My wife and I booked the 7-day Mexican Riviera Cruise on the Carnival Panorama out of Long Beach, CA, joined by 2 adult family in a separate stateroom. We’re retired and looked forward to spending some time together visiting, relaxing, eating, drinking, swimming, gambling, shopping and seeing some of the sights as we traveled the Mexican Riviera. We flew into Long Beach Airport and took a $35 XL Uber (4 of us) from the airport to the Long Beach port. At the port, it was very crowded and as advertised, there was no early entry allowed. Once on board, we explored the Panorama which is an attractive newer ship with lots of the latest features, especially great for younger, active people who like those options. We settled into our balcony stateroom, which was clean and exactly as expected, similar to those on similar ships we’ve taken.

Here are our comments on a variety of our experiences on this cruise:

Pool decks were busy, but lots of lounge chairs and seating on multiple decks overlooking pool area. Pools are very small, mostly filled with kids as are the hot tubs. Okay to dangle your feet or wade, but don’t expect to actually swim. Relaxing in lounge chairs was enjoyable. Several food venues on the pool decks including Guy Fieri’s Burger bar which serves fantastic burgers and fries. Read more