Monday, December 26, 2022
We were 95% packed and ready to fly on Tuesday to Fort Lauderdale when I checked SW Airlines and found that the first leg of our flight to Houston had been cancelled because of the series of events that shut SW Airlines down and left thousands of people stranded across the country (that was a very long sentence …. sorry!). We had a decision to make. We could drive to Houston and hope that that leg of the trip would happen or we could drive to Ft. Lauderdale. We opted to get up REALLY early and drive to Florida. We finished packing and went to bed early.
Tuesday, December 27, 2022
We loaded up the car, said goodbye to the puppies and left Oklahoma City at 3:44 am. We passed the Oklahoma/Texas border at 6 am and then I stopped keeping track. I can tell you that it got dark really early, seems like it was close to 5 pm. When we were driving the backroads in Mississippi it was pitch black and we counted more than 20 deer on the side of the road. Lucky for us, they all stayed on the side and didn’t venture into our path.
Wednesday, December 28, 2022
Somewhere on the Florida turnpike, Jeff woke up and said, “Woman, exactly how fast are you driving?” I told him that I wasn’t watching the speed, I was just STAYING with traffic (between you and me, it was probably 90+ mph).
I had called our pre-cruise hotel that I had reserved and told them that we would be in really late. The lady on the phone said 1am? I said, probably more like 6 am! Thank goodness checkout time was noon and our ship boarding time was 11am. We had an early boarding time because we were supposed to take the Holland transfer from the airport to the pier.
We checked into the hotel at 6:30 in the morning, 26 hours after we left home. We grabbed a quick breakfast, went to the room, set the alarm and took a very much needed nap. Somewhere around 9:30 am we woke up, took showers and headed to the cruise parking garage located next to the pier.
We got to the pier security gate and there was a sign that said “no guns”. Guess what we had in the car? I told Jeff that if they asked, I would answer. Sure enough, we got up to the guard and he asked if we had any guns, to which I responded “I don’t own a gun” … truth! Jeff stayed quiet (it’s his gun), and we were waved through. We parked in the parking garage, unloaded 3 suitcases, CPAPs, a backpack and a 24 can case of Dr Pepper Zero.
We made one wrong turn with the suitcases in the parking garage, got turned back around and headed for the terminal building. Jeff didn’t make it 5 steps across the parking lot and the case of DP fell off the top of a suitcase and crashed onto the pavement. Several cans burst and were spewing their contents everywhere. A security guard came to his aid and Jeff asked him if he liked Dr. Pepper. When the guard said yes, Jeff told him he was welcome to what was left undamaged. Later in the cruise we heard that Holland has cracked down and is no longer allowing anything besides canned water and 2 bottles of wine to be brought on board so it probably would have not been allowed if we’d made it to the security checkpoint.
We got on board, headed directly to our room, dropped off backpacks then went to have lunch. After lunch we checked in at our muster station, went back to our room and CRASHED. We did make it to dinner and then checked out the BB King’s Blues club before calling it an early evening.
At dinner we were disappointed to find that we were dining at a table for 2. We enjoy getting to meet and know other cruisers. Since this is a “holiday” cruise and there are a LOT of family groups traveling together, they were probably saving the larger tables for those groups.
Thursday, December 29, 2022 Sea Day
While masks are highly recommended, there are probably fewer than a dozen people wearing masks, but there are more than just us wearing them. We have a lot of cruising ahead of us and I would rather make the ports of call then be quarantined.
Today is a sea day and we slept in, still trying to recover from that extremely long drive. We went to the Port presentation on Grand Turk, San Juan, and St Thomas and then tried to go to the back pool. Needless to say, by the time we arrived there were NO chairs available on deck anywhere so we went back to the room and took another much needed nap!
This evening we went to the mainstage show which was a dance company (no singers, just dancers). Jeff was skeptical but after the show we both agreed that it was the BEST mainstage show we have seen on ANY of our previous cruises.
Friday, December 30, 2022 Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos
Today’s stop is Grand Turk. We have been here once or twice before. The beaches here are free so we grabbed out snorkel gear and headed down to the beach. I’m fairly certain that we were one of the first people on the beach. We probably ended up walking at least a mile down the beach and ended up at Governor’s beach. We were the ONLY ones there! We found a nice rock ledge to put our stuff on and donned our snorkel gear and headed into the water. The water was clear but not very many fish. Jeff did find a couple of sand dollars and we did see a 4ft barracuda. It was nice to be in the water and somewhere that’s warm.
