Cruise-Mas Through the Panama Canal- Live from the Coral Princess- 12-17-15

[TracieABD]

December 20th, 2015

Aruba mornings. Panther afternoons. Mystery nights.

 

Good day, friends.

 

And hi from super-duper sunny Aruba. It is hot down here on the Equator.

We made a short stop in Aruba this morning. The ship docked from 7 am to 12:30. We booked a fully private tour for 3 with Antonio from Aruba VIP Tours! This did not disappoint. Antonio met us at the gate at 8 am sharp and we were off on our customized tour in his new and super comfy Toyota X-Terra. It is necessary to have an all-wheel or four wheel drive vehicle, as much of Aruba is desert and there are spots that just don't have a lot of road. The first stop on our tour was a Dutch Bakery for some coffee and pastiche (I think). Delicious and only the locals go there, so it is a double bonus. We headed on an island tour to the gold mine/ fort- thingy. Past the Ostrich Farm, the Donkey Sanctuary (probably not $40 a day to reserve a chair there and a long like to get get one!). We also climbed up some rocks to see the whole island, and saw the lighthouse- which is in the process of being refurbished. There was a visit to a tiny chapel thrown in. I bailed at 3 hours, and my husband and son continued on to drink an Aruban beer at Baby Beach. Antonio got us back to the ship at 11:50 am, as he probably did not want to help us find our way to Columbia. Antonio is the owner and one of three guides for his company. He really knows and loves his island- and one more bonus. No shopping stops! (Unless you request it).

 

We ate in the MDR for lunch. I had the Nasi Goreng which was totally respectable. I also had a salad and some chocolate bread pudding for dessert. Very yum. My husband and son tried the Seawitch IPA which received one thumbs up and one thumbs down.

 

We settled into a couple of beach chairs at MUTS. Panthers were playing the NY Giants. For those of you who do not watch football (that would normally be me), you may not be familiar with the phenom know as the Carolina Panthers. This year they are 13-0, well, after today they are 14-0. You don't have to know one thing about football to understand that in a 16 game season, this is a pretty darn sparky record. I sort of alternated between the thermal spa and the game-- and at 28-7, I bailed. To go back to the room... and nap.

 

It was hot, hot, hot up on the Lido deck, inspiring me to so something I have never done on a cruise ship: get in the pool. I typically refrain from this activity as I do not wish to blind the poor innocent people with my super shiny WHITE legs. After all of that sun, I may be one shade closer to ecru, but I am by no means even close to tan. You can get a chair up there. You may have to wait, but there seems to be a courtesy to dumping towels in the used bin to free up chairs.

 

We were not feeling the whole dinner thing, so we just settled on coffee from the IC. We may order from the room service a little later, but for now, we are good. I think we have hit the food wall. I may eat cereal for dinner, something I might or might not do at home every once in a while.

 

Well, I have to go and shower or scrub off the 29 layers of sunscreen. I think I will refrain from inviting you to join me on this little adventure.

 

More later-

Tracie-Lynn :)

[ckrcjr]

Love reading your "Live"....we were on the Coral last March for a partial Panama Canal and loved it. Such a great experience and it is so fun reliving it through your live reports!!!

 

GO PANTHERS!! The Cardiac Cats gave us quite a scare but they came through when it mattered!! So glad you were able to see part of the game as well - such a magical season!

 

Enjoy the rest of your cruise and I look forward to your wonderful posts. Deepest sympathies to you and your family on the loss of your mother. She is most definitely enjoying this very special time with you!

 

Cindy

[Colo Cruiser]

[CT Wanderer]

Hey Tracie!

 

I am sure that you are not using your phones...but I texted Max with all of the info on the Panthers/Giants game. To be sure, the Panthers nearly went 13-1...but a field goal at the gun left them at 14-0.

 

I am totally digging your posts, and I can see why you have...what...something like 3340 followers at least!?

 

I will continue to follow...but just so everyone knows, as your older brother, I claim #1 for myself!!!!

 

My love to "Bradley" and Max and I wish I were there for the cigars and the whiskey!

 

I love you,

Your Brothy-Ugler!

[TracieABD]

Love you, too- you big Galute- You are my favorite brother EVER!

 

Next cruise, you and Susan MUST come along-

 

Love, love, love to you and your gurrrrrrllllzzzzzzzz!

