Carnival Cruise Review

We were on-board for Carnival Panorama's naming ceremony and to welcome her to Long Beach. This is the first new ship to be homeported on the west coast in more than 20 years and so this is an exciting time for guys looking for an awesome ocean-going getaway without having to sacrifice by flying to Florida or sailing on an older ship. Carnival Panorama will be offering 6, 7 and 8-day cruises year-round from Long Beach to the Mexican Riviera.

Way south in the Caribbean Sea are a couple islands that don't get as much love as their northern sisters but for those willing to take the trek south, there's a world of awesome and unique things waiting for you. Last fall, we visited Bonaire during a port day on the Carnival Sunshine. Here's some of the cool things that await you on your next visit.

In a market that is nearly saturated but at the same time working feverishly to expand its reach, the cruise lines are in a fight to find a way to fill their ships and bring in new cruisers. While other lines are building ever bigger boats with features unheard of at sea, Carnival decided to focus on entertainment and creating once-in-a-lifetime experiences that are surprisingly affordable. Earlier this month we had the opportunity to spend a week on the brand new Carnival Breeze and experience it for ourselves.

Unlike "themed cruises" the band isn't actually on the ship during the voyage, so that means that you can still have a "normal" cruise experience but on concert night things turn up a notch. On this cruise, we started in Miami followed by stops in Ocho Rios, Jamaica, Georgetown, Grand Cayman, and then during our stop at Cozumel, Mexico the band loaded their equipment on the ship and we stayed in port till about 1 a.m.

In our second interview of this series, we talk with Joyce Olivia, PR at Carnival Cruise Lines.

As you know, we are HUGE fans of Carnival and I think they are one of the top travel brands out there that really understands how social media and the travel industry have come together to extend the experience that most people will only be able to experience for a few days each year, into something that they plan, dream, and remember all year long.

While Caribbean cruising may be king, the west coast of Mexico also offers some exciting opportunities for fun as well. To explore these, we boarded the Carnival Miracle and set off on a seven-day journey with our review starting in Los Angeles (Long Beach) and included two days in Cabo San Lucas and Puerta Vallarta before heading home.

Over the past year, Heather and I have caught the cruising bug. It started out simply as a cheap way to get away for a few days without the distraction of email and mobile phones, but it has now become something that we actually enjoy.

As we have progressed from "let's just cruise" to "let's have a great time" there are a few things that we have wanted to try out but had been focused only on budget. When we booked on the Dream, we got the opportunity to upgrade our rooms to the Cloud 9 Spa deck...

Having cruised a few times in the Caribbean we wanted to do something new. A tour of New England and Maritime Canada, seemed like a great idea to explore a different area and show my wife some of the places I visited when I was younger. We had fun, the Carnival Glory is a great ship, but we learned a couple important things that will help guide us on future cruises 1) Sometimes the first trip on an itinerary is a bit rough 2) the "total cost" of a Caribbean cruise can be MUCH CHEAPER than other destinations 3) Sometimes you just need to be able to make your own fun when mother nature doesn't cooperate.

Next year (2013), Carnival is set to bring the Glory back to Boston, but with Funship 2.0 Upgrades, and hopefully our cruise helped both Carnival and the various ports iron out any kinks that we experienced.

What's better - new mega boats or the smaller, older ships like the Carnival Ecstasy? While I can't answer the first part, I can say that the Ecstasy is an extremely fine ship and was as clean and polished as the much newer Carnival Victory that we sailed on a few months ago. This trip was Heather and I's "test" to see if we "really liked cruising" and I have to say that the Ecstasy and her staff passed with flying colors - Heather and I even executed our "future cruise" deposit, so now we are committed to sailing again!

This cruise wasn't fancy, wasn't long, and wasn't expensive. It was however a perfect post holiday romantic retreat.