My Passport’s Travels

After one final breakfast at the buffet (with the lovely crispy potatoes), we packed up and Lyfted our way to the Carnival cruise pier.

The driver actually let us off at the Queen Mary, which was much closer and much faster than the actual drop-off line would have been. Checking was quick and painless – 15 minutes from Lyft drop off to finding a seat in the waiting area.

Muster drill in the theater. Carnival has everyone go to their muster drill station as they arrive and they do a quick demonstration of the life jackets, then send you on your way to have fun. Quick and easy. We went to Ji Ji Asian for lunch. The stir fry was really good (and the Rum Dynasty was fantastic!). Pro tip: almost all the up charge restaurants have a free lunch option available most days. On embarkation day JiJi and Cucina del Capitano were both almost deserted and it made for a lovely, quiet respite from the boarding terminal crowd.

After lunch, our room was ready, so we headed down to drop our bags and check out the view. The room is comfortable, plenty of room for two. And after the Holiday Inn, the bathroom is ginormous! We were amazed to see the guys fishing from their kayaks!

We went down to deck 5 to watch the late arrivals and eventually the ropes drop as we parted ways with the dock.

Up 4 flights of stairs to our room so we could watch Long Beach slide away into the distance – we also got to see the police escort out of the harbor and the pilot boat coming to pick up the pilot.

Mom started unpacking while I went out to the other side of the ship to catch the sunset. (Mom decided it was too cold for her out there – and I almost decided the same thing up in the wind!).

bonus picture of the Panorama’s water slides!

Tonight is an early dinner at Cucina del Capitano (the Captain’s Kitchen). The menu said that many of the Carnival captains are Italian and the Panorama was built in Italy, so the Italian restaurant is an homage to them. We had a lovely meal, and decided to call it an evening afterwards. All this cruising is hard work!