TL

[TracieABD]

December 21, 2015

Cartagena, Columbia

 

Hi friends-

 

We moved the clocks back last night, and I loved that extra hour of sleep. We got moving around 7 am and we were still a ways from docking in sunny Cartagena. You could see the gleaming white high rises way off in the distance. The three of us decided that we would have breakfast in the MDR. As stated in an earlier entry, I am not really up to sharing a table. For the second day in a row we were given a four top right next to another four top. This is the second time we have been seated at this table next to the same group, that includes a husband and wife and a mother-in-law. This is also the second time we listened to the husband yell at and berate his MIL. He has no idea how lucky he is to have family, and I am pretty sure that if there is a next time to witness this display, I will probably not be able to restrain myself- I just might say something. I will asked not to be seated at that table again, that is for sure. Once again, I am always stunned at way people will act in public. And I can only imagine if they are willing to act that way in public, what do they do in private? I sort of wish the wife would stick up for her mom a bit too.

 

We booked a private tour for this port, and I am so glad we did. We initially contacted Marlevy Hall- who is highly rated on Trip Advisor. She was taking people for a small group tour, but we wanted private. She set us up with her protoge Katty Sarmiento. First, we were met by Sheila, Marlevy's daughter, who led us to Katty. We were given a private, air conditioned van that was driven by Pillar- World's best driver! Katty and Pillar covered a bunch of ground in spite of the traffic- which was abundant. I also learned that lines in the road, stop signs, traffic lights are more of a suggestion than a law. We managed to see La Popa- a working monastery that is perched on top of the highest point in Cartagena. We visited the fort that is most impressive. We had a bit of time to shop in the market. We then moved on to the Old Town- which is stunning. It is also a UNESCO site, and it is totally understandable why. This is such a charming corner of the world. It is four sections, and we traipsed through 3 of them. If you get a chance to go- try the lime-aid and the pan de queso (cheese bread). So delicious. Two lime-aids cost a whopping $1 US- how fun. My husband and son have decided that they must try a beer in each country- so they sampled an Aqualar (Eagle beer) for .50 cents. I think it was cold, so it hit the spot. I will say, Cartagena is HOT! Hotter than the deck yesterday. I did not think that is was particularly humid, but the heat was cloying. I think this is one more plus for booking private. We could hog up all that air conditioning for ourselves! I am grateful that Pilar never let the van get warm, so we were treated to cool every time we entered the vehicle. I have done an number of private tours, and this was by far one of the best ever! Yay! Katty!

 

I am now back on the ship and trying to eat a little lunch in the IC. The boys are braving the buffet, but I am much more of a salad girl. I am loving my afternoon latte and all of the activity. I do have one small complaint for the IC on this ship... they only have two tables for two, and the rest are for 4 or six. I hate hogging up a table for 4 (or six), but I missed out on one of the two tops. It is hopping here, and I have tried to contain my stuff in case another single needs to share. I do not want to be a table hog.- And if speaking it makes it so, I was just joined by a couple with many tiny plates of food. I think I will finish up and turn over my seat-

 

Off to stir up some trouble-- want to come along???

 

More later-

Tracie-Lynn :)

[CT Wanderer]

And we love you and da boyz too!

 

oh....and its "whisky" not "whiskey." Sorry aboot that, eh!

 

:-)

s

[Kenswing]

 

 

Off to stir up some trouble-- want to come along???

 

More later-

Tracie-Lynn :)

 

Does anyone ever say no to that? :D

[AryMay]

OT- just got caught up with your Akumal blog posts. Loved them, and the beautiful pics! Thanks for doing that.

 

Aw shucks <blushing>...that compliment means a LOT coming from you!

 

I don't want to hijack this thread but will say that, Lord willing, I will be blogging about our next adventure...a cruise and land vacation to Hawaii in March.

 

In the meantime I look forward to reading more about your winter at sea in the next couple of weeks! :)

[TracieABD]

December 22, 2015

Day of the Dream

Panama Canal

 

Good morning, friends-

 

I am blogging live as we enter the Panama Canal. My mom had always wanted to cruise the canal at Christmas time, so here we are... She and I are sitting on the balcony. I have her (remember in a different form) right next to me. We are about 30 minutes from the Gatun Locks. The ship is moving very, very slowly. There have been a couple of PC pilot boats, so I think we will be entering the locks soon.

