My wife and I sailed on the Carnival Panorama on Feb 29th –Mar 7/8th (I will explain more on that later). We are experienced mass market cruisers having sailed on Carnival, Princess, Holland America, Norwegian, Celebrity and Royal Caribbean previously. This was our 28th cruise. We are senior citizens.

Those of you who have read my reviews before know that I might be politely described as picky. I can’t help it. I was born with the glass half empty gene. I know this is not a good way to go through life and I have tried to change, believe me, but I am stuck with my perfectionistic attention to detail. I try to counter this by bending over backwards to give the benefit of the doubt and see things from the other point of view. I usually fail. However, I am balanced by my wife who has a Mary Poppins optimism and sees the good in everything, even me.

My wife and I do like cruises for the same reasons. We love being on the ship and enjoy the relaxation and variety of entertainment that it offers. We don’t care where it goes, as the ship is our destination. Since we live near the west coast, the majority of our cruises have been either to Mexico or Alaska. We don’t even get off at the ports in Mexico any more. We shop for bargains and typically cruise during the off season. The things that are important to me in choosing a cruise ship are food, stateroom, entertainment, service, general ambience and activities – pretty much in that order. That being said, the Panorama appealed to me because of two things. 1) It had a trampoline park on board ship – the first and only ship to do so. 2) It had a category of ocean view rooms that had 2 bathrooms or technically, a bath and a half. The half bath had no toilet and smaller square footage but it had its own sink and a 2/3 size bathtub (but deep) and shower combination. The full sized bathroom with a toilet had a standard shower. Read more