California Restart Thread - Panorama Departing 8/21/21

[ScottsSweetie]

58 minutes ago, vicky3vicky said:

Thanks so much for your informative posts! a few questions please. How is the cruise director, lee mason? Does he make the funship even ore fun? Is there an interior smoking area other than the casino and is the casino bar still there. Have you noticed the salad selection on the serenity deck? Thank you so much!

We sailed with Lee Mason in 2017 on the east coast. He is very memorable for all the right reasons! We really did enjoy that cruise so much and he is one of the few CD's that we still mention.

[klfhngr]

QQ: What's the latest you need to be onboard before sail away, i.e., 1 hour before, 30 mnts., etc.?

[DAllenTCY]

One hour before sailing......my Boarding Pass for tomorrow says "FINAL BOARDING 4:30 pm" 

 

Porter service is terminated 2 hours prior.

 

David

[rj59]

For those leaving on the 28th, you might want to keep an eye on Tropical Storm Nora, which will be moving up the Pacific Coast and should reach the Cabo/PV area on Sunday/Monday and possibly became a hurricane, with currently a high risk to lives and property in Cabo/PV. I remember on a HAL Mexico cruise a few years ago they changed the itinerary to California ports and Ensenada to avoid a big storm. Another HAL cruise I was on had to spent the first night in San Diego and skip Mazatlan so divers could repair the propulsion system, the same problem that the Panorama seems to be having. 

[Wanna_Cruize]

We’ll, it’s 10:27, I’m sitting in the limelight lounge with several hundred of our closest friends. It’s the P&D meet up point. We arrived over 1/2 hour ago, but the gangway is still closed. We are all here with our luggage, trying to get off as soon as possible, but not budging yet. They do keep announcing that this venue is fully masked , and they need to be worn properly throughout the debarkation process. 

[Wanna_Cruize]

On 8/26/2021 at 9:52 AM, vicky3vicky said:

Thanks so much for your informative posts! a few questions please. How is the cruise director, lee mason? Does he make the funship even ore fun? Is there an interior smoking area other than the casino and is the casino bar still there. Have you noticed the salad selection on the serenity deck? Thank you so much!

Lee was engaging but not too over the top. There seemed to be lots of fun games going on, and multiple trivia games each day. 
 

No casino bar, the servers were plentiful though, we were getting constantly asked if we wanted something while at the table games ever found a non-smoking casino area 

 

saw the salad creations in serenity, it was very nice, they would make whatever you wanted there. 

[Wanna_Cruize]

Heard that debarkation had started, but then a bit later they said it had not yet started. People getting very upset & asking what was up, CJ (comedy host) explained that the crew who have to debark first are going, but guests have not yet been cleared. Asked for patience again ( please keep masks on). 

[matt1119]

Ruh Roh. This might explain why they suddenly changed the transfers website only relating to the Panorama. 

 

I sail two weeks from today. <crosses fingers>

[tallnthensome]

Are most of you off the Panorama now I assume? 

[matt1119]

 

[rj59]

To follow up on my previous post about Hurricane Nora, I just saw a Mexican news article saying that the Panorama port stop in Mazatlan scheduled for September 1 is being canceled due to weather. So when you actually get on board, you might have other bad news awaiting you. The current path of the hurricane is forecasted to pass right over Cabo on Sunday and continue heading north, so I'm not sure they'd want to sail through that. So don't be surprised if you get a cruise to Ensenada, Catalina, San Diego, or San Francisco. 

[Shayhooper]

1 hour ago, tallnthensome said:

Are most of you off the Panorama now I assume? 

Just now in an Uber to LAX. It is absurd that we are going to barely make a 5PM flight. 
 

Also, we’ve had nothing to eat since we finished breakfast at 8:30. We waited on deck almost 5 hours before we were allowed to get off the ship. 

[tallnthensome]

I’m in line as well , what a cluster …. Thanks for the information on the itinerary change. 

[LeslieA]

Disembarkation required quite a bit of patience today.   We got home about 3:15 PM (We live an hour south of the port)

 

We left our room at 9:00 AM and sat in the Alchemy bar for over 3 hours just waiting.    Then, the normal line to get off, with everyone using the wrong elevators 🙂

 

Then the line in the port terminal seemed longer that I had ever experienced. 

 

It didn't mar the cruise experience, but it was frustrating at times.

[Wanna_Cruize]

Yes, we didn't get home to San Diego until 3pm, and that was with Platinum debarkation, hauling our own bags. It was a cluster, for sure. Left a sour taste after a pretty good cruise. 

[tallnthensome]

Bar tender said 2500 passengers on today’s sailing. 200 less than last week. Which is good …..

[Wanna_Cruize]

Port cam just showed Panorama leaving now. Hope everyone has a good time. 

[rj59]

A big bottleneck in disembarkation are the slow, deliberate customs agents in LA, who sit in booths and run everyone's passports through computers, as opposed to Seattle and San Diego, where they usually just do a visual scan. I've been pulled into a back room for secondary screening several times, despite having Global Entry. Other ports also have visual scanners that take a few seconds per passenger, but LA doesn't have that.  I have a theory that the customs agents there have to justify their cushy jobs inspecting Carnival returnees every few days, trying to catch ***** smugglers or something, so they don't get sent to Mexican border duty. Regardless, it always makes a stressful and slow end to a cruise ending in Long Beach or LA, especially if you have to get to LAX. 

