soccermomkat

Okay - not the most important part of my trip, but the documentation says no curling irons.  Really?  I’m going to have a really bad hair week if I can’t take my curling iron.  Has anyone got any experience with this?  If I bring my travel curling iron, will it be confiscated?  

Review Continued - Ports:

 

Colon, Panama - we docked here basically so that we could pick up returnees from their Panama Canal excursions. A comedian later said it is pronounced “Colon” like the end of a large intestine or “Cologne” a perfume. Let’s just say the former is what it is! This was the worse port I’ve ever seen - I’ve seen rough areas in Puerto Rico and some other islands, but you don’t usually see these areas where a ship docks? We were there only an hour and a half. We did get off the ship and it looks like they may be trying to fix it up, but it is pretty grim. You have to wonder where those Panama Canal tolls are going!!! It was a neat view upon entry into the port and from the ship as it is a working cargo port. My husband is a former electrician so you’ll see what interested him in the pictures below.

I’ll chime in here about my excursion. We did the railroad tour and were less than impressed. First, this was the only time we tendered (thank goodness) and it was a mess. Everyone that had a tour met in the theater which was overcrowded and stuffy. People were standing in the very warm theater and not taking the few empty seats. When our tour was called we joined several hundred others in a slow moving “line” to the tenders. It took at least 30 minutes to work our way to one of the 2 tenders they were loading. This had us getting off to a late start for our tour. I would have to say the highlight of this tour was being able to see the new locks. Other than that, I could have skipped a boring train ride followed by a claustrophobic bus ride (my knees we in the back of the seat in front of me) to see Panama City. A quick stop at a tiny shopping center across the causeway from the city, and then back to Colon to wait for the ship to port.

Sorry to hi-jack your review!

do you remember the names and locations of any good bartenders?

I was on this cruise as well. We had three memorable bar tenders who worked mostly at the pool bar during the day and then at the whiskey/martini/wine bars in the evening. Miguel Francis was fantastic. He always remembered us as my husbands name is Francis. He went out of his way to get us drinks evevn when he didn’t have ready access to ingedients. The other two were Michard and Ray. They were crazy, funny yet professional at the same time. Enjoy!

Those pictures are great. What cabin were you in? The only 2 br available for the 4 of us is 9198. Balcony looks small for this cabin. Was there a door for the 2nd br? How many closets were there? How big was the bathroom? Sorry for all the questions. Just trying to figure out if I should switch my cabin to the 2 br. Thanks

We were in 8702. There was a pocket door on the second bedroom. The room was small but perfect for my adult DD. DS slept on the sofa couch. There was a closet in each bedroom, so my son kinda lived out of his suitcase. Bathroom was tiny, but sufficient.

We just boarded the Jade, so I won’t be able to answer any more questions for a few days.

We thoroughly loved our cabin and the cruise on the POA.

We stayed in the 2 bedroom aft suite in January and loved it! 4 adults and plenty of room. Only 1 bathroom though. Check out some of my pics at the link below. The balcony was just fantastic!

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1775466&page=2

We purchased airline tickets in October 2017 to Miami for our cruise this month. We made seat choices at the time of purchase. I was checking our flights today as we begin travel in a few days and my husband no longer has his seat assignment on our return flight home. There has not been a change in aircraft type and my seat assignment is still listed. I am trying to contact AA now. Anyone have this happen before?

Yup-had the exact same thing happen on my flight back from my POA cruise in January. All 4 of my family’s seat assignments that we had since June disappeared a few days before we left. I was on the phone immediately and was told that I should have gone on the web to pick my seats and there was nothing they could do for me. I insisted on speaking with a supervisor. After being placed on hold, the person came back and was suddenly very apologetic for having upset me and said they would fix it right away. After being placed on hold 2 more times, they did get me 4 seats together. You should call back and insist on speaking to a supervisor. I will go out of my way to NOT fly AA. This is the second time they have caused me heartburn over my vacation!

The pictures are of the main bedroom. The app won’t resize my other pic to upload and I don’t know how to do that on my iPad. I can email you if you would like.

Had to screen shot then upload the pics. This is the second bedroom with a side window, the deck from the other side, and the main living area with a double fold out couch.

The pictures are of the main bedroom. The app won’t resize my other pic to upload and I don’t know how to do that on my iPad. I can email you if you would like.

if you have any interior pictures, could you please post those? :)

I like to have a lot of ice available to me all day, so our cabin steward brought us a second ice bucket and refilled them both with ice twice a day. And yes, we would often have a nice glass of cold water from the melted ice!

If this works, this is a pic of the balcony for 8702, 2 bedroom aft cabin.

You should be able to check your bags at the pier for $5 per bag.

We had a 2 bedroom suite - 8702 for our cruise on POA in January - best balcony ever!

I have pics, but can’t figure out how to post them.:(

I believe it was around 9:30. I got some video but it was too far to get really good steady, clear shots. It was best viewing through our binoculars.

 

We were on the 21 January POA cruise and when I asked about the timing for passing the lava flow I was told that since the lava was not actively flowing that the captain no longer went past that area. If that isn’t true I missed it because we went to dinner.