Author: happyhoursahoy_1

Did not expect the water to be so beautiful here. Wow…

So the French and the English both attempted to build the canal but failed… The US successfully built it (costs US 375 million) and in the process also helped Paname became independent from Colombia…… Total of around 27000 people sacrificed in building this canal… What a history

Pic above From Wiki as well as: “The American Society of Civil Engineers has ranked the Panama Canal one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World.”….. We were very excited to cross it today

The whole crossing took about 9 hours, we were going through the old locks that opened since 1914 (an expanded canal opened in 2016 that can fit bigger ship) old locks can only fit ships up to 1000 feet long, our island princess is 964 feet, one of two older smaller ships of Princess fleet that can fit into the old locks of Panama canal

The first lock we crossed is the Gatun Locke which had three chambers that raise us a total of 85 feet to a man made lake : Gatun lake

After exiting the first lock, we were at Gatun lake which was surrounded by dense forests with wildlife activities… It was sunny at first, but then it starts pouring rain….beautiful rain or shine..

Took about 3 hours to arrive at the second lock Pedro Miguel lock to begin our descend into Pacific ocean

3rd lock is called Miraflores locks

After we exited the locks and level up with Pacific ocean, breathtaking view of Panama city and Frank Gehry’s museum was in sight

We were so happy to be able to cross the Panama canal since we were diverted and couldn’t cross the Suez canal (Suez canal is a sea level canal that does not require locks and chambers to transit) … Panama canal is truly a man made wonder and we are grateful for the opportunity to cross it…. If it was not build, all ships needs to go all the way down to Cape Horn, risk the treacherous sea near Drake passage that surround Antarctica and loop back… And that’s a much scarrier and longer voyage….

We did not expect too much from this port stop but turns out it has strong characteristics and idiosyncracies…. The fun starts at the cruise port and they said it’s one of the most beautiful cruise port in the world… Packed with parrots, peacocks, other birds, fishes, monkies (we did not see monkies but others did) .. .. Like a tropical paradise

We tried to get an Uber to go to the old city and our driver turns an Uber ride into a private tour with great value… Thanks Pedro!!

The historic old city of Cartagena and the Castle San Felipe de Barajas were both listed on the Unesco as world heritage site and that’s where we were going…

Castle San Felipe de Barajas was uniquely shaped and grande with many tunnels… We don’t know why Pedro took us to a shoe sculpture and insist it’s a hot spot for photos but we humor him… We really enjoyed the castle, spent almost an hour there climbing up and down through tunnels and stairs

And then he took us to a chocolate and coffee shop…. Both important Colombian delicacies

Next Pedro drove us to historic city center and went on walking tour… First stop is Las Bovedas, a formal prison dungeon turned big market place

We love the way women here dress..

Pedro lead us through streets, some touristy, some quiet… All so very beautiful

We were overwhelmed by all the beauties and colors of the old city of Cartagena…. Another city we definitely wants to come back again

100 days on the island princess today!! The end is near…. This calls for a celebration!!… there’s a wine tasting today that’s free for elite members and $20 / per person for non elite

Tasted a total of 5 wines : one prosecco, one chardonnay, one pinot noir, one merlot and one sweet souvigon blanc. Surprisingly the Merlot tasted the best and I don’t really like Merlot

Sounds familiar? On day 68, we were at Cartagena Spain.  Two different countries with the same port city name… We are looking forward to visiting a new country: Colombia!!

As we sailed close to the Caribbean Sea, the weather is finally pleasant enough for us to do zumba on the open deck……. Hard to imagine just couple of days ago while we were on the Atlantic, it was windy and chilly

We turned princess elite status from Florida onwards and now we can enjoy free laundry, one time mini bar set up and one time wine tasting… The most exciting part is free laundry…. Yay!!!

Florida just went through a Once in a thousand year event… Too much rain after a long drought… Seems every where there’s a weather phenomena lately… But we were glad we were welcomed with a wonderful weather today

We joined an excursion and went for a airboat ride at the Everglades (river/swamps)… A very unique scenery of Florida of Unesco status

Airboat are the only boat that can travel on the Shallows (2 feet deep water) and the others needs to stay on the canals (highways of the Everglades). They are very loud and they glides on water…. Super fun… We really enjoyed the unique landscape of the Everglades

Next stop is the Flamengo Gardens, a 60 acre botanical garden and wildlife sanctuary

Fun facts : Alligators (messy teeth) and crocodile (neat teeth) coexist in Florida… We are the world ✌️

The Florida stop is short and sweet… Did not have a chance to eat or drink locally but we will live😆… Oh the Flamengo Garden crew showed great hospitality by giving us ice cream!!

Came back to a ship with many new passengers just got onboard and running around trying to figure out where everything is, which side is port side(left side) and which is starboard side… Makes me feel very old like the seniors first day back to school

All aboard and ready to go… Bye bye America and .. See you in two weeks after we cross and checked out the Panama, Colombia, Costa Rica and Mexico!!!

Woke up with the moon on our left and the sun on our right

Today is the last day of the east coast world cruisers who started from Florida 111 days  ago…. So tonight’s nightly show was extra special..crews and entertainers taking a bow saying their goodbyes

And at the dinner table, all the galley crews came out to say goodbye while passengers wave their napkins

Packed bags lined stateroom pathways for pickup… The amount of luggage some people have is astounding

They said around 1200 are leaving us tomorrow (only around 500 world cruisers from los Angeles left… The Florida world cruisers out numbered us by almost 3 to 1) and 1500 more new passengers will join us …. It will be a big reshuffle tomorrow….

Yes, we will be back in US in two days….but on the other side of the continent 😆…. Will take us 15 more days to circle back to LA.

Yesterday we had a festive sail away party while we were leaving Bermuda..  where officers and passengers dance together and the entertainment crew ended the party with a bang…by jumping in the pool.. They are truly the best entertainment team! Great synergy and humor amongst themselves and interacting with guests…

Last night’s performance by a group of guys from New York who called themselves Shades of Buble was very charismatic and high energy.. They sang  Michael Buble (sorry don’t know how to type that special E) songs

Today we were treated to a galley kitchen  tour….. We can smell our lunch all through the tour….. They are doing an amazing job day in and day out keeping more than two thousand people well fed and happy

Also we had a ukelele performance again this time at the piazza instead of the theater and it’s fun… Fellow shipmates were all so supportive and encouraging!!