Panama Canal Cruise

 4 Dec-19 Dec 2012

(Click on photos to enlarge them) (More photos at http://picasaweb.google.com/GSturtevant)

C.J. has had, for  a long time, a strong sense that she wanted to do a transit through the Panama Canal . So when we got an offer from RCI to buy into their cruise program at a reasonable cost, we figured that we could do that as a one week cruise. It turned out that the best Panama Canal cruise experience was a two week trip from San Diego to Fort Lauderdale with stops in Cabo, Puerto Vallarta, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Panama and Cartagena, Colombia. Plus, we got a bonus week in a condo that we used during October in the Berkshires.

Pool deck on Celebrity Century, Los Arcos in distance

We knew hardly anything about cruising having been on only one cruise and that was a short one to Alaska more than twenty years ago. We chose our cruise and cruise line and ship based on no more than the date it left port. The Celebrity Century, an older and smaller ship of Celebrity Cruise Lines, was our choice and it compared favorably with the style and size of the Holland America Line ship we had sailed to Alaska.

Some things we found out before we left helped make our cruise run smoothly. First, your total outlay is not just the cost of the cruise you buy, it's also the port and government fees (which are particularly high on the Panama Canal cruise - our ship paid a $350,000 fee to transit the Canal), the gratuities (automatically added to your credit card at the rate of $11.50 per day per person), and the shore excursions (way overpriced by the cruise line).[Not to mention the cost of alcoholic drinks and/or lattes/espressos, or dining in a specialty restaurant, or any shopping on board, including all those photos available for sale.] Second, we were going with the least expensive cabin and would have been unable to recharge our electronic devices if we had not brought along a plug strip; there was only one accessible outlet in the whole room. It might be different in a larger, more expensive cabin. Third, there was much to learn and people to meet on CruiseCritic.com. We were able to find out, for example, that there were no washing machines available for passenger use, how tendering works, and how we could participate in a "Meet and Mingle". We also arranged to put together our own shore excursion in Costa Rica at a considerable saving using a well-established local company highly rated by TravelAdvisor.

 4 Dec, Tue – Up at 0450 for a hurried breakfast and then loaded up and drove to Americas Best Value Inn parking near SeaTac (about $78 for 15 days). I thought we were running a bit on the late side particularly since the shuttle runs only every 30 min on the hour and half-hour, but the airport was uncrowded and we had plenty of time to get to our gate (B10) and figure out how Southwest Airlines works its boarding without assigning seats. The plane was only half full so we had our pick of the seating toward the back even though we were the last of the first group to load. [One difference was that since SW doesn’t charge for checked bags, we did not have to bring our rollaboards on the plane and find room in the overhead bin for storing them. We checked two carryon-size bags each and carried one small backpack and a tote bag each.] We had some good views of the Olympics and Hood Canal before we got into the clouds. There was a short stop at San Jose where we did not get off the plane but changed our seats to in front of the wing for better views. The rest of the flight to San Diego was pretty short and we did not see anything that looked familiar. It was pretty cool to approach the airport right over our cruise ship! As we were waiting to get our baggage, we spotted a group with Celebrity signs and asked about getting to the cruise terminal. The Celebrity shuttle was $20 but one of the guides suggested a taxi for about $12. We asked an airport volunteer and he said to just take the city bus for $1.10 (senior rate) each. We got our bags and then checked with the information booth and they said that the bus was a good idea – no problem with the baggage. So we did it. The only problem was that we couldn’t hear what the stops the driver was announcing but with the little map I had and the obvious, huge cruise ship sitting next to the terminal we figured out when to get off the bus. It was only a short walk to the terminal and, once there, all the guys were very helpful directing us to where to drop our bags and where to sign in. There was a pretty good line at 1330 (but not long enough to account for any sizable portion of the 1700 passengers on the cruise) but it went quickly and soon we were climbing the gangplank and boarding. We enjoyed our welcome aboard drink and gaped at the view for a while. Since cabins were not quite ready we wandered to Deck 11 where the Island Buffet was serving lunch (at four separate stations plus the pizza station and the ice cream shop). We ate outside on the aft end of the deck with a view over the bay and several naval vessels. It was pretty windy and a fleece jacket was comfortable. When cabins were announced to be ready, we went down to Deck 4 and found our tiny, inside cabin but no baggage yet. Back up on the deck we explored the upper decks. There was a band playing on the pool deck and we went farther forward to watch from the bow as we started to back away from the dock around 1630. It was cloudier and still windy and starting to get late. Returning to the cabin we found our baggage waiting and spent quite a while packing it away into the closets and drawers – plenty of room. At 1830 (we had the late seating (2030) for the dining room) we went to “Opening Night” in the Celebrity Theater for some entertainment (the a capella group of four young Swedish men calling itself Trocadero was particularly good with a medley of Beach Boys hits, and the acrobat duo were incredible) and information from John Grantham, the cruise director. By then we were pretty hungry again even though we had caught a snack at the pizza and pickled veggie bar earlier. We were supposed to show up at the Grand Restaurant at 2000 and we found a line already formed at 1945. When we got to the front of the line at the deck 6 entrance, we were pointed to the correct entrance for our table (522) on Deck 5 [Earlier we had gone to talk to the Maitre’d about changing our seating to an earlier time. He said he’d work on it but it might take a couple of days.] We were at a table for 8 and the other four folks were friendly (and two were missing) so that’s one concern laid to rest. Vladimir from the Ukraine and Maryonto(?) from Indonesia were our servers and we had interesting food such as a cold tangerine and apple soup, shrimp louie, Thai beef springroll, prime rib* and herb-crusted haddock, banana-blueberry crepe and crema costana? (cold custard with a melted sugar skim on top, like crème brule). On the way back to the cabin we stopped to listen to a band in the Rendezvous square and a string trio in the Cova Café. C.J.’s pajamas had been folded into an interesting shape and we all had a chocolate on our pillow, including Snuff Bear. We (tried to) set our clocks forward an hour to coincide with the time in Cabo San Lucas and set an alarm for 0700.

