Journey LA to Miami

[beachseeker]

Pam, I have tried posting a couples of times and the Internet has timed out on me. Hopefully, I will be successful this time.

Friday was the transit through the Canal. It was the first transit for us, so we were on our balcony or a deck all day. We entered the first lock around 8:30 am and exited the last lock around 5 pm. It was very interesting and still amazed at the engineering involved. Hard to imagine something designed around 1914 is still functioning. After leaving the last lock, the seas picked up and we were rocking and rolling until midmorning on Saturday.

We docked in Cartagena midday and first to debark left the ship around 1 pm. We had a private tour of 6 with Dora. We left the ship together and met up with Dora's representative at the pier and she took us to meet Dora. We had a tour that went to the monastery, fort, and old walled city. It lasted slightly less than 4 hours and was very informative. It was a good tour and I would recommend Dora.

Saturday night was the White Night Party. Please don't make comments, but we just don't enjoy the buffet or barbecues hosted by Azamara. And the menu in

Discoveries was one of the strongest of the14 menus. So, we ate in Discoveries and then joined the party on the pool deck. It was a beautiful night and the party was hopping. We left around 10 and had a nightcap in Spirits.

We enjoyed the old city so much that we booked a tour of the walled city by horse drawn carriage through the ship for Sunday morning. While we visited many of the same sites as yesterday, our guide told us a few things we did not hear yesterday and we enjoyed the carriage ride through the old city. All aboard was at 11:00 am and we sailed for Miami. The captain is promising calm seas as we head to Miami.

[uktog]

Have to agree. I highlighted on our post after quest in Dec/Jan always check the MDR menu on White Nights. For us it was the surf and turf. What we do is have our desert on deck - usually timing to arrive just as they are making the crepe Suzettes

[Loucat]

So glad to read your posts. Thank you for sharing your Journey experiences.

We board along with many others on Wednesday and your information was helpful. (Stopper and all:)

I hope you have a wonderful sail back to Miami with calm seas!!

[Familygoboston]

We found the Internet funky during the Panama Canal and PC too - not sure what that's about! It was better at sea!

You are doing the reverse of what we did a couple of weeks ago! I just "passed" you in my review- having just completed the Panama Canal transit and white night posting today!

How nice that you had a day and 1/2 in Cartagena, I wish we'd had more time, our Dora tour was great, but not near enough time!

 

Happy sailing back to Miami!

[beachseeker]

Final sea day. Seems like the 16 days passed so quickly but they have been a delightful 16 days. Our first cruise with Azamara four years ago was exceptional but our second was a bit disappointing so we so pleased that this cruise has exceeded our expectations. It has been as close to perfect as you can get. We change tier levels on Le Club Voyage after this cruise and we were able to book a cruise using our earned Free Nights on board for October 2017. It connects to a cruise we already have booked so we will be experiencing our first b2b.

 

The seas after leaving Cartagena did not calm as expected but finally smooth seas mid afternoon yesterday. Seas are absolutely beautiful today. We were invited to dine with the Chief Engineer last night in Discoveries. DH and I joked that after 20 cruises we finally received an invitation to dine with an officer. Guess we just needed a cruise long enough that they ran out of important people in invite! Joking aside, it was an unexpected invite and we enjoyed the evening dinner very much.

[beachseeker]

I keep a digital diary of our travels. If you would like to see our pictures from the cruise, here is the link.

 

http://travelingwiththehairs.blogspot.com/2016/03/panama-canal-on-azamara-journey-march.html

[upwarduk]

I keep a digital diary of our travels. If you would like to see our pictures from the cruise, here is the link.

 

http://travelingwiththehairs.blogspot.com/2016/03/panama-canal-on-azamara-journey-march.html

 

I have had a quick look through all your photos, wonderful.

Thankyou.

[Clarea]

Enjoying the report, thanks.

[Azamarajunkie]

Excellent report Beachseeker, enjoyed your Blog enormously as it echoes so many of our views of the same cruise. We were on the Whale Watching trip at Cabo with you - the English couple that sat at the bumpy end of the boat!

 

We also did the ships Photo Safari in the afternoon and had some great views of a couple of whales jumping out of the water. We finished our cruise off with 5 days in Naples FL, revisiting the area after a near 20 year absence and particularly the Dairy Queen on Sanibel after a tour of Ding Darling:)

[beachseeker]

Excellent report Beachseeker, enjoyed your Blog enormously as it echoes so many of our views of the same cruise. We were on the Whale Watching trip at Cabo with you - the English couple that sat at the bumpy end of the boat!

 

We also did the ships Photo Safari in the afternoon and had some great views of a couple of whales jumping out of the water. We finished our cruise off with 5 days in Naples FL, revisiting the area after a near 20 year absence and particularly the Dairy Queen on Sanibel after a tour of Ding Darling:)

 

Thank you for responding. I love it when I can put a face with a screen name. So glad you were able to spend a few days post cruise in SW Florida. We think this area is pretty special.