Darkwolfe

Does anyone know why.... the elevator button for deck 4 is not shown on any of the elevator panels on the Vision of the Seas??

Instead of an elevator button with the number 4, there's a star. (took us a few days to figure out how to get to deck 4......hahaha)

It's marked that way to show embarkation deck. It's not always that deck any longer

Be getting some more pics up this weekend.

Embarkation day! Huzzah! :)

P1010486 by Wulfgar28, on Flickr

Channelside Mall was quite active on Sunday oddly enough. It seems to attract more business during the latter half of the day.

P1010488 by Wulfgar28, on Flickr

American Victory at her pier behind the Aquarium with Brilliance at hers.

P1010491 by Wulfgar28, on Flickr

Brilliance on her way out, we followed within minutes.

P1010496 by Wulfgar28, on Flickr

Under the bridge and out to sea.

We had excellent weather for sail away as you can see. A great way to start a cruise!

Florida Aquarium and Tampa Bay....

P1010434 by Wulfgar28, on Flickr

P1010461 by Wulfgar28, on Flickr

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P1010457 by Wulfgar28, on Flickr

Thanks for the review.

 

I agree i am totally surprised there was no prime rib on first night, i have always ordered and looked forward to the prime rib on the first night. Hopefully they change that before i go in March. Sounds like it might be part of the trend i have noticed on cruise lines trying to cut down food costs and quality.

Curiously enough I didn't really notice a drop in quality. Everything we had in the MDR was very good. The Windjammer remains a lower end buffet, but that's not new.

A few scenes around Tampa, Florida.

P1010369 by Wulfgar28, on Flickr

P1010372 by Wulfgar28, on Flickr

P1010374 by Wulfgar28, on Flickr

P1010390 by Wulfgar28, on Flickr

The weather didn't always want to cooperate. Rather chilly for Tampa as well. Still as a home port, Tampa is pretty good.

Yeah, those zipper pulls have changed my life!

*snicker*

We were on the Woodwind excursion with you, and it was one of the best ever. They have improved it since the last time we went.

Missed getting to really talk with you guys though. Seemed like something was always going on.

Hi all, wondering if anyone knows if Jewel has the 10 punch drink cards and how much they are. We will be doing a b2b on Feb. 7 and 14. Seems like a good deal for us as we don't drink that much. Thanks. Can't wait to get out of KC into some warm sunshine.

Hello neighbor! Fellow Independence resident here. We had those cards on Vision just this past week. If she got them, I'd be amazed if Jewel did not. They are very useful.

Have fun!

Having sailed Vision twice before, I'm not going to do a heavily detailed review like I normally do. Figure I'll share a few pictures here and there and answer questions folks may have. But she has a few things going this time people should be aware of and plan accordingly.

First off, she's got a brand new skipper! Captain Mike took command the day we boarded. He'd been on for the previous cruise but not in command at that point. Don't worry, he's got plenty of experience and it looks to me like he will be one of the more personable Captains in the fleet. He was out and about several times during the cruise.

New staff all over the place! I swear there are teenagers working the dining room! Kidding, I know better, but wow these kids looked young to my eyes. Something on the order of half the staff was on their first cruise. Now we did still have some veteran headwaiters around. Swaroop and Luis were still there getting the newbies going on the right path. I won't say they didn't make some mistake, but they fixed them right fast too. All good.

New cabin stewards! Same as the MDR staff. Some really new folks. On our hallway (I've had a deck 4 port outside cabin every time I've been on the ship) had new folks from Jamaica, St Lucia, etc. Mostly Caribbean natives rather than the folks from the Philippines like we've seen before. Nothing with it either way, just an observation. Maybe Royal is thinking that hiring closer to the areas they are sailing is a good idea.

Menu rearrangement! Not all good, but it worked out. My traditional first night meal on the ships has always been the prime rib. Jaw on floor.. Not offered on the first night. Me=Really disappointed. But they did have a very good salmon plate that almost made up for it, so I wasn't too terribly put out. (My GF will tell you I griped about it for a while. I did, but just for form's sake.)

However the prime rib did make an appearance. On the same menu with the lobster. Now that's cheating! Got a hunch that's an attempt to get folks to split choices between the prime rib and the lobster. That backfired. I was a bit of a dinner pig and had both. I don't do that very often, but I will bet that's what happens more often on those dishes.

