Cartagena, Columbia

Welcome to Cartagena!

The first time we ever came to Cartagena I have to admit my mind went to the cartels. It took a few trips here before my mind automatically didn't focus on the bad. (Although years back we witnessed the most aggressive and largest groups of pushy vendors at every one of the Hop On Hop Off bus stops.)

I was up early watching as we docked and as the busses were given the okay to start filling the pier. Busses down one direction...

and down the other. 

Wonder how today's HOHO guests fared

Update: I spoke to passengers who rode the Hop On Hop Off today and they told me stories of the aggressiveness of the vendors. So nope, no change.

No tour bus for me today, though. I knew exactly where I was headed - to the aviary in the port area. The Port Oasis EcoPark was oh-so-close to the ship. It's an easy walk but there is also a free shuttle provided.

It was quite a lovely experience. It's like a zoo, but more of a sanctuary. And it's free! I saw lots of animals. The birds were free range so they flew (and landed) all around.

Flamingos were in an enclosed area

So was the Collared Peccary, thank goodness

Being I can't stand monkeys I'm glad I didn't come across any. They also have sloths but I didn't see any of those, either.

But I did come across beautiful birds who were free to go wherever they wanted. At my feet, in the trees, and flying overhead. 

I even had one investigating my scooter.

I spent a couple hours there just looking at everything. They have a nice store and I was able to pick up some new bling for Scooter. 

Just big enough to hold hand sanitizer and lip balm

But the time I was ready to go back, I was sweaty. Like clothes stuck-to-you sweaty. A cool beverage from their little cafe (menu at the end of this post) helped to cool me down just a little, but I would probably need half a dozen to bring me much relief. 

Even the vultures knew I was about done

Before I left I came across one last picture I just had to take. The simplest and sweetest of all.

I wheeled my way back to the ship..

went to the cabin, peeled off my clothes, and got dressed for the pool. Swam for a couple hours, had an ice cream cone, a free 5 minute shoulder massage from the spa gals, and had my nightgown back on before dinnertime. An exhausting but full day in Cartagena.

This was our last port of this cruise. Folks I've talked to are ready to get back home while I'm ready to really get my trip started. We have a couple sea days and then will be in Fort Lauderdale on Friday. See you then!

Cafe Menu. I thought the prices were great.

The Panama Canal

What a day! I’m not even sure where to start. I could give you a long history lesson on the Panama Canal and quite a lecture on the logistics of the locks, but there are plenty of books out there that do both, so today I’m cutting to the chase and getting straight to the photos.

Early this morning workers in row boats sent lines to our ship.

The other end of the lines were attached to mules. These mules help guide ships through the locks.

We entered the first locks on the Pacific side. As we needed to gain elevation to match the higher man made Gatun Lake we had to step up, up, up. Using water, of course. 

The gates close and then fill the lock with water. You can feel the ship go up and up.

Taken from the back of this ship. 
We came from the lower lock to this higher one.

A secondary gates closes as well. It’s like a just-in-case gate. These ships are big and can move fast.

Workers can then walk from one side to other. And drive as well!

Once through the locks on the Pacific side we arrived in Gatun Lake. We saw more than one dredge during our journey. It takes a lot of work to keep the ships moving.

Did you know there are viewing platforms so folks
onshore can watch ships transiting?

Once through Gatun Lake we worked our way to the Atlantic Ocean. What comes up must go down so we stepped down, down, down. You can see with the ship behind us the difference in water levels. 

We’re one lock ahead - and one step lower -
than the ship behind us.

All my pictures today were taken from the back of the ship thanks to those lines the row boat guys delivered. Being my cabin is on the Promenade Deck at the back of the ship, and a lot of the mule work is done at the lower levels at the back of the ship, my deck’s balconies were off limits to us today. But Princess has this figured out. They provided passengers in those cabins a day in the Sanctuary on Panama Canal day. (The other alternative was a $60 onboard credit.) Hard to believe in 90 Princess cruises I’ve never been in the Sanctuary but that changed today. Front row seats!

