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Cruise Blog Long Beach Panorama

Panorama: Coronavirus Day

on
May 10, 2020

It’s debarkation morning. When I woke up and noticed we hadn’t arrived yet, I quickly got dressed and headed out to the forward deck where I took a time lapse video of our arrival.

After that I headed to the lido buffet to pick up an omelet with almost everything in it.

I brought that omelet back to the room so I could finish my last minute packing.

It’s 7:40 and I’ve noticed they haven’t made the first debarkation announcement yet. They just made an announcement about not smoking during refueling but nothing about debarkation. I would normally expect to hear that first announcement in the 6:45-7:15 time frame.

I stripped the bed and I’m checking out of my room. We’re supposed to be out of the rooms by 8:30am. It’s just before 8 now.

It’s 8am and they just made an announcement that we are still waiting on customs to clear us. I’m wondering if I can still make the special early debarkation for platinum and diamond level guests. We were supposed to meet at 7am in the limelight lounge.

I arrive at the lounge at 8:10 and it appears to be full.

I was just going to stand in the hallway but after a period of time I realize that could be a long wait. I made my way through the crowd and found plenty of open seats in the middle of the lounge.

There’s plenty of room to spread out here.

At 8:40 Cruise Director Emma reports we are still waiting for customs. Apparently we also had several medical debarkations.

Plans are being made to release the lounge in sections. Early flights will get off first. Then they will release in approximate order of the arrival in the lounge. I’m trying check Uber/Lyft rates but my AT&T isn’t working in this lounge and the Carnival Wifi has Uber/Lyft thinking I’m still in Puerto Vallarta. That’s a long Uber/Lyft.

A member of Carnival’s Fun Squad tells us he heard over the walkie talkie that carnival crew were granted permission to disembark and then it was revoked.

At 9:15am Emma comes over the PA system and says we are still waiting for customs approval.

At 9:30am Emma says we thought we were cleared but we are not. She adds the medical debarkations have nothing to do with coronavirus but medical personnel are in contact with local authorities.

9:35 a member of Carnival’s Fun Squad begins asking trivia questions to keep the crowd entertained.

10:26 Emma repeats her message from 9:30.

10:50 Carnival Brand Ambassador, John Heald posts the following message on social media: “There is a medical matter with a Carnival Panorama guest that caused authorities to suspend debarkation. The guest in question does not meet CDC criteria for coronavirus risk, but officials still have questions.  Our shoreside medical team is in direct contact with authorities and we hope to debark shortly.”

11:10 I heard they’ve opened a bar on lido deck.

11:15 They announce they are opening up the sky ride and the ropes course. They will be playing trivia in ocean plaza, a dive-in movie on lido deck, and they are working on lunch plans. It doesn’t sound like we’re getting off of the ship anytime soon.

Matt Mitchem comes in and grabs the microphone. For those who don’t know Matt is one of the top cruise directors at Carnival. He was CD for my Vista cruise last year and will be the first CD of Carnival Mardi Gras set to launch later this year.

Matt is going to be filling in as CD on the Panorama starting on April 18th. He was on board this week getting an early turnover. Matt tells us he was able to disembark the ship but was stopped before he exited the port and was sent back on the ship.

We are told we can leave our suitcases here if we wish to visit lido deck. I decide to leave my suitcase but bring my backpack which has all of my valuables in it.

Below is the line for pizza which starts on the other side of that door. The self serve ice cream line is just as long.

They do have a movie playing on lido deck.

The Red Frog Rum Bar is also open on Lido. I wait in line and grab a Bloody Mary. I’m pleased to find that my Cheers beverage package still works.

I begin to hear rumors that we’re on the local news.

A birds eye view of the lido deck.

Guy’s Burger Joint must be open. That’s where the line below appears to be coming from.

I bring my drink back to the lounge and find they’re playing a movie in there as well.

