Wow! What an experience to wake up to already be sailing in the Panama Canal! A side note: one funny thing about this cruise was how many time zones we went through. It was common to have a note, along with our nightly newspaper pamphlet, to have a note that we were moving into a new time zone so we were moving one hour ahead or behind. One funny thing was that we actually went both ways!
So this morning when we woke up on the Panama Canal, it felt super early but it was later than we thought and they were making announcements about the canal. They even had an expert get over the intercom to tell everyone about it. Too bad it sounded completely incomprehensible to me. Who can even understand something through an intercom unless it is short and repeated??
I woke up right when we were sailing under this massive bridge. I wish I would have been up sooner so I could have fully enjoyed the experience. This bridge was just completed in 2019 and is called the Atlantic Bridge. It is 9,244 ft long!
Before we knew it we were already at the Agua Clara Locks that were just completed in 2016. These new set of locks were completed with 3 water saving chambers and increased the max size ships that could sail through the canal.
It was fascinating to follow this huge cargo ship through the docks. Sometimes it was easy to forget how massive the cruise ship was when you were on it, but you could see the crazy massive cargo ship with what looked like inches to spare.
Each set of locks takes the ship up 85 feet to the elevation of Gatun Lake, which was directly after the Agua Clara locks.
It is hard to get perspective on how high you are, but being this close to the lock walls helps gives you an idea.
We went out on the front bow to try to look at the last lock of the Agua Clara locks.
Unfortunately, the walls were too tall for our kids to see over very well. I grabbed a chair for Miriam to stand on for a few minutes until someone noticed and told us we couldn't do that.
Each lock chamber requires 26,700,000 US gal (101,000 m3) of water to fill it from the lowered to the raised position; the same amount of water must be drained from the chamber to lower it again.
View of the bridge from the bow of the ship.
The lock chambers are 110 ft (33.53 m) wide by 1,050 ft (320 m) long, with a usable length of 1,000 ft (305 m). These dimensions determine the maximum size of ships that can use the canal; this size is known as Panamax. The total lift (the amount by which a ship is raised or lowered) in the three steps of the Gatun locks is 85 ft (25.9 m); the lift of the two-step Miraflores locks is 54 ft (16 m). The single-step Pedro Miguel locks have a lift of 31 ft (9.4 m). The lift at Miraflores actually varies due to the extreme tides on the Pacific side, between 43 ft (13 m) at extreme high tide and 64.5 ft (20 m) at extreme low tide; tidal differences on the Atlantic side are very small. The lock chambers are massive concrete structures. The side walls are from 45 to 55 ft (14 to 17 m) thick at the bases; toward the top, where less strength is required, they taper down in steps to 8 ft (2.4 m). The center wall between the chambers is 60 ft (18 m) thick.
From what we were told, the original locks are actually more dependable and have fewer malfunctions than the newer locks. The construction of the locks began with the first concrete laid at Gatun, on August 24, 1909, by the Philadelphia-based companyDay & Zimmermann.
The Gatun locks are built into a cut made in a hill bordering the lake, which required the excavation of 5,000,000 cubic yards of material, mostly rock. The locks themselves were made of 2,046,100 cu yd (1,564,000 m3) of concrete.
Gatun Lake
It was fascinating to see the other large vessels go through the canal. From the diagram we were given this other ship would be a car carrier.
Container ship, obviously.
Tanker
We paused for a few hours on Gatun Lake, probably for scheduling reasons. It was interesting to see all of the kinds of ships pass us. Then we continued on, winding through Gatun Lake. It looked like it had as many canyons and offshoots as Lake Powell, but instead of speed boats around there are giant ocean ships.
This is Titan or Herman the German has quite the history. It was built 75 years ago to help the Nazis with the German U boats. It eventually ended up in Long Beach where it helped with US military ships. Finally in ended up in the Panama Canal where workers claim Nazi ghosts still haunt it. There are still many original fittings stamped with the swastika.
The anchor for the crane weighs more than 5500lbs.
This was a great day to have the balcony room, but we also went down to the 8th deck to walk around the waterfront.
So glad that mom had the balcony to enjoy the passage from.