5 Dec, Wed – We didn’t wake up at 0700 as planned because the smartphone was too smart to be changed to Chihuahua time zone when we were still in Pacific. Oh well, we got up before 0800 and had plenty of time for breakfast in the dining room before the 0915 lecture by “Uncle Marty” Harrington on the history and geography of Panama. At 1015 we did a Meet and Mingle with the Cruise Critic group in the Martini Bar and heard from Jamie Pett, the Hotel director and John Grantham, the Cruise Director. We had a gift exchange (didn’t luck out, getting two packs of Florida playing cards), but we did get to meet Peggy and Joe and Lacey and Charles who we will join for the private shore excursion in Puntarenas, CR to do a canopy tour by zipline. After changing shoes we went back to the theater for a half-hour waltz lesson (practice – 2 L’s, 2 fwd and back, 2 twirling, 4 ¼ turns). We went back to the dining room for lunch (duck, pork knuckle pannini, salad, gazpacho, cheesecake) and then wandered around the ship finding the Crystal Room (aft, above the Grand Restaurant), Hemisphere Lounge and the Spa and Fitness Center (both fwd). At some point we joined a line in the atrium to sign up for a tour from Colon to Panama City ($173) having heard that there was nothing to do in Colon. It was warm and sunny so we changed to shorts and went out on deck to play shuffleboard for a while then back to the cabin to rest and catch up on my journal. Dinner this night is formal and later there is the Captain’s

C.J. in the Grand Foyer

Gala Toast in the theater, followed by a piano performance by Antonio Salci. Dressing for dinner was sort of fun. There were lots of cruise photographers in the halls and at dinner but we managed to avoid most of them. We joined new people at our new table at the 1730 seating.  Our headwaiter now was Gregorio and we had a new, somewhat inexperienced, sub-waiter, Anya from Russia. The menu was different again with frog legs as one appetizer choice. I had an appetizer of rare beef very thinly sliced, a green (spinach and trevisio) salad and duck a l’Orange, while C.J. had a salmon rillette, the same salad and rack of lamb*. We all had cherries jubilee for dessert (but no flambé). Dinner was over late enough for us to meander over to the theater and pick up a complimentary glass of wine for the Captain’s Gala Toast. The Master, Captain Nikolas Christodoulakis, introduced the senior officers, talked about the ship and proposed a toast in a whole slew of languages. A few minutes later, the high-energy pianist Antonio Salci with a well-rehearsed backup band took the stage and performed his arrangement of several songs from the Beatles to Amazing Grace. After the show C.J. and I stopped at Cova Café  to listen to Trocadero perform. We ducked outside and found the night air warm enough to walk on the deck. In the Rendezvous a different dance band and vocalist (Carousel, the party band) were performing and we listened until around 2200 when we headed back to the cabin to get some rest for our first shore excursion when the ship anchors at Cabo San Lucas around 1130 and begins tender operations.

Los Arcos, S end of Baja

6 Dec, Thu – Breakfast in the dining room with a new set of interesting people. Even with 1700 or so people on board we run into the folks we have eaten a meal with occasionally. We still hadn’t decided what we want to do in Cabo but we got our tender tickets soon after the office opened and got #7 which turned out to be among the relatively early times. Most of the rest of the morning we spent watching the coastline sail past us in the warm sun. We even caught sight of a small whale spouting and swimming north. By 1100 we were passing the rocks at the southernmost point on the Baja Peninsula and pulling into the bay where we anchored along with a big Disney ship and a smaller Holland America Line Zaandam. Since it was so warm and the water temperature was reported to be 80 deg F, we decided to bring our masks and snorkels

Paradise water taxi at Los Arcos

along with us and see how things worked out. We ate a good lunch at the buffet on Deck 11 (went first to the spa buffet but it was crowded) and finished just as they called for tender ticket 7. Arriving at the dock in Cabo we were immediately besieged by touts for everything. At about the fifth guy hawking a boat tour to Los Arcos, we stopped and talked to him. His price was the same as everyone else but he seemed to be pretty much on the up and up, had his own boat, business cards and offered to take us on the tour and drop us off at a beach to snorkel and come back to pick us up in an hour or two or three. Sounded good so we gave him $20, and the dock guys $2 “for maintenance”. Captain Daniel Parra found a couple more passengers from the Disney Wonder and we were off. There were sea lions, pelicans, and rocks shaped like pelicans, caves and the famous arch. On the way back from the Pacific side of the arch we stopped at Lovers Beach to let the other two guys off and at Pelican Beach where we got off to snorkel in

C.J. at Pelican Beach, Century

the area surrounded by a buoy line provided to keep boats out of the swimming area. The water was not cold but it wasn’t 80 deg warm either; nevertheless we snorkeled out to Pelican Rock and saw a bunch of tropical fish mostly Moorish Idols and Clownfish. We were a bit concerned about leaving our pack with cameras and wallets on the beach but no one bothered them and the local guys seemed to keep the beach pretty policed up. Not wanting to return to the water we thought we might try to walk to Lovers. It was possible if you didn’t mind traversing the rock faces above the waves and splashing through some places that had no route. We walked across Lovers to the Pacific side (called Divorce Beach) but didn’t find the other two guys so we figured we’d better get back to Pelican where we were to meet Daniel. It was just as easy going back (and it would have been possible to walk out to the beaches from town with some wading and traversing). Daniel showed up with the other guys about 20 min late and returned us to the dock at Cabo. We tipped him an extra $5 each for the convenience of the dropoff and pickup (and it was a ton cheaper than booking a shore excursion through the cruise line). We showered the salt and sand off and ate another great dinner in the Grand Restaurant (shrimp cocktail, country