Port stops- Well we missed Grand Cayman due to high winds and sea conditions. Navigator had made an attempt but she turned away as well. Celebrity Equinox was headed in, but I suspect they had to write that off as well.

Key West- Chilly for that island. Stayed in the low 60s all day. I felt a little odd running around the island in jeans, but that was better than being cold in shorts. We basically just goofed around the Mallory Square area. Did the Shipwreck Museum and the Aquarium. It's a reasonably priced combo ticket and fairly predictable.

We were docked at the Navy Pier which is not as good as the north pier location, but it does have a free lift up to the Conch Train station in town. Problem solved. Gets you a little side street tour as well.

Curacao- First time there. We got the inside pier since Celebrity Eclipse was docked on the outside and we stayed in town until 10pm. Our plans for the day were simple. We took the semi-sub cruise and a tour of the Curacao liquor factory.

Word of warning, if you have any kind of motion sickness vulnerability, take some Dramamine, Bonine, ginger, whatever you like before getting on that semi-sub. Ship motion doesn't both me much at all, but that thing left me green about the gills for a bit. I wasn't the only one that had trouble either.

Liquor factory is fairly small and doesn't take long to go through. It's mostly a sales stop if you are a fan of the Curacao drinks. Not super exceptional but amusing in its own way.

And somebody there has a new (to them) straw Stetson. Somehow I managed to get it blown off the top deck late in the day. Oh well. 10 cruises and that's a first. Such is life.

Bonaire- Snorkeling on Woodwind! Even a water klutz like myself can enjoy this tour. Amusingly, our CC roll call group took the morning sailing over completely. Everybody was a CC member (anybody seen Collette yet?).

Go see this! :) If I can do it, so can you.

After snorkeling, the Woodwind crew handed out a remarkably tasty chicken stir fry for lunch. They were also well supplied for drinks of all sorts. Enjoy!

Aruba- Let's go lazy morning and just take a catamaran over to Eagle beach. Easy day, not really planning on much swimming. Just a few hours out and an hour on the beach being bums. Works! This was a ship excursion provided by Pelican Adventures. Simple, fun, open bar, all happy.

A side note about the ABC islands. These are way far south and even in January have UV intensities of 8! No joke. Even the locals wear long sleeves and trousers to protect from the sun. You wear the SPF 30+ or you will be a peeled lobster in about 30 minutes. Even in "winter".

All in all a good cruise. We had two cruise newbies along and they had a great time. Seas were pretty good for the most part. Missing GC was irritating, but part of the way cruises go sometimes.

I'll post some highlight pictures and happily answer any specific questions that come up. Anyone that was on this sailing with us is also welcome to contribute. It never hurts to see different points of view.

Major error by OP. I would never, EVER, buy anything that was "promised to be delivered to the ship". If it is legit, I will have it in my hand.

There are some islands that actually require delivery only (for rum) to the ships. Grand Caymen is a notable example. That being said, Rum Stop near the port hasn't messed up yet for me. (knock on wood)

Hope it all gets straight OP. I'm used to just picking up that cream rum at the port in Jamaica and walking it on board.

How pervasive is the smoking on the royal ships?

 

And as elite plus on X, do we get access to royals diamond lounge event with our reciprocal status?

Smoking- A spot out by the pool and some places on deck 4 or 5 depending on ship class.

Diamond/Elite events, yep can go to both. But we were having to omuch fun with friends to go this trip. I don't think I even thought about Elite events until after we got home.

Dinning, yes a touchy matter around these here parts for many a post!:D

 

The MDR is very close on both, edge to Celebrity, but just by a whisker!;)

 

The buffet on Celebrity wins hands down.

( Foot note: we have not been on RCCL since 2011)

 

Chops has been our benchmark specialty for a long time. The Freedom in 2011 was our last visit. We buy a 3 or 5 night pkg on Celebrity. Tuscan gives Chops a run for the money, the Beef TarTar is beyond description! The Lawn Club Grill is a grill Masters wonder. Silk Harvest is very good. And Murano could rival any 4+ star venue on land. We have not tried Qusine.

 

Neither line is like it was in the 1990'ties, but still excellent. Are there snap-fuu's? YUP, but never had one that was not taken care of in good order.

 

Hope this helps, any more in depth descriptions wanted, ask away!

EW

I'd say that was about right.

lovestx- That was a really awesome run for us. Absolutely the best part.