We also watched it from the TV in the stateroom, but it doesn't look like it was on in this photo.
Eventually we went through the rest of the Gatun Lake and made it to the Culebra Cut. You can also see where we went out of the prow of the ship to watch going through the final set of locks.
The Culebra Cut is the narrowest part of the Canal and its 12.7 km represent almost 1/5 of the total length of the waterway. This segment was excavated through rock and limestone form the Central Mountain range of the Isthmus of Panama. With the material excavated during its construction could be erected up to 63 pyramids equal to those of Egypt.
Eventually we made it down to the bow of the ship with my parents. It was fun to see Mom actually experience this thing she has always dreamed of doing.
She was a fighter that day and stood holding on to that rail for a long time. I couldn't believe how long she stood for. The Pedro Miguel Locks are on the left.
Happy baby peaking out.
Headed into the Cocoli Locks.
You can see the pilot ship and the rolling gates. They are supposedly better than the swinging gates on the original locks, but are somehow less reliable??
These larger locks can accommodate the larger ships. Before the Panamax Locks could only have a ship at max 294 meters long in it, now withe the Neo Panamax Locks the ships can be 366 meters and almost 20 meters wider.
I was astounded at how fast the locks drained and filled. It took a few minutes, but it only took a few minutes! 26,700,000 gallons in each lock.
It was hot and humid even in the evening. Thankfully the crew had chilled moist wash cloths for whoever wanted them.
It was fun to spot the Panama Temple on the hill overlooking the canal.
See how wet Miriam's top is? My family really liked those chilled wash cloths. They also enjoyed playing games on the prow while we watched the locks.
Red happy faces. I wish we could actually see the canal in the background, but it is there.
Final lock in the Cocoli Locks.
Slow enough that it is starting to get dark.
Staying in Panama city for the night so we enjoyed the city lights while we did a hot tub soak.
The pool area was deserted so we had to snap a few photos.
Trying not to think she looks like a dead body floating in the water. The water was so warm for being this far south.
We ran into a few of the head people on the ship and they sent us treats occasionally. Check out these beautiful chocolates. Definitely a perk on having some of the only kids on the ship.
April 22 Panama City, Panama
The next day was one of the most nerve wracking of the trip for me. My parents did a train ride back to the other coast while our little family did a private tour around Panama City. This was because the train ride didn't allow little kids and the private tour didn't allow wheelchairs. There was literally nothing else that sounded good to do that day.
It made me nervous because Mom and Dad sometimes have breakdowns when they are own their own. I super didn't want one of them to get lost or storm off when we literally had no way of contacting them. In retrospect, I don't think I needed to be quite that nervous. Yes, they have had some pretty epic breakdowns before, but they were on a Norwegian sponsored excursion. That meant that there was a built in safety net of a guide trying to herd all of the people. There was someone actively trying not to lose passengers. :)
We were taken around the Cinta Costera III (Coastal Beltway) which is the third part of a land reclamation project. It is literally a road beltway that encircles the Casco Viejo (Old Quarter) of Panama City. There are many historical and governmental buildings in this area, but we noticed the crazy stilts that the historic buildings are perched on. Also, the beautiful bougainvillea.
I spy a giant cruise ship.
We headed over to Ancon Hill to walk to the top and see the view. There were lots of interesting things at the bottom, like this fairly large monument.
The walk up the hill wasn't so steep or long, but it was steep and long enough that we sure felt the heat and humidity. The hill is a little more that 600 ft high and is in the middle of Panama City.
This picture is out of order. John is on the balcony of our ship looking out at the crazy number of ships waiting for their turn through the canal.
The jungle was so thick and awesome on Ancon Hill. We heard birds and monkeys. The trees were humongous and dense! Just occasionally there was a break in the trees where we could see the view. I love the colorful buildings.
Sweaty, red faces with the Old Quarter and Costal Beltway in the background.
We were kind of fascinated by the striped caterpillars.
The Old Quarter with the Beltway and all of the ships in the distance. It is bananas to me that Panama didn't have full control over the canal until 1999.
More caterpillars on jungle trees.
A MASSIVE plumeria. I loved seeing the flowers.
The plumeria was so huge that the only photos I could really get of the flowers were of those that had fallen.
