Live from Island Princess New Year's Panama crossing

[mringenoldus]

Day 1

We arrived on the red eye from PHX to SJU on Wednesday morning. My concerns about the Philadelphia weather were unfounded and the flights went like clockwork.

 

A quick taxi ride ($20 gov. controlled rates) and Platinum check in line took about one hour total.

 

We purchased a few 6-packs of Coke at the liquor shop on the pier. There is no problem bringing them and one bottle of wine onboard.

 

We were surprised at how many children/families are on this ship = but Youth Security is seen almost everywhere and we've not had any real issues.

 

We were very tired so we chose the buffet, hit the casino and then off to bed. It was nice that the next day was a sea day so no need to get up early.

 

Day 2

We had an awesome time meeting our CC roll call. Princess set this up in the Bayou Cafe for us with a no host bar. We later played trivia with some of our new friends - what a great group of people! We went to the speaker on Aruba.....have to say it was so boring I dozed off (more on this couple later). DH had some actual luck in the casino. He won a small progressive and then another very nice hit. He left for the evening up about $400. The weather was quite nice and the pool area was very busy all day.

 

Day 3

We had a short stop in Aruba and had scheduled the sub tour. We dove to 130 feet and really had a good view of the coral reef, fish and turtles. I thought it was a pretty unique experience. I did a little shop browsing and bought a new swimsuit for my spa appointment - which I need to head off for pretty quick!

 

The same couple actually managed to make the history of the Panama Canal pretty boring. I know I could do better if Princess would like to give me a free cruise to give a few talks!

 

The service has been very good with some noticable gaffs (such as two crew members playing smoochy face while attending to the elevators as we embarked) I will admit that we were very spoiled by the staff and the beautiful pool area on the Azamara Jouney in October - so the bar is rather high.

 

We ditched formal night so I can't tell you about the dining room food - but the buffet has been just fine. The sugar-free desserts are remakably good.

 

See you on Day 4 - Cartegena!

[Colo Cruiser]

Enjoy!! :)

[CruiseFanII]

Thanks for taking the time to update us while on the ship - DH and I will board Island Princess in Acapulco on Jan 26th -- and we can't wait. Hope you are having a fabulous time.

[vickie_bernie]

looking forward to more

[miagirl]

Thanks for posting live! We leaving on this trip on Jan 15th. Two quick embarkation questions 1) what time did you get to the pier? (We two night pre in SJ, but not with Princess, so I've been trying to figure out the best time to get there.) and 2) which pier? (We're sailing from the Pan American pier over by the airport and I'm wondering if there are shops there.) Can't wait to hear about Cartagena!

 

Thanks again for posting!

[Druke I]

Keep the reports coming.

[mringenoldus]

Mia girl - we arrived at the port around 1PM. Our ship didn't sail until 11PM. The liquor shop at the pier is the only store at the Pan Am Pier but there are shops in Condado which is on the way towards the pier. I would probably save my shopping until later however.

 

Michael - always good to hear from you!

 

Day 4 Cartegena

We had the most amazing luck in being connected to a private guide through Trip Advisor. JJ was a "a walking history book" and spoke excellent English. He was waiting at the bottom of the steps as we disembarked. He took us right to the front of every line and parking area. We visited La Popa, the fort, the walled city (excellent!) and drove through the new city stopping at an emerald factory. For all of this he only wanted $30 per person. We felt his service exceeded that amount and paid him accordingly.

 

The pool was VERY busy this afternoon with families - it was a pretty warm day. Then it was back to Trivia which we play with a wonderful couple from our CC roll call.

 

We will be on ship for the next two days as we travel through the canal. I am eager to see how the staff celebrates New Year's Eve. But not too much celebrating for us as we have Charlie Soto's zip line tour the next morning!

[Colo Cruiser]

Sounds wonderful. :D

[mringenoldus]

Day 5 Panama Crossing

 

We watched the Patriots win on the big screen in the Explorer lounge last night. The crowd was largely NY Giants fan - but it was fun! I hope they show the Rose Bowl also.

 

We are currently in Gatun Lake. The manuvering of the locks is AMAZING! I think the Caribe cabin balcony gave a great view. DH found access to the front of Deck 10 through the crew only door which had no plexiglass to block the view. (our new Brit friends alerted him to the access)

 

The weather is warm but pleasant. Those of you cruising after us are really in for a treat. I hope you have reserved your excursions if you are using Princess as the most popular closed very early.

 

See you on Day 6......Day at Sea/New Years Eve!!

[miagirl]

I'm getting so excited about our trip reading your posts, thanks so much!

 

Can you give the contact info for your guide in Cartagena? He sounds just what we're hoping for. It's a pity that the guest speakers are so boring. I was looking forward to that, we've had such great ones on our previous cruises.