Sunset behind Los Arcos

pate (surprisingly good), Waldorf salad, Asian consommé, veal chop and Mediterranean seafood ourzo, with crepes suzette, warm chocolate lava cake and panna cotta alla Romana). Later we went to the theater (once again stopping at Cova Café to listen to the Trocadero quartet) for a fun performance by Dan Bennett, a comedian and juggler. After that we hit one of the Celebrity Live activities, a Fabulous 50’s Rock and Roll Party with John Grantham emceeing a “contest” to name well-known songs. It was a hoot with lots of audience participation. We stayed until 2245 then headed for our cabin to set our clocks another hour ahead and get some rest before exploring Puerto Vallarta on Fri.

Artwork along the Malecon

7 Dec, Fri – We had breakfast in the dining room again (Note to self: don’t order “Belgian waffles” next time). We took our e-readers and stuff up to the Hemisphere lounge and read and worked on crossword puzzles in the glass-enclosed bow on deck 12 until we could see the approaching coast of Mexico and passed some islands. We had lunch in the Islands Café buffet and by the time we finished, we were docking (1300). Disembarkation was much easier than the previous one when we had to use tenders. We walked out and stopped to talk to a salesperson in the cruise terminal area about vanilla (0.5L for $8) then went over to the artisan market  designed for those cruisers who did not want to go the mile or two into town. We weren’t looking to buy anything (except vanilla…) so we walked the gantlet of taxi drivers offering tours (“one hour - twenty dollars”) and found the city bus stop across the street from Walmart and paid less than $2 to the center of the city (Peru at Allende) where we walked a block down to the north end of the Malecon, what probably used to be a boardwalk but is now a pedestrian route along the shore. We took pictures of the quirky monuments and went into a few shops eventually buying a half liter of vanilla with a stick of vanilla bean in it for $6.50. We walked through another market on the small square in front of the cathedral of Our

Large traditional Christmas

Pinata

Lady of Guadalupe and toured the church. Then we continued south along the shore until we crossed the river. Turning back we went inland to the municipal market where there was even more stuff we didn’t need. Returning to the church and the place the tourist office had told us we could catch the bus back to the ship, we found the street blocked off and the buses not running through that part of town. We were told that we could either catch a cab or walk 10-12 blocks north to where the buses were still running. Sounded like a bummer but it turned out that the walk took us to where the parade celebrating the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe was forming up. There were all kinds of fanciful costumes with feathers, mariachis, marching bands and floats. We spent an hour waiting around for the parade to get underway but that gave us plenty of time to

Getting ready for the parade

take lots of pictures. Eventually we continued north and found where the buses were turning around and got on a local that had a sign saying “Wall-mart” and got back to the Marina Vallarta. We took a bit more time to go to Walmart to get some nylons for C.J. and then returned to the ship. We were too late for

Colorful headdresses and costumes

dinner in the main dining room (it was after 1800) and we really needed a shower. After cleaning up we ate in the buffet again then went out on deck to watch the ship pull away from Vallarta. The show in the Celebrity Theater was Lelani Marell, a dynamic vocalist – another good show. We returned to the cabin for an earlier bedtime. There are two sea days back-to-back coming up before we get to Guatemala but it sounds like there will be plenty to do.

C.J. as we pulled out of PV

8 Dec, Sat – I did not set an alarm mostly because I hadn’t been able to convince my (not-so) smart phone to change the time zone when it is not connected to the cell signal. Anyway, we got up at 0810 and went to breakfast at the Islands Café. At 0900 was the second installment of Uncle Marty’s Panama series – Modern Day Panama. I got there for the last part of it. Meanwhile C.J. was taking a watercolor class with Jill Goodell. I then went to the shore excursions presentation about Guatemala and Costa Rica. It wasn’t particularly helpful. C.J. and I met up again at “Oceans Ahead: Secrets of Ship Navigation” presented by DJ ____ the ship’s first officer, a young graduate of SUNY Maritime (one of the few American officers). After that we went to lunch at Islands. At 1330 there was a Beyond the Podium presentation with

Thriller Flash Mob practice

Don Goldsmith whose topic was Connecting with the Cosmos. It was a pretty good “intro to astronomy” lecture but pretty dry (I kept falling asleep), however he did announce a star watching party for later in the cruise where some of the ships lights would be turned off. At 1430, C.J. joined a group practicing the moves of Thriller for a flash mob dance with Jamie (asst. cruise director) and a couple dozen passengers in the theater. After that we wandered the decks a bit before settling down to read on the shady port side. As the temp dropped toward late afternoon we moved to the padded lounge chairs on the pool deck.

Our table on a non-formal night

Dinner in the Grand Restaurant was excellent again with shrimp cocktail, Tom Ka Gai Thai soup, Boston lettuce and gorgonzola salad, drumfish, and pork medallion. The show at the Celebrity Theater was Vincenzo Gentile, violinist. Afterward we sat for a while in Michaels Club to listen to Eddie Covarrubias play music by the Beatles on his piano. Then we thought we’d go to the 80’s theme party in Hemisphere but it was already loud when we got there early. Instead we went up on the

Gregorio, our head waiter, C.J. and Chrissy

forward deck and picked out some stars, planets and constellations using my smartphone. The GPS on the phone showed that we were just south of Acapulco and we could see its lights to the north. We headed back to the room to check out the schedule for the next day. Looks like we’re going to have to sign up for the Antigua self-guided tour since we have no information about non-cruise shore excursions.