There was a bit of a complex at the top of the hill.
Giant plumeria
View of the canal.
Everything is so green there!
Panama flag
Downtown area. Apparently Panama City has become a hub of sorts for world banking. A lot of these towers have sprung up recently because of that.
We need to take more pictures where we aren't in front of the thing that we are trying to photograph ourselves with.
I love these trees!
It is next to impossible to see but there were toucans flying around, and one had landed on a tree branch.
The toucans made such an impression on Darcy that for a while after we returned home, she called all birds 'toucans'.
It is a little easier to see this one.
Such giant jungle trees! I love the girls holding hands. :)
A monument to Jimmy Carter.
Bromeliads in the wild!
We were so hot after the hill that we asked if we could stop for ice cream somewhere. Perks of going on a private tour! It seemed like we had to drive for a while, but we enjoyed some cool deliciousness.
We went to visit the Miraflores locks, and there was a fun museum that we walked through first. The picture of the locks all empty behind Miriam is quite startling. I guess it makes sense that they are really deep, but it looks so deep!
All of the ships have to be led and followed by pilot boats like these. They seem so tiny next to the giant ships.
This is a tooth of one of the excavator buckets that they used to dig the canal. Humongous!
Miraflores Locks! The swinging gates are so interesting especially because they are all still the original gates. That's over 100 years old!
Long and narrow. Unfortunately there weren't any ships actually going through the Miraflores Locks at the moment when we were there, but we could see some up at the Cocoli Locks. It wasn't particularly close though.
We had to wear masks everywhere, including in the van, and sometimes we didn't bother taking them off for photos.
Such an amazing fete of engineering.
Sleepy baby on the drive back to the ship.
We did a tiny bit of shopping before getting back on the ship.
Happy baby after nursing back on the ship.
Check out all of those ships waiting to go through or at least parked out in the water.
Panama skyscrapers and the Ancon Hill we walked up.
We loved the waterslides! John is waving at the top of the waterslide tower.
Happy pool baby.
Eating at Savor. Man looking at all this fancy food makes me want to go on a cruise again!
Creme brulee!
Darcy mainly ate fruit.
Fancy staircase leading up to the casino area.
April 23 We love the fancy breakfasts too, especially being right next to the water like this.
We about died at how cute the mini teapots were. And the hot chocolate was AMAZING. That stuff must have been made by pure cream--it was a real treat.
We didn't make it all that often to the restaurant breakfast because it had set hours for when it was available. Mom never did make it because it closed at 9:30am. She needs to sleep to at least noon most days.
Berries in her fancy goblet. Queen Darcy!
The beautiful fruit parfaits definitely resulted in some squeals.
Just missing my mom! I guess we were so pressed for time heading down to this breakfast that I didn't get my contacts in or make up on, but it was still delightful.
Belgian waffle with banana, whipped butter, and caramel sauce.
I thought that the balcony staterooms were surprisingly comfortable. True, they were pretty tiny, but the space was well thought out and was very user friendly.
I seriously loved having the room stewards come in and tidy up twice a day. The bathroom especially--it wasn't a burden to have my bathroom be cleaned twice a day. Honestly, I was astounded and how clean and nice everything on the whole ship was. It was a pretty new ship--just completed in 2019 and hadn't seen that much use because of Covid. The ship was only at about half capacity passenger wise so they probably had less staff too. I wouldn't have guessed that though because there were always staff cleaning every surface imaginable: the walls, the light runner on the side of the hallways, the balcony glass, even the undersides of the stairs on the main stairway.
We ended up taking the sofa cushion and propping it up like a wall between the kid area and our bed. That left a hard platform to put Darcy's portacrib on. It worked like a charm.
Our favorite place to eat lunch was the Observation lounge. I loved the tasty sandwiches, quiches, and basically anything on fancy bread. What a place to do make up homework, Ellie!
We thought this wall by the fancy staircase was pretty.
But of all the things on the ship, our absolute favorite was just watching the ocean off of our balcony. It was completely mesmerizing and compelling.
My four beautiful girls with a beautiful sunset.
Can you tell we liked watching the sunset?