Best seat in the house

We had mimosas, parfaits, and pastries for breakfast.

A bento box for lunch…

And afternoon tea.

We also had Sanctuary stewards mist us and keep us cool with ice cold wet washcloths. We had a little bit of rain but nothing enough to put too much of a “damper” on the day.

Hello, Atlantic Ocean!

The strong wind and rain kicked up just in time for Movies Under the Stars. Let’s see how long I can brave it.

Cartagena, Columbia is up tomorrow.

Fuerte Amador/Panama City, Panama

Welcome to Panama! More specifically, Fuerte Amador. 

A view of Panama City from the dock

In the past when we’ve arrived here we needed to use the ship's tenders to get ashore but not today. They are building a new terminal but it’s not complete, so all we can do is dock and take busses out. No passengers could walk anywhere in the area as it's all a construction zone. 

Coming soon

Can’t use the nice new gangways yet

All the way at the other end of the ship at the farthest spot away from the new terminal (at the back of the last bus) is where disembarkation occurred for tours and those wanting to do their own thing.

Like an obstacle course

As we’ve taken tours here before, I was just going to go and eat some local food. I searched out a place with a nice menu, but then started questioning whether I really wanted to go or not. Several factors pushed me to stay onboard.

1. It was laundry day. The free-to-Elites laundry perk is taking up to 72 hours this voyage. Even though there is no laundry room on this deck I did some exploring to find an available one. $3 to wash and $3 to dry and I’ve got enough clean clothes to last me until Fort Lauderdale.

Deck 5 laundry

2. I watched the busses loading and unloading passengers and saw the struggle some folks with walkers and canes had taking the big first step onto the bus. I know from climbing in and out of the pool every day my quads are getting stronger, but it’s going down big steps that give me trouble. Not sure I wanted to risk it with how unstable my feet are right now.

3. Watching the busses drive by packed full with people shoulder-to-shoulder was not something I wanted to participate in. Over the past few days there has been a big increase in the number of terrible sounding coughs around the ship. One lady in the pool yesterday said she thought she was getting a cold but it was probably just the humid weather. And then she proceeded to cough and cough and cough. Yeah, definitely not a “humidity” cough. On a related note, I went to the open space on back of Deck 8 to take pictures and…ran into the Covid wing. The tell tale sign? Small tables piled with dirty dishes outside cabin doors.

4. Since Scooter can’t do rain, the deciding factor wound up being the weather. It was sunny when we arrived but clouds quickly moved in and the forecast went to 100% chance of rain. The percentage held true just as I was folding my laundry.

Too late now

Looks like ship food instead of Panamanian food

3”-5” of rain expected today

Boy, did it rain hard. It ranged from rain to downpours to torrential downpours. It may have briefly stopped but I wouldn’t have known it because I wound up taking a nice afternoon nap in my nice comfortable bed with the door open, listening to nature’s own sound machine. 

We’ll drop anchor close by tonight and hang out until our scheduled transit time tomorrow morning. Yep, it’ll be a bucket list moment for many on the ship - traveling through the Panama Canal.

Time zone changes: We set clocks ahead again a couple days back so we’re now at 3 so far.

Puntarenas, Costa Rica

Hello from Costa Rica! 

Thanks to me leaving my curtains open at night and an early sunrise today I was up long before my typical 6 AM. 

4:46 AM

While I wish I could have gone back to sleep, I chose to sit on the balcony and watch our approach. Good thing I sleep in a nightgown and not my birthday suit or the tugboat captain who pulled right alongside me would have gotten an eyeful.

Puntarenas is on the west coast of Costa Rica and unfortunately is not in the area where you’ll find their white sand beaches. Here they are brown and can be dirty and have trash on them.

I did see quite a bit of garbage in the water as we got closer to port and even by the ship when we were docked.