When we headed back to the ship, we decided to walk the road instead of trudging through the sugar fine sand, which was hard to walk on. I hadn’t realized how far we walked. Definitely further than a mile. One young man slowed his car and asked if we needed a ride. I stupidly declined (I really need to quit doing that!). But we eventually made it back to the terminal area and not being interested in any of the shops, headed back to our room to shower, clean up, nap and then dinner.
This evening we attended the main stage show which was another performance by the dance company called Musicology. It did not disappoint. When Jeff says it was a great show, it was a GREAT show!
Saturday, December 31, 2022 San Juan, Puerto Rico
We didn’t arrive here until noon and it was HOT. We were one of the first to leave the ship. I had a walking route planned out on my phone and after we checked at the closest drugstore – a CVS, for Jeff’s Dr. Pepper (which we didn’t find), I tried to get my program loaded. Unsuccessfully. So we just headed out and walked the old town cobblestone streets. We found a few secluded gardens, a couple of art galleries, and a ton of souvenir shops along our way. We eventually ended up at the end of the island near the Fort (which we visited on a previous stop here). We then made our way back to the ship but not before stopping at Walgreens and picking up some crunchy snacks for Jeff.
On our way back we overheard a conversation between a husband and his wife. They had 3 or 4 little ones in tow. He told her he had good news and bad news. The good news was that he could book them on an airline and get them home. The bad news was the flight left that night at midnight and flew from San Juan to Baltimore before catching the next leg and going home to Orlando. It would be an 8 hour trip. I could feel for them because we were still hearing on the news the chaos with the flights was continuing.
Tonight is New Year’s eve and we spent the evening in the BB King Blues club. We ushered in the 2023 (asleep) somewhere between San Juan and St Thomas. The band in BB King is really good and we can already tell that this is going to be where we spend our free evenings.
Sunday, January 1, 2023 Charlotte Amalie, St Thomas USVI
We arrived here fairly early, 9 am, and since it’s a holiday there isn’t much open. We did set off before it got to hot and walked to the old town. As are most islands, the walk inland was steep. The one thing on the top of my list of things to see was the 99 steps. They don’t lead to anywhere but the top of a hill. They are interesting because the steps are made from the ballasts of the tall ships that came to the island to pick up goods. They would unload the ballasts, load up the goodies and sail back to Europe.
Needless to say, it didn’t take long to get really warm and there really wasn’t much to see. They had a nice harbor and the houses in the old town were on top of each other with parking at a premium. It did seem that there were a lot of churches in the area that we wandered through. One was having a Sunday service and we watched as the locals, all dressed up, entered the open air church.
When we headed back to the ship we stopped at a grocery store I had spotted on our walk out of the area. Guess what? No Dr. Pepper! We even stopped at a Wendy’s and they didn’t have it either. One of the things that I would have liked to do was take the wired tram, close to the pier, up to the top of the mountain to see the island from a different perspective, but because it was Sunday and/or a holiday, it wasn’t operating.
We ended up thoroughly exploring the shops by the pier, which had opened after we left on our walk, before returning to the ship.
Tonight, the entertainment was rather uneventful. We have taken to participating in the after dinner trivia, which if we score 10 out of 15 we think we are genius, but always, ALWAYS, get beat.
Holland puts on an Orange Party every cruise. Orange is apparently the color that represents the Netherlands, don’t know why because their flag is red, white and blue, but it’s an excuse to have a party. They ask that you wear something orange. Not my favorite color, and since Jeff is an avid OU fan and the other state school’s colors (OSU) are orange and black, he pretty much refuses to own anything orange. He does, however, have a Columbia shirt that would probably be closer to coral than orange that he wears. So, we parked our butts at the bar BB Kings club and partied the night away. This is also the night that the food staff goes down music row and passes out non-chocolate treats.
Monday, January 2, 2023 At Sea
It was a typical sea day. Got up fairly early, picked up the crossword puzzle, ate breakfast and headed to the back pool for a couple of hours of sunshine. AND it was sunny, and hot! Jeff called it quits earlier than I did, but I made it to 12:30.
The entertainment this evening was the dance group with their program called Tandem. It was also dressy night. We enjoyed the show and then claimed, what was to become known by all guests and crew as Susan and Jeff’s seats at the BB King!
Last night was non-chocolate treats. Tonight was their chocolate surprise which always draws a big crowd.
Tuesday, January 3, 2023 Half Moon Cay ( Private island in the Bahamas owned by Holland)
This is our only tender location on this leg of the cruise (Panama would have been a tender but we chose to stay on the ship). We have an early arrival – 7:30. We wanted to get out and claim our “clam shell” rental before 2,000 of our new best friends beat us to the beach. We ate breakfast, grabbed our snorkel gear and got on the first tender out … don’t know why everyone was sleeping in today. We walked all the way to the end of the chairs which is outside of the roped off swimming area. Didn’t waste anytime donning our snorkel gear and getting in the water.