We watched the entire sunset and were astounded at the deep purple color it turned. Stunning.
First stars
Berries for Darcy, swordfish for me. It was surprisingly good. I loved being able to try all of these different foods on this trip.
One server made Darcy a napkin penguin despite her making a mess on the white tablecloth every single meal.
Yes, to the cheesecake please.
Waiting for food to be served it challenging when you're one year old.
April 24 Puerto Caldera, Costa Rica
Rainbow off of our balcony to help us greet the day when we arrived in Costa Rica.
Waiting in the theater for our shore excursion to be called. Darcy and I got a lot of steps in, wandering around the theater.
So many macaws and toucans!
Stunning canna lilies
More wild flowers (maybe bromeliads?)
Hibiscus. We love all of the beautiful forest in Costa Rica.
Getting ready for our Tarcoles River trip. We are hoping to see some crocodiles!
It looks like just pink duck bills hanging out on the shore of the river....
oh but there is a crocodile right THERE!
Pictures really don't do it justice. The green hills, blue sky, white clouds. So lovely. And another crocodile in the river. Don't go swimming!
I loved the white cows just grazing away on the far shore. I guess they weren't too bothered about the croc infested waters.
Unfortunately, the Tarcoles River is the most polluted river in Costa Rica, and one of the worst in Central America. Sewage from the capital and just garbage gets dumped in that river. There are tons of toxins, which surprisingly doesn't seem to be affecting the number of crocodiles in the area. In fact there was a bridge that we crossed that is called crocodile bridge because of the tons of crocodiles that live there.
Not a great place to go wading despite the convenient stairs.
Kind of hot and sweaty because of the humidity. We are from the desert, can you tell?
Crocodile right next to the other boat.
The other boat driver was quite a bit more aggressive that ours. That guide was sticking its hand in the water pretending to be something to draw the croc. Our guide definitely didn't approve of these practices.
Great egret
Darcy is happier when she is having a snack, just like her mommy.
This is where the Tarcoles River meets the ocean. The water is more brackish in this river which is why the crocs live there.
Blue herons up in the trees. It was fun to see so many of the birds that we saw in the Everglades, even though we were several countries away.
Cocoa tree
These jungle plants are insane. I love how humongous, green, and flowery they are. It was fun that after the river trip, we were given fresh fruit to munch on (the fresh pineapple was outstanding!) and souvenir shopping to browse.
How many times can I say that this ship is humongous?
Tired baby after a long day of Crocodile hunting.
Costa Rica was just beautiful but I had to laugh because all of the ports were just that...ports. So many shipping containers.
Queen of the observation lounge. Yes, I'll find a velvet pillow to go on my velvet chair, thanks.
So pretty, especially if you crop out all of the shipping containers.
Just enjoying that influx of Vitamin D.
The jungle cliffs on the other edge of the bay.
We decided to take advantage of the warm weather and enjoy the pool and slides.
The ship didn't depart for a while. I think we might have been delayed? It was pure relaxation to watch the sun set from the Costa Rican shore in a hot tub all to ourselves.
Maybe by that time, there were more people there. Another kid even! Was this the little New Zealand boy who had a crush on Miriam (Auri)? I don't think so. I can't believe I didn't get a photo of them together.
It was fun to watch our progress a long the ship's map.
I don't even know what this dish was, but I know that we wouldn't have gotten it anywhere but a cruise ship.
This was a yummy one. How do I know that? Because my mom had the uncanny ability to always pick the best dish on the menu.
April 25
Messy face from breakfast the next day.
Eliza and I went to a fruit and veggie cutting demonstration.
I don't know if I mentioned before that we were given a credit to our accounts because they thought that Splash Academy was not going to be open. It was $100 each for Miriam and Holland. We mainly used it for the "for pay" activities on board. This day we checked out what our options were at the Galaxy Pavilion.
The Galaxy pavilion is a giant room full of virtual reality games. Like this one that Ellie is in front of. She just drew and elaborate line around the screen, which was turned in to a VR roller coaster for them to ride on. Pretty amazing.
As cool as the VR games are, it turns out our family is pretty happy just hanging out, reading books, playing games on the balcony, and catching a cat nap for the adults.
