It was then back to Miami to drop me at the ship! Vision of the Seas. A new ship for me. sam as the Rhapsody with the split level Concierge Lounge up on the top deck (Queensland Christmas cruise).
This leg is a trip through the Panama Canal with stops in exciting sounding places.
Cartagena, Colombia. Colon, Panama. Puntarenas, Costa Rica. Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala and Huatulco, Puerto Vallarta and and San Lucas in Mexico. And a crossing through the Panama Canal. Excitement!
My Ocean View room is lovely. I am looking forward to a quiet time on a smaller ship where I don’t have so many things to run around and see.
I walked into the lounge…..and there were Nancy and Carrrrlos. From Radiance – Vancouver to Sydney 2014. Awesome. Sail away was beautiful again. Great city.
We sailed past Symphony. Damn it’s a big and beautiful ship.
Here’s a picture taken from Symphony. Look how small we are!
Day 2
was a much needed relaxing day.
Trivia, chatting and catching up here.
We do have one issue! The ship has just done a two week dry dock. They resurfaced the pools and the decks. The ship was re-carpeted.
They did a major sanitation of all the water pipes. The bathroom type water was washed out with chlorine. My bathroom smells like a nasty public swimming pool. And in the shower the sap will not lather. no matter how hard you rub it.
But that is the least of our worries. The drinking water is salty. Salty water. Salty coffee and even worse tea! Even the reconstituted orange juice is fowl.
I had a chicken dish with a sauce on it. We all know how salty ship sauces are. Imagine it made with salt water.
And the drinks are horrid if you have ice in them. It’s pretty funny really, but must be a nightmare for the ship with people lining up to tell them the water is salty – as if they didn’t know! They say t will flush out quickly now the issue is fixed.
I went to the Meet and Greet, and it was the best one for many a year. One of the raffle prizes was a tee shirt. A colour changing tee shirt. “You know the tee shirts that change colour in the sun. Well not them, this one changes in the wash!” All the top officers came and had a chat. The Head of Hotel is from Austria and asked us if we had seen the Sound of Music.
I then when to the “Behind the Stripes”. A series of chats with senior officers. Today was Derek, Food and Beverage Manager. There is 120 chefs and they prepare 15,000 meals a day!!!
The Concierge Lounge has become a Suites Lounge. It’s on the top deck and is lovely. They made the whole of the Viking Lounge an overflow so plenty of room.
Day 3
Lots of Trivia today, and I was on fire. Lots of pens and key chains in the morning.
The the Suites luncheon. And what a feed. Lobster, fillet, lamb racks and many wonderful drinks.
I joined with others and we won the Lord Of the Rings. We sat around chatting and Queen music trivia came on. We had much fun and won that a well.
The water is getting better….bu the ice is still bad. The cubes are hollow and bubbly as salt water freezes differently.
I am actually drinking bottled water – and I hate using the plastic! But its better than salt water. At least to soap is starting to form a lather when you rub it.
Day 4
Cartagena, Columbia – Hot, Damned hot!
Cartagena was founded in 1533 by the Spanish and quickly became the main port between Spain and its’ empire. Gold and Silver passed through here as did the importation of African slaves.
It’s a walled city with much of the wall still intact. Pirate activity was fairly intense here so lots of fortification.
Old Town was stunning. The use of pascal colours makes everything so pretty. Buskers selling their wares everywhere.
I nearly died from the heat.
After a 90 min walk around I got back ono the bus and headed off around town. When I saw the Castle – Castillo San Felipe de Barajas – for some insane reason I thought it would be good to go and see.
Remember if was hot….Damned hot. I paid my money and off I set.
Up the super steep ramps to the top.
The castle was built on top of a steep hill in 1536. You had to lean forward to walk.
It was very impressive up there….but I did think I was going to die form the heat.
I drank over two litres, but straight out in sweat it went. I was so happy to hear the locals complaining about the extreme heat and humidity!
