Panama Canal Cruise – Days 2-4

January 28, 2024

I thought it would be informative to post our basic itinerary for the cruise. It gives an overview of the entire trip. After leaving the Port of Miami, we spent the next two full days at sea – making our way through the Windward Passage between Cuba and Haiti towards the port city of Cartagena, Columbia.

As to be expected on a large cruise ship with thousands of people, we all experienced days that we weren’t feeling up to par. In all fairness to the cruise line, they did an excellent job of providing hand sanitizing stations throughout the ship. But, those pesky germs are everywhere! For my sister, it was our first day at sea. She was still recovering from a on-going cold and the travel from California took its toll on her. She opted to sleep in this morning and rest for much of the day in the cabin. Mom and I left for breakfast with the main goal to explore the ship and get familiar with all the amenities.

I was curious about the Observation Lounge which was located on Deck 15 and encompassed the entire deck from mid-ship to bow. It is a large, spacious area with floor to ceiling windows and comfortable seating throughout. A continental-style buffet breakfast and lunch (including a bar) are available from early morning until mid-afternoon. We decided to head there for breakfast and check it out. The only hot item on the buffet here is oatmeal so I indulged in that and embellished it with a bowl of fruit and a chocolate croissant. (I became enamored with chocolate croissants while in France as they were often served in our gîtes.) Of course, coffee and orange juice were also enjoyed!

After a leisurely breakfast, Mom and I went back down to Deck 8 to walk The Waterfront – an outdoor walkway that wraps around the ship from the port side of mid-ship to the aft and back to mid-ship via the starboard side. Along the way, there are shops and outdoor cafes and bars.

Once Mom and I had traversed The Waterfront, we headed back inside to the Atrium. Located on Deck 6, this is an open area with a large screen, a small dance floor and spacious seating area where lots of activities take place throughout the day. This morning, the entertainment staff offered up a Cha Cha dance lesson which I was eager to participate in and it was loads of fun! Throughout the cruise, there were a few line dancing sessions as well. I took lunchtime line dancing classes for years when I worked at Dartmouth College and was thrilled to be able to get some refresher classes!

Directly after the Cha Cha lesson, the staff entertained us with a presentation about Columbia. We stayed to listen to this since our first port of call would be Cartagena, Columbia. I should mention that each day our cabin steward, Asa, left us a printed program guide called the Freestyle Daily so that we could plan our day in between port excursions. It included a schedule of events happening aboard ship as well as other useful information about each port and special activities.

By the time the Columbia presentation was over, it was lunchtime. The Local is a bar and restaurant that mimics the atmosphere of a local, corner bar in any neighborhood in Any City, USA. As I mentioned, all of the complimentary dining establishments were included in our cruise package cost. Along with The Local, there are six other restaurants on board that we could choose from for our complimentary meals. We managed to sample them all during our cruise more than once!

In the afternoon, Mom and I parted ways. She headed up to the Observation Lounge to chill out with some reading material and I went to check out the fitness center and did a workout on the treadmill and used the free weights.

It was an NFL play-off game day so my goal for late afternoon was to find a spot to watch the game in one of the many bars that had wide-screen TV’s throughout the ship. I showered back at the room after my workout and decided to try the District Brew House which was located just outside our Deck 8 stateroom corridor. When I arrived it was already crowded but I grabbed a beer and hovered along a wall waiting to see if a table spot would open up. As I was standing there sipping my beer, I started talking to three other ladies who were traveling together from New Jersey who had the same idea – pounce on a table once someone left!! Luckily, a table opened up and they invited me to join them. Although they were routing for Kansas City (and I was hoping for a Ravens win), we had fun conversing and sharing each others stories. They were a lot of fun and we had some good laughs! I ran into them several times throughout the cruise.

I went back to the room at half-time since it was obvious my team was going to lose and connected with Mom and my sister, Vicki. She was feeling better and we decided to dine at Savor. I had the flounder embellished with an arugula salad and carrot cake for dessert. It was scrumptious!!

After dinner, we had a busy night hopping from one venue to the next. We enjoyed a comedy act with Brandon Vestal at the The Social comedy club, listened to the country music band Lili Band at the “Q” Steakhouse and ended the night with some easy listening piano music with “Paula” in the Observation Lounge.

After just one day, I was definitely getting into the rhythm and culture of “cruising”! 🙂

January 29, 2024

Last night, we looked over the Freestyle Daily for today and circled our favorite options so we woke in the morning with a plan of action. It was another full day at sea to explore the ship and take in some of the activities on board.

We ate breakfast at the Garden Cafe buffet and I opted for a “made-to-order” omelet!

We parted ways after breakfast with a plan to join up in the Atrium for the line dancing class at 11:45am. I went to workout at the fitness center again as I was determined to keep up my normal exercise routine!

The line dancing class was fun even though the dance floor was kind of crowded and the timing was such that we headed back to The Local afterwards for lunch. After lunch, my sister and I decided to get into our bathing suits and see if we could find a spot in one of the many hot tubs located on the upper decks. We finally found a less crowded hot tub on Deck 17 – the Sun Deck. We only had one or two other folks sharing the space with us at a time and had some nice conversations with a Canadian couple and a retired teacher from Brooklyn.

In addition to our complimentary dining package, we purchased three “specialty dinners”. These restaurants required reservations and each one offered a specific ethnic focus. Our first specialty dinner was tonight at the Food Republic – serving up Asian fare and specializing in sushi. We could choose 4 different dishes each and it was an insane amount of food!

