mahdnc

We’re eating again as it’s lunchtime. We decided to get something at the Oceanview Cafe and we took it back to our balcony which is not too far away to enjoy the view and the weather.

The seas are very calm this morning. Here’s a current view of the ocean from our breakfast table at the Oceanview Cafe. During his 9:45 am report from the bridge, the captain officially declared our weather as being “amazing”. Yesterday I thought I was getting a touch of seasickness so I put on my prescription ear patch last night. Looks unnecessary today.

Yes, my first time and it was great! Here is one of my time lapse videos I shot from our aft balcony: link

I also forgot to mention that in today's Beyond the Podium presentation, Bill Fall showed this post card:

The Panama Canal narrator, Bill Fall, also lived in the Canal Zone--in fact he was born there. I assume that he has been on some of your cruises. He mentioned something about the Boy Scouts doing a re-tracement trip of the historic and abandoned El Camino Real trail which connected Nombre de Dias and Panama City back in 1519. He said that the crossing was dangerous and involved hiking through heavy jungle and that it was only done twice before it was deemed to dangerous.

I don't think I ever got back to you on this: Surprisingly, Marcia's dive at Key Largo did not go well. She did not think the reef looked in very good shape compared to our visit back in 2010. Moreover she banged both shins by accident against the submerged part of the ladder used to get back into the dive boat. So with two very bruised shins and a disappointing view, she skipped her second dive. We also forgot that the dive crews in Florida do not help the customers like they do in other countries we've been to and so the whole effort of putting the gear together, getting it on, and struggling with the weight of the whole set up, she started to have serious thoughts that her diving days may be over. I'd like to think that she simply had one bad diving day (and some rust) and that there will be other dives in our future that will be much better.

Speaking of which: our Day 2 Celebrity Today had an editing error!

We had dinner once again at Le Petite Chef tonight. Mark and Randi (@celebrity cruiser) and Addie ( @wintrystew) also happen to be at this 6 pm dinner. I counted 28 guests including ourselves at this dinner. This was a different menu/show than the one we experienced a few days ago. In fact I was told that there was a third menu (lobster based) that is part of the rotation for this sailing. Here are some photos of our dinner: Tartlet of Slow-Roasted Heirloom Tomatoes: Poached Salmon and Persian Cucumber Salad: Braised Short Rib of Beef: Strawberry Chantilly Napoleon: Perhaps because we were return customers, the waiter delivered the alternate dessert to our table as well as the strawberry dessert on the main menu. Chocolate Caramel Decadence:

After lunch, I attended my second Beyond the Podium presentation: Panama, The Land Divided The World United by our onboard Panama Canal expert, Bill Fall. My wife instead attended the casino. Let's just say that my choice was much better because I got to feed my mind while my wife fed the machine. Mr. Fall was born and raised in the Canal Zone although it would appear to me that his knowledge and expertise go way beyond having simply existed there. I had missed an earlier Beyond the Podium presentation by him on Day 2 which explained how the Panama Canal operation works. I am sorry I missed it and I have not seen it yet on the stateroom television. The good news is that there are other Panama Canal presentations to be made even after we have crossed the canal during this cruise including the one today. @90scruzer, I had a chance to talk to Bill after his presentation. I asked him what the deal was with Summit and a possible 50-50 chance of going through the old locks. He basically said there wasn't that kind of randomness in the scheduling and that for a variety of different reasons, Summit was always going to go through the old locks. Bill did explain to me that our transit of the Panama Canal took "a lot longer than it should have". He said that normally the ship's own propulsion is used to help it move forward to and through the locks. However in our case, the pilots wanted only the "locomotives" (I presume he is referring to the mules) to move the ship.

Oops, make that 6 out of our first 7 ships had the MDR with two story wall of glass at the back.

Here is a photo of the Cosmopolitan dining room as it looks today (after its Revolution makeover): Here is what the dining room looked like when we last sailed on her in Aug 2010. I have always liked the Millennium class MDR because of its two story wall of windows that look out at the back of the ship. Century class ships were built that way as well and so 5 out of the first 6 ships we took with Celebrity had this design and it represents the good old days in my mind.

We had lunch today at the Cosmopolitan Restaurant (MDR).

I attended two Beyond the Podium presentations today. The first one was given at 10:15 am this morning: "Future Solar Eclipses With Kelly Beatty". Kelly Beatty is a retired senior editor for Sky and Telescope monthly magazine which is famous within the amateur and professional astronomy circles. I have been a loyal subscriber since 1973 (when I was 13) something that I am very proud of but it never impressed any of the girls in high school. Kelly is a veteran of 14 total solar eclipses and he caught the bug when he traveled to Hilo, Hawaii to watch the famous 1991 solar eclipse. He told me that his viewing spot got clouded out! By the way, Marcia and I saw that same eclipse (successfully) onboard Carnival's Jubilee. With all the interest generated in the USA over the total solar eclipse this month, people are wondering when the next ones will be. The next three total solar eclipses will be located in some very exciting places Marcia and I are booked to see the 2027 total solar eclipse at Luxor, Egypt. I've always wanted to go to see ancient Egypt and this solar eclipse cruise will include trips to see the Great Pyramids as well as the Vally of the Kings. Hopefully things in the Middle East will be more settled by then. Kelly also plans and leads tour groups to eclipse locations. However other than mentioning that he did this, he did zero advertising or promotion. On the sea days when the skies are clear and the sun is visible, he has been setting up his telescope for public viewing so people can safely see the sun and it's impressive sunspots. He also will be holding some outdoor night sky shows out on deck to help people locate the Southern Cross and our closest star system to earth, Alpha Centauri. Last night's attempt was cancelled because of the rain. I am very impressed and thankful that Celebrity Cruises was able to hire Kelly for our sailing.

