National Geographic/Linblad Quest Voyage
West Coast Costa Rica and Panama with Canal Transit
San Jose (Puerto Caldera) - Colon, Panama

February 2022, 7 nights

Leaving aside the drama of arriving sans checked bag, this recounts my experience aboard the Quest.

Overall impressions: This small ship (100 passengers, we were 45) is comfortable, tidy, attractive, well staffed, and offers good and plentiful meals. This is not a gourmet cruise yet mealtimes are convivial, food is tasty and service usually quite good. Wines are quite good. Staterooms in all categories are small yet well organized and bathrooms are very good with great shower pressure. excursions, two or more a day, were all nature-focused but that is known to be the case. All featured a variety of exertion levels from “sit in chairs on the beach” to “climb up steep stoney path to waterfall.” Only one snorkel expedition. Dress was, praise all divinities, exceedingly casual if not downright rustic, befitting the expedition style of the cruise. Likewise this is a self-selected group of cruisers who are friendly, open-minded and unpretentious (barring one venture cap dude). Most over 60, fairly fit (but not I) and all courageous when it came to the zodiacs!

Ours was a Category Five cabin, the highest, slightly bigger than most with big picture window on the top deck. Next time I would choose one deck down (Category 4) which has a small balcony. Housekeeping was excellent.

The point of this sort of cruise is flora and fauna with emphasis on the latter. It’s all about leaving the ship on zodiacs to hike, walk, sit on beaches, see birds and butterflies, sloths and monkeys, sea life, and bouncing around on zodiacs. Zodiacs are the only way to get off and back on the ship during the entire voyage but for embarkation and disembarkation.

Expeditions were fun if a bit hair-raising for me. Crew were amazingly adept at helping even the most clumsy, wobbly, zaftig and inflexible get on and off the zodiacs. Guides were superlative and knew their stuff, and how to spot elusive birds and monkeys. They also were funny and worldly. I quite liked them. I left this cruise with enormous admiration for crew and guides.

The Canal transit was at night, starting around 9pm. Having been born and raised in Panama, I am blasé about this waterway but others were ecstatic. I’d have been happier with a daylight transit.

Cost
Highest category cabin: $10,200/pp
Lowest category $6,300

Is the purchased Wi-Fi package faster? I board Quest in CR Sunday.

I think the American Trade Hotel in the Casco Viejo neighborhood is the best and most reflective of being in Panama.

Well, the McCullough certainly is the most popular book. Keep in mind it is written from the U,S. perspective and thus ignores many salient aspects of the build. For a more rounded historical perspective there is Ovidio Espina’s “How Wall Street Created a Nation: J.P. Morgan, Teddy Roosevelt and the Panama Canal.”

And from the perspective of those who actually dug (and blasted) the canal (and died in their thousands) you need the brilliant “The Canal Builders: Making America’s Empire at the Panama Canal” by Julie Greene.

Added benefit: both shorter than McCullough although I am partial to door-stopper volumes.

[Born in Panama, raised in the Canal Zone (Balboa), bilingual. Dad was an engineer for the Panama Canal Company (Admin building), Mom a bookkeeper for the U.S. Army in Corozal. Freshman at Balboa High School during 1964 Flag Riots. Will return to Panama and do a full transit and Costa Rica cruise with Nat’l Geographic in February 2022.]

I cannot make a direct comparison with Seabourn but WS is head and shoulders above Regent and Silver Sea.

On 8/8/2020 at 8:23 AM, minidonuts85 said:

@susiesan Many Cruises were already cancelled from the May announcement including some in January that included the Panama Canal.
 

That is correct.

Windstar (and other cruise lines) continue to advertise heavily on- and off line. Which befuddles me because no one knows when cruising, even on smaller vessels, will be sufficiently safe. Despite the size of the vessel, the crucial issue is crew who are bundled up closely in their cramped quarters. 

My January 2021 Windstar Panama Canal transit was cancelled and that makes sense to me. But, I am nonplussed by Windstar and other lines exuberantly  pushing their cruise advertising in this unsettled time when no one knows what will happen with cruising in the next years.

