Day by Day on the Island Princess thru Panama Canal

[Essiesmom]

Approaching Gatun Locks

 

 

 

[greenie082756]

Just pure wow! Those photos are good.

 

Over a year until we do this. Happy feet! :D

[Essiesmom]

Into the middle lock at Gatun. Note how high the ship is:

 

All the way down now, not all the windows have disappeared:

 

 

Heading into the last lock:

 

 

All the way into the third lock, gates are closing.

 

[Essiesmom]

And off you go. Hope you enjoyed your transit, you had great weather! Have a good day in Cartagena. EM

 

[ar1950]

Essiesmom, thanks for the great screen grabs. Nice to see what was happening, when it was happening. Much better than the links to cameras that just have a black screen now that I have time to look at the thread. This way tells a nice story. :)

[easyboy]

Nice photos Essiesmom.

[HaveDogWillTravel]

That's good to hear, Pam; a group of six of us have three of the new Vista Suites on Aloha Deck in early April.

 

I cruised in Aloha 727 last May and Aloha 729 this January. I put a you tube video up for A729

If you'd like to see it. I really loved these suites. The decks are not private but I did not care.

[debi56]

Gwen, how was the Panama, patiently waiting. :)Enjoying your review, thanks so Much!

[Sackat60]

Thank you for posting this day by day journal! I'll be taking my first Princess and first Panama canal cruise in a month, SF to FLL. It's wonderful to see all that there is to do!

 

Based on previous thread discussions of the bed conditions, I was planning to carry on an egg crate or thin foam pad for the bed and then leave it behind. But you say your bed was upgraded, or at least is very comfortable. I saw that the upgrade for the Island wasn't planned until 2018. Do you know if other cabins have good mattresses as well? For 15 days at sea, DH and I will be miserable if our bed sucks! We have booked an Ocean View cabin on Plaza Deck.

[GweninTX]

Thank you for posting this day by day journal! I'll be taking my first Princess and first Panama canal cruise in a month, SF to FLL. It's wonderful to see all that there is to do!

 

Based on previous thread discussions of the bed conditions, I was planning to carry on an egg crate or thin foam pad for the bed and then leave it behind. But you say your bed was upgraded, or at least is very comfortable. I saw that the upgrade for the Island wasn't planned until 2018. Do you know if other cabins have good mattresses as well? For 15 days at sea, DH and I will be miserable if our bed sucks! We have booked an Ocean View cabin on Plaza Deck.

 

I would not bother with an egg crate - they have them on board, but you will not need it. I do not think these are the newest Princess beds, but they are fairly new and extremely comfortable. We are sleeping very well! BE SURE and request a top sheet from your steward as they only put a duvet on the bed.

[GweninTX]

Fuerto Amadore – Feb.12/2017

 

We had to get up early this morning to get off the ship on one of the first tenders. We were meeting our tour company at 8:15 am for an 8 hour tour. We booked a tour thru Robtads – Robert Whittaker is the tour owner and has been very responsive to emails and is highly rated on Trip Advisor. We were on the second tender – we walked up together from the Patisserie to the Bordeaux dining room where they were handing out cards/tickets for the tenders. The tender process was efficient and we were on land quickly.

 

Our guide, Edwin had a sign with our name on it and we were off quickly in his nice van. Our tour was titled, “Grand tour 2C – Two oceans and three locks including the new Agua Clara locks”. The highlight was seeing a huge Panamax ship going thru the new Augua Clara locks. It took about an hour to get there. We were all so impressed with how modern,clean and upscale Panama was. Huge high rise buildings and large hotels with casinos. We saw an interesting 15 minute film about the making of the new locks. I highly recommend taking a tour to get you up close and personal with the locks. You see so much more than you do on the ship. We also went to the Mira Flores locks. We stopped at a local café for a quick lunch and then toured old Panama city. We saw the gold altar church – amazing! The downtown area was very interesting and reminded us of New Orleans. You could definitely see the French influence in the architecture. We were back on the ship at 4:30 and had a chance to relax before dinner.

 

If you stayed on the ship there was bible study, ping pong, morning trivia, scattergories and spa talks. In the afternoon outer space trivia, golf chipping into the pool, shuffleboard tournament, bean bag toss and the movie, “Jurrasic World”.