I found the change to be good. We both really enjoyed the classic beverage package that basically came with our reservation.

Demographic are very similar. Fewer kids on Celebrity for certain however.

Mango Mike- I think you will like it. Somethings are ship quality details. You have better decking on the balcony cabins for example. Overall ship feel is a step up. Wallie5446 is right in that regard. That cold towel routine when you return from an excursion can be a really good thing when you're feeling well overheated from stomping around. They also have a bit of juice/water/punch as you come back as well. That too, very nice.

dodger1964- Looked to me like smoking was pretty much limited to outside on deck 5 and a few spots on the pool deck. Effectively, if there's an ash tray, you're good. No ash tray in the area, no smoking. Same rules for ecigs.

I'm finding the entertainment to be about equal between the two lines. We got some good ones on EQ and I've seen good ones on the RCI ships as well. Also seen bad. But since the entertainers may literally go from an RCI ship to an X ship and back again in one week, I'd call the odds for good to be about the same.

Can't say much on chair hogs since we are not pool people most of the time. There are occasional exceptions. Usually when I note that a jacuzzi is freshly cleaned, then I'll probably look for an excuse to land in it.

So much for that original plan. Oh well. Time to wrap up.

Our last stop was Cozumel. We were originally planning to run with friends on an island tour but I got a bit sick that morning and we didn't wind up going. We had brief forays ashore but that was it. Cozumel's port vendors have gotten extremely pushy and that sent my girlfriend back to the ship in a pretty good state of irritation after they would not leave her alone.

I took a few quick shots around, but really wanted to quit feeling blah so not much happened here.

P1010301 by Wulfgar28, on Flickr

Much better by mid-afternoon and the weather decided to put on a bit of a show.

P1010307 by Wulfgar28, on Flickr

This one is color enhanced just so you can see how wide the rainbow was.

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And our sunset as we turned towards Florida was nothing to ignore either. So even a "sick" day turned out fairly well in the end.

P1010321 by Wulfgar28, on Flickr

Once we returned to Fort Lauderdale, we did a walk-off debark that morning. There was a fairly decent line for it, but the process was as painless as you could ask for. Customs was brief and courteous. We had a cab to the airport within moments of clearing customs and were at our gate to fly home by about 8:30am.

We'll be back on Equinox again, already have it booked even. This was, despite the hiccups, a fantastic trip. Made even more so by our traveling friends from Miami and Canada. Never underestimate how much a group of friends can make a trip so much more fun!

If anyone wishes to ask any questions, do feel free! Safe travels!

~fini~

Will continue late tonight. Very busy weekend or I'd have had this finished! :(

I think Dark Wolfe was confusing Colon with another port. It was a ship excursion through the Panama Canal. I would not do it any other way, due to how long an excursion it was!

 

Celebrity is opening up evening tours for those overnight stays. I quite liked Cartagena, and did not like Belize City at all. Our cave tubing was cancelled due to high water levels. So, we wandered in Belize City, which I don't recommend doing! I had a guy grab onto me demanding money when I got separated from the group. That was it for me. I could not wait to get back to the ship! I am sure that Belize outside of the city is gorgeous. :)

Dirtgirl is right. I had my head wrapped around Costa Rica when I wrote that and was thinking about the excellent rafting tour instead of the very-not-so-excellent canal tour. Thanks for the catch on that.

And getting out of Belize City is a MUST! :)

One quick side note, take some bug spray. The mosquitoes here are downright vicious at times. Carry a man off if you aren't paying attention. Fortunately they don't like sunscreen either. But I still killed at least three that went after my hands where I didn't have any sunscreen.

We now set off through the paths in the park. First stop was the ball court. Not much known about the game still, but it's starting to sound like it could have been a distant cousin to basketball. There's also still much debate about what happened after the game was over. Given that the Maya were at times rather bloodthirsty, I make no bets.

We also had howler monkeys serenading us for a bit. Fortunately no one had to dodge any... umm... falling projectiles. The monkeys were behaving.

P1010241 by Wulfgar28, on Flickr

After the ball court we came to the largest excavated temple in the park. Thankfully, they have constructed a stairway up the back side of the temple so you can reach one of the mezzanine levels without climbing the front steps. From that mezzanine, you can then climb the remainder. I'm not in the best of shape (trying to change that) so the stairway was enough for me. My girlfriend on the other hand, made it to the very top without much trouble. We both managed to get some good pictures around the temple.

