From Singapore to LA on Carnival Panorama

This is part one of a two part trip.

• Part 1: Twelve Nights in Southeast Asia
• Part 2: From Singapore to LA on Carnival Panorama

Introduction

In the fall of 2023, I booked a free room on Carnival Panorama sailing from Singapore to Los Angeles in the fall of 2024. In part one of the trip, I spent two weeks in Southeast Asia. This part covers the cruise from Singapore to Los Angeles.

Booking the Essentials

This cruise was booked using one of the original casino offers I received after my 2023 cruise from Brisbane to Seattle. Under the offer, I got an inside cabin for free and had to pay port fees/taxes ($235) and gratuities ($400).

Carnival Panorama

Carnival Panorama is a Vista class ship and can support around 3,600 passengers. I generally prefer the 2,100 passenger Spirit class ships which have more open floor plans and smaller crowds. Most ships only have one of many things (pizza place, burger joint, taco shop, certain casino machines, etc) and so you end up with 50-100% more people competing for the same number of things. That said, crowds never felt too bad and some of the spaces, like the upper deck movie theater, were the best I’d seen on any Carnival ship.

I had a true inside coffin cabin, maybe 70% the size of a regular cabin on the inside with no windows. On some Carnival ships, you can find secret inside cabins with obstructed windows behind lifeboats. These let light in and often allow you some partial views. Unfortunately, these don’t appear to exist on Vista class ships. Although I was a little worried about small inside cabin on such a long voyage, it didn’t bother me outside being a little stir-crazy during the 11-day passage from the Philippines to Hawaii.

Itinerary

Singapore

Check out part one for more on my time in Singapore.

Phú Mỹ, Vietnam

Phú Mỹ is actually the deepwater port for Ho Chi Minh city, also known as Saigon. Unfortunately, it is located in a purely industrial area and 30 minutes drive from anything, and 1-2 hours drive from Saigon. The port itself is all commercial and I don’t believe we were allowed to walk out through the port, not that there would have been much to see. I believe smaller ships can actually dock much closer to Saigon.

The nearby town of Bà Rịa offers a free bus to a mall at their city center. Rather than book an all day excursion, I decided to check that out. The mall was similar to others I’d seen in southeast Asia, though it also included a full size grocery and arcade. Walking around the neighborhood felt safe although there weren’t a lot of things for tourists to do.

I ended up having lunch in the mall, a soda and sushi meal that would have been about $15 at a US grocery cost just $3.30. Prices were similarly good on other things. I was very tempted to snag some new luggage but didn’t want to have to deal with transporting it back on the bus.

In the future, I would probably avoid this particular port unless I planned to book specific excursions.

Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia

Kota Kinabalu, on the isle of Borneo, was similar to Phú Mỹ in that it was a commercial port, and we were shuttled to a nearby mall. However, the port was tiny by comparison, and we could easily have walked out and into the city had it been allowed (albeit at the edge of town). My original plan had actually been to walk out to a nearby nature preserve, but the bussing policy thwarted that scheme.

Kota Kinabalu is a much bigger city than Phú Mỹ or Bà Rịa. After exploring the mall, I spent the rest of the day walking through the waterfront and back through shops and along a canal. Parts of the city are nice and parts might be a little run down.

I think this may have been Carnival’s first visit to Borneo. After folks were back aboard the ship, but prior to departure, a group of Malaysian performers came aboard to perform a Magunatip, or warrior stick dance. It was pretty cool and there is a video towards the end of the gallery.

Manila, Philippines

Manila was without a doubt the most interesting stop on the cruise. I spent the first part of the day walking through Intramuros, the old Walled City from the Spanish colonial days. There you can find lots of old buildings, churches gardens and government offices. It’s the tourist heart of the city.

I spent the second part of the day exploring Rizal park, including the Japanese and Chinese gardens. Rizal was a doctor, whose martyrdom helped spark Philippine independence from Spain.