We had another busy night of venues ahead of us! We hit The Social comedy club at 7:30pm to get some more laughs from comedian Orlando Leyba and at 9:00pm we headed to the Bliss Theater to see a Beatles tribute band their performance The Beatles Experience: Beatlemania. This performance focused on the early years of the Beatles and it was spectacular!! The Bliss Theater is an 840+ seat performance venue and we would be back there a few more times for other shows.

After the show, we went back to the room for an early night since our Cartagena port excursion would be leaving in the early morning.

January 30, 2024 – Cartagena, Columbia

I was excited to be getting to our first port of call and woke up early as we were pulling into the Port of Cartagena. It was not surprising to see all the containers piled up on shore.

This morning was my mother’s day for not feeling well and she opted to forego the excursion and rest on the ship. My sister and I arrived at The Local for an early 5:30am breakfast before heading to the rendezvous location where we would meet others in our specific tour group. Most excursions had a meeting point in the Bliss Theater where we would leave to descend to Deck 4 to disembark the ship. Our tour left at 7am and the whole process was very well organized. Our excursion was titled “Let’s Take a Selfie” and the focus was on key historical landmarks and areas where we could “take a selfie”. Most of the excursions were about 4 hours and this one was no exception. Our tour guide, Charlie, focused his talk on the history of the city as our bus took us to the Walled City area and the Fuerte de San Felipe de Barajas. Both sites are now UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Columbia is known for several things – rum, chocolate and coffee – and we would be getting a “tasting” of each along the way. I will say that our tour guide warned us before we exited the bus that we would be bombarded with street vendors and we should beware of pick pocketers. He told us to just be polite to the street vendors and say “no, gracias” and that is precisely what we did over and over that morning!

The Walled City is located within about eleven kilometers of fortress walls that were built in the late 1500’s to protect the city from pirates and foreign entities. It is filled with narrow, cobblestone streets and colorful, colonial architecture. Our first stop was in the part of the walled city that was – how shall I say – less cultured and affluent. It is an area known as the Getsemani district. I was drawn to the narrow streets, the prevalence of colorful wall murals and the unassuming architecture.

We stopped at the Plaza de la Trinidad to view an ancient 1600’s church, the Iglesia de la Santísima Trinidad and take some photographs.

In the plaza are two statues that have historical significance. The man with the fist raised is Pedro Romero. He was a blacksmith who lead the struggle for independence from Spain in 1811 with a movement that began in this plaza. To his left is the Franciscan priest Father Umaña.

This whole area of the Getsemani neighborhood has a real bohemian feel and is known for the many street vendors lining the streets.

The mural below is significant as it represents a blackbird called Maria Mulata which I read is the official bird of Cartagena.

We left the Walled City for a brief stop at the Fuerte de San Felipe de Barajas. I had thought we would have time to climb to the top of the fort for a bird’s eye view of the city but that was not to be. We had only 15 minutes to grab a coupe of photos. The fort was built in 1536 and underwent several expansions in the 1600’s under Spanish rule. It was built on a high spot called San Lázaro and proved to be a strategic military location for protecting the area. As was typical of this area and much of Central American, slave labor from Africa was used in the construction of many of these historical landmarks. This theme repeated itself in almost every port we visited.

We left the fort and headed back to the more upscale section of the Walled City. Here we strolled through the streets, visited the Plaza de Santo Domingo, viewed the Catedral de Santa Catalina de Alejandría and wandered around the Plaza de la Aduana. We also viewed the Santuario de San Pedro Claver from the ourside. It was a whirlwind tour along busy streets crowded with tourists!!

Sadly, I read where this plaza was the site of many executions of Jewish people and non-Catholics during the Spanish Inquisition. We left this plaza and walked the streets heading towards the Plaza de Bolivar.

Our tour guide pointed out some of the decorations of the buildings throughout this area. On certain buildings, the decorations were in the form of frogs, mermaids, lions and other symbols. These status of the people who resided in these buildings was represented by the symbol that embellished their outside walls and doorways.

Just before reaching the Plaza de Bolivar, we stopped to watch this street art vendor produce one of this pieces.

From here, we walked to an emerald museum and shop where we could use the restrooms and listen to a short talk about the emerald industry in Columbia.

Once we all had completed the rest stop, we ventured over to the Catedral de Santa Catalina de Alejandría in the Plaza de la Proclamacion and were allowed to go inside.

From here we moved on to the Plaza de la Aduana – the city square that served as the administrative center during the colonial period.

Our last landmark was a short walk from Plaza de la Aduana to the Santuario de San Pedro Claver. This is a 16th century church named for an early canonized abolitionist. It was built over a span of 80 years starting in 1580 and is home to an archaeological museum as well.

Finally, we were getting to the end of our tour but, before heading back to the ship, stopped off at a couple of places for our tastings. We visited a small cafe where they gave us all a sample of some very strong Columbian coffee! And, from there we visited a chocolate shop where we were treated to a shot of rum and some exceptional chocolate. We also got a brief talk on the chocolate industry in Columbia.

We were dropped off near the port and had to walk through a small nature area to get back to the ship. It was fun to see some of the native animals on display here.

It felt good to be getting back on board the ship and relax after the snapshot tour of Cartagena. We were tired from all the walking and also hungry for some lunch!

We got back to the ship around 12:30pm and went to the Observation Lounge to grab a lunch snack and sit for a while.

Dinner that night was at the Manhattan restaurant. Mom was still feeling under the weather so my sister and I dined there and then sat in the Atrium listening to a 50’s and 60’s band before heading back to the stateroom for an early evening. Tomorrow would be our Panama Canal Transit and I definitely wanted to be up early so I would not miss anything!