This place was beautiful! The beaches were clean, the water was a thousand different shades of blue, the air temp was just starting to warm up and the water temp was cool when you first got in but very nice. We swam out quite a ways and my first reaction to the underwater world here was that it had been vacuumed! Seriously, it was as perfect and pristine under water as it was on the beach. Unfortunately, when you find that the beautiful, spotless white beaches extend underwater, what you don’t find is fish. Fish like to have a place to hide … and eat, and there was nothing around for them. Jeff did find two sand dollars and that was the extent of our shell haul from here. We did swim out far enough that the water police came up to us in his boat and told us if we wanted to snorkel we had to go down to the beach closest to the pier. Well, want to know what’s down there? A LOT of people! We’ll pass.
We spent the rest of the morning lazing in our chairs and people watching. They were supposed to be serving a BBQ lunch until 1pm. So about 12:30 we packed up our stuff and made the trek back to the pier. When I asked where the lunch was being held, we were told that it was already over. Come to find out that when I take my phone off of airplane mode it resets the time. So instead of it being 12:30 like my watch said, it was actually 1:30. Oh well, we’ll be back here in two days and we’ll know better.
Did our usual evening stuff, dining, trivia, and then either main stage or club. Tonight in the club is 2 comedy shows followed by the band. The comedian was okay. He was the first Native American comic we have seen. Seemed like he took a while to get warmed up but ended well.
Wednesday, January 4, 2023 Ft. Lauderdale
When I booked this cruise, it was booked as an 18 day cruise. It actually is two cruises back to back. The first part, which ends today, is a 7 day cruise. There are 90 of us on board that are booked for the fist one AND the second one which is 11 days and a different itinerary. Since we had our car in the parking garage we could have gotten off and messed around in Ft. Lauderdale, but given the gun in the car situation, we opted to just stay on board.
This was our first B2B (back to back) cruise and we did have to leave the ship. They gathered all 90 us together, along with our passports. Once the other guests had departed the ship we were taken off as a group, went through the immigration face recognition line, then returned to the ship as a group. We had about a one hour jump on the new passengers getting on board, so we ate lunch and then went to the back pool for some warmth and relaxation. We did not have to visit our muster station again, you only have to do that every 30 days, which we found out on our S. Pacific cruise.
Nothing on main stage to interest us so we did trivia after dinner then went to BB King’s and called it a night.
Thursday, January 5, 2023 Half Moon Cay, Bahamas
It was Deja vu today. Seems like we were just here! At least we now know the lay of the land. This time we walked past the end of the chairs where we were two days ago and walked to the very end of the beach, to the sign that said “Do Not Go Past This Point,” which, by the way, everyone that walked this far, walked right past the sign, got on the rocks and went around the corner (dang, another extremely long sentence).
We, literally, dug two chairs out of the surf that were buried in the sand. Ok, truth, I held the snorkel gear while Jeff did the hauling part. We got our snorkel gear on and got into the water. Once again, pretty clean and clear, which is a good thing to see … I love crystal clear water. But, the fishies don’t like it. There was a very little bit of coral and plants and a very few fish, so didn’t spend too much time in the water. We could have swam past the ‘do not pass’ sign, around the corner of the island, but not sure of the currents so we didn’t venture that direction.
What we did do today, was make it to the BBQ lunch before it shut down. Holland has it all figured out. They put on a heck of an organized BBQ. They have a small ship with a crane on it that hauls the food off the ship to the island, along with everything they need – food, water, lemonade, dishes, etc.
We ate well, checked out the shops, one of which was selling socks … in the Bahamas? I just don’t get it. Plus, all of the t-shirts and tanks were only available in small and medium sizes. Jeff is neither of those anymore. Then we headed back to the ship.
Since we are on cruise #2, the main stage entertainment is the same as it was the first week. Tonight, the comedian had a second show. Still wasn’t bust a gut laughing, but better than the dueling pianos doing Billy Joel and Elton John over and over and over in the Ocean Bar. We stayed for both comedy shows, then a set of music before calling it a day.
Friday, January 6, 2023 At Sea
After breakfast we did the back pool for a couple of hours and then cleaned up and watched a documentary of the Panama Canal on the main stage which was very interesting. That was followed by the Cruise Director talking about our next three stops – Aruba, Curacao and Cartagena. We’ve been to the first two but not Colombia and wanted to hear about that.