This had been Carnival’s first ever visit to the Philippines and, with so many crew hailing from there, it was kinda a big deal. Crew families were brought aboard and invited to enjoy the facilities. Some high ranking government dignitaries also came aboard with a full news crew.

We did have some problems getting off the boat, with debarkation taking around three hours as a result of only having access to one usable gangway. The customs process was also very confusing, requiring a digital arrival card and mandatory temperature checks from Filipino customs officials who came aboard in Borneo. Hopefully things go smoother in the future because I thought it was a great port otherwise.

Guam, USA

Sadly, while we were rounding the north shore of Luzon, a passenger experienced a medical emergency. The ship was diverted and had to backtrack for a few hours. Combined with a brewing tropical cyclone, we were forced to cancel our trip to Guam and head directly on to Honolulu.

This can happen on any cruise, but it was particularly disappointing since Guam is one of those places that is really hard to get to and really hard to justify visiting. Skipping Guam meant we didn’t get to load planned provisions and entertainers, and would now have 11 sea days in a row and just one stop in the next 18 days.

Maui, Hawaii

Maui was on the original itinerary when I booked it, but this ended up getting removed in favor of a second day in Honolulu several months before sailing, presumably a result of the Lahaina fires on Maui. While I prefer Maui to Oahu, having two full days in Honolulu was great and allowed us all to stay out late exploring.

Honolulu, Hawaii

Getting off the boat was again, a little difficult. The original plan had been to pass through US customs in Guam, but our diversion meant we had to do customs in Honolulu. This took about three hours and after delays in Manila and missing Guam, let’s just say there were more than a few disgruntled passengers… but hey… who can stay disgruntled in Hawaii?

Once I got off the boat, I walked all the way to the punchbowl to see the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. This is quite a hike and takes you to the top of an ancient caldera overlooking the city. The walk is mostly along low traffic roads, usually without a sidewalk. The cemetery is a beautiful and serene place. Views from the top are breathtaking, especially around sunset.

Shortly after leaving the cemetery, two middle-aged Hawaiian women drove by, recognized me from the cemetery and offered to give me a ride back to town. These were just normal locals, possibly cemetery employees, offering a stranger a ride. It was very much an Aloha spirit moment, and not the kind of thing that would have happened anywhere else on this trip.

Even so I was enjoying the walk and turned them down, continuing back on foot around the north and east side of the punchbowl. On the way back, I stopped by the Baskin Robbins where Obama worked as a kid, before cutting through town and having dumplings for dinner at Mián, a Sichuan noodle place. It was around 9pm when I finally made it back, and I loved being able to leisurely explore without a hard 5pm all aboard time.

The first day’s hike was around 30,000 steps and so the next day I took it easy, exploring Ala Moana park which sits between the port and Waikiki.

Los Angeles, CA

We arrived in Los Angeles on November 5th, the day of the election. By the time I got off the ship and to the hotel, we were only a few hours from the polls closing, and so I settled in from the relative safety of California to watch the results come in.

The flight back was 21,500 American Airline miles in business class.

Summary

This part of the trip was a little mixed. Manila and Honolulu were great, but Kota Kinabalu and especially Phú Mỹ were disappointing. Losing Guam and having 11 sea days in a row was a hard pill to swallow. Really, I think anyone should expect more than four ports on 25 day voyage, and there were negatives at every port on our journey.

That said, this part of the trip was pretty cheap.

• $635 Cruise
• 22,300 IHG points (purchased for $111.50)
• 21,500 American Airlines miles.

If I had the choice to do it again, I would, especially when factoring in everything in part one of the trip. I sometimes like to think of the ports in these cruises as beers in a flight. You’re getting a bunch of samples, seeing what you like, and figuring out what you might want to order in the future. Every country I visited on the cruise and in part one, I would like to visit again.

All that said, if I could only take one transpacific cruise, I think some of Carnival’s south pacific voyages are more enjoyable, especially for beginners.

This is part one of a two part trip.

• Part 1: Twelve Nights in Southeast Asia
• Part 2: From Singapore to LA on Carnival Panorama