 

 

Dinner in the dining room had the following choice for appetizer – game & wild mushroom pate, Hawaiian fruit cup, Sesame crusted chicken nuggets with dipping sauce, Bahamian pea soup, Roasted corn & sweet potato chowder, and Chilled Granny Smith cider soup. Main dishes include pan roasted Corvina, Grilled seafood skewer, Duck ala Orange, Surf & turf, and Pad Thai. We all had the surf & turf – the filet mignon was so tender and the Prawns were huge. The desserts were not worth the calories, so I abstained. Burned rhubarb napoleon, Apple & walnut spring rolls and sugar free chocolate mousse cake.

 

In the Princess theater tonight was Chris Watkins, violinist. Two new gameshows in the Explorers lounge – Hollywould You and Musical Bingo. The first one was teams competing against each other and identifying movie songs and titles. Simone was captain of one team and one of her cruise staff the other. I did not volunteer. But we were one of the winners for Musical Bingo. Everyone had different papers, so it was truly bingo, but you also had to know the names of the songs. If you did not know the song title it appeared on the screen, but 4 songs after it played to give those who knew song titles an edge! We were the victors of the 16 patch bingo and thank goodness I knew the song, “1999”. If you yelled bingo and did not have a bingo, you had to do the chicken dance! Believe it or not, there was a lot of chicken dancing going on! We went to bed after Musical Bingo, but you could have stayed up for the Panama party. We knew we were getting up early to be on deck for the transit at 5:30 AM, so off to bed for us!

[suzyed]

HI! Thanks for the review. We are on the Island Princess in April but we are doing it from Ft. Lauderdale to LA. so some of our ports are probably different?

 

Do you remember if they have Mah Jongg sets onboard in the game room? Did you notice how many sets they had? Thanks in advance.

Will continue following....

[GweninTX]

HI! Thanks for the review. We are on the Island Princess in April but we are doing it from Ft. Lauderdale to LA. so some of our ports are probably different?

 

Do you remember if they have Mah Jongg sets onboard in the game room? Did you notice how many sets they had? Thanks in advance.

Will continue following....

 

They have 2 sets for Mahjong in the game/library room.

[GweninTX]

2/13/17 – Panama Canal Transit

 

Up early on deck 15 to get a good table in the shade at 5:45 am. We started the transit about the time we all got upstairs to watch. It was a very hot, humid day. Bright sunshine and no clouds. There was a live bridge cam on MUTS and we had a perfect view of it. Port lecturer, Humberto Neto narrated the entire day. His commentary was broadcast on open decks 14 & 15 and on channel 42 on the stateroom TV. Much of deck 7 was roped off due to the crew using that area for the transit. The open decks on 14 & 15 were prime real estate. Here was the schedule for the day – we were off about 30 minutes:

5:30 am – Pilot onboard off Balboa

6:30 am – Passing Bridge of Americas

7:45 am – entering Mira Flores locks

9:00 am – Departing Mira Flores locks

9:25 am – entering Pedro Miguel locks

10:15 am – departing Pedro Miguel locks

10:45 am – Passing Centennial Bridge

11:30 – Passing Gamboa

1:40 – entering Gatun locks

3:25 – departing Gatun Locks

4:15 – passing breakwater off Cristobal

 

It is a long day and very interesting. I think because we had such an up close look on our tour yesterday, we were satisfied to watch it mostly from our table and from the card room that had such wonderful full length windows. It got very hot after lunchtime and we were pansies and watched mostly from inside. I was so tired I took a nap at 2:30 and did not wake up till 5:00. We decided to eat in the buffet as I did not have much time to get ready for the dining room and we had such good food in the buffet. I also wanted to try the German food buffet tonight. I have heard people rave about it. It was good, but not great. My Mom was a great German food cook and I like her home made spaetzle/rivels better than theirs. They did have a whole roast suckling pig, rouladen, lots of sausages, sauerkraut, red cabbage & apples.

 

This evening, Doug Funk the comedian had another hilarious improvisation show in the Princess theater. It was also country & western night complete with trivia, wooden horse racing, line dancing & fun in the wheelhouse bar. The Accountant movie was on in the Princess theater at 9:30 pm. We played a little in the casino and I won $100 at 3 card poker.

 

Cartagena tomorrow and Valentines Day! We have a 5 hour tour so we have to be off the ship at 8:00 am. Stay tuned!

[luvthec]

Did I miss the review on your day in Costa Rica?

[Woobstr112G]

OP;

 

Thanks for taking the time to post your review. I love reading reviews of cruises that I'm getting ready to sail. 84 short days and a bag drag....:):):)

 

Bob

[Funtimes77]

We're doing the Panama Canal cruise Feb 28 from Ft Lauderdale to San Francisco, so I look forward to more of your posts. Enjoy!