I popped into a little shop to try some local fare. No idea what I bought. I think it was a disc of compressed bread, with an egg, corn and more mix placed on top, then battered and fried. The egg part was good.
I do love travelling in places with no English. Makes it fun!
I got it and a ‘grande agua’. I gave the guy $5 and he when he went to give me change, was very happy when I told him to have the change.
I then continued on the bus around town and back to the port.
I decided I could stand the heat a bit more to visit the animal rescue place at the port. And lucky I did because they had a Giant Anteater!!!! And what a wonderful creature he was. Nearly two meters long and about 600mm high. Huge feet and claws that just ripped up the packed dirt with little effort and a huge thin tongue that shot in and out.
There were lots of other things including flamingos and dozens of macaws.
That shower when I got back was soooo good. Once I was able to peel of the dripping we clothing that is.
That night we had a Gaucho entertainer. He was more of a comedian but did a pretty good job with the boleadora.
Day 5
Colon, Panama.
I did a tour of the canal and a monkey eco tour.
We headed off on our bus and crawled through the Colon traffic. There are no traffic lights, so it does jam up a bit. Heaps of people were in the streets waiting for long distance buses to go back to their provinces after being in the city for celebrations.
November has about five important days. Settlement, independence from Columbia, Independence from Spain and so on.
The are we first went through was descried as the ‘low to middle class area’. And later through the middle to upper. There is heaps of ‘construction’ happening but it does appear to be more ‘deconstruction’. So many building in ruins.
Once of the areas we passed was “Rainbow Town. The area where the Canal workers lived, and housed many nations. It was later sold off to the locals who painted in in the wonderful pascal colours.
We travelled for about an hour through down the “speed way”, a nice major highway to Gutan Lake.
Panama Canal is an artificial 82 km waterway that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean by cutting through the Isthmus of Panama.
Gutan Lake is a man made lake that allows the Canal to work. 26 villages and towns were relocated to Panama City and the place flooded.
It’s the cross over point for w-e bound ships. Only 28 meters above sea level – thus the need for a system of locks.
It’s fed by the Chagres River, the “Most important river in Panama”. The original bridge is still there. Now called the “oh my god bridge” due to the ricketiness.
After we arrived we hopped into our little boat and headed off into the lake The new bridge sits next to the original (older then the Panama canal). We then travelled along the lake – towards the Atlantic side, past many ships on their journey.
We stopped at heaps of little islands and saw exciting things. We saw three different “New World Monkeys”!
Howler monkeys. The biggest of the ‘New World Monkeys’ and more aggressive. The Alpha male makes an amazing throat noise. Sensational. So loud and strong and travels so far. I can see how it works as a threat to others.
Capuchin monkeys. The little white-ish faces one you see a lot on movies. So cute.
And the tiny Tamarin – squirrel sized monkeys that are SO cute with the sweetest faces and their striped heads.
Our guides were fantastic and making their monkey calls, and would get responses from them. The monkeys would then come down to see us. They took raisins and banana for them and some would come down to the boat to get some.
The tamarinds were very shy …… but one walked on my hand and ate some banana. Squeal.
An iguana was up a tree. Really way up high, soaking up the sun.
And of course we saw many birds. Lots of Vultures and other water birds. I saw a Snail Kite pluck a snail from the weeds as it flew past.
Also saw a baby crocodile basing on a log. There’s no alligators here. Probably as the Crocs ate them. But there are Caymans.
We did learn that Panama has many snake species. Lots are deadly. JD what are you talking about. Snakes, Crocs and who knows what else!
Sadly after a while they took us back to the bus and sent us home. As we were driving out we saw an giant iguana courting a tiny female. He would stand on his tip toes and fill his big bearded throat up with air then flap it. He would do this for a few breaths then ‘stand down”, then repeat it. She stood their staring in admiration. Very cool.
We passed the high security prison where dictator Manuel Noriega spent his time.
Awesome day!
Day 6
PANAMA Canal
The Spaniards arrived at the Isthmus of Panama in the early 16th Century and were frustrated by this narrow neck of land cutting their way.