 

Do you know if they are offering the Chief's Table dining experience on the Island? It sounds very interesting, but I've only seen mention of it on the larger ships.

 

We're going on Charlie's Crocodile Man tour. I just didn't think I could zip.

 

Enjoy your day at sea!

[Gabrielle R.]

Day 5 Panama Crossing

 

We watched the Patriots win on the big screen in the Explorer lounge last night. The crowd was largely NY Giants fan - but it was fun! I hope they show the Rose Bowl also.

 

We are currently in Gatun Lake. The manuvering of the locks is AMAZING! I think the Caribe cabin balcony gave a great view. DH found access to the front of Deck 10 through the crew only door which had no plexiglass to block the view. (our new Brit friends alerted him to the access)

quote]

Where are you located on the Caribe deck? We jsut booked stateroom 335 (I think that is the number- it's mid ship) I know it's a balcony on Starboard- any view better than another as you cross the canal?

How hard was it to get through on deck 10 to see the crossing?

Thanks! Gabrielle

[Bucky3]

Thank you so much for posting live! We are on the April 21st RT from LA cruise on the Island. I know our itinerary will be different than yours, but we are booked with Charlie in Punturenas and anxious to hear all about your experience. We do not want the zip though! Enjoy - we look forward to your posts.

[Coolmama_1]

Sounds like you are having a fabulous time. I am enjoying your posts. Happy New Year!

[Coolmama_1]

Sounds like you are having a fabulous time. I am enjoying your posts. Happy New Year!

[mringenoldus]

We have had a nice relaxing day. It was a bit cloudy so the weather was a bit cooler but still nice enough to swim. The pool area was quite busy.

 

They had the "inventory sale" today trying to sell off a lot of Alaska items, jewelry sets, purses etc. DH bought a sleeveless reversible fleece lined vest for $24...not bad.

 

The chef demonstration was very good - he managed to make four dishes in one hour.

 

We continue to meet nice people - but there is some growing unrest about unsupervised children. I don't think anyone predicted there would be so many.

 

Miagirl - I bet they will have a different speaker when you board. No chef's table - they discontinued it. A passenger doing a B2B said that they had been very worried aboutziplining on the first leg with Charlie - but plan to do the even longer lines on this leg of the voyage. They said it was great!

 

Gabrielle - I will look at 335 but I believe you must be about midship. It makes no real difference which side of the ship you're on to view the canal.

 

It's quite easy to just walk through to the front of deck 10. You can also do the same thing on deck 11.

 

Time to get dressed for dinner - everyone is looking pretty darn good! But no lobster for dinner...bummer.

 

Tomorrow - Puntarenas

[60ANDREADY2CRUISE]

Very interested in who you used in Cartegena as guide:rolleyes:

[vickie_bernie]

just some info on Chef's Table option, it is currently only being offered on Crown and Emerald. It appears the Emerald has not had it on the past couple of sailing because of Norwarlk prevention, but the Crown has had it.

[mringenoldus]

Sorry - I forgot to answer the question regarding the Cartegena guide.

 

The gentleman's name is JJ. The way I located him was very interesting. I was on the Trip Advisor Cartegena board asking about the area when another poster from Canada told me about him. She had used him 3 times in the past. She did the primary contacting as he doesn't have a web site. I have his phone number - and I think he is definitely worth the cost of the call. (The trip advisor contact actually called JJ all the way from Canada while we on tour to be sure everything was going OK - some people are very,very nice!)

 

If you email me (m_ringenoldus@hotmail.com) I will get you more information and help you set this up when I return home on Saturday.

 

I warned JJ that when his reputation got out on CC - he better get a web address!! (He says he has to rely on his 10 year old son to help him with computers :)

Maureen

 

PS the New Years Party was a blast - very high energy!!

[Polar Bear]

Sorry - I forgot to answer the question regarding the Cartegena guide.

 

The gentleman's name is JJ. The way I located him was very interesting. I was on the Trip Advisor Cartegena board asking about the area when another poster from Canada told me about him. She had used him 3 times in the past. She did the primary contacting as he doesn't have a web site. I have his phone number - and I think he is definitely worth the cost of the call. (The trip advisor contact actually called JJ all the way from Canada while we on tour to be sure everything was going OK - some people are very,very nice!)

 

If you email me (m_ringenoldus@hotmail.com) I will get you more information and help you set this up when I return home on Saturday.

 

I warned JJ that when his reputation got out on CC - he better get a web address!! (He says he has to rely on his 10 year old son to help him with computers :)

Maureen

 

PS the New Years Party was a blast - very high energy!!