 

Whilst I wait, I will chat about last night a bit. I am reading a really good book, so I trotted my book to Afternoon Tea to have a cuppa and a half a scone. They did seat me alone, but I was still a little segregated. No worries. It was nice and quiet for reading.

 

The three of us went to the MDR for dinner. I had the Swiss Air Cured Beef, the gazpacho, and I tried the Curtis Stone flank steak. The beef and the gazpacho did not disappoint. The Curtis Stone dish was fine, but lack any colour... The flank steak came out looking like very grey shoe leather, there was a scoop of white rice, and a scoop of black beans. Surprisingly, in spite of first appearances, the flank steak was quite moist and tasty. The beans were very good with a slight citrus note, but would have benefited from a bit of heat (as in spice). The rice was, well... it was rice. Overall, it was fine, but I am not sure if I would order it again. I will try the pork dish in the next day or two. I am not a consumer of fish/ products of the sea, so I will leave that to your imagination. For dessert, I had the creme brulee, and Bradley had the bananas Foster. I love bananas Foster, but I do not drink-- and they do not set it on fire, so I typically shy away from this and the cherries Jubilee.

After dinner, we settled in and called it a night. I read my book. Bradley watched TV and slept. I attempted to sleep, but did not have a great night. It was a bit rocky-- which normally is like nature's little Ambien for me, but not last night.

 

I woke before 6 am this morning and Bradley and I slithered down to the IC for some coffee. I have so few vices in my life, coffee being the only one really. For some reason, it really drives me nuts when I order an iced latte and the barista pours the hot espresso over the ice and then adds the milk. OK, kids-- what happens when you pour hot over ice? You get sloppy lukewarm coffee... ick. I guess the part that sort of annoyed me the most is the guy making my coffee was not the barista, but the IC dude (white jacket/ white toque). He just wanted to be a helper at the coffee station while the line at the food station backed up. He also wanted to steam the milk and pour it over ice. I might have been a bit sharp with him, but he really needs to stay in his lane. Sorry, if that makes me sound like a crab--- It is just one little thing that I have. My coffee. I did ask him to remake it, and the barista talked him through it... but it did put a tiny kink into my morning.

 

And now I am sailing through the Panama Canal. There are many, many people on their balconies, and I am hoping Max has set his GoPro, but I am thinking not. It is already very, very warm and muggy-- which will probably only increase throughout the day. We have a shore excursion planned. It will be our first Princess Shore Ex in many years. If you have not done a PC cruise, you can only book ship's excursions if you want to get off the ship in Gatun Lake. There is no way to book a private tour. We will be doing the train, and I hope it goes well. I will report back more this evening.

 

I may just have to do a coffee do-over (or a Mulligan, as it were) in order to reset the day!

 

Anyone want to get a nice (properly made) iced non-fat latte with me?

 

More later-

Tracie-Lynn :)

[Essiesmom]

We see you!

 

 

 

 

[CT Wanderer]

Good Morning, Tracie!

 

I love coming in to work to read your blogs. The other stuff I have to do here, will just have to wait until I have finished my coffee and read your blog. I would love to hear more about what the boyz are eating and how they like it.

 

And who has the dogs?

 

I love you,

s

[Essiesmom]

Out into Gatun Lake

 

[Colo Cruiser]

[Colo Cruiser]

Sounds like the days we spent onboard! ;)

[sunsetbeachgal]

The Coral is a beautiful ship, thank you for the photos of her in the Canal.

 

I can't wait to sail on her in January. I hope Princess has scrapped, once and for all, any plans to change her as they did with the Island!

[Northender]

Thanks for your writings. This is the first place I go with my DD coffee in the morning. Enjoying this so much.:):)

 

Is there any scuttlebutt about what Princess will do when the "new" locks open? :)

[Essiesmom]

Heading back out...Waiting for the containership to clear the middle lock:

 

 

 

 

[TracieABD]

December 22, 2015

Panama Canal- Part Two

 

The Shore Excursion:

We decided to do the train to get from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Just think about that-- In an hour, you can get from one to the other-- ON LAND!

