Splendor: Christmas on the Canal

[flossie009]

Cartagena, Colombia is not the most attractive of ports

 

but we saw some attractive sights around the town

 

 

Plenty of retail opportunities were offered, with sometimes a bizarre selection of items

 

 

 

 

Edited December 24, 2022 by flossie009

[Dr. Cocktail]

22 hours ago, Kristal Blade said:

He turned on me, saying “As a 400 day passenger with Regent I know how this works”. 
 

 

As someone who has *ahem* gotten himself in some occasional trouble with my overly fast responses, when I read this I thought that my immediate response would have been:

 

"That's FANTASTIC! You don't look a day over 395!"

 

And now that I have your attention,  I must thank the OP for taking us along. VERY much appreciated on an extremely cold, Canadian Christmas Eve!!!

 

I hope you have a fantastic Christmas and New Year!

Edited December 24, 2022 by Dr. Cocktail

[flossie009]

Our guide asked what commodity Colombia is most famous for. He seemed most put out when everyone replied “Drugs” 😮

The correct answer should have been “Coffee”

 

One of the town squares was full of large Christmas themed models, which probably look better when lit at night

 

 

 

Following our excursion it was good to get out of the heat & humidity and have a cold drink back on the ship.

 

Tonight there is Goose on the menu, then a Christmas show in the theatre at 9:30.

The crew got see the show last night with a special performance for them at 11:30 after many had finished their evening duties.

 

Happy Christmas everyone 🤶

 

[Kristal Blade]

We saw lots of the sights that flossie009 did. I ended up taking lots of pictures of door knobs! Fortunately I won’t be boring you with them as they are on my camera.

 

it was a very hot, humid walk round Cartagena but it was a very pretty and well maintained city. There was hardly any litter, much tidier than our town centre. 
 

We will miss the goose (it’s not my favourite meat) because we are at Prime 7.

 

We are watching the news about the desperate weather in USA. I hope everyone is safe and not being impacted by the ice storms. I think lots of people will have a white Christmas this year.

 

Stay safe and have a fabulous Christmas.

[flossie009]

The goose was very good, followed by Christmas pudding.

 

The entertainment team did an excellent job with the Christmas Show

 

 

 

 

Tomorrow we transit the Panama Canal

 

[Kristal Blade]

A man a plan a canal Panama

 

We are living the palindrome! We get the best shots from our tv screen.

 

Below the canal pics is one of the gorgeous Christmas present we had waiting for us last night.

A lovely glass globe paperweight. 
 

 

[cwn]

25 minutes ago, Kristal Blade said:

A man a plan a canal Panama

 

We are living the palindrome! We get the best shots from our tv screen.

 

Below the canal pics is one of the gorgeous Christmas present we had waiting for us last night.

A lovely glass globe paperweight. 
 

 

We got one also. They are nice!

I laughed when I saw you canal picture…. Agree some of my best pictures have come to me by the ship’s bridge  camera! They clean up nicely with a little cropping! Haha. Merry Christmas fron the Navigator.

Carolyn

[flossie009]

Certainly an interesting place to be celebrating Christmas Day. Pity that Splendor does not have a forward facing outside viewing area (unless you are in the Regent suite 😉)

 

 

Anyone who wants to keep track of our progress today can take a look at the webcams on the Panama Canal website

 

 

We are in the final lock at Gatun now and should be in the Pedro Miguel lock in about 4 to 5 hours time.

[flossie009]

Pedro Miguel lock

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Kristal Blade]

Great pics flossie009,

Isnt it a great day? Our balcony is too hot to sit out on and I imagine being in the Regent Suite must be extremely hot. 
We wish the captain had opened up a forward deck, it was annoying to read on the Passages that the best views from forward decks then find there was no access. That aside we have had a fab day. 
 

We tried about 12 new fruits at lunchtime, 3 of them we would eat again. Ha ha.

Im looking forward to seeing Santa in 3 hours!

[mrlevin]

9 minutes ago, Kristal Blade said:

Great pics flossie009,

Isnt it a great day? Our balcony is too hot to sit out on and I imagine being in the Regent Suite must be extremely hot. 
We wish the captain had opened up a forward deck, it was annoying to read on the Passages that the best views from forward decks then find there was no access. That aside we have had a fab day. 
 

We tried about 12 new fruits at lunchtime, 3 of them we would eat again. Ha ha.

Im looking forward to seeing Santa in 3 hours!

In addition to regent suite 700, 800, 900, 1200, and 1201 have forward facing balconies. As for the rest of us not having access blame FdR; he specifically designed explorer and splendor NOT to have outdoor forward facing areas. I strongly recommend to folks to take mariner to Alaska instead of explorer. 

