A Peek at our Panama Canal Cruise

I totally forgot to post a couple

of photos from our fabulous

Panama Canal cruise!!!

For those who may be interested,

it was a fabulous cruise and I'd

recommend it highly.

We did the "in and out" version

and had planned on a shore excursion

on a smaller boat to take us thru to the

other side and get a different

perspective on going thru the canal,

but due to a mechanical problem with a ship

the day before, our tour boat's time slot

was bumped back and they had to cancel the tour.

Needless to say, we were totally bummed,

BUT - we did get thru the canal on one side

and it's amazing!!!!!

 

We began our cruise in Ft. Lauderdale and

our first stop was Jamaica.  Have to say

I didn't care for Jamaica years ago

when I went and this trip didn't change my opinion.

We stopped in Ocho Rios and climbed

Dunn's River Falls which was very cool,

but there are too many other beautiful

islands that I prefer to visit.

 

Ocho Rios, Jamaica

 

 

Some of the beautiful flowers.

 

Dennis & I on the aerial tram

 

View of the Norwegian Epic and

our ship, Coral Princess from the

aerial tram

 

View of Ocho from the ship.

 

View from our balcony as we left Jamaica.

 

Limon, Costa Rica

 

 

More beautiful flowers.

 

Cruising on the Tortuogera Canals.

 

Saw some howler monkeys and a few

other sights, but unable to get good photos.

 

They unofficially call these Jesus Lizards

 because they walk on water - a beautiful

big one and a baby.

 

Our "official" welcome to Costa Rica photo.

 

 

Panama Canal

 

 

View from our balcony entering the first set of locks.

 

These guys have wires attached to the ship to make

sure that it goes thru straight.  They're on both

sides of the ship.

 

The locks opposite us filling up with water.

 

You can see how very little room there is.

This was the container ship in the

other locks beside us.

 

 

It's quite the little drop from one lock to the other.

 

View from the front of the ship on deck 10.

 

Dennis

 

Moi

 

Another view of the difference in the levels.

 

Colon, Panama

not much there - a few shops

 

Dinner at the Bayou Grill sailing from the Panama Canal

 

Cartagena, Colombia

 

I have to say we were pleasantly surprised.

We expected armed guards, etc. as that was

what friends have had in the past.  None of that

and we felt totally safe.  The city old and

new was beautiful and we really had

an enjoyable time and a fabulous tour guide.

 

 

This is the "new" city and is called the white city.

 

Statue welcoming ships into the harbor.

 

This and the few below are  from

Castillo de San Felipe de Baraja

 

The next two are

Las Bovedas - used to be

the prison, but now shops.

 

The next few are walking thru

the old walled city.  Reminiscent of

New Orleans, but with a lot more color.

Gorgeous flowers everywhere.

 

The Cathedral

 

Next few are from

Santuario de San Pedro Claver

 

We also stopped in the Palacio de la Inquisicion

with all it's torture implements.

I'll spare you those pictures - needless to

say they were quite inventive.

 

Selfie :)

 

 

A view of the outside of the walled city.

 

The sun was setting as we left beautiful Cartegena

 

On to Aruba

 

 

View of the Coral Princess from in town

 

Dennis

 

Me again

 

Downtown Aruba

 

My French "tini" at the

On the Bayou show.  Yummy!

 

Couldn't resist a close-up - so Mardi Gras!

 

 

Leaving Aruba

 

Formal night at Sabatini's

 

Caribbean sunset

 

Farewell to another fabulous cruise.

 

 

Hope you enjoyed our cruise.

Sorry the post was so lengthy

but it was an 11 day cruise :)

 

Until next time!

Safe travels.