In 1880 the French began to try. But financial problems and tropical disease stopped that.
In 1903 Panama became independent from Columbia and came to an agreement with the USA. Construction began. The USA made a deal to build the canal then pay $25 million a year. This deal stood until 1999. No inflation! 26,000 people died building it – mainly from Yellow Fever and Malaria.
2000 saw Panama take control.
The “Panama Extension” was completed in 2016 allowing even bigger ships to transit.
UNBELIEVABLE 7 am at the entrance to the Gatun Locks at the Atlantic End – obviously.
Our wonderful concierge organised a treat for us. The Viking Lounge – the top deck looking forward – was blocked off for a private event. The viewing area for us, and a simple continental breakfast.
The simple continental breakfast was not that simple at all. Wonderful food. We ate – and drank Mimosas at 8 am as we join the convoy. They even washed the windows for us at 6.30 am. Which was a great thing as the windows were sweaty and salty
As we sat eating breakfast it poured rain. Bucketed down. Really heavy. And for the next 6 hours the rain went back up. In the form of steam.
It was so hot. Don’t know if it was as hot as Columbia. Maybe it seemed that way I could run into the air conditioning to cool down, then back out to fully realise how hot it was.
The morning was spent running outside, then back in to cool down.
The first bridge we passed under was the Atlantic Bridge. A giant bridge under construction over the entrance to the Canal. It spans 530 metres.
At 9 am we entered the Gatun Locks and sailed up the river to the first lock.
We pulled up at the canal then headed in. The humongous gates were shut behind us. They are swing gates – and face into the water pressure, on an angle, is they cannot fail. We were at sea level. The mules were hooked up and forward we went! The mules were remote controlled electric trains. We had six. One each side at the front and two each side at the rear.
We sat in our lock and the water pumped in, raising us up 8.65 metres. In the lock next to us was a fuel carrier. When we started the guys standing outside looking, were at eye level. They were heading from the Pacific.
Over the next hour we watched their lock drain and the ship drop 8.5m metres (28 feet.) And we went up.
Surreal. Suddenly they were down at ground level and we were way up in the air.
The Captain was out on the bridge looking stressed, then excited, then….. stressed, then excited. The pilots were rushing from side to side.
It was amazing. Mind you I did feel a bit ripped off that they were electric mules….not horse donkey hybrids. (Not really).
We then moved in to lock 2. Our lock was flooded and we went up another 8 1/2 metres.
Then into lock 3 and up again. We had now gone up 28 metres above sea level. Amazing.
It took almost 200 million litres of water just for us. No wonder they talk about the Chagres River being the most important river in Panama.
We then came out of lock three and entered Gatun Lakes. The place I went Monkey viewing yesterday.
Gatun Lake is 50 ks across across. At the time is was the largest man-made lake in the world.
We saw the huge ships entering and leaving the “Panama Extension”. The old locks are 34 metres wide and 305 m long. The new locks are 55 m wide, 430m long. They have ‘Rolling Gates and use tug boats not mules.
And the cost – The costs to go through the old locks is $126 per loaded container and $96 empty. Cruise ships pay $115 per soul (passengers and crew) so our transit is over $300,000!
35-40 ships go through a day. Every day. That’s 13,000 a year. Each ship takes 8 to 10 hours. More than one million ships have been through.
25% of the revenue goes to the Panamanian Government.
The big ships pay more for the new “Extension”. They pay $150 per container.
The bill is paid in cash! How funny.
In August 2017 the ship Theodore Roosevelt, a container ship, set a new record for size and therefore cost. $1,200,000. That’s a big briefcase of cash.
Going the long way around The Horn takes 14 days or more. So it’s worth it for the shipping companies.
As we came out into Gatun Lake a few giant ships were waiting their turn to go into the “Panama Extension”. They really were big! We sailed across the lake for a few hours passing many ship, islands with monkeys and many birds. Even Crocodiles were seen.
How incredible. We were in a giant cruise ship….in the middle of the country.
I did wonder what drugs the original people who thought of the concept were taking at the time. How could you possibly think of this.
“Oh, let’s cut the two continents apart. And put in a series of ‘Ship elevators” to get over the mountains. Then more to get back down the mountains”.
And this was in the late 1800’s!
Then we got to do it all again at the Pedro Miguel Locks and then the Miraflores Locks.
The second bridge, Centennial Bridge is the major bridge crossing the Canal. It was built to supplement the overcrowded Bridge of the Americas as the main carrier of the Pan American Highway. It opened in 2004.
Pedro Miguel is a single lock. This one took us down 9.5 metres. We just drove up and in through the open gate. They shut the gate and down we went! Simples!
And onto Pedro Miguel Locks. Another series of three locks. Again fascinating. The process was the same but this time we went down each time.
The third bridge, ‘Bridge of the Americas’ opened in 1962, was the only major road crossing of the Canal .
We could see ships in the other channel. They were so much higher, as we had already dropped down.
And then we sailed out into the Pacific Ocean. How incredible. We could see the entrance to the “Panama Extension” and they were huge ships.
No mules in the extension. It’ all done with tug boats.
And the amount of traffic waiting their turn was amazing. The Canal runs 24 hrs a day – although Cruise ships always get a day time passage!
What a fantastic day!
Day 8
Puntarenas, Costa Rica
Costa Rica is a bit smaller then Tasmania and has a population of almost 5 million people. It’s a highly educated country having the highest literacy rate in South America. Free education with 20% of national income going to this. Also has national health and Social Security. In-fact on the UN ratings it has a much higher “Human development’ rating than other countries of the same income level. There has been no military since 1948. During the Vietnam war, Costa Rica had a large influx of Quakers migrating to avoid the draft. They were instrumental in the saving of much of the Rainforest.
It is said to be the most democratic country in the region with a very stable government.
There was a small indigenous population living here for maybe 10,000 years before Christopher Columbus discovered the Atlantic coast of Costa Rica in 1502 on his 4th voyage to New World. He was looking for a passage between the continents. Good old Chris described the indigenousness people as wearing “vast quantities of gold jewellery” and the rest is history! The name Costa Rica means “Rich Coast”.
It was a Spanish Colony until 1821, when the Spanish lost the Mexican War of Independence and declared all Central American colonies independent. It became part of the Federal Republic of Central America until 1838 when it became independent.
Coffee was brought by the Spaniard and grew very well here. After independence the government gave free land to people who would grow coffee. Home owners were encouraged to pant bushes in their yards.
Costa Rica Is known as the Land of National Parks. Its biodiversity is pretty amazing and extremely important.
North and South America were separated until three million years ago when the land bridge of Central America first appeared. This allowed species to migrate and evolve into new species. It means Costa Rica and all of Central America has an incredibly diverse range of creatures from North and South. Pumas and Jaguars. 1200 orchids. 54 hummingbirds (Who have a 1260 bpm heart rate).
They have incredibly strict land and environment laws with 25% of the country being protected by National Parks.
My excursion today was a tour called “Costa Rica by Land, Sea and Air”. Gondola over the rainforest, walk on the sky bridges and a two-hour boat trip. Boats being the only real way to spot wildlife.
Imagine my surprise to find out that Royal Caribbean Excursions were not quiet correct in their tour description yet again! There was never going to be a boat trip on this excursion….in fact there is not even a river up in the Cloud Forest! 38 extremely unhappy people on the bus.
It was a huge drive up. Close to three hours. Most of it on a dirt road. Much not a great dirt road. I think many of the people may not have been on dirt roads as they didn’t enjoy it much.
BUT… I did get to go up to the highest point of the country. To the continental divide and the Cloud Forest. Up at 1,500 metres and in constant cloud. It was raining – much to the surprise of many of the other people on the coach, who had to line up and buy jackets! They came in shorts and tee shirts. I thought the names – Cloud and Rainforest may have been a giveaway.
