The Panama Canal cruise was one of the few major cruises that Kathy and I had yet to do but we weren’t too enthused about spending 15 or more days on a cruise. Princess Cruises offers a nine day cruise but it only goes half way into the canal, turns around and goes back out the same way. They also offer an eleven day cruise that completely transits the canal and we figured that itinerary would be perfect for us. Kathy is a travel agent and recently completed the Princess Cruises Academy certification so we received several upgrades and shipboard credits which gave us more incentive to choose Princess Cruises.
The adventure begins…
We left Sacramento on the day of the “Storm of the Decade”. Many of the flights that day were cancelled or delayed and the airport recorded wind gusts of 66 mph – not exactly ideal conditions for taking off or landing. Luckily for us, we had an evening flight to Los Angeles and it was only about an hour late departing Sacramento. When we got to L.A., we got our bags and caught the shuttle bus to the terminal with AeroMexico’s check-in counter. When we arrived there about an hour before our scheduled departure time, we were told “the flight is closed”.
Just as I was contemplating our second missed international connection in eight months (see the Egypt trip report), another AeroMexico agent told us they found two seats which turned out to be “Business Class” (actually First Class). Our flight to Mexico City ended up being three hours late departing at around 2:00 a.m. We had a few hours in Mexico City before boarding our AeroMexico flight to Acapulco and arrived in Acapulco about 30 minutes early. Things looked good until the luggage stopped coming to the carousel and both of our checked bags were nowhere to be found.
We had arranged a taxi tour of Acapulco with a driver recommended by Trip Advisor online. The driver met us as we departed the Immigration section but we had to file a missing luggage report with AeroMexico first. Since our cruise didn’t depart for another seven hours, we remained optimistic that our luggage would arrive on another flight before we set sail. Even though we only slept an hour or two on the overnight flights and were feeling down because of the situation, we stuck with our plan of touring Acapulco by taxi. It turned out our driver was not the person I had been in contact with on the Internet – he was a friend of his but he still gave us a decent tour.
Our first stop was to see the famous cliff diver’s at La Quebrada. We got there just in time to see the only show before 5:00 p.m. which would have been too late as we planned to board the ship by 4:00 p.m. We also saw a mosaic mural by Diego Rivera and the old Spanish San Diego fort. The last stop was at a “Mexican Wal-Mart” to purchase some essential toiletries just in case our luggage didn’t make it to the ship.
We boarded the Island Princess, ate dinner in the buffet and went up on deck to watch our departure. Just before our scheduled departure time, a truck pulled up stuffed with what looked like hundreds of pieces of luggage. While we didn’t see ours, we were hopeful they made it onboard and would be delivered to our state room soon.
By this time, we were running on fumes but managed to see the “Welcome Aboard” show before finally going to bed. Our luggage wasn’t waiting at our state room so we could only hope that both bags would somehow catch up with us at one of the upcoming ports as we were told could happen. Little did we know….
The Ship:
The Island Princess was launched in 2003. Its gross tonnage is 91,629 and it is 294 meters (964 feet), long and 32.2 meters (105 feet) wide. It is the largest cruise ship that will fit in the Panama Canal locks which are 33.5 meters (110 feet) wide. It also has the most balconies of any Princess ship but we don’t think the extra cost of a balcony is worth it because if you really want to see the canal, you need to be up on deck to get a 360 degree view. The normal passenger capacity is 2,368 and the normal crew is 810. The ship’s décor is very nice - nothing too garish. There are two large show rooms and the typical casino, shops, bars, lounges, card rooms, library, dining rooms, buffet, etc. found on most ships of this size.
There are three pools, one just a wading pool, the main outdoor “Party” pool and the Lotus pool. I called the Lotus pool the “Mellow Pool” and it is my favorite pool on any cruise ship I have been on. It is indoors, covered by a glass ceiling and surrounded by large glass windows so you get the feeling you are outdoors. There are plants and Indonesian style statues around the pool and they play new age music only. There are two spas and a “current machine” in the pool in case you wish to swim “laps”. It is adults only and the perfect place to read a book, do some yoga, snooze and definitely relax.
I have now cruised on Royal Caribbean, Carnival, Holland America, Norwegian Cruise Lines (NCL) and Princess and each cruise was different. I enjoyed all of them about the same and we maybe had the most fun on Holland America. My main complaint about this ship is the lack of food variety offered by the pool. On most days, we like to stay by the pool for lunch so we don’t have to change to go to the dining room or buffet. This ship had two choices outside by the pool: a grill serving hamburgers and hot dogs and a pizza place. They wouldn’t even let you go inside the nearby buffet to get an iced tea if you had your swim suit with a cover-up on. NCL had an outdoor buffet by the pool which offered a much larger variety of food and even had a special BBQ by the pool on a couple of days. Holland America also had more variety by the pool including make your own tacos.