Some people do, but I’d pass
on swimming near the port area.

The cruise port here has a very long pier. Thankfully for guests on Princess tours the coaches drive down towards the ship. But not just drive - they back up the entire way! It’s quite an interesting process to watch. When the bus is ready it then pulls on out of line.

Such skillful drivers

If you don’t have a tour you’ll need to take the long hot walk along the left side of the pier to get to town.

You know it’s hot when the Captain puts up
the window shades to keep his car ship dashboard cool!

Otherwise you can wait until the pier is clear of the tours and then a little train is available to give you a ride.

No room for Scooter on the train
so we rolled ourselves down the pier

I had one big task today. Last time we were here coffee-lover Ed took a coffee plantation tour and rated it as one of his all-time top tours, up there with Normandy. While I don’t drink coffee, I can shop coffee so that’s what I did. He had a list of brands and types of roasts but no matter where I went I struck out again and again. I called an audible (how’s that for a sports term?!) and bought a whole variety of brands and roasts from a variety of vendors. I had brought a shipping box from home and it’s now filled to the gills and ready to send off at the post office when we get to Fort Lauderdale.

After my must-do for the day, I wheeled down the waterfront to get a photo of the Puntarenas sign and of the ship.

Not a bus in sight now

By then I was steamy hot and needed a refreshment. The granizados looked like something I wanted to try. A shave ice/snow cone with ice cream? Yes, please. But the Spanish I used so confidently and competently in Huatulco didn’t help me today. The popular “Churchill” I ordered had sweetened condensed milk on the side, ice cream on top, and shave ice. But all the white inside the glass was leche pinito. And there was my misstep.

Leche pinito? Powdered milk.

I really tried to like it, but the texture and the flavor of the powdered milk just wasn’t doing it for me. I could only get so far before I had to call it quits.

I’m not as adventurous as I’d hoped.

But I did navigate the vendors and haggle over prices and cross the streets while dodging the crazy Puntarenas drivers in hot, steamy weather. By myself. On a scooter. So maybe I was a little adventurous after all. 

But not adventurous enough to get anywhere near these end-of-the-day masked performers. 

They kind of creeped me out

Early sunset, too. 5:48 PM

Up tomorrow is a sea day and then Panama City on Sunday. 

A Couple More Sea Days on the Island Princess

I think I'm finally getting into a sea day routine. 

• Up at 6 AM to sit on the balcony in my nightgown and watch for dolphins. I've seen dolphins, a sea turtle, and lots of birds.
• At breakfast by 7 AM
• In the indoor pool by 8 AM. It’s the same pool I swam in on this ship during an Alaska cruise in 2014.

Today

2014

• Out of the indoor pool by 9:30 AM
• In a lounger outside and ready for the 10 AM Movies Under the Stars. Today was Ocean’s 8.
• Back in the room by noon to shower. And nap.
• Back out to the balcony and watch for more dolphins. Yesterday I spotted a whole pod of them jumping and spinning and splashing.

• Maybe a late lunch or early dinner before I go back out for the night time Movies Under the Stars.

Even though today is a sea day and I was in my groove with my own little schedule, I had to make a bit of an adjustment for the Most Traveled Passenger Luncheon. It's held for the top 40 individuals (or 20 couples) with the most number of days sailing on Princess Cruises. I made the cut this week and as usual the food was outstanding. I somehow got in over my head in the appetizer department but was trying to be a bit adventurous. (Yes, Ed - I ate lobster, a little octopus, and even a bit of the salad!) It was a nice table of passengers with all of us being "normal" and not the snooty passengers you sometimes get stuck with.

Octopus and Lobster Carpaccio. Umm…yuck

Pancetta Wrapped Tenderloin
One of the most tender pieces of beef I’ve eaten 

A most filling meal in the middle of the day. Now I think a nap is calling my name and dinner is not. Sunset is calling me, though!

Up tomorrow, Puntarenas, Costa Rica!