A lot of Dos was played on this trip. I can't imagine a more beautiful background.
Because there were so few kids on the trip, we got some special treatment. Like when we ran into the head chef and director of restaurants, and they kept sending us goodies. This one was our favorite...chocolate dipped strawberries. Yum!
At the top of the tower waiting to go down the waterslides.
The clear part over the ocean was so cool.
It looks like there are a lot of people down on the deck, but compared to the other cruise we just went on in January 2023, this is pretty sparse. (Yes, I am almost a year behind writing about this.)
John went on this slide three times. Each time he got off shaking and told me I wouldn't like it. I got a lot of pressure to do so, but I held firm. I am just not a person who enjoys the adrenaline rush. We just like what we like, and don't like what we like. For example, I like seeing whales and dolphins, and I don't like anticipating dropping a couple of floors on a ship.
Storms out in the distance.
Or maybe not so distant.
Unfortunately John had to put in some work time. Thankfully he could do that from the ship.
Couscous and some kind of fish. I love how adventurous she was in trying food.
I spy the amazing polenta on the bottom right corner.
April 26 Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala
We woke up in Guatemala! This time the shipping containers were a little farther away, but still in sight. There was this cute shopping center as passengers exited the ship. We took a bus ride through Guatemala and until we got to a black sand beach resort. It was pretty sad because the houses were so run down and barely livable. The worst part in my opinion was just the trash everywhere. There were so many areas that didn't look like it would be so bad if it weren't for the rubbish clogging the streets and vacant lots. I was really surprised that people would do that to their community. My guess is that the city services were too expensive or maybe unreliable to deal with the trash.
Despite the rough local neighborhoods, the resort we visited in Guatemala was quite nice. They killed it on the drinks. Drinking coconut water from the coconut out of a straw with the cool garnish? Yes, please! That plus the palm trees and ocean surf was such a lovely tropical vibe.
Unfortunately we couldn't really play in the surf because it was too rough.
The black sand was quite hot to walk on to get to the water, but once we got over there, it was so tempting to play in the water. Fortunately these kids and that husband had a nervous mommy and wife to remind them to not get in the water.
Honestly, how fun is this? My girls kept ordering horchatas from the in-pool bar, and before we knew it a lot of the other guests were sipping on them too.
We loved the different layers to the pool. There was a large shallow kiddie area. Then there was a tile barrier to the larger pool area. That larger area had three depths, but the deepest was maybe about 5 feet deep.
One worker told us that they had a pet crocodile. I am not sure how humane this is with the nasty water, but sure enough they had a crocodile!
Crocodiles have an A shaped snout and alligators have a U shaped mouth, contrary to everything I thought I knew.
What a beautiful, breezy beach.
Oh, my four little darlings. One funny moment at the resort was when Holland announced that she needs a vacation...from her luxurious Guatemalan resort?? Oh that girl!
This excursion included a fancy lunch with steak, shrimp, and fries. Miriam asked the guide on the bus something about if they have a lot of guacamole in Guatemala. That enterprising young woman had all three of my girls plates have a large serving a guacamole.
The coconut pudding for dessert was so pretty. I felt a little bad because this would normally feel so fancy (and it was!), but because of all of the luxurious food on the ship, this felt like somewhat normal faire.
The in pool bar where so many people followed our girls' example and ordered horchatas. They got asked several times what they were drinking. No, we weren't letting them drink alcohol, I felt like adding.
Medium pool depth. The red flag in the background was the warning not to get in the surf.
We did a little shopping in the market before getting back on the ship. Unfortunately Holland had quite the meltdown and had to get back on early with my parents, but we joined them again after we got a few souvenirs.
One of our favorite souvenirs was a little dress for Darcy girl.
Ellie and Miriam got coordinating scarves that are just lovely.
We were out on the Waterfront (Deck 8) to watch the ship depart. Truly astounding to see these giant ships move.
The ports always have the tug boats to guide them out of the bay.
Oh, I love my girls.
Guatemalan flag in the background.
Miriam was just a little bit burned from the fun day in the sun. Look at her fancy chocolate cheesecake that we got at the buffet that night. She is such a sweetheart.
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