The service on this cruise was hit and miss. The misses were mostly by the pool staff. The dinners in the dining room were excellent. I even tried the frog legs for the first time and they were delicious! Our room steward did an excellent job. I was happy that he didn’t create any towel animals as that idea was starting to get old. The show performers were the best and most professional we have seen on any cruise. We were probably in the younger half of the 2,017 passengers on the ship but one of the most enjoyable dinners was when we shared a table with a couple who were 87 and 89.
One thing this cruise didn’t have was a grand midnight buffet/chocolate extravaganza or whatever other cruise lines call it these days. We didn’t miss that at all. They did do a champagne party where the head maître d’ stacked 270 glasses into a pyramid and then filled them by pouring champagne into the top glass. This was done in the multi-story atrium and everyone was given streamers to toss and then the Cruise Director staff led everyone in different dances. It was the wildest party on the ship but not too many people chose to participate considering the average age of the passengers.
Some of the activities we saw or participated in were the food carving and ice carving demonstrations, the passenger talent show, wine tasting and I tried a couple of Bingo games with no luck.
The Cruise Director had a large staff of assistants who all were either from Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand or South Africa. They really tried to create a party atmosphere but again, judging by the average passenger age, there weren’t too many party people on this cruise. I think the Panama Canal cruises tend to have older passengers and the Caribbean-only cruises tend to have younger passengers.
One night, when the karaoke ended and the DJ started at about 11:20 p.m., everyone but us and about six other people got up and left the lounge. We requested our favorite song to dance to: You Shook Me by AC/DC. The DJ obliged by blasting our song which probably drove the few other people out. We didn’t care – we created our own party.
Princess Cruises is now owned by Carnival Cruise Lines. Carnival also owns Holland America Line, Windstar Cruises, Cunard Line, Costa cruises and the Yachts of Seabourn. From our recent experience with some of the other cruise lines, Carnival has allowed each cruise line it has acquired to keep their own distinctive style.
Ports:
Our first stop was Huatulco, Mexico. We didn’t do any of the optional shore excursions here, deciding to just walk to the shops and beach right near the ship. They have a very nice beach there and we bought a few items of clothing: hats, tee-shirts, bathing suits, etc. as our luggage was still MIA (missing in action). Kathy wanted to try on a bathing suit but the shop didn’t have a changing room so I held up a serape in a corner of the shop – changing room Mexican style.
The next stop was Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala. We again passed on the shore excursions and just walked around the shopping booths near the pier. We could see a few volcanoes from the pier area.
We did take an optional shore excursion in Nicaragua. We docked in Puerto Corinto and took a bus to the colonial town of León. We saw a mural depicting the history of Nicaragua and went inside the La Asunción Cathedral where the tomb of the immortal father of Castellana literature, Rubèn Diario is located. We climbed to the top of the Cathedral for great view of the town and several volcanoes, one of which, San Cristobal is venting steam.
Our guide told us all about Nicaragua’s history including the last war between the Contras and Sandinistas. I don’t know why we backed the Contras (OK the Sandinistas were friends with Castro) and politically, things aren’t bad there with the Sandinistas in charge. I really think the U.S should have stayed out of all the Central American countries that had civil wars going on in the 70’s and 80’s. We always seem to back the corrupt dictators like the Somozas in Nicaragua and Noriega in Panama just because they were anti-communist. None of the Central American countries are Communist now so I don’t know what all the fuss was about.
After León, we drove to the bubbling mud pots of San Jacinto – an area of geo-thermal activity. We walked along many boiling and steaming mud pots and could see one steaming volcano in the distance. There were many kids there “guiding” us for tips.
Our next port was Puntarenas, Costa Rica. We had just been there about three years earlier so we passed on the optional shore excursions and again just checked out the shops by the pier.
Next on the itinerary was the highlight of the cruise – the Panama Canal. Started by the French, who attempted to dig a sea-level canal, the construction was taken over by the United States government after the French company went bankrupt. The Americans changed the concept to a lock canal. Only about one-half of the excavation accomplished by the French was usable by the Americans.
The Panama Canal could accurately be described as a water elevator. When ships enter the locks, they are raised in several steps 26 meters (85 feet) above sea level, and then lowered back down. The whole transit takes eight to ten hours depending on the ship traffic.
Amazingly, the water enters and leaves the locks by the force of gravity alone; no pumps are used. All the water for each passage comes from Gatun Lake, the largest man-made lake in the world at the time. All the water is lost to the Pacific Ocean or the Caribbean Sea after each ship passes through. There are three locks on each side of the lake.
Considered one of the world’s greatest engineering feats of all time, the Panama Canal was opened to ocean going vessels in 1914. The ships enter and leave the locks on their own power but are prevented from scraping the sides of the locks by electric towing locomotives on tracks. The ships are tied to the locomotives on both sides and the tension on the lines keeps the ships centered in the chambers. Our ship only had less than a meter on either side.