9 Dec, Sun – Up at 0730, breakfast in Islands Café. Then we went to the Hemisphere lounge for a Tai Qi (Chi) and Qi Gong class sponsored by the AquaSpa. We did a series of basic exercises/moves and found out that on sea days there is a Tai Chi group that meets on the basketball court at 1100. C.J. picked up the watercolor work for the day but couldn’t go to the class because it overlapped the galley tour at 1015. Unfortunately, it looked like the whole ship wanted to see the galley and we were in group 19 out of 25 so we left before our turn came up. That means we got to the Cha Cha class with Tanya and Anthony(members of  the onboard theatrical production company) on time and, when that was over, we made it to the Tai Chi group just a little late. It wasn’t too hot in the sun because of the (at least) 18 knot wind resulting from the ship’s speed. After that we read for a while on the deck in the shade then went for lunch in the buffet again. C.J. went off to the Thriller Flash Mob practice followed immediately by Modern Line Dance class on the pool stage (looked like exercise to music to me). After that we hung out in the sun reading for a half-hour or so. We attended a presentation about Future Cruises and how they are priced (and all the advantages of buying right now on board…). This was the second formal night so we went back to the cabin to shower and change. Dinner was excellent once again (steak tartare, salmon gravlax, duck consommé, chow mein salad, ahi tuna,

Snuffs and his rolled towel elephant

chateaubriand, mousse bombe, and chocolate cake). The evening show was a performance by the ship’s dance company called Dance Around the World. The acrobats were a standout again. Sometime during the day we stopped by the Shore Excursions desk and tried to book transportation for a self-guided tour of Antigua Guatemala. They were sold out but put us on a wait list and later delivered tickets to our stateroom ($43.75x2). [Later we found that we could have booked something similar once we got to the Puerto Quetzal cruise terminal for $29 each.]

10 Dec, Mon – Up at 0630 so we could be ready to meet at 0800 in the theater for our shore excursion. Our group got called to disembark not much after 0800 and we found quite a bit of shopping and entertainment in the area right off the ship. We picked up some maps and other free stuff at the Guatemalan visitor desk then boarded our air-conditioned bus for the 1.5 hr ride to La Antigua Guatemala, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Along the way we drove across the coastal plain on a 4-lane divided highway past fields of sugar cane. Around Escuintla we began climbing to reach the almost 5000ft elevation of Antigua. At least four volcanoes were visible along the way; Agua had steam rising from its flank and we saw a puff of steam from Fuego. Pacaya was visible farther to the east and Acatenango was just north of Fuego. At the meeting point (the Museo de la Santa Semana) the seven buses unloaded and the 400 or so people used the rest rooms then split up to explore the town on their own or with a guide ($10/person). C.J. and I headed toward the

Colored sawdust for Nativity

Mercado, city market, with a stop to walk through the park in front of the cathedral (AD 1543). First we wandered through just about the whole Mercado des Artesanias buying a set of 6 placemats/napkins ($6, bargained down from $16), a dressy shawl ($7,…$15), a shirt for me ($10, …$23). Then we cut across the bus parking lot and found ourselves in a Christmas market, clearly not for tourists. There were all kinds of stuff for building a nativity scene (including colored sawdust) as well as more typical ornaments and lights. From there we entered the rear of the market and wandered through the food area with all sorts of things never seen in your local Safeway. We left there well past lunch time but hadn’t felt brave enough to eat in any of the tiny food prep places. We went north up Calzado

La Merced through arch

Sta Lucia and east on Calle de Recoleccion to get a photo of the ruins of La Recoleccion Convent (AD 1715), then backtracked to Casa de Tejido Antiguo (translated as “museum of antique costume”) ($4). We got a demonstration of how women weave with a backstrap loom and saw lots of textiles. We continued east to La Merced Church and Convent which had a really baroque façade but a very plain interior. A persistent textile weaver (one of many street hawkers) followed us along offering us table runners. We thought she said $1 so we actually looked at her products. At that point she said it was twenty-one, and we said we weren’t interested. It must have been late in the day because she kept lowering the price and sticking with us. We finally left her and went to get

Cathedral ruins

a picture of La Merced through the Santa Catalina arch. She caught up to us there again and we decided to reward her for her persistence and good English (she said she was studying to become a teacher) and bought a table runner for $10. By then it was getting to be about an hour until we had to be back at the meeting point so we walked to the ruins of El Carmen, the Capuchinas Convent and the Cathedral ruins ($2), even going down into the crypts. We returned to the meeting point about 1435 and had to wait for the buses which did not arrive until 1500. But it was shady and there was grass to sit on (probably where I got bitten by a spider). The ride back was uneventful (although it looked like one of the buses must have had a breakdown along the way. With so many people returning to the ship at once, there was quite a jam at the gangway where we, as usual, had to have our room cards (sea pass) scanned and go through a metal detector. So it was 1700 before we got back to the room – just time enough to get cleaned up and dressed for dinner. Neither of our dinner partners had taken a tour

Snuffs and his swans

so we had the stories for the day. Almost everyone had the (disappointingly breaded) veal cordon-bleu for an entrée; in addition we had minestrone, spinach turnover, and crab-stuffed mushroom caps). Dessert of choice was a slice of Sacher torte. After dinner I went to the evening show, Al Ducharme, a stand-up comedian. C.J. spent time with her photos and journal. Tuesday is another sea day so we can rest up a bit before the Costa Rica shore excursion.

