LIVE 12/21/19 ITCHINTOCRUISE presents Parrotheads on the Panorama

[habsfan4ever]

Thanks, I sent out an email, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays to everyone.

[itchintocruise]

7 hours ago, sanmarcosman said:

Is that Captain Queirolo in the third to last row on the left?

I believe so.

[itchintocruise]

Well first of all Merry Christmas. I will try and play catch up. We have been enjoying the cruise but we have fallen down on the job.

 

[Youngcruiser1994]

10 minutes ago, itchintocruise said:

Well first of all Merry Christmas. I will try and play catch up. We have been enjoying the cruise but we have fallen down on the job.

 

 

Merry Christmas. Dont worry too much Your enjoyment is number 1 priority.

[itchintocruise]

Well let me tell you about Mazatlan...

 

 

We knew from the outset of this trip that this port could be a bust. We didn’t plan anything ahead of time, knowing we had two other active excursions planned. So we took a chance and grabbed a taxi down to the Golden Zone. We made the classic rookie tourist mistake and didn’t negotiate the cab fare ahead of time. So a 10.- ride turned into 20.-. Not terrible but this isn’t our first vacation. So the driver seemed nice enough and pointed out the highlights of Mazatlan as we are driving along the nice Malecon. However, the further we drove the sketchier the surroundings became and eventually we got dropped off at the “friends” souvenir shop well past the Golden Zone. He also asked that we at least need to go inside the  store so he can get a voucher for gas money. For real! We swiftly walked back for at least a mile hoping to run into a nicer part of town and maybe the beach. After some discussion and the not so nice fish smell coming from the beach we opted to just head back to the boat and hang up in Serenity for the afternoon. Once back on board we did notice that a large number of people didn’t get off the ship. Apparently, we didn’t get the memo.

[itchintocruise]

30 minutes ago, Youngcruiser1994 said:

Merry Christmas. Dont worry too much Your enjoyment is number 1 priority.

Thanks.

[itchintocruise]

A quick fun fact:

Just in case you are wondering if the smoke detectors work onboard, we can verify that they most certainly do. The trick is two hot long showers in a row capped off by two people with a large quantity of hair using the hair dryer. We promptly received a personal call from the Navigational Bridge and a visit by the Carnival Fire Department. Thankfully the sprinklers didn’t turn on.

 

[WhaleTailFlCruiser]

15 minutes ago, itchintocruise said:

A quick fun fact:

Just in case you are wondering if the smoke detectors work onboard, we can verify that they most certainly do. The trick is two hot long showers in a row capped off by two people with a large quantity of hair using the hair dryer. We promptly received a personal call from the Navigational Bridge and a visit by the Carnival Fire Department. Thankfully the sprinklers didn’t turn on.

 

 

 

Oof

[itchintocruise]

On 12/22/2019 at 3:34 PM, suess said:

I enjoy your reviews and hope your week is fab onboard. Can’t wait to read more. Hubby and I going on first cruise in April. BTW the Fun Day Planner shows Free Charm Bracelet, did you get yours and can you take a pic and show it?

Frohe Weihnachten Suess!

 

[PekingeseLady]

Curious to the timing of the ports.  Is ship time the same in Cabo and Mazatlan but a hour behind Puerto Vallartas time?  Wondering for booking excursions not with Carnival.  Like there is one in PV that you have to be off the ship at 9am Puerto Vallarta time.

[Joe817]

ichib, thoroughly enjoying your entertainingly review of your cruise! Thank you! 

[itchintocruise]

1 hour ago, Joe817 said:

ichib, thoroughly enjoying your entertainingly review of your cruise! Thank you! 

Thanks for following along.

[Linda the Book Lover]

13 hours ago, itchintocruise said:

A quick fun fact:

Just in case you are wondering if the smoke detectors work onboard, we can verify that they most certainly do. The trick is two hot long showers in a row capped off by two people with a large quantity of hair using the hair dryer. We promptly received a personal call from the Navigational Bridge and a visit by the Carnival Fire Department. Thankfully the sprinklers didn’t turn on.

 

Wow now that is story made for parties. Glad everything turned out just fine.

 

[crucero]

We fly out tomorrow! I'm so excited! Not sure what we will do in Mazatlan. Will definitely remember to negotiate with the taxi. How has the weather been? 

[PekingeseLady]

You haven't happened to notice if the Corkage Fee is being charged in the MDR?  I'm prepared to pay of course just curious.  The forums here are a mixed review on if it happens or not. LOL

 

Loving you review and appreciate all your posts!!!

Edited December 26, 2019 by PekingeseLady

[itchintocruise]

2 hours ago, crucero said:

We fly out tomorrow! I'm so excited! Not sure what we will do in Mazatlan. Will definitely remember to negotiate with the taxi. How has the weather been? 

The first day was in the sixties and cloudy. The three port days upper seventies and sunny. Today low seventies and mostly sunny. Enjoy.

