dmwnc1959

So, a quick question about NCL's policy regarding bringing food on board in US ports. On the repositioning cruise, when we stop in LA or San Francisco or Astoria and I go out into town and buy a couple of boxes of soft baked cookies, can I bring them back on board with me?

Any April updates on the cookie situation? 😁

That's another reason why I was so keen on the Coral Princess itinerary. She stopped in Fuerte Amador the day prior to her full-transit arriving at 7am, which gave plenty of time to do the small boat tour/transit and still have some time to see Panama City. As an update on the Norwegian Encore transit. According to Marine Traffic once clear from the last of the Cocoli Locks she remained there alongside the lock pier-head for just over two hours. When the tides were just right she finally passed under the Bridge of the Americas approximately 9pm local time and arriving at Fuerte Amador just before 1030pm. What's crazy is that while she was still tied up at the lock pier-head, I took a bunch of screenshots. When advancing back-and-forth through these, you can actually see the ship rise and fall with the tide. Never visualized it quite like that, and seeing basically a time-lapse of this was fascinating.

That I am going to do as well. Our port stop prior to the transit is Colón, and as soon as that tour opens I'm going to book it.

That's my next goal, to do northbound hopefully to hit this area just before sunrise. The approach to the industrialized Gamboa area lit up and passing under the bridge that early in the morning would be fairly impressive.

Pretty cool picture! Love all of that clean, neatly folded laundry! 🥰

My very first time will be April 2025. Not sure I could do the Panama Canal fifteen times. 😉 And of all the full transits I've looked into none of the ships were larger than 60-90k tons. I'd most definitely prefer the smaller ships for this, just to hit the historic locks and see them (and the old lock gates) from the promenade deck at eye level while we are wedged into a 110-year old lock chamber. But that's probably just the beginner and me talking. 😁

Well, she is definitely underway now. It'll be interesting to see what time she comes out the other side of the last locks.

Oh, I'm sure they are! Earlier this week the small cruise ship Island Sky did a full nigh-time transit heading northbound. And I've seen some of the small National Geographic ships do that as well. And the NG ships will anchor off of Barro Colorado Island overnight. I think going through the Culebra Cut in the dark would be totally crazy with all of the buoys and range markers blinking on and off all the time.

Maybe that's an advantage of doing a full transit on one of the smaller NCL ships over the mega-ship, since it's more of a full 'daylight transit' even in January. Basically from just after sunrise to exiting well before sunset.

I've seen that coming in from the Pacific side, after exiting the Cocoli Locks heading into the canal, they did the same before proceeding towards Centennial Bridge.

This also explains why last November she was coming in from the Pacific side at 2 o'clock in the morning.

At the rate she's going now, they won't exit the Cocoli Locks until dark. There comes a point in time when the directional traffic through the narrows at Culebra Cut becomes on way. She may bring up the tail end of that window heading southbound. But as of right now she's still sitting there.

After going through the new locks for the Panama Canal, Norwegian Encore took up position in the southwest side of Gatun Lake and basically just came to full stop two hours ago. Right now she is basically station keeping in one position. She is doing a full transit in route from Cartagena to Fuerte Amador. Is there any reason that she would still be stopped in Gatun Lake for so long? She really should be at this point well into Culebra Cut. Don't think I've ever seen this on a cruise ship doing a full transit.

Meaning as a unique separate charge or unless you've purchased the Unlimited Starbucks Package?

I'll be in Juneau twice next year (April 25th and May 1st) and the snow might still be fresh on the ground. 😉 Several shore excursions have already popped up, the one heading out to Mendenhall Glacier is $39 and gives 2hrs for self-exploration. Was thinking about booking that one just for the convenience.

Not that this will make much difference, but I wonder if the picture was taken from the visitors center or from the pavilion, the latter which would be further over to the right of this and would give a better view of the glacier. I was still thinking of going out there next year to enjoy the area and walk up to Nugget Falls. Something definitely to look forward to.

Looks like some of my pictures. Amazing the difference! I cruised Alaska five times between 1998 and 2003. It'll be interesting to see this change that's happened in just over 20 years when I return in April 2025.

Comparisons between a picture on cruise lines advertisement for shore excursions and the new one (cropped to better show the same area).

This thread and the point/counter-point comments within have really dampened my enthusiasm for specialty dining, and maybe that's a good thing? Otherwise I'd gone in with some pretty high expectations and may have been sadly disappointed. I was jumping in with both feet without breaking down the per meal costs. But when I did the math @ $50 a pop 😳 for dinner it sort of killed it. 🥸