G, breakfast on the aft deck

11 Dec, Tue – 0730 alarm, breakfast at the buffet where we sat on the aft deck outdoors. We went to Uncle Marty’s presentation on the history of the Panama Canal at 0900. Then we sat in the shade and read for a while. C.J. went to her watercolor class at 1100 and I moved to the sun for 20 min (and found out later that that was too long at this latitude because my legs got burned). We were to meet at the buffet aft deck and I found Charles and Lacey there who are going on the zipline tour with us on Wed. They had done the climb of Pacaya Volcano Monday and found it strenuous as advertised – he thought they started at 2500m and climbed to the 2010 eruption crater at about 600 ft from the summit in about an hour and a half. After lunch we hurried to make a talk by the ships engineer only to find it was postponed. We read for a while in the shade and then C.J. went off to a scrapbooking activity (after somehow missing the first one). I went to the fitness center and used the elliptical exercise machine for 25 min while watching the Lorax movie. Then I sat in on a Fitness Seminar which ended up with the presenter checking the footprint of four of us. I was one chosen because I use arch supports and had my orthotics with me. He had me resist a downward force in front of me and behind my back with my arch supports and with ones that he supplied. I was able to resist the forc

self-portrait in cabin

es more effectively with the GoodFeet.com arch supports (selling on the ship for $189). I went back to the room and found a note from C.J. and got my swimsuit on. The water in the aft pool was the same temp as the fwd pool – I guess we are in the tropics and no longer need a warmer water temp in one of the pools. After splashing around for a while I got out and found C.J. up on Deck 12 reading. After catching up on what each other had been doing we went down to get ready for dinner. The menu as usual gave 3, 4 or 5 choices for appetizer, salad/soup, and entrée (plus about 8 choices for dessert) Tonight we had salmon quenelles, poached pears and gorgonzola in a pastry, mesclun salad, romaine and frisee salad, steak au poivre, and dark lamb stew. The Celebrity Showtime was a split bill with the comedian from Monday and the singer from last Friday, Lelani Marell. We went back to the room before 2200 to get stuff ready for the shore excursion at Puntarenas, CR on Wed. One more sea day before we reach the Panama Canal!

Capuchin monkey

Crocodiles

12 Dec, Wed – Up at 0645 after a somewhat restless night with my cold and sunburn (I took a 12-hr cold remedy at 0400, [nope, it was a big Tylenol capsule]). Breakfast in the buffet, then we prepared for our zipline shore excursion. I noticed my kayak hat was missing and had to go to Guest Relations to see if it was in lost-and-found; success! We met our guide, Victor of Odyssey Tours, along with the other four who had reserved through communication on Cruise Critic rollcall (Peggy and Joe Schwarz, Lacey and Charley Thomason) and six others. We had a nice small, air-conditioned bus. We drove along the barrier bar that Puntarenas is built on, and then south across a river with lots of crocodiles. We drove through Caldaras where Victor noted that there was a paraglider launch. We made another stop at a place where there were several Capuchin monkeys (whiteface monkeys). Around 1000 we arrived at Vista Los Suenos (View the Dreams?) and got geared up. Then we piled into a wagon pulled by a big tractor and drove up a rough road to the beginning of the series of zip lines. There were twelve cables of varying length with the longest and steepest one being No. 11 near the bottom, almost a half mile long. The zip line guides were very professional and there were almost as many of them as of the customers (only our group was there). There was also a photographer who accompanied us and caught a few really good pictures; but we didn’t want to spend an additional $25 each for the whole CD. At the end we had a nice snack of fresh pineapple and watermelon before boarding the bus around 1200 (tip $4). Next stop was in Jaco at a buffet which served typical local foods – fish, pepper steak, pork asado, beans and rice and various salads, limonada and maracuya (passion fruit) juice. We ate on the second story where there was a breeze to offset the heat and humidity. After lunch we drove along the famous surf beach of Jaco then started back north a ways to a dirt road that led down to a private beach connected with the Punta Leona resort. We didn’t have our swim suits so we, and most of our group, just walked on the beach. There was a very light shower and the rumbling of thunder so the humidity was high. Continuing north a short distance, we turned off the main road into a small town (Tarcoles?) where Victor pointed out a tree with scarlet macaws and helped us get some photos. The last stop was at a big souvenir shop at 1600 and then we took the toll road back to Puntarenas. A cashier met us at the dock at 1700 and we used our credit card to pay for the tour ($170 plus tip $10). We barely had time for a shower and to get dressed for dinner. Great meal of prime rib*, shrimp summer roll, salmon something, and salads! I had chocolate cake with banana rum ice cream while C.J. had a kind of chocolate pastry. We also tried an apricot clafoutis and an anise-blackberry tart with Pernod, neither of which were very good. The show for the evening was another production by the entertainment staff, called Liverpool Knights. It was music and dance based roughly on music from the mid-60’s. Since the clocks are going to be changed to EST, we got to bed relatively early.

13 Dec, Thu – Up at 0730 but my throat was very sore and my cold was no better. After breakfast we went to Uncle Marty’s presentation on the modern Panama Canal and future/ongoing improvements. He showed a video of the 8-hour canal passage edited and compressed to eight minutes which was pretty funny. I didn’t feel like doing anything and ended up napping on the pool deck while C.J. went to the watercolor class. We met for lunch in the buffet (too bad the hamburgers were cooked (no choice)

Snuffs and his towel goose

to “well-done”) and then hung out talking with Leon and Chrissy there for a while. Then we went down to the theater for a presentation on a rescue of a yacht captain who needed to be evacuated to a medical facility. Capt. Johnson had been sailing a 40 ft yacht from San Diego to Maui for delivery when a rogue wave struck the boat tossing him across the cabin and causing spinal and internal injuries. The USCG, contacted via satellite phone, asked the Century to rendezvous with the yacht as it was the closest ship with medical facilities. The captain and crew were taken

Ray with C.J., Chrissy and Linda

off the yacht and the boat was abandoned only to appear three weeks later none the worse for wear on a beach in Maui. We went up to the pool deck and read for a while then it started raining and blowing so we moved inside to the Hemisphere. Once the Trivia Game began I went down to the cabin to get some more rest. Dinner was lobster ravioli, bbq pork spring roll, máche salad, egg drop soup, osso bucco and pasta chimayo linguine. Desserts were likewise excellent with lava cake and a strawberry-marzipan layer pastry. The Celebrity Showtime presentation was a comedy ventriloquist, Steve Brogan who was very funny. It looks like we will be going through the first of the Miraflores locks at about 0800 on Friday.

