momopi
Well-known member
* I finally got around to try Carbonaut bread, found it for sale at Sprouts for $10. It's $6 at Target but I think you may have to order it. In terms of taste and texture, I give it a thumbs up for low card bread. Need more time to evaluate impact to glucose levels.
* Took a celebratory unemployment cruise on Carnival Panorama out of Long Beach, 8 days to 4 Mexico ports. I can't recommend it as a smart way of spending your severance money, but it was my 5 year old daughter's first cruise so we spent $$$ on the shore excursions with dolphins, sea lion, camel, etc.
In general, I think if you can afford it, Princess cruise (higher end Carnival line) offers better food and environment. Carnival's buffet food is a notch below, usually over cooked but acceptable. You have sit-down dining option at Vista restaurant for no additional fee, the menu is similar but not exactly like the buffet. Quality is hit or miss, sometimes you get great med rare prime rib & steak salad, other times you get over cooked lamb and... questionable dishes.
www.carnival.com
For lunch you can try additional restaurants for no additional fee:
Guy's Pig & Anchor smokehouse: offers lunch buffet with BBQ beef, pork and chicken. Quality is meh.
Guy's burger joint: well, it's a burger, decent selection of self-serve fixings.
Blue Iguana Cantina: tacos for lunch, but come during the morning for breakfast burritos and... breakfast tacos. The arepas are also good when warm - if it's cold ask them to heat it up for you.
Ji Ji Asian Kitchen: they serve stir fry noodles for lunch, next to the Italian place that server pasta for lunch. Meh. Menu indicates spicy, but served bland. Probably OK for kids.
Pizzeria: Actually not bad thin crust pizza for lunch. I thought it'd be like cardboard, but If you go to Lido Marketplace Buffet for the midnight snack, they serve deep dish pizza.
Carnival Deli: located inside the 2nd Lido Marketplace Buffet toward the aft. Freshly made sandwiches, if you want a sandwich.
Lido Marketplace Buffet: Serves breakfast, lunch, dinner, and midnight snack. There are 2 buffet areas next to each other, be sure to visit both as they may serve different food. Quality is hit or miss. Same stuff for breakfast daily. If you're too cheap to pay for soda on ship, bring your own water bottle and fill up on ice tea, lemonade, juices, iced water, etc. here.
For dinner we ate at 2 restaurants ($55/head):
555 Steakhouse: Thumbs up on quality, but be wary of 18 oz serving size. If you go in a group, make arrangements with others to split 18 oz steak while 2nd person order something else like lamb chops. There is no microwave in your room, so it's kinda hard to deal with leftovers.
Bonsai Teppanyaki: Fair quality, and you get a nice desert box at the end. Save room and don't eat too much fried rice.
There are other places on ship to eat, like the salad bar at the rear end of the ship ("adults only" section), but I just didn't have time to try them all.
=====================
This was the first cruise that we took since the pandemic years. It's been so long that I had forgotten some things.
* Do pack extra clothing and laundry detergent. The laundromat on ship use speed queen washers and you can fill it up with dirty cloths. The dryer, unfortunately, may take 2 runs to dry your cloths even if you split it between 2 dryers. Each run is $3.50.
* We bought the travel size detergent package which was not enough, so at Puerto Vallarta there's a Walmart right across the street. Simple right? Nope. Unless if you work for the cruise ship, the guard will not let you just walk across the street from the access points. You must take the shuttle all the way to a tourist trap, exit then take Taxi ($10) or Uber (much cheaper) across the street to Walmart. If you take Uber they will drop you off outside of the parking lot and you have to walk all the way in toward Walmart.
* If you've never shopped at Walmart in Mexico, it's actually an interesting experience. You'd find local branded Walmart detergent for $1.50/bag and... cheaper versions of Barbie dolls for $5.
* If you're doing the dolphin and sea lion excursion, I suggest skipping the sea lion and just do the swim with dolphins. Expect to pay >$200 for photos and videos after. Make sure you remember to bring slippers, or else your feet will burn on pool side. Buffet lunch at Dolphin place is meh.
* We also did the camel ride and, for some reason I got a camel with shoe fetish. Since camel saliva is powerful stuff I refused to let my camel lick all over my shoes. She wasn't happy and decided to give me an extra bumpy ride. Buffet lunch at Camel ride place was actually decent. And yes, >$200 for photos and drone videos.
* If you're going to buy medication, get it at Puerto Vallarta instead of Cabo. It'd be cheaper. Stuff like flexril (muscle relaxant) and amoxicillin (antibiotic) can be purchased over the counter there without a prescription for your emergency kit. I wouldn't trust the viagra though.
* Prices are not going to be cheap near tourist trap areas, and if you see signs offering 5 tacos for 80 pesos, your Mexican guide will question where the meat is from. Good seafood though.
* The ship has a kid's club that will babysit for free until 10PM, after 10PM they charge a fee.
* The pay rate at the casino machines are not great, but if you play slots during events like hot seat, the slot machines near main walkway seem to have its pay rate adjusted upwards and spits out more wins. After special event is over they return to eat all your money mode.
* Carnival ships seem to have more medical and security incidents. While we were on ship there was daily calls for emergency medical response. One incident actually involved my daughter who was running on deck and fell flat on her face. Fortunately her lower lip cushioned her front teeth so there was no cracks to her baby or perm teeth. Seems like there's always someone in med bay bed hooked up to various tubes. Also heavier security patrols on deck and in the hallways.
* Caught a cold in latter part of the trip. As soon as we got home we took COVID tests and found that myself, wife, and father in law all tested positive (!). Mother in law and baby tested negative 2 days in a row. Now taking Paxlovid.
