deladane

Those hills were no joke! I felt like I was in San Francisco! And yes, I loved how they painted the stones on the pathway walls. It must have taken them forever to do it!

After that, we walked back to Punchliner’s for Jaylyn’s 9pm comedy show. It was very crowded when we got there, but we were able to snag the same seats we sat in earlier in the week. This was an 18+ show, but we appreciated that Jaylyn was very funny without being overly raunchy or using too many curse words as most 18+ shows tend to do. The comedy show ended at 9:30pm, so we had just enough time to run up to Lido for a quick snack before we had to get Ian from camp. Jason got a hotdog from the deli, and I got half a margarita pizza. Neither of us had to wait in a line, so that was a nice surprise! We got to camp just in time to pick up Ian before Night Owls started at 10, then we went back to the cabin to get ready for bed. The debarkation paperwork was waiting for us, so that was an unwelcome surprise! With FTTF, we were automatically given zone 5 luggage tags. Works for me! One less thing to worry about! No need to mess with the new debarkation system in the hub app! Up next: our third and final sea day

Tonight’s production show was called Celestial Strings, and we thought it was the best show of the cruise. The show featured the strings trio playing live, accompanied by a backing track, while the singers and dancers performed around them. It was a fusion of classical music with familiar pop songs, and I loved how the sets and costumes were all white, creating an elegant atmosphere. The setlist included songs like Air Tonight by Phil Collins, Bring Me to Life by Evanescence, Viva La Vida by Coldplay, Chandelier by Sia, Uninvited by Alanis Morrisette, and Show Must Go On by Queen. We loved the song selection, and it was impressive to watch the strings trio play their instruments while performing with the dancers. When I picked our seats, I didn’t realize that giant rose prop would block my ability to take a decent photo! Sorry about that! It didn’t obstruct our view of the stage too badly, but we probably should have opted for the same seats on the opposite side of the room so the rose wouldn’t be between us and the stage. After the show, the performers continued out in the atrium for an after show. I think there was a similar performance before the show, but of course I didn’t see that because I had to reserve our seats in the theater.

We decided to skip dessert tonight. None of the options appealed to us, and it always takes so long to get the dessert that we decided to skip it. This meant we were done with dinner by 6:45pm and we could be first in line to drop Ian at camp when they reopened at 7pm. Tonight was the final big production show in the Liquid Lounge, and we wanted to get good seats! We got there at 7:05 and there were plenty of seats available, so we sat in the front row of the mezzanine. I flagged down one of the roaming bar waiters and ordered a Funship Special. While I waited for him to bring my drink, I watched some of the pre-show entertainment on the lower level of the theater. Some of the dancers were out in the audience, posing on the props and walking through the aisles. I saw the female dancer approach several passengers seated down there. It looked like she was handing them a piece of paper, they wrote something on it, and then she brought it back to the male dancer so he could attach it to one of the props on stage, maybe a tree? I thought this would all make more sense once the show started, but honestly, I have no idea what that was all about? Does anyone know what they were doing? Oh look, my drink has arrived!

Camp closed at 3pm, so we picked up Ian and took him back to the cabin for a nap. The starboard side of the ship is in the shade in the afternoon sailing north on the last 2 sea days, so I needed a jacket to sit out on the balcony while Ian napped. Ian woke up from his nap at 5pm, so we all got ready for the second formal night. I tried to get a photo of the 3 of us together, but of course a little someone wouldn’t cooperate. At least Jason and I got a nice photo of the two of us! And I was able to sneak this photo of Ian in the elevator going down to dinner. Tonight’s dinner menu: I ordered the calamari and the beef carpaccio for my appetizers. Of course, I ordered the lobster tail for my entree. I probably should have ordered 2 of them… I forgot how small they are!