[Bonnie1750]

We get on when you get off Funtimes. Really looking forward to the trip

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[Sackat60]

We'll be boarding in SF on 3/15 also. Thank you so much GweninTX for posting so much detailed information. I am a info junkie and you've really helped give me ideas on things I want to do!

[GweninTX]

2/14/17 – Valentines Day & Cartagena, Columbia

 

We started our day with coffee in the Patisserie and aprotein bar I had brought from home. We had to be off the ship early to meetour tour guide, Dora. Our group found meeting in the Patisserie a great spot. Irecommend this area for small groups less than 20.

 

We booked a 4.5 hour city tour and it was just the rightlength. It was amazing to us how much this city has changed in 15 years sinceour last Panama canal cruise. The last time we were here it was during a timeof civil unrest and was very dangerous. Everywhere we looked there was auniformed man with a machine gun guarding us. I did not see one gun today andwe went to a lot of the very same places. There is still much poverty here, butit has progressed a lot in 15 years. We started out by going to the beautiful 360degree views at La Popa Monastery. From there we went to the old fort andtoured the city. Last time we climbed to the top of the fort, we all passed onthat this time. We then toured the gold museum and a local church that was sobeautiful. We ended our tour at a local jewelry store as Marilyn bought anemerald pendant. She ended up with a beautiful piece that I am sure will becomea family heirloom. We were back on board to eat lunch in the buffet by 1:00 pm.An amusing note is that the place we took pictures last time of my husband withparrots was still there. I would like to think they were the same parrots inthat church yard, but who knows. The tradition lives on and we have pics!

 

If you stayed onboard this morning you could enjoy biblestudy, ping pong tournament, trivia and spa lectures. In the afternoon in thePrincess theater the movie, “Star Wars, the Force Awakens” was shown. You could also enjoy Win, Lose or Draw,shuffleboard, goofy golf putting challenge, Knight & Day on MUTS, and spaseminars. At 5:30 the casino had a cute game that they gave out a card to thefirst 52 passengers and people had a chance at winning a prize for the Queen ofhearts drawing.

 

In the Princess theater tonight was the production show, “PianoMan” which is a great one. They also had the marriage match game show in honorof Valentine’s day. You could also renew your wedding vows this evening in theWheelhouse bar.

 

We opted for the buffet this evening as it was SouthAmerican Churrasco night. Ron & Peggy have had upset stomachs and are not eating much. The buffet tonighthad some tasty meat on skewers and it worked great for us as we were not veryhungry. They had a beautiful valentines cake on display and cut it thatevening. It was a strawberry shortcake.

 

 

There is a horrid cough going around the ship and I havestarted coughing. I spent most of the afternoon sleeping. I have also heardthat the flu is going around too, but we had our shots so should be covered.Anyone taking a cruise should be up to date on all shots! So far I have notheard of any noro virus – so that is a blessing. Sea day tomorrow!

[GweninTX]

Did I miss the review on your day in Costa Rica?

No - it was our first port. Go back to about page 2 and you should find it there! Our favorite place - could live there easily! We have been there 3 times and if you have questions, let me know! We spent 2 weeks birding there in 2002.

[jc7292]

Hi Gwen, thank you for taking the time to write this awesome review. It brings back a lot of good memories since I did this cruise last February. I see that you have spent some time in the casino. Can you tell me who the casino host is? I found the Island to have the best casino employees that I have experienced. Is a dealer named Gabriel still there? I am thinking of booking this cruise again for 2018. Knowing the staff is the same would help make my decision.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Cruzinnana47]

No - it was our first port. Go back to about page 2 and you should find it there! Our favorite place - could live there easily! We have been there 3 times and if you have questions, let me know! We spent 2 weeks birding there in 2002.

 

 

Sorry, Gwen--I also couldn't find your comments on Costa Rica. Went back and scanned pg. 2, but no luck. We loved our visit there back in 2008 and anxious to return on our PC cruise next year.

 

Following and enjoying your review--getting revved up for our turn in 2018! Thanks!

[luvthec]

Gwen, I just read the entire thread again and see nothing about your day in Costa Rica. We will be on this sailing on March 15th out of SF so I am reading every word you write twice!

 

It has been 10 years since we were on a Princess ship so I remember very little. Can you give me a heads up on the shops on board and the types of things they sell? I'm trying to pack as little as I can and it will help to know what I can buy on board in case it is forgotten.

[Kylie]

I was anxious for your day in Costa Rica too. It must have got lost.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums