Photo review of 14 day Panama Canal Cruise on NCL Jewel

[MamaS]

Bringing a stroller here, or a wheel chair for that matter, is not really recommended. The sidewalk is narrow and every once in a while there are power poles in the middle of it, or there are merchants blocking your way, so we ended up walking in the middle of the street at times, which did not feel safe.

 

 

[easyboy]

Really enjoying your review.

Love your pictures too, like the street performers in Nicaragua. Love to watch those kind!

[808cruisef]

Random question...were there a lot of cigar shops in Nicaragua? My DH's favorite cigars come from there.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[MamaS]

Random question...were there a lot of cigar shops in Nicaragua? My DH's favorite cigars come from there.

 

I cannot remember seeing any cigar shops. However, it can very well be that some of the vendors selling things on the street were selling cigars. Since we are not smokers I didn´t pay much attention to that.

[cage keeper]

Love this review and your photos are amazing. Thank you for sharing them.

[armwinder]

What kind of camera are you using? Its not a "Brownie" for sure.

Edited February 2, 2017 by armwinder

[MamaS]

Puntarenas, Costa Rica, was the only port where we went on an organized shore excursion. We joined Gio Tours for their "8 in 1 Real Affordable Costa Rica Highlights", which was a pretty nice 8 hour tour. Gio Tours met us on the pier and Jesus, the guide, led us to their bus. There were 17 people from the ship on the tour.

 

First we went to a forest to interact with white faced monkeys. We were the only group of tourist there, which was nice. The monkeys were initially jumping around in the trees, but once our guide took out some fruit, they got curious and came closer. There were long lines fastened between the trees where the monkeys could climb and some of them were literately gliding on their tummies on it. The guide showed us how to hold one hand onto the lines and a piece of fruit in the other hand. Then a monkey came running and climbed over your head and shoulders in order to get to the fruit. Everybody who wanted got to try and we got some great photos of us with monkeys on our head hand shoulders.

 

 

 

 

 

Besides the monkeys, there were also white nosed coati. They are a kind of rodent, so the guide was not very fond of them, but for us it was interesting to see another kind of unfamiliar animal.

 

[MamaS]

Next up was a boat trip on the Tarcoles river. This was the main attraction of the trip and must have taken almost 2 hours. We saw plenty of crocodiles. The driver of the boat even went onto the shore*to feed them, which was quite spectacular to see. We got many nice photos. There were also plenty of birds of different kinds as well as iguanas and basilisks (also called Jesus Christ lizards since they can walk on water). However, the howler monkeys that we were looking for were not to be seen the day we were there.

 

 

 

A typical Costa Rican lunch was served at a local restaurant (included in the price). It was delicious and we got to choose between fish and chicken, and there were also a choice of different kinds of juices to drink.

 

Next up was a beautiful viewpoint, a fruit stand, a large store for souvenirs (quite pricey) and a drive through the town of Puntarenas. Our guide and driver kept watching for scarlet macaws. They saw them once, but before we had turned the bus around and went back to the spot, they flew away.

 

 

We were satisfied with the trip. It was an intensive day with a lot of different things. It took 8 hours and we still had more than an hour to go before we needed to be back on the ship. We used the time walk along the beach where there was a small market. We were in Puntarenas on a Saturday and there were plenty of locals on the beach and they were also shopping from the market stalls.

 

I believe for most people the monkeys were the most memorable experience, closely followed by the crocodiles. We paid $69 per adult and the kids were free of charge, which we thought was a great deal. Especially compared to the tours organized by NCL.

[MamaS]

Going through the Panama Canal was, of course, an experience. However, the process is quite slow. When we went through the first set of locks it was very crowded at the best viewing spots around the boat and it was hard to get any good photos. By the time we had passed the first couple of locks, people got more relaxed and there was much more space.

 

Sunrise outside Panama City. Plenty of ships are waiting to go through the Canal.

 

Entering the first set of locks. The view is from Spinnacker lounge, which was a nice place to stay if you did not want to be in the sun.

 

The best viewing spot was, according to me, in the very front tip of the boat. It is an area which is usually not open for guests, but on this day it was opened up. Most people were standing in the sun in the very front, which got very hot after a while and NCL had prepared with chairs in the shade further back where it was possible to recover a while from the sun. They also served drinks and small snacks, which was nice.

 

In the distance you can see the new locks

 

 

The view from the front tip of the boat

[bluesea777]

 

 

I have seen many great PC photos from all CC users, but I think this photo - your photo - tops all. Great, interesting and mesmerizing picture!

[riclop]

Thanks for the review.

[MamaS]

I have seen many great PC photos from all CC users, but I think this photo - your photo - tops all. Great, interesting and mesmerizing picture!