There are twice as many species of trees here as in the continental USA. And amazing creatures….but we didn’t see any.
The tour was included a forest walk. So we headed off on a well-trodden path for a 12-minute walk. Was a bit like a walk through the Botanic Gardens. Some of the plants were amazing. We did walk over a suspension bridge but it was over a service road.
We then went up to the Gondola. That was the Air part, and took about 11 minutes. It was fun. Cool. Windy, cloudy. We were never going to see any life on the ride…but maybe at the top. At the top there was a coffee shop and a platform. No walks, no sky bridges. The cloud was amazing. So pretty. The canopy is different to ‘normal’ rainforests. Not the flat even top. It is not dense at all with many ‘tall poppies much taller than the others.
We had 30 minutes up there…. Enough time to spend money on Hot Chocolate then down we went.
We weren’t happy.
But… then at the bottom they came out to take us on the Sky Bridge Walk. There are six of these bridges.
Everyone in my group was too cranky to come on the walk. So off I headed with my private guide. After five minutes two others caught up….but after 10 minutes they decided they had had enough and went back.
The path went up into the forest and past great plant life. This was total virgin forest and amazing. Giant trees. Tree ferns similar to ours but on tiny thin trunks. Liana vines 70 metres long.
Hummingbirds and all the others don’t come out and feed in the wet. Don’t know how they survive as it’s always raining.
We then crossed the first suspension bridge. Built on the same design as the Golden Gate Bridge. 256 Metres long and 50 metres above the forest floor. And nice and bouncy!
The plant life was amazing.
Up near the second bridge was a group of Howler Monkeys. Not as close as the ones in Panama but still great. At one time, one leapt to another branch and missed. It crashed down through the trees.
A mother and small baby were part of the troop.
And then we turned around and went back. Don’t know what happened to all the other bridges.
Woodpecker Hole
And then back to the ship. It was so wonderful to have been up in the cool. It was still 25 degrees but raining and when in the gondola, very, very windy! Glorious.
Back down the entertaining road and back to the ship.
Everyone stormed the Excursions Desk to complain. I waited until the next day.
Day 9
AT Sea.
There was a big excitement at 4 am. The ship seemed to swing in two right angle turns. Things flew off cupboards and draws and doors swung and banged….. but then back to sleep.
Thanks goodness. A sea day.
Our progressive trivia team is doing very well.
Choir practice. The leaders think we have a PhD in music. It’s a four part harmony, with a 30 page document of sheet music and a ‘schedule’. Pretty funny!
I did a team puzzle activity. You get a pack of clues and need to solve a crime in 60 minutes. We weren’t very good!
Saw a wedding!
We had the Crown and Anchor do and a few friends turned Pinnacle – including two Aussies, that we have cruised with before.
There was a beautiful touch where they had two crew do the entertainment. One was a singer from housekeeping, then a pianist from the dining room. Beautiful to show them respect like that.
Captain Michael, who is lovely and sociable, gave a great talk. He told us that he was the captain of an oil tanker. I would roll 30 degrees and life was tough. One day a cruise ship sailed past – stabilisers out and very steady. That’s all it took. He changed jobs!
He also told us about the shipping channels off Central America and the fishermen! Who fish at night and aren’t so good at staying out of shipping channels if the fish are there. And they fish in groups.
That was our 4 am excitement. Numerous boats without lights on were in our channel and it was throw us around, or squash the fishing boats.
It only takes 60 seconds for the stabilisers to be put out and take effect.
He knows that now!
Alex the Hotel Manager then told his story. As a kid he loved two TV shows. ‘The Love Boat’ and ‘Hotel’ so his career choice was obvious.
Super Mario gave his talk. He is a lovely guy. 7,600 Crown and Anchor points (remember 700 for Pinnacle). He cruises 50 week a year.
Day 10
Port Quetzal, Guatemala
I loved Guatemala!
It’s the north most of the Central American countries, joining Mexico. It’s the most populated country in Central American with around 16.6 million people.
This was the territory of the Mayan people.