Panama Canal tugboat detail

14 Dec, Fri – Up at 0645 so that we would have time to be on deck for the Panama Canal transit. We brought our trays out to the Pool Deck and I finished my meal there but C.J. went to find a better viewing place and came back for breakfast later. We had good views of the modern, one-million-population Panama City and then passed up the channel under the International Bridge (Bridge of the Americas) to Miraflores Locks (2). I watched from here and there and finally went down to deck 6 and found the route to the bow observation deck through the theater. The front rail was packed with people but I found a good spot on one of the ladders to the next deck and stood

Miraflores Locks

Electric locomotive

there until the security people moved all of us off. Just before it started to rain the bow observation area was closed and we had to go back to watching from the sides of the ship. The afternoon had periods of rain, hard rain and just clouds. All along the southern (or western) (or Pacific) side of the canal we could see the construction for the new, wider addition to the canal, what Uncle Marty called a coronary bypass. We passed under the Centennial Bridge and through one more ascending lock (Pedro Miguel) before coming out at Gatun Lake level, 85 ft above sea level. Unhooking from the electric locomotives (3 per side) we motored through channels and across the lake. Meanwhile, I was taking naps to try to get over my cold,

Panamax cruise ships barely fit

Some of the old shovels are still dredging

and C.J. went to a scrapbooking class at 1330. We reached the Gatun Locks and descended the 80-plus feet we had gained to pass through the Gaillard Cut. Along the way we saw a number of dredges working to deepen the canal; some were pretty ancient mechanical shovels dumping blasted-loose spoil into barges and others were suction dredges with long floating pipes. Once through the last locks we motored past Colon and out to sea. (Huh? I thought we were stopping in Colon for a shore excursion tomorrow. I guess there must be some good reason why we are burning fuel rather than sitting at a dock. C.J. and I felt salty-sweaty enough to want showers before dinner. We had vitelli tonato (thin slices of veal), goat cheese and potato gratin, Greek salad, chilled pear and honey soup, lamb shank “tangine style”, and crab-crusted flounder. The show in the theater at 2030 was Martin Lewis, a British magician-comedian – absolutely amazing! Back early to get some rest for an early departure (0730) to colonial Panama City and Miraflores Locks.

Modern Panama City

15 Dec, Sat – We got up early (0615) so we would have no

Street in Old Panama

problem getting to the theater for our 0730 meeting time. It was raining when we exited the shelter of the ship and walked the short distance to the bus; the stateroom umbrella and C.J.’s rain jacket helped a bit. But we were damp enough that the air conditioning of the bus felt cold. Our guide, José, kept up a supply of information about the country and everything else about Panama as we drove through Colon and out onto a toll road. We exited the expressway to drive through the Soberania National Park. Our first stop was at the Miraflores Locks Visitor Center. We went up to the fourth floor

Building restoration Old Panama

observation deck and watched the Holland America Line Amsterdam pass into the first lock. Later we saw a movie on the history of the canal from a Panamanian viewpoint – slightly different from the US version we had seen on PBS. Then we drove in to Panama City and parked not too far from the Old City and walked into the UNESCO World Heritage Site [fortunately, the rain had stopped]. The facades and building height have to remain the same to qualify for WHS status but the interiors could be modernized. Many of the building we saw were gutted, and some of the facades were crumbling (but many were nicely restored). We

Christmas pageant in Plaza Libertad

stopped for a while in a square with
a monument dedicated to Simon Bolivar (unusually dressed as a civilian)

St Francis and Bolivar

and an old church with a belfry surrounded by angels (Iglesia del San Francisco). The Presidential Palace was undergoing restoration and we weren’t allowed in. C.J. suggested to José going back to the main square which we had glimpsed a few blocks previously. The cathedral formed one end of the plaza which was partly filled with a re-enactment of the Christmas story (maybe it was Las Posadas although that starts traditionally on 16 Dec) and a bunch of kids as an enthusiastic audience. From there we returned to the bus where we got a couple of rolls with a slice of turkey lunchmeat and a bottle of water. Then we drove out to the end of the Amador causeway to a shopping area that appeared to be designed exclusively for cruise tours – souvenirs, duty-free shopping and snacks were available. At least C.J. was able to buy some stamps for the postcards she had written.

Cruise Terminal in Colon

Heading back through Balboa into

 Admin Bldg, Goethals Mon.

the city we stopped to see the Goethals monument and the Administration Building for the Panama Canal, built on a tall pile of dredged rock. On the way back to Colon in on-and-off rain we were lucky to not run into more traffic jams which seem to be a big problem. Back at the dock we got off the bus and walked through the cruise terminal retail area before reboarding the ship. [That would have been ugly if it had been still raining as there was no shelter for the passengers.] We downloaded photos from the cameras and later went on deck (or to the Hemisphere, since it was raining again) to watch the ship undock and head out into the Atlantic/Caribbean. Dinner was shrimp and scallop ceviche, Hungarian goulasch and T-bone steak for C.J. while I had artichoke and spinach dip with Parmesan pita chips, tuna Niçoise (which didn’t have any tuna) and honey-glazed pork chop. The guy who runs the emerald shop on board and who had lived in Cartagena for 11 years gave a presentation on self-guiding yourself in Cartagena in the cinema. Afterward we went to the evening show which featured a dynamic, Las Vegas-show-style male vocalist who also played the trumpet, Greg Bonham.

