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Back from the Infinity...A few months later

Lefty Blue

By Lefty Blue,
in Celebrity Cruises

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Lefty Blue

Lefty Blue

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Greetings,

 

It's a bit late, but I thought I would share my relatively recent experience on the Infinity Panama Canal cruise this past April.

 

I hope you find it somewhat informative and mildly interesting.

 

The sea is a beautiful place. Home to marine life, wiry old fisherman and possibly the lost city of Atlantis. More importantly this is where cruise ships are. Even more importantly this is where cruise ships I wish to be on are.

 

Since I'm new here I think some background is useful.

 

I had only been on one cruise prior to this most recent sailing. Back in days of yore (2001) I sailed on the Zenith to Bermuda. I have many fond memories of that trip. Pink sands, turquoise waters, delicious food, crying quietly in the corner after seeing the bar bill at the end. I was new and dumb and cruising was an exciting prospect. Now I'm older and dumb and cruising is an exciting prospect.

 

I'd wanted to take another cruise ever since I stepped off the Zenith and back into the bitter reality of not being on vacation. For one reason or another it never happened.

 

Imagine my delight when one day friends and family informed me they were planning a Panama Canal cruise. The very cruise I had been eyeing for some years. Fate decreed it. After secret handshakes and exchanges of blood oaths we were booked for the 4/16/13 sailing of the Celebrity Infinity.

 

In total there were 7 of us. I, being the singular solo, was the oddball with my own cabin.

 

We hail from Massachusetts. After a year of planning and waiting we packed our clam chowder and tea to dump off the ship at the appointed time and were on our way.

 

We left Sunday morning and arrived to the beautiful city of San Diego several hours later. Our hotel was the Best Western Bayside Inn. After dropping off our bags in the rooms we decided to wander down to the waterfront and take in the sights.

 

Having not been on a cruise ship in over ten years I wasn't sure what to expect of the Infinity. She wasn't due to arrive until Tuesday so imagine my surprise when she was already in port that day:

 

 

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A fine sea worthy vessel. A bit smaller and more rustic than I expected, but a stalwart beauty. After voicing my approval I was informed by one of my companions that this was in fact not the Infinity but the Star of India. My mistake.

 

I then spotted our real ship a short distance off:

 

 

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A fine sea worthy vessel. I wasn't expecting a call to battle but was prepared for the challenge. Perhaps cruising had grown even more adventurous than I remembered.

 

I was then informed that this was also not our ship but the U.S.S. Midway museum. Well, my memories of cruise ships were a bit fuzzy. Thwarted by my own ineptitude I decided not to point out any further ships to my compatriots.

 

We headed back to the hotel and then dinner at the Karl Strauss Brewing Company, which was a short walk from our hotel. Dinner was good and beer was excellent.

 

Day two dawned and it was off to the free breakfast. The food was good but most importantly free.

 

We decided to purchase tickets for a hop on hop off bus. I imagined a death defying scenario in which all passengers hopped off the bus as it slowed, only to be fooled at the last moment as it quickly increased in speed. This, I imagined, was when one had to hop on so as not to be left gasping for air and limb as the vehicle blazed off into the distance.

 

It turns out it was actually just a regular bus.

 

We ventured first to Little Italy.

 

 

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I made a mental note to return here later to purchase the two appointed bottles of wine to bring onboard. This of course means that I completely forgot and purchased nothing. Even more perplexing, I remembered I had purchased a beverage package and had no need to bring wine onboard.

 

Though unsuccessful in my efforts to waste money, there was no cause for concern. There would be plenty of opportunities to make poor spending choices later. This was after all a two and half week vacation.

 

We went to Old Town next, which offered charming sights of old San Diego haciendas and lovely stores with brilliant colors.

 

There was also a great deal of shrubbery.

 

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Next, we all agreed to head to Balboa park. Would we see the famed San Diego zoo? No. But there were lovely amounts of Koi.

 

 

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And the botanical gardens which featured more shrubbery.

 

After a delightful afternoon examining every plant and flower known to mankind, we boarded a bus and headed back to our hotel. We met the last of the group as they had flown in a day later and headed off to dinner.

 

We dined at Filippi's in Little Italy. My brother-in-law had recommended the restaurant with extreme prejudice. Indeed, by the time our meal was done our waists had expanded to the size of a small school bus filled with screaming children. A highest recommendation to those staying in San Diego and seeking generous portions and delicious homemade cuisine.

 

We toasted to good friends and returned to the hotel to rest up for the next day.

 

I found myself so excited that I felt I would spontaneously explode before we boarded the ship. My companions asked me politely not to do this as it would be a source of considerable inconvenience and embarrassment.

 

It took approximately 76 years to get onboard the ship. It may have been closer to two hours but I believe there was some significant aging involved.

 

Nonetheless, it was well worth the wait. I don't recall the Zenith being small, but the Infinity seemed massive. This meant I immediately got lost.

 

I wandered aimlessly with two of my companions in an attempt to find our cabins. We asked several crew where we needed to go. We managed not to follow the directions we were given and one of my companions attempted to open the wrong cabin door. I laughed nervously and told a passing crew member that we were not trying to break into the room. I then quickly distanced myself from my good friend should security arrive.

 

Finally we located our rooms on deck 2. I had inside cabin 2173 and my companions had oceanview cabins 2171 and 2175. The other couple in our group had a balcony on deck 8 which they were teased mercilessly for having throughout the voyage.

 

After spending considerable time looking for the rooms we spent no time in them and immediately left to find a seat near a bar. We drank Manhattans then headed for the muster drill.

 

I recalled on the Zenith that this involved wearing the lifejackets for sometime and wandering the open deck aimlessly near the lifeboats in an attempt to look as if I understood the directions. My companions informed me that this was no longer standard practice. Now we were to wander around a lounge aimlessly with no lifejackets and actually understand the directions.

 

Things really had changed.

 

Next, sea days and ports of call.

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voyager90265

voyager90265

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Great review....Can't wait for more. I too am a solo traveler in so far as my much better half is not a ship nut like me but thankfully I have been allowed to cruise upwards of three times a year recently. Have never done a canal cruise as I am partial to the Transatlantic with its abundance of sea days but it is definitely on my list.

 

Oh and glad you enjoyed your time here in my home town of San Diego. Spend more money the next time.

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shipshape sam Great Review Rare

shipshape sam

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I am looking forward to your next post. I will be boarding her in four more Saturdays! This will be my second adventure on her and my second solo cruise. I did Panama Canal on Princess, but will consider doing the full transient with Celebrity in the near future.

 

Hoping you get to do a full transit! We did a partial on Island Princess and then had to do full transit, which we did on Infinity twice.

 

One of the best parts of the full transit is that it is 2 weeks!. Think that is my favorite part. :)

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shipshape sam Great Review Rare

shipshape sam

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Love your sense of humor!

 

I'll be on the Infinity in January for an 'around the Horn' trip. I've been on her sister, Summit, 3 times, so it'll hopefully feel like home.

 

You will love it! We did around the horn on Star Princess and liked it so much that we did Antarctica on Infinity. Nice to be on large ships with the weather is rough. :)

 

 

Also, they are 14/15 day cruises!

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Redtravel

Redtravel

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I also did a through the canal trip on the Infinity in April from east to west. I am glad that things went well on the Infinity on your cruise.. The previous cruise to yours was not the best. We were the victims of the aftermath of the noro-virus. Extremely long delayed boarding wiped out the first day. Lots of stuff was closed and for several days we were in the "do not touch anything" mode. I enjoyed the canal transit and the ports. Unfortunately, the staff seemed overworked and shorthanded. I also have sailed twice on the Zenith. My Zenith memories are fantastic. My Infinity memories are less.

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deelastcre

deelastcre

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Hoping you get to do a full transit! We did a partial on Island Princess and then had to do full transit, which we did on Infinity twice.

 

One of the best parts of the full transit is that it is 2 weeks!. Think that is my favorite part. :)

Yes, I am spoiled on the two week cruises after Century to Hawaii. I sailed the partial transit on Coral Princess and it was the best cruise overall.

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Lefty Blue

Lefty Blue

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Many thanks for the kind replies. I'm glad folks are enjoying reading about my experience.

 

You delivered the Infinity to Ft. Lauderdale so my friends and I could sail across the pond and have further amazing adventures. Some of the people on our TA roll call group accompanied you from San Diego to Ft. Lauderdale.

 

I'm quite envious! When I learned she was sailing on a TA next I tried to concoct a scheme to stay onboard for the crossing and do a back to back. For some odd reason work actually expected me to return from vacation and interfered with my plan. I've remedied this by booking the Silhouette TA this December. I'll have to check out the roll call forums.

 

 

I also did a through the canal trip on the Infinity in April from east to west. I am glad that things went well on the Infinity on your cruise.. The previous cruise to yours was not the best. We were the victims of the aftermath of the noro-virus. Extremely long delayed boarding wiped out the first day. Lots of stuff was closed and for several days we were in the "do not touch anything" mode. I enjoyed the canal transit and the ports. Unfortunately, the staff seemed overworked and shorthanded. I also have sailed twice on the Zenith. My Zenith memories are fantastic. My Infinity memories are less.

I'm very sorry to hear of your experience on the previous cruise. We were very fortunate not to have any troubles relating to the norovirus. I'm glad that you at least got to enjoy the transit and ports despite the troubles on board.