We had breakfast this morning at the Oceanview Cafe. I wasn't planning on eating much for breakfast. Just three fried eggs (photo) and maybe some hashbrowns. However the layout of the buffet is still new to me and after wandering around in my unsuccessful attempt to find those triangular hash browns, I saw and ended up with a lot of other food on my plate. I also found the biscuits and gravy and was going to put some on my plate until I tried to grab the biscuits with the tongs--all the biscuits in the heated tray were rock hard and dry. So I guess they were heart healthy biscuits and gravy because I ended up not getting any. While wandering around, I realized that I liked the new layout and look of the Oceanview Cafe. I am impressed with the number of sinks available for passengers to wash their hands--something I have not seen on any other Celebrity ship (I presume that this is what they are for--hopefully they are not encouraging us to wash our own dishes!). While eating the ham I got from the carving station, there was a pod of dolphins that made an appearance on the starboard side by the window that we were seated at. Pretty cool--until I realized that I was surrounded by people standing around my seated area looking at them, too!

Here are all the Celebrity Todays up to and including today: Celebrity Today Day 9 At Sea 4 of 8 Celebrity Today Day 8 Puntarenas Celebrity Today Day 7 At Sea 3 of 8 Celebrity Today Day 6 Panama Canal Transit Celebrity Today Day 5 Colon Celebrity Today Day 4 Cartagena Celebrity Today Day 3 At Sea 2 of 8 Celebrity Today Day 2 At Sea 1 of 8 Celebrity Today Day 1 Miami

When we arrived back at the pier (around 5:00 pm), it was raining very hard--a good ol' fashion downpour. The bus parked as close to the gangway as possible and Celebrity crew and officers were there to greet us by handing out umbrellas. Lots of umbrellas. And when we stepped onto the ship (but not past security) beach towels were immediately handed out to each of us to dry off. Nice touch. You don't see that in the brochure. Having a 5:30 pm seating at the MDR is a pain for days like today. Nevertheless I was able to change out to suitable casual smart clothing and Marcia felt well enough for both of us to make it to the MDR with one minute to spare.

An employee at the sanctuary, Rachel, took us on a tour. Here are some photos taken during that time. The first animal we were introduced to were the sloths. We saw birds. Lots and lots of birds. Like scarlet macaws--and together they made quite a ruckus of sound: Our sanctuary guide, Rachel, is in the black shirt in the right side of this photo: There were several kinds of monkeys there: There was a wild howler monkey that was watching us from above: And there were termite nests throughout the grounds. Yuck: The plants were interesting to look at as well. There were jaguars (photo), pumas, and an ocelot. and more birds: And turtles (photo), tapir and boars.

When we arrived at the NATUWA wildlife sanctuary, there were restrooms and we were given some fresh cut fruit as a welcoming snack. Before our tour started, we saw our first animal:

It was a beautiful morning here in Puntarenas. I think I mentioned this part before: I purchased the shorex for $174 for both of us back on Aug 30 during some kind of sale. I believe there were two groups that visited this wildlife sanctuary--one group in the morning and the one that I was assigned to for the afternoon. The bus that was supplied to us had 8 rows of seats with 2 seats on either side of the single aisle. The 9th (and last) row of seats had 5 seats across. So there was essentially seating for 40-41 passengers not including the driver. The bus was clean, well air conditioned, and gave a smooth ride. There was a driver and an English speaking guide on the bus. The ride to the NATUWA wildlife sanctuary took about 45 minutes from the pier as it took us out into the rural areas. The guide did some narration on the bus ride in both directions. Here is a photo of the beach at the pier entrance. There was a nice view of Summit from our bus as we headed away from the pier. There was interesting country side scenery during the bus ride.

thank you for that explanation. Makes sense to me. Since our aft balcony is on the starboard side, the only question for me was whether Summit would be using the east locks or west side locks. It turned out that the answer was both: west side locks for Gatun and east side locks for Pedro Miguel and Miraflores.

thank you so much for posting this video! It’s better than trying to imagine how they switching station is used!

I will ask our Panama Canal expert on Summit, but my feeling is that the M class ships are always sailing through the legacy locks. Our narrator never mentioned that we were lucky for getting assigned to the legacy locks.

I didn’t declare this explicitly, but the chateaubriand was served at the MDR yesterday (our second of three EC nights)

yes, let’s see your photos!

It came that way, Ruth.