 

We met in the Bordeaux Dining room with the 45 other "Brown 4's. Gatun Lake is a tender stop, so we all piled in... along with some in Group 3 and even some Group 2's (Yikes!). Once we reached land, we met our super fun tour guide, Errol (his mother just loved Errol Flynn). He was very funny and engaging and full of lots of great information about Panama. Our first stop was to see the locks up close and personal. Because Errol is my kind of guy, we were the first group out of there! Our next stop was the train. If you can swing it, please consider the dome car. It was all glass, even the roof. We had super comfy booth seating, and we were not squashed in like sardines. They served a small box of snacks and coffee. You could buy beer for $2 or soda for $1. The train ride lasted about an hour and a half. It was so relaxing. Yes, you do see a lot of jungle, but you also see a fair amount of water-- and bonus, you get to go right past the prison that holds General Manual Noriega. Whilst, I do not know if he saw us, other prisoners waved at the train.

 

At the conclusion of the train ride we were in Panama City, we boarded buses to a duty free shopping plaza... ugh. At least it was a short stop. We did buy some German chocolate, and that made me happy. After our shopping extravaganza, we headed back to Colon on the bus. I think I slept or read or slept and read... Upon arrival in Colon, we queued up to get back on the ship at the same time others were trying to get off the ship. This created a bit of a boondoggle-- by the time we reached the stairs to board, there were some very mad people. I seriously thought we might have a line position smack down. Dude- take my place in line. Really. Unwad those panties, friend. We will all get on the ship.

 

We scrambled to get ready for dinner. This is a word of warning to my OCD friends (ooooohh! idea alert! idea alert!- they have Friends of Bill meetings, Friends of Dorothy meetings. Could they have Friends of Highly Regulated and Routine Driven meetings???? I would love to be a charter member of that group!) Oh- sorry- digression there <----- Back to dinner- on the Panama Canal night, they do not have TD. It is open seating in both dining rooms. AND they gave away our lovely table for 4, oops, I mean 3 by the window. Bradley had the fish skewers, Max had the duck, and I had the Pad Thai. It was all good, though Max did say the duck was a bit greasy- anywho he ate it all, so I think he survived. Bradley and I also had the Princess Love Boat-- which I think has changed. I think the mousse to brownie ratio was off.

 

We packed it in for the night and rested up for our big day in Costa Rica.

 

More later-

Tracie-Lynn :)

[Colo Cruiser]

Excellent!

 

Have found some Love Boat Dream recently really rubbery at times. :(

 

I try and order the little birthday cake (sans the singing) to have with my coffee. ;)

Edited December 24, 2015 by Colo Cruiser

[dickinson]

Excellent!

 

Have found some Love Boat Dream recently really rubbery at times. :(

 

I try and order the little birthday cake (sans the singing) to have with my coffee. ;)

 

Can you just order that at the table as one of the desserts? I assume it is the same as the anniversary cake we once had. OOOH so delicious!

[TracieABD]

December 23, 2015

 

Costa Rica- A day in the Rich Coast

 

Good morning, friends-

I know. I know. I know. A day late and a dollar short-- actually quite a few.

 

Yesterday was Costa Rica. We had a private tour planned with Eduardo to zipline. It took us a good bit of time to get docked, deploy the gangways, and find our way off the ship. We were supposed to meet our guide at 7:30 and think we were much closer to 8:30. No worries, as they are all on "island time". Island time is a lot like "lake time" I've discovered. Noon can mean 1 pm or 5 pm or midnight or the next day or even the next week... However, I am city girl, who was feeling her uptight city best yesterday, so I was not doing a great job of going with the flow. Thank goodness, when I get that way (and it is not too often), my husband is great a balancing me out.

 

Once we disembarked the ship and wove our way through the maze of pop-up shops, we found our guide Geras Cooper. We called him Cooper and that seemed to work. This guy was a veritable fount of knowledge on all things Costa Rica. The only downside was he had an agenda and was going to follow it. My thought was to just get to the zipline before the buses and kids and then we could see all of the other stuff. That is why I really like to book privately. But... we stopped at a fruit stand- which was great. And we sampled fruit. And we stopped a banana plantation (Del Monte). It was a work day, so we got to see the how the operation works from growing, to picking, to cleaning, to packing. And it was very interesting. Finally, we made our way to the zipline. And guess what, we waited... and waited. And finally, we ended up in a group with another couple, and another couple with their two very small and adorable kids who were 5 and 6 years old. The little girl was a bit frightened so I reminded her that she would be just like Tinkerbell and get fly! She let me know that she was more like Elsa. Not quite sure if Elsa could fly, but this little girl sure did! Just as I thought we would go, two more people showed up... Ugh. We let everyone else go ahead in our group, and we did kind of make it through the 11 ziplines with just the three of us. By the time I completed zipline number 2 I was back to my cheerful self, and only my husband and son knew that I had been aggravated. Three coffees, two mousses, and a panini and one humble apology later, and all was again with with our little family. By the way, I really love ziplining, and my husband is not a fan and is very afraid of heights, but will always sacrifice for me! Nice guy.