Jiji’s opened for lunch at noon, so while I was back there, I went to try it out. The last time I cruised with Carnival, you could pick and choose what they put in your stir fry, but things have changed. Now, they give you a menu and you must choose from 5 pre-selected options. I got the combo stir fry with wide noodles. Since the dishes are all pre-made, it came out in about 5 minutes. It was very good, and I liked that it was a small portion because that left room for more food later on! Jiji is located on deck 11 aft, and the stairs to access it leads down into the Lido Buffet. I couldn’t resist a slice of chocolate almond cake for dessert! Unfortunately, it was very dry and not good at all, so I only took 2 bites and that was that. Camp Ocean does not feed the kids lunch on sea days. I think they do feed them lunch on port days, but we always took Ian off the ship with us so we never had a chance to try it out. We picked Ian up from camp and brought him back to Lido for lunch. He wanted grilled cheese, so we got a sandwich from the deli, but they didn’t do a great job with the “grilled” part. It was basically just cheese on dry bread. The person who made it the other day did a much better job! Luckily, he’s not too picky about his grilled cheese and he ate it without complaints. Ian wasn’t tired enough for his nap yet, so we took him back to camp. I was still hungry, so I decided to try out the pasta bar across the hall from Jijis. I ordered the farfalle pasta with pomodoro sauce, grilled chicken, garlic shrimp, onions, mushrooms, and zucchini. I didn’t want to risk eating too much and spoiling my appetite for dinner, so I just got the half portion. It’s nice that they give you that option! While I waited for them to make my pasta, I heard a very loud thumping sound. It took a few minutes to figure out what it was, but then I realized the restaurant is located directly below the basketball court! I guess it’s better to put a restaurant here as opposed to passenger cabins, but they really needed better insulation between the decks as that thumping was giving me a headache! My pasta came out very quickly, and it was delicious!

In his 11:30am daily announcement, the Captain mentioned we were passing Cabo on the Starboard side of the ship, so I decided to take a little walk to check out the views. Since a photo from deck 5 Starboard would be shielded by the glass walls and leave a bad reflection on the photo, I went upstairs to deck 11 for a better view. The Lido Pool was PACKED! No surprise there, as it was a beautiful sunny day with temperatures in the 70’s! Hi, Cabo! It’s nice to see you again! …or should I say “sea” you again! While I was up there, I went back to see how things looked around the Tides pool. It was also very busy, but wow! Look at those 2 hot tubs! Were they competing to see which one could fit in more people?! I walked down the stairs to deck 10 so I could get a better view of the wake. I just can’t get enough of this view! If you look straight down from deck 10 aft, you can see right into the balconies below you. I hope the people with those cabins realize they don’t have any privacy! They do get a wonderful view, though! Below that, I could see the Havana Pool and hot tubs. Quite a stark difference from the pools and hot tubs with general passenger access! This back deck is restricted for only people staying in the Havana cabins, so it was basically empty.

We finished brunch at 9:15am. Camp Ocean didn’t open until 10am, so we went back to the cabin, but Nino was in there cleaning. Last night, there was a door tag hanging from our door knob saying they are cleaning our balcony today. It was for everyone on the starboard side of the ship. Why do they have to do that on a sea day when we want to use the balcony we paid for? Why not clean the balcony on a port day when no one is on the ship? They opened up all the dividers between the balconies, so the door tag should have said to lock the top lock on your balcony door for security. I was glad we caught that while we were back in the cabin, and I locked ours right away. We took Ian to camp when they opened at 10, then went up to the Sports Deck to get in line for the Ropes Course or Sky Ride. When we got up there, there wasn’t anyone in line. That’s odd… they were supposed to open at 9am. One of the crew members was sitting up there, so I asked him about it, and he said both courses were closed because it was too windy. He said it would open later if the winds died down, but honestly it wasn’t that windy now, and it only gets more cold and windy as we sail north, so I didn’t expect it would reopen again during this cruise. Spoiler alert: I was right, we never saw it open again. Part of me wishes we had thought to try it while we were docked in one of the ports, but we were always so busy getting off the ship that we never thought of it. Then again, maybe that is for the best, since I could barely handle the thrill of the Sky Ride, and the Ropes Course is even harder! Time for Plan B! We walked around the ship trying to think of something else to do. On our way, we saw another beautiful graphic on the atrium funnel. We decided to go out to deck 5 to hang out on the Lanai. When we got there, it was totally empty, so we settled into the padded lounge chairs in the shade. I like how quiet it is down there, away from the loud music on Lido. We made sure to sit on the port side so we wouldn’t smell the smoke from starboard deck 5 forward. I was still wearing my sneakers from our failed mission up on the Sports Deck. Somehow that photo just doesn’t seem right without flip flops!

