and debarking when I get to that part of the review.  Spoiler alert:  It took us an hour and a half to get an Uber to pick us up after the cruise!  It was absolutely insane!  I kept saying that people are going to miss their flights not because they couldn't get off the ship (which went pretty smoothly for us), but because they were stranded in the Long Beach cruise terminal parking lot!!  I'm so sorry you missed your flight, but luckily we live in driving distance to the port (even if it is a long drive!), so you make alternate arrangements.  I am sure there are others from our cruise who flew in from further away and missed flights that needed to be rescheduled.

 Not being able o get an Uber was the main reason we missed our flight.  We had a guy come up to us and ask us if we wanted a ride for $50.  He was an Uber driver, just working off the clock.  I was a little concerned about it, but not enough to say no.

We were on this cruise as well! Was going to do a review myself, but I'll let you have at it!  We, too, live in AZ.  Missed our flight home since we booked too early.  Rented a car and drove home.  No big deal, but something for others to consider.  The debarking and embarking on this cruise were both a bit of a mess.

Can't wait to board with some of you on the 30th!

This thread makes me wonder how many posters have worked in the service industry.  I'm guessing few, but feel free to flame away as I know you will.

31 minutes ago, lazydayz said:

 

That is different.  As part of your job, you tipped them out. Your customers were not expected to tip them.  
 

The cruise lines are asking us to tip the servers, the bussers, the dishwashers, the laundry crew, etc.  

I only brought this up because another poster asked about tipping on a cruise ship versus a land vacation. This is common practice 

On 12/2/2023 at 6:55 PM, Rdclfamily said:

They also only service the room once a day compared to two.  

Land hotels don't even service rooms once a day anymore.  Stay three days?  No service.  We still tip because someone had to set up our room and will have to set it up for the next group.

Personally I don't need a steward to come by twice a day on a cruise, but I get people are used to that.

We also don't eat in the MDR often on cruises as we prefer specialty dining.  We tip both and a lot of places elsewhere.  We just consider it part of our vacation cost.  

1 hour ago, lazydayz said:

I don’t want to tip back of the house workers I never see.  When I dine at a land restaurant, I am not expected to tip the host, the cook and the dishwasher.  At a hotel, I am not expected to tip the laundry or maintenance team.  Yet on a cruise, they are allocating a large percentage of tips to people I never see.  I know their jobs are important, but it is the employer’s job to pay them.

 

Actually, as a former server (albeit years ago), I had to "tip out" a percentage of my tips to the bussers and the host.  

So sorry to hear that!  

We once threw away a $100 Visa gift card that was a reward for signing up for something, can't remember.  I called the company and they sent a new one.  Felt very lucky about that.

Thanks for posting!  I am a vegetarian and looking forward to trying some of these in December (if the Panorama gets fixed in time).

Sad to hear, but seems necessary since she's been having problems.  Sorry for all those who have had their cruises cancelled.  😞

Yes, that is correct.

It looks like most of your questions have been answered, but I'll chime in as well since we just cruised with our eight-year old this past May into June.

She personally loved seeing the sled dogs, which we did in Skagway.  Our tour was paired with gold panning (which she also enjoyed) and the White Pass train.  (Train ride was kinda long and she got bored on the way back).

In Juneau, we saw a ton of eagles just flying around.  We rented a car and went to Mendenhall glacier (she was not impressed), the salmon hatchery (which she liked), and Shrine of St. Therese.  We saw a baby bear running down the road on our way to the Shrine.  

We cruised on Carnival because we got an amazingly awesome casino offer.  We had a really good time though I'd be open to cruising another line on a future trip.

17 minutes ago, gopackgo21 said:

I didn’t even notice them in the app! I had to swipe on the regular menu and it takes you to the vegan. 

 Good to know for my December cruise.  Thanks!!!

Thanks for posting!

I had the vegan mushroom soup on Radiance last month and it was amazing.  They didn't have the menus posted though, printed or in the app.  

Hope they get it figured out soon.   We cruise on December 30.

Sailing on the Panorama over New Year's.  We're getting ready to book our specialty dining and are wondering if there is anything special in the MDR for New Year's Eve.  

We're going for New Years and plan to do the whale shark trip.  

Sorry you missed some of your ports.  Glad you were able to take it in stride (thanks, drink package, lol).  We were on the Radiance 10/9 - 10/14 and it was super rough coming back from Ensenada.  LOTS of people were getting sick on the ship.  Stupid hurricane!

We were on this cruise as well. A lot of Arizona schools were on fall break as well.  Lots of kids.  Camp Carnival was packed and there were long lines, but no surprise there.

My husband had the prime rib and said it was the best thing he had on the ship.  We ate at La Cucina and the steakhouse.  I have kids menus for those restaurants if anyone wants them since they are rarely ever posted.  We only ate in the MDR once.