 

Thank you for posting...you have mail. We are going to be in Cartagena in Apirl...we are on a full tranist from Ft. Lauderdale to Vancouver on the Coral Princess....we have also booked with Charlie Soto....interested in how your tour went?

 

Great report...thank you ...I just New Years party on the ship would be a blast...now I have to work on Hubby to sail :D

[Jesterscourt]

Thanks for taking the time to keep us posted during your trip. Are you using the internet cafe? Do you have unlimited minutes (we had that as a suite amenity last year on CB.) Would you recommend the Island (or Coral) Princess for the Panama Canal if it were during school (i.e. early Dec.) so there would be fewer kids? We are considering this for next year but have several ships to choose from and would value your opinion now and at the end of the trip. HAPPY NEW YEAR!

[kingsx]

we were their in late oct enjoy the ship .:)

[mringenoldus]

First a bit about yesterday in Costa Rica.

We met Charlie at the end of the pier. I believe he had at least 3 small buses waiting for his tour company. I had contacted Charlie numerous times (to which he was very responsive) to verify that we only wanted to be our specified group of 12 CC members personally excorted by Charlie, himself.

He had always confirmed that request.

 

When we arrived each bus was full with about 18 people (very nice bus however) We ended up splitting our group into two different buses - one would be doing ziplines at Villa Lapas. The other doing much more aggressive zip lines at Tu kum baari.

 

We chose Tu Kum baari which was $60 for 7 very long lines. The last line was over 700 meters! They also had something called the Superman where you lie in a prone position going over 60 miles per hour. They had butterfly gardens and a tram ride too. A very good buffet lunch was included. Charlie provided the transportation for an addtional $25. During the trip we stopped at crocodile viewing, fed some monkeys and kotamundi and stopped at a local market for coffee and hot sauce.

 

For a total cost of $85, the activites were quite good but the experience was not what we hoped for since we were now with people we didn't know (and by the end of the day the small children were understandably tired and cranky)

 

Speaking of children - I mentioned there are many. Fortunately our portion of hallway has been quiet. However, yesterday someone placed a privacy card in our key slot and the room steward assumed I must be ill in the cabin and left the room as is the entire day. This meant that he had to clean the cabin after 7PM at night which made me feel really badly. Someone else cracked off half of a plexiglass clock and threw the broken piece on the floor. It took some force to do something this ridiculous. Apparently, the trip before only had 6 children on it. This particular itinerary is OK for 10 years and over - but it isn't a great idea to bring so many infants and little ones. (It also wasn't a genius idea to put the ice cream shop in the adult pool area)

 

San Juan del Sur is a small, simple but very authentic town. We enjoyed just strolling through it. Da Flying Frogs was waiting for us and some others but we decided not to zipline again today. They have 2.5 kilometers of zipline with 13 platforms - so it was probably a lot of fun for a reasonable price. If my young adult kids had been with us, I'm sure they would have been glad to do it two days in a row...but I'm getting too old :) We had a really pleasant chat with a young man as we sat at a nice beach bar. Just a nice low key day.

 

There is a third formal night tonight with the champagne waterfall. I've decided to take advantage of a spa special later this evening. Then a bit of Casino fun - we have actually been a bit lucky on this trip. The casino has some very nice staff.

 

Tomorrow.......Puerto Quetzal/Antigua

[Colo Cruiser]

Makes me want to be back onboard. :D

[miagirl]

M - I've emailed you directly for JJ's phone number - thanks in advance! (My name is Nan Garcia, hopefully you'll be able to spot my email.)

 

Hope you enjoy your time at the spa, usually one of my favorite places.Did you notice if the spa was offering a "pick three" sort of port day special this trip? I love that one.

 

You frightened me when you mentioned the third formal night, I've only planned for two, but then I realized that NYE must have been a formal night.

 

It's a pity that some people think that they can take a vacation from being a parent when they are on a cruise.

[mringenoldus]

miagirl

I did receive your email and have sent my DH back to the cabin to get the phone number. I'll send it on the hotmail account. I hope it works out since I know you won't be disappointed.

 

They did have the pick three spa menu. The 20 minute hot stone with 20 minute foot and ankle massage was $89. Be sure to check your port

excursion ticket envelope as I found a $20 spa credit voucher in there.(biut it can't be combined with a discount service)

 

Puerto Quetzal

At the last minute this morning, the Captain decided to cancel the Guatemala port. They are expecting very high winds later today and he is concerned about our being able to leave Puerto Quetzal to make it to Huatulco. He does expect to have us in to Huatulco by 8 AM (3 hours early).

 

I always feel badly for the merchants and tour operators when this happens as they lose a day of income.

 

Off to enjoy the warm, sunny day!