We were up on deck at sunrise just in time to see the approach of Panama City at the entrance of the canal. Our narrator had already boarded the ship so we missed her introduction but from her knowledge of the canal, I believe she had lived and worked in the Canal Zone for many years. The Canal Zone was American territory until the final transfer to Panama in December 31, 1999. We passed by several sites of former U.S. Army and Air Force bases. As we did, I thought this would have been a great place to be stationed. We also saw several crocodiles, the construction sites for the new wider canal being built and passed under two bridges along the way – the Bridge of the Americas and the very modern looking new Millennium Bridge completed in 2005.
As we floated through the canal in our luxury liner with pools on deck that we could jump into to cool off and cold tropical drinks available at any time, it was hard to imagine that 5,600 people (mostly West Indian) and 350 Americans died from Yellow Fever and Malaria among other hazards during the ten-year construction period. Though a tragic toll, this was only a quarter of the number lost during the failed French effort.
We ended up staying on deck the entire nine hours it took our ship to transit the canal. It was fascinating watching the water level rise and fall in the locks and the huge container ships in front and in back of our ship raising and lowering with the water level.
Just before departing the Panama Canal, we watched a small boat pull up to our ship and I swore I saw my luggage on its deck. Sure enough, my luggage was delivered to our state room but somehow, Kathy’s got separated from mine and was still MIA. One of the ship’s Assistant Pursers, Marco had been working hard to locate our luggage the whole cruise. He had a tough job as a total of 33 passengers had lost or delayed luggage. Since our next chance to get Kathy’s luggage was in Aruba as it was not recommended to send it to Columbia, Kathy told Marco that if her luggage was ever found, they should just send it back to Sacramento.
After entering the Caribbean Sea at the Bay of Limon where Columbus took shelter from a storm on Christmas Day, 1502, we headed for our next stop – the walled city of Cartagena, Columbia. We took an optional shore excursion which included an old convent called Convento de la Popa on top of a hill with a great view of the city, the Fort of San Felipe de Barajas, the most important work of Spanish engineering in South America, a shopping stop at the “Dungeons” and a walking tour of the old city which was quite picturesque with narrow streets and wood balconies. The Mayor of Cartagena even got out of her car and said “Hola” to Kathy.
The next stop was Aruba where we walked around the colorful capital town of Oranjestad and then took an optional land tour to Arikok National Park. We hiked thought the park seeing many types of cactus, divi-divi trees, aloe vera plants, colorful lizards, an iguana, bats and native petroglyphs. After Arikok National Park, we stopped briefly to swim at Baby Beach where the white sand was like talcum powder.
After sailing 2,939 nautical miles (5,439 kilometers) our final destination was San Juan, Puerto Rico. We had both been there before but when Kathy was there, she didn’t have time to see much so she booked us one night at a hotel in Old San Juan. We walked around the walled Old Town and saw San Juan National Historic Site which includes two very interesting old forts: Castillo San Felipe del Morro and Castillo San Cristobal. That night, there were three large cruise ships in town so the narrow cobblestone streets were very crowded with passengers on “shore leave”. We ate at a nice Italian restaurant and bought tee shirts at the San Juan Hard Rock Café, located in the “oldest building in San Juan” according to one employee. In San Juan, we experienced our first rain on the whole trip but it only rained for about 20 minutes while we were walking around.
We decided to arrive at the airport three hours before our flight home and when we tried to check in, were told we were a “no show”. Apparently, Delta Airlines changed our departure time from 4:55 p.m. to 9:45 a.m. but never notified us by email or phone. After arriving home, I did have an email sent the day before stating it was time to check in electronically and showing the new time but we had no reason to check our email after getting off of the ship.
Without apologizing, the Delta agent got us on a United flight that was scheduled to leave shortly. It went through Chicago instead of Atlanta. When I asked him what happened, he said we should have reconfirmed our reservations and I asked him when, a day before, a week before, a month before? We were notified by email two months before of a slight change but not for this one. He didn’t really answer me, just pointed us toward United’s counter. We were lucky because United’s flight was full and we actually arrived in Sacramento about 30 minutes before our Delta flight would have arrived. Kathy’s luggage arrived at Sacramento, flown in on Mexicana from who knows where about an hour after we did and was delivered to our house the next morning.
Epilogue:
While we were pretty bummed out about not having our luggage, we decided to make the best of it and still were able to do and see everything we had planned. We hand washed the few items of clothes we had and Princess was great – they loaned us formal wear and gave us toiletry kits and $250 in shipboard credit. We packed all our valuables, cameras, and an extra set of clothes, etc. in our carry on bags but with the tight liquid restrictions, you can’t bring much in the way of toiletries.
We’re still trying to get reimbursed from AeroMexico for the approximately $200 we spent on clothes and other essentials . They only offered us $50 total and said we had to contact their Los Angeles office to file our claim. Even with everything that went wrong on this trip, we still had a great time and learned some valuable lessons for future trips!
One last thing: Kathy and I are pretty good at the trivia games played on all the cruises we have been on. On the second day of our cruise, we won the Trivia Challenge and were awarded the grand prize – Princess Cruise luggage tags!