[flossie009]

Coming into Miraflores locks, the final hurdle before the Pacific

 

 

 

 

[flossie009]

A large crowd in the Panama Canal visitor centre cheered us on our way, to the strains of “Jingle Bells” blaring out over the PA

 

 

 

 

 

I suppose it is one way to spend Christmas Day. Us, we would rather be on the cruise ship 😎

[ChucktownSteve]

2 hours ago, mrlevin said:

In addition to regent suite 700, 800, 900, 1200, and 1201 have forward facing balconies. As for the rest of us not having access blame FdR; he specifically designed explorer and splendor NOT to have outdoor forward facing areas. I strongly recommend to folks to take mariner to Alaska instead of explorer. 

I agree. We were on the Mariner to Alaska a few months ago. I could be on the rail while my DW enjoyed the view over the bow from the comfort of her seat consuming a libation.

[Kristal Blade]

Dinner tonight was interesting. We had no booking, but decided that compass Rose would be perfect. Unfortunately, so did everyone else.

 

After the Carol singing a massive queue built up outside Compass Rose. We let the gang go for it and went for another drink. At 7 ish we went back to Compass Rose, there was still a queue, but minor compared to earlier. Long story short, Compass Rose got us a booking at Pacific Rim.
 

We had a lovely dinner. The ladies at Pacific Rim took great care of us, the food was amazing and we loved celebrating Christmas there. We will be back for my birthday in a couple of days. 
 

We haven’t bothered with the show. The comedienne was very unfunny a couple of nights ago, we can’t believe she will have refreshed her routine that quickly! 
 

Happy Christmas everyone

 

 

Edited December 26, 2022 by Kristal Blade
Spelling errors

[flossie009]

The pre-dinner Christmas Carolling in the atrium was fun last night.

 

First the housekeeping staff had a photo opportunity with Santa

 

then the entertainment team distributed the song sheets and led the singing from the stairs

 

 

Santa was on hand for selfies by the gingerbread village.

 

As Kristal said, Compass Rose was overwhelmed with customers last night, although in our opinion the menu was better on Christmas Eve - the goose was delicious 😋

 

Sea day today

 

[1982CruzStart]

Thanks Susan. Love following your trip. Continue to enjoy your cruise. 

[Wendy The Wanderer]

21 hours ago, mrlevin said:

...  I strongly recommend to folks to take mariner to Alaska instead of explorer. 

Isn't it a bit late for that, Marc?

[Wendy The Wanderer]

On 12/23/2022 at 6:45 PM, Kristal Blade said:

Back at Setti Mare Mr 400 days was at the head of the queue stamping his feet because there was no table ready and he was being asked to wait in the Observation Lounge. I, helpfully, said we just did that, the wait wasn’t that long. He turned on me, saying “As a 400 day passenger with Regent I know how this works”. 

There's always one.  We had one once who I called a "captain of industry", i.e., A-type personality. Had an Owner's Suite on Voyager. He ended up decking another passenger and being confined to his cabin by the security staff. Another one (a female this time) sniffed at us and looked down her nose every time we saw her--she was offended that we too were in a PH suite.  Her husband dressed in nautical attire, we nicknamed him Popeye.

[cruiseluv]

On 12/24/2022 at 5:14 PM, flossie009 said:

Our guide asked what commodity Colombia is most famous for. He seemed most put out when everyone replied “Drugs” 😮

The correct answer should have been “Coffee”

 

One of the town squares was full of large Christmas themed models, which probably look better when lit at night

 

 

 

Following our excursion it was good to get out of the heat & humidity and have a cold drink back on the ship.

 

Tonight there is Goose on the menu, then a Christmas show in the theatre at 9:30.

The crew got see the show last night with a special performance for them at 11:30 after many had finished their evening duties.

 

Happy Christmas everyone 🤶

 

Really? Quite brazen to say that to a guide I presume is a local

[Kristal Blade]

Beautiful sea day today. I am enjoying watching the birds gliding along beside us.

I made a little bracelet at craft class.

In 30 mins we are going to see Top Gun Maverick. I hope I don’t fall asleep!There were  a few nodding heads during the Mayan lecture this morning plusseveral people enjoying the PowerPoint slides through their eyelids.

 

Apologies for the disjointed post, I’m only just getting to grips with adding pictures.

Edited December 26, 2022 by Kristal Blade
Predicted text error

[mrlevin]

3 hours ago, Wendy The Wanderer said:

There's always one.  We had one once who I called a "captain of industry", i.e., A-type personality. Had an Owner's Suite on Voyager. 

There are no Owner’s Suites on Voyager nor on any other current Regent ship.  

[zipcruise]

Does anybody know why the  Nicaragua stop was cancelled? So sad, we would have liked to see the volcano. Maybe still Covid issues?

[mrlevin]

49 minutes ago, zipcruise said:

Does anybody know why the  Nicaragua stop was cancelled? So sad, we would have liked to see the volcano. Maybe still Covid issues?

I was told by Franck that it was “political.”  Has regent ever been successful in stopping at Nicaragua?

[zipcruise]

Thank you so much for this information. Too bad 😟, but of course - safety first.