Tonight’s main stage entertainment was a group on steel drums. We sat in the very back and listened to the first two songs, decided it wasn’t for us and went to our reserved seats at BB King’s.
Saturday, January 7, 2023 Oranjestad, Aruba
We didn’t get into port until 1 pm. We rented a car here as I had scouted out about a dozen snorkeling spots. We picked up the car and headed to the spot that was supposed to be the best and the furthest north by the lighthouse. What I didn’t take into account was this was a weekend and EVERYBODY was at the beach. And since it was already afternoon, it was packed. We ended up turning around and going the other direction where it was supposed to be difficult to get into the water but the snorkeling was supposed to be really good. Guess what? They lied. Well, not about the part that it was difficult to get into the water, because it was difficult. You had to climb down a rickety wooden ladder which was placed on top of a rock that was covered with algae (can you say slippery?). We can both handle rough water snorkeling, but this had a major undertow and you couldn’t see a foot in front of your face because the sand was stirred up. We tried, but finally gave up. We dried off and went to the furthest point at this end of the island – Baby beach. While the beach looked nice, and it wasn’t quite as crowded as the other end, it was nothing that looked worth getting wet again.
We returned to the city, found a spot to fill up with gas, turned in the rental car and returned to the ship. All aboard tonight wasn’t until 10:30, so after we cleaned up we went back out and walked around a little bit before calling it a night.
Sunday, January 8, 2023 Willemstad, Curacao
We have a long day in port today – 8am to 10:30pm. We rented a car here too. We’ve been here a couple of times and have walked across the bridge and through the old part of town. Today was a Sunday and most everything was closed. But that’s okay because I had another snorkel place picked out – hopefully better than yesterday. This beach resort is one you have to pay to get into so maybe the crowds won’t be as large. What we didn’t have was a good map or service on our phones, but we headed out. By pure luck we found a sign pointing down a long, deeply rutted, dirt road. Did I say that it had rained this morning? Well, it had, so it was a long, deeply rutted, MUDDY dirt road. We were in a very small rental car … think 12” wheels small! Probably not, but the ruts seemed to swallow up this little car so we had to drive really slow.
We found a fairly close parking space. I would venture that there were probably 30 cars in the parking lot when we arrived. The information that I had read said that the snorkeling was best on the left side by the rock cliffs. So we headed that direction and there was no one at that end of the beach. We staked out a couple of lounge chairs and suited up. There were a lot of rocks and broken coral along the shoreline so it was a take your time kind of water entry. I don’t do well standing up to put my swim fins on so I just sat down on a rock, put my fins on, rolled over and made my water entry in about 8″ of water … lol … drug the bottom for a bit! Jeff was right behind me. We hit paydirt here! I could tell nearly immediately that this was going to be a wonderful place to snorkel. There was healthy coral, fish, plant life, and I even spotted some type of sea worm. We snorkeled all the way out to the point, back in and then back out again. The water was the perfect temperature, the current wasn’t bad, and the fish were plentiful. We probably spent an hour and a half in the water. When we got out of the water, we were surrounded by people that had come in since we got into the water.
We rested for a while and then grabbed our stuff and headed to the other end of the beach. My source was correct, the better snorkeling was at the other end, but it wasn’t too shabby here. We hadn’t been in the water very long when I looked up and saw that we had managed to get pretty far out. We decided to swim back closer to shore and then swam, rather than walk back to where our lounge chairs were. We dried off a bit, packed up and decided to try and find another location.
I was intent on locating Kokomo beach, mainly because I didn’t realize that it was actually a real place in the Beach Boys song. Did I mention that the map we had was pretty worthless? We asked the gate attendant when we left the first stop and he didn’t know and asked the people in the car that were waiting to pay. He took my map and showed me where it was and gave me a couple of landmarks. This isn’t that big of an island, right? Should be easy to find, right?
We decided to take the long way and see some of the island and drove through the mountains on the east side. There were a couple of places on a divided two lane road that the sign (yes, there was actually a sign!) said that we were on a 17% grade … unheard of in the US. Well, we managed to take a couple of wrong turns but eventually found the one landmark – a large grocery store. Then we passed a bunch of flamingos (that’s known as a flamboyance by the way!). What? Nobody told me there were flamingos here! Not long after that we located Kokomo Beach! … it really exists! Kokomo beach in all its glory and it was free. It was a beautiful beach with a bar, a dive shop, and a giant swing in the water. We decided that we will save this place to snorkel when we come back again. We headed out and along the way we stopped and took a bunch of pictures of the flamingos and then stopped at the grocery store. Why you ask? It’s that undying hunt for Dr. Pepper … and it wasn’t there. Want to know what else wasn’t there? Eggs. I was going to take a picture and tell everyone that you can buy eggs in Curacao cheaper than you can at home. Well, that didn’t work out. They don’t carry eggs and this is one of the first islands in the Caribbean that we haven’t seen chickens running around everywhere. Go figure!
We found a gas station to fill up. Turns out that you have to pay in advance. Well, we needed to fill up the rental car and had no idea how much it would cost. You pull up to a drive through window that is totally covered with all different kinds of paper ads. A tray opens up and this ominous, deep, disconnected voice says “how much?” “I don’t know, we want to fill up.” The tray is retracted and the voice says “Pump 4.” It was really weird talking to someone that you can’t see. Anyway, we filled up, Jeff walked back to the retractable tray to pay and asked how much. He didn’t get a reply so he put $20 in the tray and it was retracted. He stood there and waited and finally said “do I get a receipt?” After a little while the tray slid back out with $8 in it. Did we get ripped off? Probably! The only thing the voice said was “Pump 4”! Too weird …..
We got back to the cruise terminal after only one wrong turn (remember this was navigating in a foreign country without a decent map). Parked the car, got all of our stuff out and went to the office to return the key. It was closed. We waited a little bit and another couple showed up to return their car. I ended up calling the phone number on the door and after about a ½ hour wait someone showed up to inspect our car returns. He walked with me to the car and video taped it all the way around, took the key and told us he hoped we’d return again and use them.
We headed onto the ship, cleaned up and headed back out to shop for a bit. My main purpose in going back out was to video tape the rental car myself just in case there was an issue. We walked around a bit and then returned to the ship for dinner.
Tonight on the mainstage was an old movie made in and about Curacao so instead we went to BB King’s (we have reserved seating!) and watched the comedian. He was just marginally better than his first shows but we stayed for both shows because nothing much else was going on.
Here are the underwater pictures from Curacao
Monday, January 9, 2023 At Sea
Typical sea day. Get up early, eat breakfast, grab a pool chair (before 9 am!), and nap the morning away in the sunshine after working on the crossword puzzle.
In the afternoon we went to a documentary – “Panama Canal – the mountain and the mosquito.” It was very interesting and I believe it was originally aired by BBC – years ago, but it went through all the history, the obstacles, the building and the engineering. It was very well done and very informative.
That was immediately followed by the cruise director’s EXC Talk on the Panama Canal. The cruise director’s name sounds like “Jolly,” he is Dutch and it is spelled TJsomething …. I don’t think I could spell it properly if I had to. During his talk he said that he had been on the Zaandam during the Covid outbreak and had some stories to tell about that ship’s transit in the dark of night though the Panama Canal and he would be sharing those stories as our ship (the Eurodam) made it’s transit tomorrow.
I saw him around the ship later and we told him that we had been on the Zaandam and had been confined to our room for 19 days after we got sick and had to stay in our room until we were eventually returned to Ft Lauderdale. He told me that while we were at anchor on the Atlantic side of the Panama Canal, that a military drone was sent from Ecuador and dropped Covid test kits and masks into the Lido pool. Whoa! How cool is that!
We ate at the Pinnacle Grill this evening and it was horrible. The steak was tough and tasteless. They were super busy. Even my favorite dessert – the Baked UnAlaska (made with meringue on the outside and Ben and Jerry’s Cherry Garcia ice cream and white cake inside), was not up to par. It tasted like it had been stored in the fridge for a week. Good thing we didn’t pay extra for this.
Tonight, there was a new comedian and he was hot! He was confident and funny BUT he only had one show and repeated the same material at his second show.
Tuesday, January 10, 2023 Cartagena, Columbia
I woke up early today. We were told that the approach into Cartagena would be a long one. I watched as we passed marker buoy after market buoy and finally went out on the balcony when I started to see lights. It was a beautiful approach. You could hear loud music when we passed one spot and small fishing boats were already out on the water buzzing around in the predawn darkness.
As is typical, we ended up docked at an industrial area and arrived in port at 7am. All aboard time today is at 12:30. We don’t have an excursion here but we’re going to take a taxi to the Old Town and walk around as that seems to be all there really is to do here.
We needed to get off early so we could maximize our time. At the pier we caught a shuttle bus to the terminal building which turned our to be an aviary as well as a gift shop. We decided we would check out the wildlife on the way out but did see Macaws, Flamingoes and Peacocks. When we exited the building, we ended up in a wrong line behind a tour group. We got turned around and went to the next area and told them we just wanted a taxi not a tour. We were directed to yet another line. We ended lined up behind a couple from Sweden, currently living in Spain, that were on the Norwegian ship docked beside our ship and agreed to share a taxi with them. The driver was still pushing the tour which none of us were interested in and we were eventually dropped off around the corner from the Clock Tower entrance to the Old Town. We agreed on a meeting time to share a taxi back to the port with the same couple.
As soon as we entered the Old Town we were literally accosted by Chiquita banana outfitted ladies, you know, the ones with fruit piled high on their heads? They took pictures and then more or less demanded money for doing so. We managed to get away from them for $5 although they wanted $5 EACH and there were 3 or 4 of them. Most of the nicer looking shops were closed, probably because we were there so early, but it was already HOT. We were thankful for the shady streets. We were constantly approached by street hawkers with everything from hats to fridge magnets. At one point, Jeff was walking behind me. A man carrying a tray of fridge magnets approached me and offered to sell me one. I said no thanks and kept walking. When he passed Jeff he was like PSST! I have cocaine! REALLY? If I told you there were police EVERYWHERE I would not be exaggerating. They were armed and they were all over the Old Town and here’s some guy peddling cocaine right under their noses.
There was really no shopping that drew us in and besides the old buildings and the fortified sea walls there really wasn’t anything interesting to see.
We had over an hour before our agreed upon meeting time with the couple from Sweden so we tried to find somewhere cool to sit and wait. We ended up in an open air church, next to a fan, and eventually cooled off and watched all the tour groups coming in and out. We were surprised when a Catholic service started and we stayed for the mass even though it was done in Spanish and the only words I understood were Senor, Corpus Christi, and Amen!
Our original taxi guy didn’t show up when he said he would, we called, he was busy elsewhere. We engaged another cab. I asked him how long would it take to get back to the terminal because the taxi ride out was about 30 minutes and the traffic was horrible. He said 10 minutes. I said there was no way, it took us 3 times that long to get here. I told him I would time him. He took that as a challenge and was beaming with pride when I showed him that we made it back in 9 minutes. We left him a nice tip and then shopped for a bit before heading back to the ship on an air conditioned shuttle bus!
We were a little bit late leaving because we were docked so far away from the terminal (hence the shuttle buses!).
This afternoon they were having a talk on Puerto Limon, Costa Rica which we attended. We do have an excursion here but it’s always helpful to hear what information they give on the ports.
Tonight there is another Orange Party so, surprise, we were back at BB Kings!
Wednesday, January 11, 2023 Panama Canal and Colon, Panama
We were supposed to be queued up for the transit at 7:30 in the morning and the bow of the ship was supposed to be open on 3 decks. Then our “appointment” to enter the Gatun Lake locks was at 8:30. The transit through the locks was supposed to take an hour and a half. At approximately 11:15 we would be in Gatun Lake and the people that had excursions would be tendered to shore. After the tender boats were retrieved we would go back through the locks and make our way to Colon, Panama. Arrival was supposed to be about 3:30. The excursions would return to that location and we would be all aboard at 6 pm.
We got up and went to breakfast a bit before 6:45 and took our food to the back pool deck. We had already watched our initial Panama Canal transit from our porthole room on the Zaandam a couple of years earlier, under the cover of darkness, and were eager to get a different perspective.
Our approach was uneventful and we watched as a larger Norwegian ship went to the left to the bigger locks that Panama had constructed after they took over the Canal in 2000. Everything was picture perfect. The crew on the bridge even spotted two alligators in the water that we were able to see from the pool deck. We had a good location, we could hear Jolly over the speakers, we could see the Centennial Bridge that carries the Pan American Highway over the Canal (sometimes still referred to as Bridge of Americas) in the near distance and had a tugboat on our tail. As we approached the bridge, the skies literally opened up. The deck cleared and we were lucky to have a decent cover over our heads where we were sitting.
Jolly informed us that this rain is typical and is needed to keep Gatun Lake full, not only for the locks but it is also the drinking water supply for Panama. Once we approached the locks and the rain slowed down a bit, I grabbed a pool towel, covered my head and returned to taking pictures to document our journey.
The locks we went through were the older locks constructed by the US, known as the Gatun Locks. These are also called Panamax locks, that is the standard that ships are built to in order to be able to fit through the locks. Since Panama took over the locks, they have created a new standard – Neopanamax, which allows for larger ships to pass though the newer locks like the other set of locks that the Norwegian ship went through.
It continued to rain until we were through the locks. And, we never actually made it into Gatun Lake, we were actually in the Culebra Cut. We pulled off to the side of the shipping lanes, put tender boats in the water and off loaded the people for their excursions. Everything stayed right on schedule and our trip back through the locks into the Pacific was without rain. We entered the locks at 1 pm and exited about 3:30. Then we made our way to Colon.
We did go up to the bow for a short bit to see what that view was like, then spent the remainder of the journey through the locks on our balcony. From there we were able to see the ships in the locks going the other direction and wave to the crew members on deck as we passed them.
This was the definite highlight of the trip for me. The obstacles that were overcome, the ingenuity in the creation, the processes that are still working today from when they were originally put into place, and the improvements to the process that Panama has contributed.
One ship crossing puts 52 million gallons of fresh water into the Pacific and/or Atlantic Oceans. When Panama created the new locks, they created a process that allows them to “recycle” the majority of that water rather than lose it to an ocean.
The other story that Jolly had about the Zaandam crossing during the initial outbreak of COVID was that the Pilots that came on board the ship to transit it through the locks had to wear hazmat suits, burn their clothes after they got off the ship and then quarantine for weeks afterward. Most of that isn’t true. Jolly talked to one of the Pilots on a subsequent cruise and was told that they volunteered. They said that they took an oath to help ships in distress and, well, it doesn’t get any more distressed than we were at the time.
When we went to the ship talks on Colon it was strongly suggested that we leave jewelry and credit cards on board and be extremely cognizant of our surroundings. Colon didn’t look like there was much to it on approach. So, we just got off for less than an hour and walked through the terminal building, bought a few tchotchkes, had our picture taken next to the Colon sign and returned to the ship.
Tonight was our second Orange Party of the cruise and we claimed our “reserved” bar stools at BB King’s and enjoyed the music.
Thursday, January 12, 2023 Puerto Limon, Costa Rica
The Caribbean side of Costa Rica is a tropical rain forest. We had an excursion that was taking us to a Macaw sanctuary and to a National Park. We were in a small group, I think there were less than 20 of us. When we exited the ship, it was pouring rain. We put on our ponchos and found our bus. Lucky us, we got the front seats and we were one of the last ones to board.
We hadn’t driven very far when the rain quit. We probably drove close to an hour, nearly to Panama, to get to the bird sanctuary. The hills we had to go up put Curacao’s 17% grade to shame! They were very steep.
We learned that the birds are endangered in the wild and they were able to keep the birds in the area by providing them with food and places to nest. Their biggest threat is from the Toucan which will raid the nests and eat the Macaw eggs. There were dozens and dozens of Green Macaws flying around the area, and they are LOUD. We also got to see some HUGE ants and a poisonous tree frog.
Our next stop was the Cahuita National Park. We are actually visiting two different sections of the park. This stop put us in a swampy area (yes Mom, we put on bug spray!). We were on an elevated wooden walkway the entire time. The foliage was thick and you could hear the monkeys and birds. We did manage to see a spider monkey, a troop of Capuchin monkeys, a single Howler monkey , way too many spiders and the “doesn’t want to be photographed” Giant Blue Morpho butterfly.
Our second stop was the same park but this location was on the beach. Here we saw a couple of sloths, one with a baby, and another troop of Capuchin monkeys.
Then we stopped for a lunch of Jerked Chicken, which was in a very bland yellow sauce, fried plantain that didn’t have any taste, dirty rice and beans, and a green salad. I was hungry! The food wasn’t very good but it was filling … until the next morning when EVERYTHING left my system 😊 Nuf said about that!
During our travels today we passed a number of little towns, a black sand beach, a lot of yoga places and bike rentals. The place seemed to be teeming with tourists but not sure what they were doing or where they were going.
We returned to the pier with just enough time to get a couple of souvenirs at the terminal building before boarding the ship.
Tonight’s entertainment was the new comedian at BB King’s.
And just like that, our itinerary is complete. Next stop, Ft Lauderdale and a long road trip home.
Friday, January 13, 2023 At Sea
My last warm weather, sit out by the pool, day at sea. If tomorrow is like previous cruises, the weather will not be sunbathing weather.
This evening was chocolate surprise and music at BB King’s. We have started packing so we can enjoy our last day on the ship.
Our main dining room waiters – Yasa and Renato
Saturday, January 14, 2023
Just as I expected. The seas are so rough the outside promenade deck is closed. I’m walking around dizzy and don’t need any alcohol to increase the perception of being drunk. The captain said we were in gale force winds (+30 knots). We passed the west side of Cuba coming back.
