Palo brunch while crossing the Panama Canal--to do or not to do?

[saleeb]

Several of you have answered my several questions already. Thank you for helping us to book a cruise for Oct. 23 to the Panama Canal.

 

What are your thoughts on eating a brunch at Palo during the day that we pass thru the canal? I think the views from the windows might be neat to see but don't want to miss any narration. I know that it takes all day for the ship to go thru the canal so I was hoping that perhaps a couple of hours in Palo wouldn't waste the experience.

 

Am I wrong?

[Shmoo here]

Several of you have answered my several questions already. Thank you for helping us to book a cruise for Oct. 23 to the Panama Canal.

 

What are your thoughts on eating a brunch at Palo during the day that we pass thru the canal? I think the views from the windows might be neat to see but don't want to miss any narration. I know that it takes all day for the ship to go thru the canal so I was hoping that perhaps a couple of hours in Palo wouldn't waste the experience.

 

Am I wrong?

 

It really depends on how much actual canal-watching time you want. Our first PC cruise, I was fine with taking a break periodically and going inside, but our second, we spent the whole day on deck, different decks, forward and aft watching our transit.

 

Personally, I love Palo Brunch, and would do it at the drop of a hat.

[moki'smommy]

Of course if you do Palo on that day, you will not be able to help your older kids understand what is happening.

 

The narration on our cruise was dull, dull, dull. The lady who did the lectures in advance was much better. We enjoyed going thru one set of locks while seated by the windows in Lumiere's (Triton's on the Wonder). You have a lot of sea days. I guess my choice would be to do Palo on a "normal" sea day. On the other hand, you are right that it takes a full day and you'll have plenty of time to watch the action at the other locks, etc. if you miss something while in Palo.

[Ex techie]

Several of you have answered my several questions already. Thank you for helping us to book a cruise for Oct. 23 to the Panama Canal.

 

What are your thoughts on eating a brunch at Palo during the day that we pass thru the canal? I think the views from the windows might be neat to see but don't want to miss any narration. I know that it takes all day for the ship to go thru the canal so I was hoping that perhaps a couple of hours in Palo wouldn't waste the experience.

 

Am I wrong?

 

Personally I would eat at Palo earlier during the cruise.

DCL only buy produce from the US mainland. (obviously when they are using ports in Europe and cruises out of Canada they have to switch) But otherwise it is only US produce.

My thinking is that the food would be fresher the earlier on you are able to get a booking, and not so dependent on frozen food say 7+days out on your cruise.

 

Also, the locks are going to be a hundred + feet below deck 10, so you will see lovely landscapes, but not any of the traversing of the canal.

 

I would book a day at sea instead for the views of the open ocean surrounding you.

The same for dinner if you wish. Find out the local sunset time on Google and try to book around that time for some spectacular sunsets.

 

ex techie

[moki'smommy]

The food is a good point, Techie. And we have been on 14 night cruises where some things ran out....or the great banana episode......Chef realized that the bananas were getting too ripe and would only be good for another day or so....so we had "banana everything." They made banana bread, banana pudding, etc. And after that, there were no bananas for the rest of the cruise. They also may reach a point where they don't have mango or some other things that can't last 14 days.

 

As to the other "run out" things, I think they have resolved most of those issues. The best one was when they ran out of toilet paper on the last day. Ah the memories...... We didn't have any issues other than fresh fruits on the trans-Atlantic last fall.

 

The other great one was running out of Diet Coke. They were able to buy the syrup in Croatia, but then found out that the connectors were different and that syrup couldn't be hooked up to their machines. They sent crew out to the various stores to buy up all the cans they could get! ...and Mickey bars....that was sad. They were ultimately air lifted in after not existing on the Med cruises so we had them on the TA. We did the last Med and the WBTA; it was very obvious what had been part of the "special shipment."

 

But enough memories. I'm with techie--the food will be fresher and better earlier in the cruise.

[moki'smommy]

Hey, another point....being military, I'm guessing that you all have passports, right? You do realize that they are needed for this cruise.

[saleeb]

I never would have thought of the food quality or things running out, ex techie and moki'smommy. One of the early days at sea it is!

 

We do have our passports but thanks for the reminder. That would have been terrible to try to coordinate last minute. I appreciate you looking out for us.

[jalves]

We have actually done Palo brunch on Canal day and it was fantastic! It works great because it occurs while you are actually sailing through Gatun Lake during the crossing.

 

So, you enter the first set of locks at dawn, which you can watch from your veranda or up on deck. By the time your brunch is ready to start you've cleared the locks and are sailing for the other coast. During that time you'll pass some spectacular scenery. They keep the outside deck around Palo clear of other passengers so your view is unimpeded.