Cartagena from the sea

16 Dec, Sun – We got up at 0700

Clock Tower Gate

so we could get to breakfast and watch the approach of the ship to Catagena, Colombia. I was confused because the map on my GPS did not show the land off the port side as we approached from the SW, but it was there. By 0900 the ship had docked and we were more or less ready to explore the Old City on our own. We walked in the shade of the HAL Zuiderdam off the pier and on to the cruise terminal. There was a snack bar and a big duty free store, also some

Walls of Old Cartagena

flamingos, iguanas (They’re big!) and several tame macaws and parrots. One tour operator was running around trying to get a group together and his price was only $15 each for a three-hour tour that included the monastery on Cerro de la Popa. We talked to some of the other cruise

View from Cerro de la Popa

passengers who were “in” and they sounded positive so we threw in with Rodrigo Rodriguez. He loaded about 24 of us on a modern, air conditioned coach and we drove immediately to the monastery (actually "convent of the Virgin of the Candelaria"). There was another $4 charge for entrance to the grounds and chapel but the view out over the city was really good. Like most of the places we visited, it was pretty crowded with other tour groups (perhaps partly due to it being a Sunday). We could see the ships at the cruise terminal, the part of the city

Emerald museum

where our guide said “the poor people live”, the white highrises of the Boca Grande sector, and the walled Old City and Castillo de la San Felipe de Barajas. The sunshine was really hot but there was a nice breeze on the monastery wall, and then we had a cool A/C ride down the hill and past the beach to the Emerald Museum in Boca Grande. We got the tour and sales pitch similar to the one we had in Rio, but did not buy any emerald jewelry. Then we drove past the beach again and around the outside of the whole walled city to “the vaults”, old storehouses for ammunition and supplies which are now individual shops selling souvenirs and crafts (and emerald jewelry, of course) nothing of which we needed. There were LOTS of street vendors

Old Cartagena

San Pedro Claver Plaza

selling T-shirts, hats, necklaces, and tablecloths, among other things. Back in the bus we drove to the another location in the city where we left the bus and walked to Santo Domingo Square, Bolivar Plaza (Cathedral), San Pedro Claver Square (church), and Aduana Plaza (Columbus statue) before exiting out under the arches beneath the Clock Tower. Annoyingly, there were several stops at select souvenir or emerald shops, but we expected that having been warned in the lecture the previous night that that was the way business was

Castillo of San Felipe de Barajas

done in Cartagena. We returned to the bus wilted from the heat and made only

Columbus, Cerro de la Popa bg

one more stop, a short one, to photograph the Castillo de San Felipe de Borajas which looked impregnable even today. By 1330 we were back at the cruise terminal. We got some pictures of the tropical birds and then returned to the Century for late lunch. We ran into our dinner tablemates doing their own self-guided tour of the Old City and had lunch with Ray and Linda back at the ship (Leon was probably preparing for his Bible Study

Toucan at cruise terminal

activity he was leading at 1600). After lunch we read a while until I got too hot up on Deck 11. I returned to the cabin to download photos and shower but I returned to the observation deck in time to watch us steam out of the harbor. Dinner was Thai beef on crispy noodles, Caesar salad, and braised beef ravioli for me and seafood crepe, pickled avocado, cucumber and orange salad and balsamic-glazed salmon for C.J. Dessert was a special individual chocolate soufflé with banana cream sauce*. The evening show was the final production number by the ship’s company, “A Taste of Broadway”, which had show tunes from The Producers, Cabaret, Mama Mia and others. The wind had picked up and the ship was actually feeling a bit more like a ship – not really rolling but bouncing around a bit.

Brunch

17 Dec, Mon – The wind continued at a reported 35 knots with partly cloudy skies. We could have gone to breakfast in the Islands cafe when we got up before 0800 but today was the special brunch buffet in the Grand Restaurant from 1000-1330. I picked up a roll and some hot chocolate to tide me over and we spent some time up in the Hemisphere Lounge where C.J. was working on her photos and I was trying to type an email to Wayne on my tablet – possible but not easy. There was a

Chocolate fountain

good crowd at the brunch when we got there but we got a table right away. The variety of food was amazing – from traditional breakfast foods to shrimp cocktail, leg of lamb and fish soup. I saw a whole table with muesli and things to add to it. And then there were the desserts! And the chocolate fountains – two of them! There were a dozen large ice sculptures, too. We didn’t finish grazing until after the swing dance class started so we missed that. I went to

Dragon ice sculpture

listen to a Q and A session on Panama with Uncle Marty and C.J. went to a watercolor class and picked up a scrapbook kit (which she used to make a birthday card for Ray, our tablemate). I dropped into the Boutique C and thanked the guy who had presented a lecture on doing Cartagena on your own. I also cashed my

Watermelon sculpture

ancient travelers check so that we would have some cash for whatever comes up when we leave the ship. [Oh yeah, we got the disembarkation letter. We’re supposed to meet in the theater at 0910 (we dock at 0700 and the idea is to get everyone off by 0940) and leave from there when they call our luggage number (meaning our bags are on the pier).] Dinner was fantastic on this, the last of the three formal nights. Not only did the long-awaited lobster* appear, but there was baked Alaska for dessert. And it was Ray’s 70^th so we and the

Ice sculpture

other two couples chipped in to buy a bottle of white wine for the table (10.35 each). I had Oysters Rockefeller, prosciutto and arugula salad and Beef Wellington* which was excellent. C.J. had the chilled wildberry soup, bleu cheese soufflé and the Caribbean lobster tail (Larry, the restaurant manager or asst maitre’d sent C.J.’s lobster back when he thought it was not firm enough). During dessert there was an introduction of all the restaurant staff and then a parade of waiters with everyone waving his or her white napkin, possibly a Celebrity tradition. We also all got a piece of  chocolate birthday cake. The Celebrity Showtime performance was a Broadway musical performer who did songs by famous divas both in her own voice and in their voice and style. Since I didn’t know enough about the divas to recognize the nuances, most of the show went right over my head. Back in the room we filled out the customer satisfaction survey and C.J. got a good start on packing up all her clothes and stuff.