Friday, January 5, 2024 ~ Sea Day As per usual, I woke up at 7am, but it was really like 8am because we turned the clocks back last night. I guess we were all on the same schedule today because the boys woke up around 7:15. Since the Sea Day Brunch didn’t start until 8:30, we got dressed and sat outside on the balcony, watching the waves pass by. I think this little boy is really getting the hang of cruise life! Hoping for the same success with the hostess checking us in a little early for brunch, we went down to deck 3 at 8:15. Sure enough, our plan worked! She checked us in, and a few minutes later, I got an alert on my phone that the table was ready. Today, we were assigned table 301 in the very front corner of the dining room. I ordered the bagel with lox to share with Ian because that worked out well on the first sea day. I also ordered 2 eggs over hard and the skillet cake. Service was very slow, and it took 30 minutes to get our food. Unlike last time when they brought out the bagel first and I could feed Ian right away, today everything came at once. I wonder how long this skillet cake was sitting out… all the marshmallows, butter, and ricotta were melted into little puddles. The presentation was much better on Sunday.

I hate that we have become slaves to Ian's nap schedule, and I always hoped he would be the kind of kid who would just sleep in his stroller wherever we went, but that does not work for him unfortunately. Even yesterday, when his daycare was closed for a teacher training day, he refused to nap and just kept saying "It's wake up time!". And that was in his own crib in his bedroom where he is used to the environment! We really had no chance of getting a good nap out of him when we were on a cruise with lots of other exciting things to see and do. I can't wait until he's a little older and doesn't need a nap anymore. You're going to have such a fun time on your next cruise with the kids being old enough to really enjoy all the activities on the ship!

At first, we went to our usual spot upstairs in the Liquid Lounge to find seats for the comedy showcase, but when Jason saw so many empty seats downstairs, he convinced me we should go down there for this show. By the way, that photo was taken at 7:22pm, so clearly it wasn’t an issue to get seats for the comedy showcase despite there being nearly 5000 passengers on the ship! It did fill in over the next 8 minutes, and I am sure people were still out exploring Puerto Vallarta, or had just returned to the ship and needed to get dinner, but you get my point. I didn’t want to sit too close to the comedians for fear of them making fun of me, so we sat towards the back. We found this duck sitting on one of the chairs, so we took it to give to Ian later tonight. Two new comedians joined the ship today, so it was convenient to see them both back to back in this showcase and get a feel for their vibe. We thought both of them were fantastic and we were laughing out loud for the entire show! We saw 3 of the 4 comedians on this cruise and they were all extremely funny, so kudos to whoever is in charge of booking comedy entertainers for the Panorama! DJ Cooch went first: And then we saw Jaylyn Bishop: We made a mental note to try to catch more of their shows on the last 2 sea days because we really enjoyed their material. When that wrapped up, we went to the Limelight Lounge for a karaoke competition. Sometimes Jason likes to participate in karaoke, but this time we opted to just sit back and enjoy the show. It was fun and the singers had great voices, but it was cut short because the karaoke machine rebooted when there was an announcement over the ship’s PA system. The host explained that it would take 30 minutes to get the machine up and running again. Seriously?! It was a very antiquated system, so while he did start the reboot process, he later told us it would take too long and that he would have the competition rescheduled for the following day. That was a bummer, so with nothing else to do, we went in search of a snack for Jason as he was getting hungry again. We ended up at the Lido deli for grilled cheese, and sat near a window to watch as we sailed away from Puerto Vallarta. After that, we went upstairs to pick up Ian from Camp Ocean, then back to the cabin to get ready for bed. Tonight, we set clocks back one hour to prepare for our return to California in a few days. Up next: Sea Day #2

After dinner, we took Ian upstairs to Camp Ocean, then ran back to the cabin to drop off Ian’s dinner supplies. While there, I stepped out onto the balcony to see a beautiful view of Puerto Vallarta all lit up at night. We went down to deck 5, and couldn’t resist a photo op as we passed through the atrium.