Get a good look at the people on top. This thing is much larger than it first appears.

P1010243 by Wulfgar28, on Flickr

P1010252 by Wulfgar28, on Flickr

Back on the ground again, we set off for the Mask Temple. This temple is not fully excavated and likely never will be since the buried portion of the temple began to crumble when exposed. That caused an immediate halt to the dig. If the lower sections were to disintegrate the entire temple structure would be lost.

P1010259 by Wulfgar28, on Flickr

Belize will continue...

Belize City, Belize (Bucket Check- Climb a Mayan Pyramid)

(Full disclosure- I first hired Major Tom for a cave-tubing tour in 2007 on my second cruise. We got talking that day and the conversation has literally never really stopped. I count him as both friend and my "go-to" guy in Belize.)

A good number people don't care for Belize. I haven't really figured out why unless it's just that annoying tender ride in. It's the longest tender run in the Caribbean and can be a real pain if the water is rough. This trip it was easy and very smooth. Our inbound run was less than 20 minutes on one of the fast tenders. Caught a slower one coming back, but that was only about 30 minutes so still not bad.

Sometimes people complain about Belize City being rough. I've been there twice before. Hah! After seeing Colon and Cartegena, Belize City looks downright relaxed to me. Doesn't mean I'd wander about on my own any time soon, but Belize City at least doesn't look like it's expecting block warfare at any given moment.

I'd planned this little adventure on our CC roll call thread and 20 fellow CC folks jumped in and went for the adventure. Major Tom was our main guide for this trip, but we had a little extra adventure that forced him to miss part of the tour and change out our transportation to get back to Belize City on time.

Our extra adventure was our bus. Some miles out of Belize City it started acting a little weird. Step on the gas and it would jerk weird until it got up to about 45mph and then it would smooth out. Worse, we started smelling some hot metal like a dragging brake. I was right behind the driver and could see the gauges, all looked good. Then BANG! Look out the back window and there's bits of rubber all over the road. One of the rear duals had let go rather spectacularly. Ok that's why there are duals, we keep on. Tom starts planning to get new tires on the bus and bill the motor pool for it. BANG! Again, more bits on the road. Same tire, peeling off the tread. Made a nasty sound that caused more than a few "yipes!" on the bus. Tom's grumbling good by now, so was I.

Bus starts that annoying jerk again when trying to accelerate. By this point, Tom and I are in a discussion about the overall condition of the bus. I can tell my fellow travelers aren't feeling real confident about any longer and it needs to be swapped. Tom gets on his phone and has a fast chat with the motor pool. Contingency plan established. I quit worrying about it.

We pulled up to the boat dock at the New River and everybody bailed out of the now very unpopular van. Bathrooms were handy and were quickly made use of by those that needed them while Tom went ahead to discuss the plan changes with the guides here.

P1010222 by Wulfgar28, on Flickr

Tom had gotten our group a private, covered boat for the trip. Looked like a reasonably confortable ride to me. About that point I noticed the twin 300 horse Yamaha kickers on the back of the boat. Well, no worries about power for this trip. Didn't give it much thought for a few minutes after that. Everybody boarded, our guide (Alberto I believe) gave a little intro speach about the New River, then the boat captain says "Hold on to your hats, we're going to kick this time-machine into high gear!" Then the Yamahas dug in, the prow kicked up, and off we went tearing through the New River's channels on a curving, twisting, racing ride that was way more fun than a lazy river cruise could ever be.

P1010232 by Wulfgar28, on Flickr

After about an hour of this, the New River open up to nearly a mile wide (for those that like nosing around Google Earth, we came into the wide area at the north end) and our destination was in sight. Once docked, Alberto led us ashore. We made a brief visit through the museum and then we were off to explore the ruin of Lamamai.

P1010233 by Wulfgar28, on Flickr

One of the museum exhibits..

DSCF2258 by Wulfgar28, on Flickr

Dark Wolfe, thank you for the review. Could you tell me what excursion you did in Colon? Was it ship or independent?

That was independent through ShoreTrips. Worked out quite well.

Thanks for the great review. I am following with interest as we are on this same cruise in April- although we will overnight in Cartagena.

 

Karen

Thanks! Sorry I'm slow on the updates. But, I will keep at it!

Honestly, I think you guys are getting gypped a bit with the overnight in Cartegena. Spending a night on a Belize cay beach would be much more relaxing I think. Just my .02 though. Overnight stays do open up opportunities.