Timcovskis, Gosiewskis, Browns, and us

Zombies invade the Celebrity theater

18 Dec, Tue - We have to put our luggage outside our stateroom by 2300 tonight and have to be out of our room by 0800 on the 19^th. Sometime today after 1505 I need to do a check in with SW Airlines. We got up at 0700  and that seems like it will give us time to pack our last few carryon items and vacate our room by 0800. After breakfast today we went up to the Hemisphere Lounge to use our computers. For some reason all the maps on my phone have disappeared so I can no longer use the GPS to see where we are in relation to Cuba and Florida. I wonder if the maps just timed out or whether I pushed the wrong button at some point. I had perfectly good maps in Cartagena. At some point we could see land off the port side and when I looked at a map

Crew Elvis

posted in the Grand Foyer, it looked like it must have been Cuba as we had passed between Cuba and Haiti and then turned left to parallel the coast of Cuba. At 1000 in the theater there was a short crew talent show - a juggler, an instrumental trio and vocalist, and an Elvis. The show was preceded by the zombie flash mob Thriller dance.  The excellent crew performers were followed by a parade of officers, cooks, cabin stewards, pool butlers, waiters and more to the stage. I’m writing this on the 19^th so it’s about hopeless to remember what all we did. What sticks in my mind is going to the pool to swim. C.J. had no trouble with the cooler water but I didn’t get in above my waist. Shortly afterward the pool was cleared for the shipbuilding contest. There were five or six large ship models made of whatever was available on board (supposedly) and some were quite elaborate, with itineraries and stories to go with them. C.J. was part of the pool crew who made waves during the sea trials part of

Some of the Century crew on stage

the contest. After a shower to rinse off the salt water, we rested for a while before going to dinner. The menu was the same as the one on the first day of the cruise. I had shrimp cocktail, chilled tangerine and apple soup, and the roasted jerk spiced chicken; C.J. went for the prime rib*, the same soup, and roasted red beet salad. Ray treated us all to a bottle of wine; too bad Chrissy was feeling ill. The Russian couple (from San Diego by way of Israel) were missing after having eaten with us the past several days. After dinner I went up to the computer room to check in for our Southwest flight ($5.25 for 7 min). The Evening Showtime was another split bill with Greg Bonham and Christine Bianco. John Grantham appeared on stage on crutches having hurt himself exercising and gave us some tips about disembarking on the next day, “…and if you’re thinking about going straight to bed in the evening, tomorrow night IS the night to do it.” We went to the Crystal Room to watch “Liars Club” with a panel of Christine Bianco, Martin the magician, and Dan the bingo man (and scrapbook guy) defining words such as “clinchpoop”, “tittyup”, “crapulence”, and “hawsehole”. We guessed the correct definition a couple of times. Back in the room we had already sent our four bags out to be organized for disembarkation so we had nothing more to do but decide when to get up.

 19 Dec, Wed - Our meeting time wasn’t until 0910 in the theater but the buffet stopped serving at 0830 and we had to be out of our room at 0800. It was hard to sleep until 0700 with all the noises resulting from docking, but that’s when we got up. I took a last shower, packed my pajamas and everything else in backpack and tote bag and took it all to breakfast in the Islands Café. After eating we went out on the deck for a while to see if we could scope out a cheap way to get to the airport. It looked like there might be local buses running past the cruise terminal. We ended up hanging out in the theater for an hour or more as most of the rest of the ship got unloaded (with a glitch in the operation when there was a false alarm in the terminal). Once off the ship we had to search for my missing rollaboard – it was in the lost and found area (apparently the sticky tag had gotten ripped off). We cleared customs quickly and then exited to the courtyard where ground transportation was available. Since C.J. wasn’t feeling great, we opted for a van at $11 per person ($25) for the relatively short ride to the airport. There were some pretty long lines getting through security but that must happen every day that a cruise ship ends a cruise – and there were at least three ships visible, including the Crown Princess docked next to us.

Ft Lauderdale Cruise terminal and Crown Princess

 The 4-hr waiting time before we boarded the SW Airlines plane passed reasonably quickly as we tried to catch up on the 500 emails (mostly junk) that we had accumulated over two weeks of being off the internet. We grabbed a small Uno pizza to share (~$9), neither of us feeling very hungry because of our colds. C.J. checked to see if she could get some editing work done (she figured she was a day late) but the alpha was not yet in the dropbox. Later we saw an email saying that it wouldn’t be up until the 24^th. The flight as far as St. Louis was uncrowded so we had three seats to ourselves again, but the plane filled up completely for the STL-SEA leg. We got in at 11-something Florida time (2015 PST) in the rain and 40 deg temperature and got a pretty quick ride in the shuttle to the parking lot. We thought we might stop for a quick bite in Renton but the fast food joints were closed, so we headed home and found enough to eat in the freezer and pantry. We were surprised to find several inches of snow just beyond the I-90/Rte 18 interchange that lasted all the way down to the Snoqualmie Casino, but there was no snow in the valley. The house was plenty chilly though. Awesome trip! It’s going to be hard to adjusting to the wet, cold and preparing our own food. We’re going to miss those folded towel critters and the chocolate on our pillows. Time to start saving for another trip!