For my appetizer, I started with the fried shrimp. I also had the Antipasti from Emeril’s menu. While each of the items only had a small, bite-sized portion, I was pleased with the variety of items on the plate. I ordered the Seafood Newburg for my entree. I have ordered this on previous Carnival cruises, and surprisingly enough, this was a much bigger portion of seafood! Looking back on my old photos, half the plate was filled with a large scoop of rice, but not tonight! This plate was covered in delicious seafood and I ate every bite of it! Ian discovered a love for broccoli on this cruise. It was served with most of the adult entrees, but he always asked to have it. I think he liked that it was a “little tree.” For dessert, I had the Dutch Double Chocolate Pave, and it was very good.

Not surprisingly, the MDR was half empty tonight because we didn’t sail away until 9pm. I know a lot of people enjoy the Rhythms of the Night excursion which takes place in the evening and includes dinner, plus I imagine people were taking advantage of the late sail away and not ready to be in the MDR by 5:30pm for early dining. I hadn’t gotten a chance to take a photo of Ian’s meals the last few nights because he grabbed the plate as soon as it came to the table. By now, he had his preferences and Raf knew our routine, so he quickly brought Ian’s 2 favorite dishes within minutes of us arriving at the table each night. I promise, he does know how to use a fork, but what fun is that when you can just shove handfuls of pasta in your mouth! #Toddlers!

We still had a few minutes before it was time to go downstairs for dinner, so we decided to check out the “secret deck.” I kept meaning to go out there all week, but it is extremely windy when the ship is at sea, so we never had a chance until now. The secret decks are located all the way forward on most of the upper decks on this ship, and anyone can access them if you know where to go. Since we were on deck 9, we walked all the way forward, then turned the corner to the hallway with the forward-facing cabins. There aren’t many doors up there so it was easy to find the door out to the secret deck: This deck was above the bridge, so it is bigger than the other secret decks and extended out beyond the sides of the ship. We were the only people out there, so it was a nice place to take some photos of the port area while we were still docked. There was a staircase leading up to the secret deck on deck 10, but we didn’t go up there, much to Ian’s dismay. It was now 5:27pm, so we went back inside through this door to get down to the MDR for dinner.

You think so? We didn't have any problems in either direction- we just waited for the cross walk light to be in our favor and there was plenty of time to make it across the street. It's definitely a lot of lanes to cross though!

Oh good! I'm glad the purple font is helpful for you! That's why I do it- to make my review posts stand out amongst the other comments/replies. It looks like you have taken many Mexican Riviera cruises so I assume you have done most of the things there are to do in Puerto Vallarta, so hopefully the zoo will make for a fun alternative!

It took about 30 minutes to get back to the port area. We had the Uber drop us off in the Walmart parking lot across the street from the ships so we could save a few minutes in traffic, and we just walked back the rest of the way. By then, the rain had stopped, so it was a pleasant walk as we went back through the security building to enter the port, then walked along the side of the ship to the gangway. We got back on the ship around 4:20pm, so we went straight to the cabin to take quick showers and get ready for dinner. We noticed the Emerald Princess was sailing away, so we ran out to the balcony to wave goodbye. Ian loved every opportunity he had to go out on the balcony. I tried to tell him that was my chair, but he defended his territory!

While we waited for our food and drinks, the waiter brought out a basket of chips, crackers, and condiments. Of course, Ian took one look at it and said “I want some!” so we gave him a chip. A few minutes later, the waiter brought over the margaritas. They weren’t very strong, but that was okay. We were really just there for the view. I forgot to take a photo of the nachos before we dug in, but they were good and made for a perfect mid-afternoon snack. We considered ordering another round of drinks, but decided against it. The dark clouds rolled in and it looked like it was about to pour, so we decided to get going so hopefully we could get in an Uber before the skies opened up. We walked a block or two inland to make it easier for the Uber to get us, then requested a car. It arrived a few minutes later, just as it was starting to rain. Good timing! The ride back to the ship was 110 pesos, or $6.40 USD. Uber is definitely the way to go in Mexico, especially considering how reasonable the prices were!