Packed up, tomorrow night’s hotel reservation has been made. Ready to head home.
Sunday, January 15, 2023 Ft Lauderdale
We arrived a bit late and we are not at the same pier that we left from. Hope it isn’t too hard to find our parking garage.
We got off the ship about 8:30 and had to walk about 2 blocks pulling/pushing 3 suitcases with one threatening to finally lose a wheel. When we got to the parking garage there was a line of about 20 people (with all their luggage) waiting for the elevator. I told Jeff I was going to go to the back elevator, get our car and then bring it down to pick up him and the luggage and pay at the kiosk to get out. It was a much shorter wait at the back elevator and since I didn’t have any luggage I squeezed on. Got to the car and it kind of hesitated to start. It has been nearly 3 weeks.
Got down to the first floor and Jeff had managed to maneuver all 3 suitcases (even with the funky wheel) to the back elevator location. I pulled up next to him, turned the car off and we got everything loaded and the parking paid to the tune of $270. We’ll see if SW Airlines comes through with a reimbursement.
We only had about a quarter of a tank of gas to reach the first place on the Florida turnpike to get gas. There was an EV charging station in front of the pumps and it was full. I have never seen a car use a public charging station even though we’ve got them all over town. The gas pumps were running EXTREMELY SLOW and it probably took 20 minutes to put 10 gallons of gas in the car, during which time, half of the EVs left.
When I tried to turn the car on after we filled up it didn’t want to start. Thankfully, it started on the next try. We will be conscious of where we stop next so if we need to call AAA we will be comfortable waiting for a while. We ended up stopping outside of Orlando and ate lunch at Cracker Barrel. There was a Target close by and a gas station. After we ate, the car started, so I dropped Jeff off at Target so he could buy some Dr. Pepper while I put gas in the car. He was successful! America, Land of Dr, Pepper! And we’re off again!
OK, it seriously felt like it took the entire day to get out of Florida – how did we ever drive straight through to get to the cruise and survive? Granted we didn’t get started until after 9 am this morning, but when we finally got to Georgia, we still had 2 hours to drive before we could call it a day. We got into Dothan, Alabama around 7 pm and CRASHED (us, not the car).
First thing I did was figure out the rest of the way home and then made a reservation for tomorrow night in North Little Rock, Arkansas. Then fell into a dreamless sleep with my body still remembering the rolling of the waves.
On the Florida turnpike – the EVs charged faster than we could fill up
Monday, January 16, 2023
When we left Dothan, Alabama this morning it was in the low 30s, had to turn the seat heaters on in the car, glad to have them. It’s supposed to warm up into the 60s today, hope so as I’m not ready to give up my flip flops.
Had an uneventful drive through Alabama, Mississippi and Arkansas. Got into North Little Rock about 4:30 but we did get an earlier start this morning – about 6:30. Jeff did talk to his son to see if he would meet us for dinner but he said he couldn’t make it to Little Rock. When we checked into the hotel the first thing the clerk told us was that the TVs might not be working. Yup, don’t care. Going to eat and crash, one more long day tomorrow.
We had a very nice dinner at Texas Roadhouse and had a steak that would make the chefs on Holland blush, it was that GOOD.
Tuesday, January 17, 2023
The plan today is to meet up with Jeffs Uncle Jack in Springdale, Arkansas and then drive home. We left North Little Rock about 7:30 and immediately hit some really heavy fog. It lasted for at least an hour. We made it to Springdale about 10:30 and went to Uncle Jack’s house. We had a very nice visit and then went to lunch at Cracker Barrel a little before noon.
After we finished lunch, we took Jack back home and pointed the car toward home. We pulled into our driveway about 4:30 pm.
Summary – we drove 26 hours going to Fort Lauderdale, straight through and we took 30 hours over 3 days to get home. We DROVE a total of 3,115 miles and our cruise was 3,400 nautical miles over 18 days.
It was a good trip! I got to add 3 more countries to my list – Columbia, Panama and Costa Rica, bringing me up to a total of 49 countries. The highlight for me was the snorkeling in Curacao (who knew?), of course the Panama Canal (amazing!), and all the wildlife in Costa Rica. Not new countries, but new places were St Thomas USVI, and Half Moon Cay, Bahamas.
What should we do next?
Update: I turned in receipts to SW Airlines on Sunday night to the tune of $903 that covered gas, food, parking at the pier and hotels on the way home. On Monday morning I received an email that those costs will be reimbursed. They also refunded the full price of our canceled plane tickets and gave both of us 25,000 points which is worth about $500 each in future tickets. Way to step it up Southwest!