Why bother to post this? I’m interested to know if others think cruising, via Windstar or any other line, will resume in the near term. It’s reasonable to suggest cruising would resume after wide availability of an effective vaccine. But that vaccine still is out of reach and, whilst, there is much hoopla, there is little concrete info, so ... who knows. I suggest cruising is unlikely to resume until there is a reliable vaccine. Reliability is key. First generation vaccines may not be more than 50% effective. 

And, is anyone else annoyed that Windstar (and other cruise lines) continue to advertise and pretend cruising will resume in the near term?

I don’t think Windstar is part of a mega conglomerate such as Carnival, Royal Caribbean, and Norwegian Cruise Line. Well, it is cuddled up with Xanterra but that would be a mini-conglomerate. Which is no bad thing generally but during this pandemic (and aftermath), I worry Windstar will find it difficult to re-establish itself.

During our July Alaska cruise aboard Star Legend, our group of five found candles to be decidedly ho-hum. 

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http://click.email.cruisecritic.com/?qs=b86f590b9bfc64d60ff10344da6d241868fa63fd00c2a6b073172d9a23fe92c09a3c666b07ecbf566db991d51af23e118f044eed680236867c4b636e8c89cddc

Winding up my experience with using Luggage Forward to ship one piece of luggage to the Star Legend in Vancouver from my home in Palo Alto, CA.

In a word — flawless. Easily booked on their website, picked up promptly, delivered to my suite on Star Legend. No issues, smooth. I will use again.

As for the “official” library — I became known on board as the book lady for the tomes I left in the library and handed to fellow passengers. The expedition staffers and naturalists were especially appreciative. They asked, and I had to answer, “Yes, I’m a librarian.”

As of now, before stretch, Star ships have owners suites between 575-645sqft, and classic suites of 400sqft.

But Wind Surf still, has smaller cabins than the motor yachts, yes? 312 guests on Wind Surf, 212 on The Star ships.

I should have said I am looking only at the motor yacht sailings, the Star series. The sail  yachts too small for us.

Yikes, not February 5th. July 5th. I‘ve been off kilter for weeks. Yesterday I thought it was October.

If my beloved however demented husband is up for this, I am likely to book a transit voyage December-March. The trick for us will be booking an owner's suite or the next category down (classic?).

Here is an update on the process with Luggage Forward.

Early last week they sent me the label packet with instructions (easy to follow). They said my bag would be picked up at my home on February 5th between 1-3pm. At 1:30pm today, Feb. 5th, I received email notification that the bag had been picked up.

So, pretty easy.

We sailed that itinerary in 2017 on Star Pride and could not have been happier.

Jim and I were very happy in an owner's suite last summer aboard the Star Pride on its Midnight Sun cruise out of Edinburgh to Iceland via Norway and the Faroes. The only perk is being ushered into a very nice area and being checked in separately from other guests. There was a lovely bouquet in the suite but I don't know if others received same. Perk or not, lovely.

The suite is, as indicated above, a true suite, around 640sq.ft. The outside deck was furnished with table, two chairs, and two sun loungers. The living room is very comfortable with good seating. Extra half bath. We probably spend more time in iur duite than do ithers; playing chess or scrabble, reading, gawking at the views from our deck. A couple of times sea gulls befowled our windows so the steward cleaned the windows to spotless.

Suite was very quiet, never any noise. Hot tub in use at times but we suffered no discomfort therefore.

In just about a month we'll board the Star Pride in Vancouver for an Alaska cruise, once again in an owner's suite. Very excited!

FYI, I travel often with my CPAP, always in checked baggage. Nary a problem in 12 years. Thus, I've zero qualms in chucking it (well padded) into the bag Luggage Forward will speed to our Star Legend suite in Vancouver. I am a copacetic traveler in the main.

This reminds me of the prescriptivists vs descriptivists dictionary wars ... the descriptivists won by a large margin. But, that particular war was much more civilized than the one in this thread in which those upholding standards are not much observing politesse.

More reading for cruises:

Popping in to say Jim and I are cruising again this summer on Windstar -- Star Legend from Vancouver to Seward, it's the Alaska voyage! Friends from NYC sail with us. We all are thrilled to pieces. Jim and I are happy to be entrusting ourselves yet again to Windstar.