 

After the zipline, we went on a jungle road to see some monkeys and sloths. Cooper is the world's best spotter of jungle wild life. He can look into so very dense bush and casually point (really- he used a laser pointer) to a dot in the leaves and say, "oh. look. there is a sloth mother holding her tiny baby" The rest of us are like, "huh????" It really is a gift.

 

We also went on a river canal tour. We saw more sloths, lots of birds, and a real live crocodile!!!! Other than the crocodile, I really love the snow egrets the best, with their bright yellow feet- sort of reminded me of bird Wellies!

 

Our last stop was at nice beachfront restaurant called Quimbamba. There were quite a few other private and small group tours there, so I guess this spot is popular with tourists and locals alike. We all had some iteration of Caribbean rice and beans. Cooper and I had the chicken. Max had the shrimp and Bradley had the shrimp and he also had some ceviche. All of the meals came with fried plantains and slaw. I think between the four of us, we might have left one plantain (and the artificial crab in the ceviche- why bother???). The food was great and reasonable by American standards.

 

Once we returned to port, and walked through the maze of pop-up shops, we found a section dedicated to women's beauty services- hair braiding, manicures, pedicures, food massage, etc. I had just broken two nails, so my husband (AND this is just one of the reasons I love him) grabbed my stuff out of my hands and said do you have some money on you? I said yes. He looked at the woman and said- do my wife's nails... and off he went. i had a good manicure for the price I would pay on land. And then I returned to the ship.

 

For those of you who travel frequently, you will know what I mean here. Every once in a while, no matter how perfect the trip, you just hit "the wall". (the origins of which is the proverbial wall a runner hits around mile 22 in a marathon). Last night, Bradley hit "the food wall". He just could not do dinner- he cancelled his Crab Shack reservation and Max and I dined alone in the MDR for ITALIAN NIGHT!!! Yay! Food with flavour!!! (If you ever want more detail on how I feel about Italian night, please refer to my live from on the Royal in January of 2015. I offer a lengthy and silly comparison of Italian and Swedish food and why there is a ratio of 9 million Italian restaurants to every 1 Swedish restaurant--- Swedish food- ain't nobody got time for that!) I had the melon and procuitto, a salad, and my favorite "off menu" offering- penne Arribiata! Yum! Max had the appetizer portion of the penne (at which he declared it was more delicious than my cooking- duh! I don't cook), the pasta faglioli (which is dense and beany verses broth with beans and pasta), and the veal. He did not enjoy the veal and stated it was much more like Salisbury steak. It was the first time I have ever seen Max not finish a meal. It was also the first food miss we have had.

 

After dinner, we met up with Bradley for the comedian Scott something or other. He was pretty funny. I think he was much funnier if you had opted for the drink of the day, as my son and husband seemed to enjoy him much more than me. We also tried to sit through the piano impressionist, but we could not get through two songs of his cheese-ball entertainment. I am sorry, if you have to throw your leg up on the keys of a piano in order to thrill your audience, you lose my vote. My brother will get this. I just do not love musical show boating, and this guy was 90% jello and 10% meat.

 

Finally, I headed back to the room as my boys roamed the ship looking for more entertainment. I think I hit the wall a bit. I fussed with the internet but became too frustrated to get this section of the blog done, so I just packed it in and saved the minutes.

 

The oceans were quite active and all were rocked to sleep!

 

More later-

Tracie-Lynn :)

[Colo Cruiser]

Can you just order that at the table as one of the desserts? I assume it is the same as the anniversary cake we once had. OOOH so delicious!

 

Yes! But don't tell anyone.

[Colo Cruiser]

A great day in Costa Rica Tracie! We were at Quimbamba on our last trip to the rain forest tram and canal tour. It was pretty good.

 

Anymore I hit the food wall after about the third day! :eek:

[sawtooth]

Tracie, enjoying your blog. We did this cruise on the Island before her retrofit, loved it.

Have fun celebrating the holiday on the ship. Merry Christmas