It was now after 2pm and we were getting hungry. We noticed a restaurant on the beach side of the street called Ocean Azul, so we stopped in to check it out. The restaurant had seating down in the sand, but we had Ian in his stroller so we opted to stay up on the deck overlooking the beach. This was perfect and exactly what we needed after so much walking all day! The waiter brought over a menu and said that they only take cash. We asked if it had to be in pesos, but he said that US dollars were okay too, so that worked for us. Side note: I have a debit card that allows me to take out money at any ATM worldwide and they will reimburse any of the fees. I brought that along on this cruise but it was not necessary as we were able to use US dollars or a credit card everywhere we went. YMMV but we found it convenient to avoid carrying pesos in case we didn’t use them up by the end of the trip. The restaurant had a full menu of food and drinks, but we didn’t want to ruin our appetite for dinner so we just ordered some margaritas and nachos.

When we arrived at our destination in the Romantic Zone, we tried to gently transfer Ian into his stroller, but that has never worked out for us and sure enough, he woke up. At least he got a 30 minute nap! Better than nothing! As always, he took a while to snap out of his grumpy mood upon waking up, so he was not cooperative when we tried to take photos with the statues along the Malecon. We walked along the Malecon, taking photos and observing the people. It was very cloudy and looked like it was about to rain any minute! Thus far, we had perfect weather in all of our ports with temperatures in the 70’s, low humidity, and sunny skies. I guess our luck in the weather department had run out. We stopped for a photo in front of the Puerto Vallarta sign. With it being so wide end to end, the photographer has to stand back very far to get the whole word in the photo, so you can barely see that we are standing there. This is far from the best photo of our trip, but at least we can prove we were there!

Back to the zoo… After the rabbits, the path started a steep descent down the hill. It is hard to get a good perspective in this photo, but notice the multicolored painted stones on the wall lining the path. You can see the wall on the far left of the photo is much lower than where we were standing, yet not very far away. This hill was STEEP! Jason had been pushing Ian’s stroller for most of our time at the zoo, but he asked for my help to control the stroller as we walked down the hill so he wouldn’t lose his grip and send Ian flying! At one point, we passed a group of people walking up this hill and they looked sweaty and exhausted. I think they were walking the path in the wrong direction because as steep as our climb had been going uphill, it wasn’t as steep as this portion and we were glad to at least be going downhill on the steepest part. It took us 10 minutes to get down to the bottom of the hill. In the photo below, the man in the blue shirt was standing right outside the visitor center where we bought our tickets and started our time here. The bathrooms were to the right of the volcano fountain, beyond the frame of this photo. The zoo’s website said it would take about 2 hours to go through the whole zoo and it took us exactly 2 hours, literally to the minute! Overall, I was pleasantly surprised with our experience here. I was shocked with the variety and quantity of animals, and I was very impressed with what they had to offer. The highlight for me was feeding carrots to the friendly giraffe from just a few feet away. When we arrived, there were only 3 or 4 other families in the whole zoo. By the time we left, it was a little more crowded, but still not busy at all. I have a feeling very few cruise ship passengers go to the zoo because it is so far away from where the ship docks. Having 12 hours in port gave us enough cushion that we felt safe venturing so far off the beaten path, but if we didn’t already know about the zoo from our 2018 trip, I’m not sure we would have found it this time around. I was afraid it would be hard to get an Uber when we were ready to leave. We were quite a bit south of the main tourist hub of Puerto Vallarta, and I remember it taking a while for an Uber to pick us up when we were ready to leave the Barcelo in 2018. Shockingly enough, someone was able to pick us up in 5 minutes! We mapped to a random hotel in the Romantic Zone so we could be dropped off close to the Malecon. Uber charged us 190 pesos, or $11 USD, for the 30 minute ride. Not bad at all! We got into the Uber at 1:10pm, which is right when Ian starts naptime at daycare. After a fun morning at the zoo, we could see in his eyes that he was tired. Sure enough, just moments into the ride, we had this:

I'm here for the ride! 🚢⚓ 🌴 🍹

On the first sea day, we were sailing south alongside a Princess ship (we both started in LA, then had one sea day before arriving in Cabo). They were closer to land than us, so they probably had a better view, but we could still see land in the distance. We couldn't see any details or anything like that, but we could see the silhouette of mountains and whatnot.

haha It's funny though- this itinerary is very different from the Caribbean. The weather and water temperatures are obvious, but I thought it was fun that we could always see land off one side of the ship on the sea days. I'm used to sailing between islands when you see nothing but water all around (and occasionally a small island off in the distance), but on this cruise, I could see mainland Mexico or Baja or California the entire time!