* Took a celebratory unemployment cruise on Carnival Panorama out of Long Beach, 8 days to 4 Mexico ports. I can't recommend it as a smart way of spending your severance money, but it was my 5 year old daughter's first cruise so we spent $$$ on the shore excursions with dolphins, sea lion, camel, etc.
In general, I think if you can afford it, Princess cruise (higher end Carnival line) offers better food and environment. Carnival's buffet food is a notch below, usually over cooked but acceptable. You have sit-down dining option at Vista restaurant for no additional fee, the menu is similar but not exactly like the buffet. Quality is hit or miss, sometimes you get great med rare prime rib & steak salad, other times you get over cooked lamb and... questionable dishes.
All Dining Options | Restaurants Onboard | Carnival Cruise Line
Take a look at all of the amazing and delicious dining options onboard a Carnival cruise. From Italian to Mexican cuisine, you won't run out of variety!
www.carnival.com
For lunch you can try additional restaurants for no additional fee:
Guy's Pig & Anchor smokehouse: offers lunch buffet with BBQ beef, pork and chicken. Quality is meh.
Guy's burger joint: well, it's a burger, decent selection of self-serve fixings.
Blue Iguana Cantina: tacos for lunch, but come during the morning for breakfast burritos and... breakfast tacos. The arepas are also good when warm - if it's cold ask them to heat it up for you.
Ji Ji Asian Kitchen: they serve stir fry noodles for lunch, next to the Italian place that server pasta for lunch. Meh. Menu indicates spicy, but served bland. Probably OK for kids.
Pizzeria: Actually not bad thin crust pizza for lunch. I thought it'd be like cardboard, but If you go to Lido Marketplace Buffet for the midnight snack, they serve deep dish pizza.
Carnival Deli: located inside the 2nd Lido Marketplace Buffet toward the aft. Freshly made sandwiches, if you want a sandwich.
Lido Marketplace Buffet: Serves breakfast, lunch, dinner, and midnight snack. There are 2 buffet areas next to each other, be sure to visit both as they may serve different food. Quality is hit or miss. Same stuff for breakfast daily. If you're too cheap to pay for soda on ship, bring your own water bottle and fill up on ice tea, lemonade, juices, iced water, etc. here.
For dinner we ate at 2 restaurants ($55/head):
555 Steakhouse: Thumbs up on quality, but be wary of 18 oz serving size. If you go in a group, make arrangements with others to split 18 oz steak while 2nd person order something else like lamb chops. There is no microwave in your room, so it's kinda hard to deal with leftovers.
Bonsai Teppanyaki: Fair quality, and you get a nice desert box at the end. Save room and don't eat too much fried rice.
There are other places on ship to eat, like the salad bar at the rear end of the ship ("adults only" section), but I just didn't have time to try them all.
=====================
This was the first cruise that we took since the pandemic years. It's been so long that I had forgotten some things.
* Do pack extra clothing and laundry detergent. The laundromat on ship use speed queen washers and you can fill it up with dirty cloths. The dryer, unfortunately, may take 2 runs to dry your cloths even if you split it between 2 dryers. Each run is $3.50.
* We bought the travel size detergent package which was not enough, so at Puerto Vallarta there's a Walmart right across the street. Simple right? Nope. Unless if you work for the cruise ship, the guard will not let you just walk across the street from the access points. You must take the shuttle all the way to a tourist trap, exit then take Taxi ($10) or Uber (much cheaper) across the street to Walmart. If you take Uber they will drop you off outside of the parking lot and you have to walk all the way in toward Walmart.
* If you've never shopped at Walmart in Mexico, it's actually an interesting experience. You'd find local branded Walmart detergent for $1.50/bag and... cheaper versions of Barbie dolls for $5.
* If you're doing the dolphin and sea lion excursion, I suggest skipping the sea lion and just do the swim with dolphins. Expect to pay >$200 for photos and videos after. Make sure you remember to bring slippers, or else your feet will burn on pool side. Buffet lunch at Dolphin place is meh.
* We also did the camel ride and, for some reason I got a camel with shoe fetish. Since camel saliva is powerful stuff I refused to let my camel lick all over my shoes. She wasn't happy and decided to give me an extra bumpy ride. Buffet lunch at Camel ride place was actually decent. And yes, >$200 for photos and drone videos.
* If you're going to buy medication, get it at Puerto Vallarta instead of Cabo. It'd be cheaper. Stuff like flexril (muscle relaxant) and amoxicillin (antibiotic) can be purchased over the counter there without a prescription for your emergency kit. I wouldn't trust the viagra though.
* Prices are not going to be cheap near tourist trap areas, and if you see signs offering 5 tacos for 80 pesos, your Mexican guide will question where the meat is from. Good seafood though.
* The ship has a kid's club that will babysit for free until 10PM, after 10PM they charge a fee.
* The pay rate at the casino machines are not great, but if you play slots during events like hot seat, the slot machines near main walkway seem to have its pay rate adjusted upwards and spits out more wins. After special event is over they return to eat all your money mode.
* Carnival ships seem to have more medical and security incidents. While we were on ship there was daily calls for emergency medical response. One incident actually involved my daughter who was running on deck and fell flat on her face. Fortunately her lower lip cushioned her front teeth so there was no cracks to her baby or perm teeth. Seems like there's always someone in med bay bed hooked up to various tubes. Also heavier security patrols on deck and in the hallways.
* Caught a cold in latter part of the trip. As soon as we got home we took COVID tests and found that myself, wife, and father in law all tested positive (!). Mother in law and baby tested negative 2 days in a row. Now taking Paxlovid.
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