[CruisefunSAN]

3 minutes ago, rj59 said:

A big bottleneck in disembarkation are the slow, deliberate customs agents in LA, who sit in booths and run everyone's passports through computers, as opposed to Seattle and San Diego, where they usually just do a visual scan. I've been pulled into a back room for secondary screening several times, despite having Global Entry. Other ports also have visual scanners that take a few seconds per passenger, but LA doesn't have that.  I have a theory that the customs agents there have to justify their cushy jobs inspecting Carnival returnees every few days, trying to catch ***** smugglers or something, so they don't get sent to Mexican border duty. Regardless, it always makes a stressful and slow end to a cruise ending in Long Beach or LA, especially if you have to get to LAX. 

I concur this. LA and TX customs agents are the worst for cruise check. Seattle and FL most times, they just wave you by, and occasionally stop you for a closer look. After all, all the passenger manifesto were sent to custom way ahead of time and they should be able to verify passenger info before the ship even docks. 

[Wennfred]

Wanna_Cruize, thank you so much to keeping us posted, I am also from San Diego and also Platinum, but I will just stay onboard and be the last to disembark, no rush getting home just to avoid the disembarkation crowd, Long Beach has always had this issue.
 

This is a good example of why it’s good to book a flight home a lot later in the evening to prevent late ship arrivals due to S*** that comes up or even stay in town for the night. It’s what I always do when I fly in and out of Miami, no rush, no stress.

 

Thanks for posting about the Serenity Salad Bar, I’m on a strict keto diet and have reversed my diabetes and on zero medication so this is the type of foods I will be looking for.

 

I will be cruising on Panorama in Sept & Nov, hoping it all gets better with time.

 

Have a great night and get some good sleep.

 

Fred

Edited August 29, 2021 by Wennfred

[Goldenaero5]

Online there is an article reporting that multiple people contacted covid during this sailing. I hate to take the word of one passenger (that reported to an online outlet)and wondering if you noticed this as well or if there is any truth to it? I realize that there is probably going to be a few cases on any sailing as covid isn't going away anytime soon but just curious what you may have noticed. Also what you thought of the safety of the protocols. Thank you for any insight you may have.

Edited August 30, 2021 by Goldenaero5

[CruisefunSAN]

1 hour ago, Goldenaero5 said:

Online there is an article reporting that multiple people contacted covid during this sailing. I hate to take the word of one passenger (that reported to an online outlet)and wondering if you noticed this as well or if there is any truth to it? I realize that there is probably going to be a few cases on any sailing as covid isn't going away anytime soon but just curious what you may have noticed. Also what you thought of the safety of the protocols. Thank you for any insight you may have.

I was on that sailing and didn't notice anything. Apparently if there is COVID case on board, Carnival wasn't made it public. But I also doubted the accuracy of that online article. In Mazatlan and Cabo, I did hear the PA asking for some people to contact customer service desk right before ship's departure time, I thought that was because some body didn't make it back to ship on time. And I didn't see any ambulance at those ports too. SO that online thing is most likely a speculation, not fact.

[ScottsSweetie]

2 hours ago, Goldenaero5 said:

Online there is an article reporting that multiple people contacted covid during this sailing. I hate to take the word of one passenger (that reported to an online outlet)and wondering if you noticed this as well or if there is any truth to it? I realize that there is probably going to be a few cases on any sailing as covid isn't going away anytime soon but just curious what you may have noticed. Also what you thought of the safety of the protocols. Thank you for any insight you may have.

 

40 minutes ago, CruisefunSAN said:

I was on that sailing and didn't notice anything. Apparently if there is COVID case on board, Carnival wasn't made it public. But I also doubted the accuracy of that online article. In Mazatlan and Cabo, I did hear the PA asking for some people to contact customer service desk right before ship's departure time, I thought that was because some body didn't make it back to ship on time. And I didn't see any ambulance at those ports too. SO that online thing is most likely a speculation, not fact. 

Their status is yellow on the CDC cruise ship color status, which is the third out of 4 levels (green, orange, yellow, red). It was orange while it was crew only. EVERY SINGLE SHIP across all brands that is sailing with passengers right now (as opposed to being crew only) is yellow status. There will be positive covids on every single sailing for the near future.

[Goldenaero5]

1 hour ago, ScottsSweetie said:

 

Their status is yellow on the CDC cruise ship color status, which is the third out of 4 levels (green, orange, yellow, red). It was orange while it was crew only. EVERY SINGLE SHIP across all brands that is sailing with passengers right now (as opposed to being crew only) is yellow status. There will be positive covids on every single sailing for the near future.

I have noticed the cdc color codes as well and have been keeping track. I think the wording "multiple" was why i was curious what passengers experienced and saw. 

[CharmedLifer]

Did you all see this re Covid cases on board 8/21 cruise?

 

https://www.cruiselawnews.com/2021/08/articles/disease/carnival-panorama-the-latest-fun-ship-with-covid-19-aboard/