I return back upstairs to find they have opened the buffet. The Guy’s burger line is now twice as long as it was before. It’s 12:20 and I’m hungry so I get in line.

I overhear a guy in the guy burger line behind me say a crew member told him a 24-hour hold is the protocol for this situation.

12:45 and I’m still in the guy burger line. We just received word we could be here for six hours waiting on the results of a coronavirus test. Here is my video of the announcement. Any foul language you hear is not mine. There was a guy behind me from New York in danger of missing his flight home and he wasn’t happy about it.

After an hour and twenty minutes I make my way to the front of the line. A normal guy burger wait for me is less than five minutes. It doesn’t look like they have tomatoes or onion rings. I also noticed the fries they are serving are main dining room fries, not guy’s fries.

I take my burger back to my room and find it has been cleaned by Jolly, my room steward.

After eating I head to the limelight lounge to collect my luggage.

I made it just in time as they’re beginning to move out the bags people left to make room for a comedy show. While I’m in there another announcement is made.

After returning my suitcase to the room I stopped by the Smokehouse-Brewhouse for one of the dark beers they brew on the ship. This one is the porter. I brought it back to the lounge with me to watch the comedy show.

After the comedy show I headed back to the Smokehouse-Brewhouse for another locally brewed beer called the Mocha Martin.

3:40pm food update: The buffet is now closed.

The self serve ice cream is now being served by carnival staff.

Guy’s burger lines have returned to normal size.

3:45pm update

I figure these bartenders probably aren’t making as much as they normally do on an embarkation day. So I’m back at the brewhouse to do my part.

4:15pm I just saw Emma speaking to guests outside of the comedy club. I had heard a rumor earlier that she was under the protection of six security guards. That’s not true. She doesn’t have anyone with her.

4:21 I see they have opened up the Alchemy bar and there is space available. I’m going to spend some quality time there.

Doan made me this with grey goose vodka, grapefruit belvedere vodka, cherry liqueur and maybe something else.

At 5pm the cheers beverage program reset itself and I got charged for this one. They reset it and will fix the charge. Zoran made this drink.

In the first video I posted the CD said it could be up to six hours. Now that we are approaching six hours since that announcement, she’s saying she said six hours minimum. I decide while I’m doing this, I might as well give Doan a little publicity.

Why not a little more Doan?

Here is our 6:10 update with Alchemists Nikola and Doan providing the visuals.

Here is our 8pm update from the Captain.

And our 8:10pm update from the Cruise Director.

Nikola made this drink for me.

This is the 8:40pm entertainment update from Emma and Matt.

Nikola made this one. It’s probably my favorite drink of the cruise. I asked him what it’s called so I can tell people to order it. He told me if people tell him 4343 he will remember it. 4343 is my folio number on this particular voyage.

I asked Nikola to make me another 4343 and I video taped it in case someone wants another alchemist to re-create it.

At 9:45pm I said good night to the Alchemy bar and stopped by my room before going to the 10pm showing of Broadway Beats. Here is a look at the Atrium along the way.

When I arrived in my room we received the news of test results from the captain.

Cruise director Emma says the same thing in a different accent.

It worked out perfect that they decided to add a special performance of Broadway Beats because it’s the only production show I didn’t attend during the cruise.

They interrupted the show for an announcement of debarkation plans from the captain.

CD Emma announces debarkation plans in a different accent.

They resumed the show after the announcements.

I’m usually not one to stay at the end of the show and clap as the dancers leave but I did this time since they did an extra performance in a mostly empty room.

After the show I stopped on lido deck and grabbed a pizza to take back to the room. This is a rare sight. A dive-in movie with nobody watching. I have to say Carnival did everything they possibly could to keep us entertained.

I was hoping I wouldn’t to have to mess this bed up and create more work for the room steward, but I guess I have no choice at this point.

They made all of the on demand movies in the rooms free today.

That about covers our little coronavirus scare on the Panorama. Tomorrow we’ll attempt debarkation again.


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