There was a savage civil war involving many massacres, from 1960 to 1996, of course with US involvement.
Someone asked on the bus today if Guatemala produced oil. “Yes, all gets sold to the US”. That made sense.
As a result of the wars, it is still very poor with a high crime rate and a very low ranking on the UN Human Development Index! 31/33 for the Caribbean.
Today’s trip was up to Antigua, the Colonial capital. Up in the central highlands, it’s a really well preserved Spanish Baroque architecture town, now a UNESCO site. Beautiful.
But first……….Who books a tour that leaves the ship at 7. AM!! Fool. Another huge day trip.
The drive up was amazing. Antigua is surrounded by three volcanoes. One of them being “Volcán de Fuego”, the one that erupted in June 2018, killing nearly 200 people.
And started erupting again three days ago. The highway was closed as it spat and spouted. It stopped erupting yesterday and the roads were all opened.
And we got to see it as we drove along. In fact we got to see at least six eruption. The tour leader was on the phone every 30 minutes checking safety, so all was good.
The mountain would sit there like a mountain…..then poof. A spurt of dark grey, solid thick smoke shot up and then folded and billowed for many minutes.
Amazing to watch.
What was not amazing was when we drove through ‘Ground Zero’, the site of the destruction from June. The village was destroyed. All the houses, school, church, roads! All the trees were dead over many acres.
The reason they had so many deaths was that it happened on a Saturday. And rather then get out of there they all started videoing it and posting it on the internet. The super-heated Pyroclastic cloud got them all. They had plenty of time…. But didn’t go!
Our first stop was at a Coffee farm. Guatemala coffee is the best! So they say. But the farm was great.
We went through the processing part. The picked beans are sun dried. They are raked out over different surfaces, all giving a different finish to the coffee – Cobbles, Concrete. They are brought in at night as humidity is bad for them and put out again it the morning.
I even drank a cup of coffee. With milk and sugar but I drank it…and it wasn’t disgusting.
We then went into Antigua. The town on the outside, then the Old Town, was amazing. Everything is in pascal colours and beautiful.
We walked for hours. It was perfectly safe and wonderful. Lots of hawkers and sellers. Not nasty and pushy. All were willing to take no for an answer. They still followed the group and people bought things as we went.
At the town square we looked at an elaborate cathedral. But were told we were not allowed inside. “How can a church tell us we are not allowed in?” I asked.
All the others in the group seemed to accept this. “they don’t want hordes of tourists going in”. But I wondered how they would feel if it was a Mosque or a Synagogue telling them they were unwelcome!
We then went to an old convent. Beautiful building. The Nuns cells were pretty cool. Small cells with inside toilets and some with windows. They were in a circle facing inwards.
The cooking area was a big stove in a big chimney type room. The smoke up the walls was wonderful. I was so cranky to see how many ‘lovers’ had written their names, in recent years, onto the ancient smoke covered wall. I did wish many of them ill will for their actions. Was fun naming them in my ill wishes.
Lunch was at a very flash hotel. Most exciting was a huge pergola area with the most amazing flowers dangling. Kind of like a dainty wisteria with hanging orange flowers that looked so fake. As I was admiring them…… hummingbirds came down to feed. Squeal! So fast. So amazing. So hard to photograph. Hahah.
Food could wait. I had Hummers to watch.
Then a visit to a Jade factory. Guatemala is one of three places in the world that has Jade. And has many colours. Green where it contacts copper when forming. Milky colour when it contacts Titanium. Black from Iron. The Mayans used it extensively and it was rediscovered in 1974.
Very cool.
This is the retirement fund for the owners for the factory. A giant lump of jade.
Poor quality Jade used as floor tiles inthe Jade shops.
More walking around then back to the ship. We were only 40 minutes late! We did get to see a few more eruptions on the way back.
A message at Ground Zero to teh First Responders. “You are the Heros!”
Lots of people were out on deck five and clapped for us as we walked in. Funny.
Super day!
Next page – Mexico.
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