 

Thank you! I am happy you like my photos! :)

[MamaS]

In Cartagena cruise ships dock in an industrial port. There is a free shuttle bus to a welcome center. However, it is only a few minutes’ walk, so it is perfectly fine to walk there on foot.

 

Cartagena is a beautiful city

 

The skyline of Cartagena

 

The welcome center is quite nice. There is a big, air-conditioned, store for buying souvenirs. Prices are on the high side. Around, there is a very nice aviary with tropical birds, for example toucans and scarlet macaws. Most of them roam freely and you can get very close to them. Actually, they got so close that our 3 year old got scared. :o The sound from the birds is deafening. There are high trees and bushes, and it is nice to spend some time there in the shade, watching the wildlife.

 

 

 

[MamaS]

 

Once outside the aviary, plenty of taxis are waiting to take you into town. They seemed to have agreed not to go below $15 per car to go to the old town, so despite hard bargaining, we ended up needing to pay that price. On the way back prices were much more flexible. We agreed on paying $10 for the car, which we understood was higher than usual, because the driver was very happy with the agreement and he volunteered to do some sightseeing on the way.

 

Cartagena is a big city with many things to do, but since we had not been there before, we decided to go to the old town, which seems to be the main tourist attraction. We had the taxi driver drop us off at Las Bovedas. It is an old building, which used to be a prison, and is now remade into an shopping arcade for tourists. Since the temperature and humidity was high, it was nice to walk into the cool dungeons. There is a thick wall surrounding the old city, which is located on an island, and we continued by walking on the wall toward the southern part of old town.

 

Las Bovedas, the old prison

 

 

 

The old town of Cartagena is a nice place to walk around, just watching people and looking at the architecture. There were plenty of tourists around, and in the southern part of the old town there were many people selling things on the street. We ended up buying a few things in a local grocery store, where we paid with credit card. If you are interested in buying things such as coffee, I can highly recommend buying from a grocery store rather than from the many souvenir shops. Things are cheaper and I trust the quality when I see that the locals are buying the same products.

 

[MamaS]

I guess I am coming to an end with this review. Please feel free to ask questions if I have missed anything! Overall, we were very satisfied with our cruise. The staff is just awesome. Most of them seem genuinely happy and are always ready to give you a hand. Many of them learnt our names, and the kids were always greeted and given extra attention. Over the course of the cruise they gathered a pile of animals than not only the room steward made for us, but also staff in the restaurants (who made them out of napkins), from a towel folding event where the kids got to choose any of the animals on display, as well as other occasions.

 

 

The senior officers were very visible around the ship. We met them several times: at the Cruise Critic meet & greet, the cocktail parties, but also daily around the ship and they were always open for a chat. When giving feedback to the hotel director we were even awarded with a bottle of wine and some chocolate.

 

 

As I have mentioned before the kids got all attention they could possibly ask for in the Splash Academy, since there was plenty of staff and hardly any kids. Balloon animals, painted faces and small gifts were a daily occurrence.

 

Another great thing was that we experienced fewer lines on the Jewel than we have done on any previous cruise, including the Pearl which in therory should be very similar to the Jewel. For example, we never waited more than five minutes to be seated in a restaurant.

 

Of course there were a few small hick-ups: gravy that was forgotten and delivered after the meal was finished, slow service at O´Sheehan´s, too much wind one day to be able to walk around the ship, NCL staff walking back and forth between the isles distributing bar menus in the Spinnaker lounge even though the place is filled with people singing and praying for the interdenominational mass (this part was almost comic :o). But none of these things would be important enough to ruin my vacation. All in all, we had a great time and if I got the opportunity, I would go back in a heartbeat.

[easyboy]

Thank you for your well-written review and wonderful photos. Have enjoyed following along.

[armwinder]

Good review, thank you for all of your work. What kind of camera did you use on most of the shots?

[mr&mrscruiselover]

Thank you for the great review.:)

[MamaS]

Good review, thank you for all of your work. What kind of camera did you use on most of the shots?

 

You are welcome! I am happy you liked it!

 

Two cameras were used during this cruise. For most pictures taken around the ship and in port I used a Nikon D5100. For food pictures, however, I used a Nikon Coolpix, which is small and easy to carry around. It does not take as good pictures, but is small and easy to carry around. Actually it belongs to my kids and it is more or less indestructible. :D It is shockproof, waterproof, etc., so that it can survive being handled by young kids.

[armwinder]

Thanks for the info. Now you can relax and plan another cruise.

[MamaS]

Thanks for the info. Now you can relax and plan another cruise.

 

Sounds great to me! :) Actually I have already started. We are looking into going East next time, to Asia. Well, at least I am dreaming about it. :rolleyes:

[anniesusie]

thank you for the review and the pictures. We are going on the Jewel in April. But the food looks amazingly similar to the Sun cruise we took in July. I loved the scallops too. Only thing I ordered twice.