Love your pictures! A question: Did your RCCL status easily travel with you to Celebrity? After this year we will be elite on X and will consider RCCL again should it be easy to transfer the reciprocity. Did it happen automatically for you or did you have to take action?

Would love to hear about your excursions as your review continues. We go January 2.

Thanks in advance.

So far as I understand it, when you create your C&A membership, you can enter the membership from Celebrity to have the Elite/Diamond status transfer. I actually let my TA do that on this trip so I didn't even see it. Just pop on Celebrity website and it showed "Elite".

I expect you could call the loyalty program desks on either line to make sure the credits are covered.

Puerto Limon, Costa Rica (Bonus Bucket Check- Rafting the Reventazon)

If Panama was the low point of this trip, Costa Rica was arguably one of the high points. Long term CC member Dirtgirl was behind the plotting for this stop and it was a very good choice. We were going white-water rafting on the Reventazon River. I'm not totally sure but I think we had a complete collection of newbies on this trip. So here we are standing all rigged up, lifejackets, helmets, paddles... and some very intimidating looking rapids in front of us. I wasn't the only one with "What have I gotten myself into?" going through my head.

That feeling didn't last long. Once into the water and our first good dunk, it was all "Bring it on!" for everyone in the boat. Our guide did a very good job of explaining the commands he would need us to follow to make a fun and safe journey down the river. Initially he tried to stick to English for everything but forgot and slipped into Spanish for a brief moment. He apologized for it, but we reassured him that we got it with no problem. After that, he'd use whichever came to hand first. It made sense and we had a very good time on the river.

Three or four miles down from where we started we saw the ship tour boats coming into the river. I felt somewhat sorry for these guys, they had only Class 1 rapids to play with. We'd been tearing through up to Class 3 and loving it! I don't know that I'll ever be crazy enough to tackle Class 5 rapids, but I'll be looking for more Class 3s to enjoy at the very least.

After clearing the rapids and a little delay waiting for our ride (van had a flat), we got back to the rafting company's location and had a pretty good lunch. Very tasty chicken, rice, and black beans. Knock back a couple of locally produced Imperial beers and all was good.

Our return to the ship was just the way it should be, uneventful and reasonably quick. Thus ended a very very good day in Costa Rica.

Tackling the river

DSC_5265 by Wulfgar28, on Flickr

Not getting out of this without a soaking!

DSC_5361 by Wulfgar28, on Flickr

A quiet spot between rapids.

DSC_5437 by Wulfgar28, on Flickr

(Note: The above three were taken by the rafting company. They did a good job too.)

And a little something to wash down lunch afterwards! :D

DSCF0128 by Wulfgar28, on Flickr

Next up: Adventures in Belize!

I apologize for being slow on the update. Nasty cold slowing me down a bit.

Actually I'm glad some folks had a better experience than I did. Had mine been the average, that would really say bad things about Panama.

And we have reached the Pacific Ocean...

DSCF0084 by Wulfgar28, on Flickr

...Barely. But it counts. By this point, most people were well past enjoying this excursion and were very ready to be back to the ship.

DSCF0085 by Wulfgar28, on Flickr

The good part of the tour was the passing through the Miraflores Locks. Very interesting watching the mules moving ships trough the locks and our own passage through as well. That was the highlight of the tour.

On down the canal to the Pacific side and that was the tour. We were given certificates of passage on the bus coming back. Frankly I think most folks would have been happier to have returned to the ship on time and foregone the certificates. By the time all was said and done, the tour was three hours late returning to the ship. 320 not very happy cruisers there. Celebrity got burned on this one and wound up refunding 60% of the tour cost, which was fine with me. That about equaled the irritation vs reasonable parts of the tour.

Final comment on Panama. Skip it. Just don't even bother. If you want to see the canal, take a cruise that goes through it. Otherwise, just don't. I hope I never say that about another port. I like my reviews to be positive as much as possible and this stop was anything but.

[End Rant]

Up Next- A much better day in Costa Rica. Whitewater rafting on the Reventazon River!

After all this time we have finally come to the part of the canal that is actually of interest. These are the Miraflores Locks.

It's officially getting busy.

P1010144 by Wulfgar28, on Flickr

The lock tower and Visitor Center. Frankly, our friends that were in the Visitor Center while we were on the ferry got the better deal. They got back to Equinox in time for dinner.