 

The Zenith was a wonderful ship!

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Lefty Blue

Lefty Blue

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In honor of International Talk like a Pirate day, I shall type this entire post in incredibly annoying incomprehensible pirate speak. We are, after all, sea faring folk here.

 

Enjoy!

 

No, I won't do that. But there may be references to yardarms avasting planks. I'm not sure what a yardarm is, but it sounds very entertaining.

 

Our first full day aboard the Infinity was a sea day. The ship was brimming with activity as we headed to Cabo San Lucas. There were many fine offerings of trivia, yardarms, and lectures. One of my companions elected to attend a lecture several days in related to the ship's engineering and found it thoroughly fascinating. He may have grown overconfident from his experience and new knowledge as he began to don a uniform and ordered all crew to address him as Chief Engineer.

 

We all agreed to meet for breakfast around 8:30. I, being the earliest of risers, decided to traverse the upper decks to enjoy the sunrise.

 

 

 

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I attempted to use the gym on several occasions in this early time frame but found myself strangely overcome by laziness. Perhaps it was the beautiful views and sea air. I did often pass by the gym and looked at the equipment. Despite my insistence, I was informed by one of my companions that staring at the treadmill did not count as exercise.

 

We alternated breakfast between the buffet and the main dining room throughout the journey. Both provided very good offerings of different kinds. The main dining offered superior eggs Benedict according to one of my group, while the buffet had better and more readily available waffles.

 

After breakfast we often retreated back to our rooms to retrieve items such as Kindles. This was very important because we would need to bring up on deck so we could set them on a table and never use them.

 

We quickly found our favorite spot on deck 10 in the form of the oceanview bar. This relaxing spot had beautiful views and drinks close at hand.

 

 

 

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One day, one of my companions leapt up from the table and started shouting out about whales. We'd been eating more than we should have but I took some offense to his candid demeanor. After a moment I looked over the railing and realized that in fact there were actual whales surfacing.

 

Note that the above picture does not feature the spectacular marine life I failed to capture, but if you squint I believe one of the clouds resembles Dick Cheney. This could also be spectacular depending on your political affiliations.

 

Several of the group are avid Mahjong players and brought along a travel set. I enjoy a game or two, but quickly discovered that like a cold beer, there was no such thing as one or two. We played so much that I began to see the tiles everywhere at all times. The confusion climaxed when the waiter at dinner inquired for my order and I informed him that I wanted a seven crack with a side of five dots, but not too much east.

 

I was served a steak.

 

We continued on to dinner at the main dining room where we had all of our meals.

We had select dining. I assumed this involved being in some sort of very important group of passengers who were selected to dine with exceptional privileges. I imagined these might include patting ourselves on the back for our own invaluable self worth and wearing monocles while we dined. And possibly free drinks.

 

In fact it simply meant we had missed out on fixed dining times and had the alternative flexible dining option. This did not prevent me from wearing a monocle at every dinner and speaking like a nineteenth century venture capitalist.

 

Service was good, if a bit slow at times where wine and drinks from the bar were concerned. It was nothing that prevented our enjoyment.

 

We arrived in Cabo San Lucas on day three.

 

 

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This was a tender port. I learned that this meant every passenger on the ship immediately descended to the area where tender tickets were distributed in a ruthless life and death battle featuring clubs, machetes and what appeared to be oxygen tanks in an effort to be the first off the ship. This may have actually been the plot to the Hunger Games, but I'm fairly certain I did see someone brandishing a set of nail clippers in a highly threatening manner.

 

We had no special plans and so elected to go, unsurprisingly, to the oceanview bar and wait until the last tender ticket was called rather than deal with the crowds. We reasoned this could not take very long.

 

Several weeks later the last ticket was finally announced and we proceeded to the gangway.

 

We wanted to see the famous arch and found several gentlemen selling glass bottom boat tickets once we reached the dock. For four dollars each we were taken on a lovely 20 to 30 minute ride around the arch and lover's beach.

 

 

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I'm not sure if this fellow was simply tired of the tourists or trapped on the rock, but he certainly had the right idea.

 

 

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It's certainly wonderful to be on her, but she makes a fine photo from afar.

 

After, we headed over to Cabo Wabo. I admit to being a Van Halen fan and had delusions of spotting Sammy Hagar. I would speak to him as if he were an old friend and find out when we could meet for a drink. Then I would ask for his address so I could come by for a visit and we could jam together (I do not play any instruments but that was not important). I would watch as he called the local authorities and had me forcibly removed from the establishment.

 

I settled for purchasing a souvenir t-shirt and having a margarita instead.

 

We were feeling so adventurous that we wandered near the waterfront for a bit after this and returned to the ship. We went to the oceanview bar.

 

Next onto Puerto Vallerta and Guatemala

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