Panama Canal Cruise

Captain Karin as she takes the Monarch of the Seas away from the dock in Columbia. ...The last couple of days we partied...Halloween....Midnight buffets and Chocolate buffets. It was our last chance to "belly up to the buffet" I hope I didn't gain too much weight on the trip...I didn't want to weigh myself when I got home. LOL We did have fun on the cruise, but I don't think I want to take a 17 day cruise again....just a little too long on a cruise ship. However, I did enjoy not doing laundry, housework, dishes and cooking for 17 days!!!! Life is good!

Day 14 we stopped for half a day in Cartagene, Columbia. This was one of the prettiest cities we visited. The streets of old town reminded me of New Orleans. The tour guide said that the new president has been cleaning up the crime and making the country safer. We did see more beggers in this country than we saw in the others. The street venders were more presistent than the ones in other countries too. A lot of them had to be told many times that we were not interested in what they had to sell....one even followed us back to the van and continued to try to sell us "silver" as we were pulling away from the curb!! This was our last stop before heading back to the states.

Here we are heading into the last lock on the eastern side of the Panama Canal before heading into the Atlantic Ocean. We didn't get to stop in Panama. The ship did stop at the Cristabol Pier to let us shop, but we didn't really get to step onto Panama soil! :( That was an experience! I didn't take my camera since I thought it was just another place where "Made in China" items were for sale. There were some of that, but they also had native items for sale. There were also some very interesting natives dancing for us as we got off the ship. The women were very tattooed on their entire topless half!! They guys enjoyed that part of the trip!

We went through a set of locks on the western side of the canal, then into a "lake" before going through the eastern side of the locks. The lake was more like a river, as you can see in this picture. They were building a second canal that will accommodate larger ships. We could see the construction of the second canal on the left of the ship. It looks like it will be many years before they complete it.

We were told that the captain of the ships give up control of the ship to a pilot who took us through the entire canal. To navigate each lock we were pulled through by small "locomotives" tied to the ship. The picture at the top is of one of the original locomotives used in the early 1900's. The picture at the bottom is one of the ones that pulled us through the first lock. Oh, by the way, the captain of our ship was a woman. Captain Karin is the first female captain of a Royal Carribean cruise ship.

Panama Canal

Day 12 we cruised the Panama Canal. The temperature and humidity outside were almost unbearable, but that didn't stop a lot of people from "camping out" in deck chairs for the entire day! Wow were there a lot of very sun burned people that evening. I took the top picture of the first lock we went through from the comfort of the Windjammer Cafe...where I "camped out" for the day! Close to the food, drink and air conditioner.

Day 10 we stopped in Costa Rica. We heard that the downtown wasn't far from the ship, so six of us decided to walk there...well, I think we went the wrong way...we found a bar where we got 2 beers for $3. We spent a couple of hours walking and checking out the local vendors...never found downtown....then headed back to the ship....again stopping at the bar where we had another 2 beers for $3. In the first picture the smaller ship was the one we traveled in...the Monarch of the Seas. The beach was very dirty, but the locals were having fun swimming in the water. We didn't even venture out on the sand!

On day 8 we stopped in Puerto Quetzel, Guatemala. We didn't take a tour into the countryside..we decided to visit this little tourist center at the end of the pier. We tasted the local "drinks" and checked out all the shops. Here I bought a few souvenirs. They make some very colorful clothing items, beaded items and wood carvings. I didn't see any "made in China" items for sale. The children in the middle picture were making colorful place mats.

Every few days our stateroom attendent left us cute animals made from towels. I think this one was my favorite.

Our second stop was in Acapolco. Eight of us rented a Van and took a tour. Our last stop on the tour was to check out the cliff divers. The divers have to time their dives to the waves since they dive into a narrow strip of water next to the cliffs. As you can see they climb down the side of the cliff and jump at different locations on the side of the rock. Some of the divers were very young, but a couple of them looked like they were in their 40's.

Our first stop on the Panama Canal cruise was Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Our ship docked with a view Wal-Mart and Sam's Club. Just a short walk found us in the Super Wal-Mart. It was an interesting experience. Many of the items for sale are very different from the states, but other things were the same. We didn't buy anything there, just looked around. We also checked out the local shops close to the pier where local ?? items were for sale. It is amazing how many things had "made in China" on them!! LOL

Just the 2 of us

Here we are in our tiny cabin. We had to go outside to change our minds!! LOL