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After we pulled clear of the lock. The difference in height between the two ships is really rather impressive.

P1010165 by Wulfgar28, on Flickr

Sunlight is starting to fade as these two mules haul a tanker clear of the lock.

P1010170 by Wulfgar28, on Flickr

Colon, Panama (Bucket Check - See the Panama Canal)

[begin Rant]

Warning. I don't have much positive to say about this stop. There were more than a few frustrated jokes about Colon needing a "cleansing" before the day was over. High walls and razor wire were not only in evidence around Colon, they were downright commonplace. You really didn't get the feeling that there was much safe around the area. Even the Cruise Director was rather direct about it the night before. "If you don't have a tour and you get off the ship, you will get right back on and quickly." He was not making an idle joke.

I'm not going to place all of the blame on Celebrity for the mess this stop turned into. They got stuck taking it on the chin for it, but the fault lies in other places. Most notably the Panama Canal Authority and very likely the pilot that we had to wait around for. Celebrity was a much a disappointed customer as we were.

To begin, there was zero organization for finding your tour. Our group that was going to the Canal got pointed one way, then another, and still a third before we finally found the right bus. Once that was done, everyone got loaded up and off we went. After about and hour and half we found ourselves parked in an abandoned US Military base next to a giant floating crane nicknamed "Herman the German" and then nothing. For almost two hours while we wait on the required canal pilot to show up. Sit around and smell diesel fumes or go pace aimlessly. Facilities? Hardly. Locals unlocked a bathroom for the ladies, but the stories coming out of that experience were pretty bad. Holding walls and doors together by hand and don't sit on the seat, it might bite back. Some of the guys gave up and wandered off behind nearby trees. Much Yuck.

Finally, words comes around that the canal pilot has arrived. So all of the busses get moving again for about a block, drop off the passengers for the ferry and leave. Well enough. We expect four maybe four and half hours on the canal. Yeah, nope. Try over six. Only about one of those hours was actually of good use and real interest. The rest consisted of trying to find a comfortable spot to either sit or stand. The chairs were fairly typical cheap plastic and metal things which were better than nothing, but not great. Bathrooms on the ferry were small, cramped, and fairly disgusting. They were not handicapped accessible either and we had at least three people on the tour that needed handicapped assistance. They didn't get it.

Narrators on this tour need some redo as well. The fellow on the bus made a fair effort but wasn't real easy to listen to. The guy on the ferry itself took his time to bash Americans about building the canal. Complete with major historical inaccuracies and a down right hostile attitude towards the United States in particular. Excuse me? You have at least 200 US citizens on your ferry right now spending money in your country and you're going to give us a verbal trashing? Let's pour gas on an already lit fire. Bad, bad choice. By the time we reached the first set of locks exiting Gatun Lake, tempers were beginning to get frayed.

Herman the German

Story on this crane is that it's spoils of war from WWII. There were three. This one is only one that's apparently still in use. The British had one but it was lost in the Channel. The Russians got the third and it went behind the Iron Curtain so who knows.

P1010098 by Wulfgar28, on Flickr

We wound up behind this tanker for a good part of the day. Looking at the name, you can see why I renamed it "The Junior Pint" fairly quickly. Had to find some humor somewhere.

P1010109 by Wulfgar28, on Flickr

The "Golden Empress" was one of several ships abruptly forced to moor on the side of the canal due to the lock times being changed.

P1010128 by Wulfgar28, on Flickr

The "Pint" transiting the lock at Pedro Miguel

P1010136 by Wulfgar28, on Flickr

Once we finished nosing around it was time to be back aboard the ship and ready to sail. Yet another medical emergency delayed our departure. We were up to three by this point. Only this one has the tale that someone got into some "recreational" while ashore that he shouldn't have. Last I heard, Columbia was pretty harsh on that sort of thing.

I noticed this one crate on the pier too. Really kinda wanted to know what was inside, but I wasn't about to try and take a peek. Or maybe I don't want to know what's inside....

P1010056 by Wulfgar28, on Flickr

A look from the harbor into Cartegena.

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A full zoom to get the monastery up above Cartegena.

P1010051 by Wulfgar28, on Flickr

Out past the New City

P1010073 by Wulfgar28, on Flickr

Bucket list checkmark added- Reach South America. Even in this small way, it counts!

On our way to Panama! And an Epic Excursion Failure!