[PekingeseLady]

Was there a time difference between the ship time and port times?  TIA

[itchintocruise]

So to finish up Mazatlán we did enjoy a beautiful sunset, dinner in the steakhouse and the Christmas activities on the ship. 

We are not big fans of the up charge restaurants, but we do feel like the steakhouse is worth 38 bucks.

 

 

 

[itchintocruise]

30 minutes ago, PekingeseLady said:

Was there a time difference between the ship time and port times?  TIA

Yes. In Cabo and PV the ship’s time was one hour earlier than local time. Ship time-10:00 am Local time-11:00am. Please be aware that Carnival does not do a good job of communicating this.

[itchintocruise]

Buyer beware on the Fun Times as we are on a Holiday week sailing and following a different schedule.

 

 

[amadorcruiser]

On 12/22/2019 at 2:36 AM, Saint Greg said:

Good to see they’ve adopted the late night comedy showcase in the main lounge. That’ll be hard to stay up for on the west coast though. 11:15 there is like 1:15 to me.

I see all the comments on the Fun Times, so is there a helpful way to read them? It might just be us, but we can't read them at this size font... We board in 2 days and am excited to find the fun times here. someone on the cruise critics Panorama Dec. 28th sailing pointed us in this direction, thankful! 

[Mutumbojimbo]

17 minutes ago, amadorcruiser said:

I see all the comments on the Fun Times, so is there a helpful way to read them? It might just be us, but we can't read them at this size font... We board in 2 days and am excited to find the fun times here. someone on the cruise critics Panorama Dec. 28th sailing pointed us in this direction, thankful! 

If you're using a Windows computer, you ought to be able to right-click on the picture and save it to your computer. Then just open it there and zoom in until the font is legible. Sometimes the font gets blurry when you zoom in and make it larger, but the pictures I tried with, seemed to stay pretty sharp. 

[itchintocruise]

36 minutes ago, amadorcruiser said:

I see all the comments on the Fun Times, so is there a helpful way to read them? It might just be us, but we can't read them at this size font... We board in 2 days and am excited to find the fun times here. someone on the cruise critics Panorama Dec. 28th sailing pointed us in this direction, thankful! 

Sorry they are hard to read. Have you tried opening the picture and zooming in? Have a great cruise.

[amadorcruiser]

19 hours ago, itchintocruise said:

Well let me tell you about Mazatlan...

 

 

We knew from the outset of this trip that this port could be a bust. We didn’t plan anything ahead of time, knowing we had two other active excursions planned. So we took a chance and grabbed a taxi down to the Golden Zone. We made the classic rookie tourist mistake and didn’t negotiate the cab fare ahead of time. So a 10.- ride turned into 20.-. Not terrible but this isn’t our first vacation. So the driver seemed nice enough and pointed out the highlights of Mazatlan as we are driving along the nice Malecon. However, the further we drove the sketchier the surroundings became and eventually we got dropped off at the “friends” souvenir shop well past the Golden Zone. He also asked that we at least need to go inside the  store so he can get a voucher for gas money. For real! We swiftly walked back for at least a mile hoping to run into a nicer part of town and maybe the beach. After some discussion and the not so nice fish smell coming from the beach we opted to just head back to the boat and hang up in Serenity for the afternoon. Once back on board we did notice that a large number of people didn’t get off the ship. Apparently, we didn’t get the memo.

We were in Mazatlan last month off the Celebrity Infinity. unscheduled port. However, when you get off the ship, there are both open air taxi's and air conditioned taxi's. You go to the lead guy at the stand, tell him you want to go to Golden Zone, and pay no more than $10 to Golden Zone plus tip. Ask to go to Lucky B's. If you go there, they are kind with great food and beverage and free wifi... ALSO, the beach is right behind them with great views.. you walk down the path next to Lucky B's.. you and just hang out or rent a beach chair and umbrella, walk to the right a bit for the best price for the beach chair k(however remember it is Christmas break, so the price is more this time of year.). The beach is beautiful, you are right behind some beautiful hotels. Then go back to Lucky B's and ask them to get you a cab back to the ship... they will get you a cab and a price before you leave there. One more thing, the shopping mall right at this port has excellent prices and good quality tee shirts and souvenirs.. Warning, getting back through and back onto the ship, can take some time. We were in port with a ship with 4,000 passengers and our ship 2,000 passengers and everyone waited until the last minute. Since you have to wait for a shuttle back to the ship through the working port... be patient. there will be 2 lines and nobody is polite about not cutting... however, we did enjoy Mazatlan this past trip, but not in the past.. 

[amadorcruiser]

33 minutes ago, itchintocruise said:

Sorry they are hard to read. Have you tried opening the picture and zooming in? Have a great cruise.

We did, but might just be our Macintosh not wanting to make it clear, but in now way criticizing you.. just excited to see the fun times.. thank you... have fun on the last few days..