LIVE: CB Panama Canal Partial Transit Christmas Cruise 12/18/22 – 12/28/22

[HBCcruiser]

It is time to begin our LIVE review of our upcoming Christmas Cruise – CB Panama Canal partial transit. I love holiday cruises and seeing all the Christmas decorations. 🎄⛄🤶

 

This is our last FCC Princess cruise - using up all the FCCs from our COVID canceled cruises. My DD and I were scheduled to take this cruise back in 2021 but we all know how that ended up. 🙄. We rescheduled to this year and so far, so good! I have never been to the Panama Canal, so this checks off a bucket list trip for me. 

 

My DH is not very fond of sea days (I love them) so he was not interested in this cruise. 🤷‍♀️  My younger DD wants to be home with her friends during her college winter break, so she and DH will be home while my older DD and I will be cruising. This will be the first time we are not all together for Christmas, but we celebrated Christmas early, over Thanksgiving, so all is well with the world.  AND - As luck would have it, dear friends of ours will also be on this cruise, making us a group of 7! Mostly girls. Yes, it will be party time!  🥳. 🥂

 

Our Itinerary:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[HBCcruiser]

Our excursions - NOTE: We cancelled the stingray excursion and instead are renting a private yacht for 7 in the Cayman Islands. It was the same price if all 7 of us were to pay for a snorkel/boat excursion so - FUN!   

 

 

 

 

[HBCcruiser]

I booked my flights through Princess – EZAir. I will not be doing this again! Why? Because they changed my flights about two months ago leaving a 25-minute layover in Charlotte. NOT going to happen. My TA (who is amazing) had to argue hard with the EZAir folks to get my flights changed. They knew I would not make that connection. WTH? Luckily, they switched them, but only after she had to fight for the change. Lesson learned – book my own flights from now on. 

 

We fly in a day early but get into Fort Lauderdale around 7 P.M. My DD is flying direct from Boston. I am flying from LAX with a 2-hour layover now in DFW. The weather looks ok right now, so hopefully we will arrive on time. 🤞🤞

 

We are staying pre-cruise at the Renaissance Marina Hotel which is close to the port. My DH has high status with Marriott, so the room is basically free. Nice! Our plan is to grab a cab, stop by Total Wine which is on the way, pick up our wine order (I ordered it via the website) and head to the hotel. I am hoping we will be able to grab dinner somewhere close to the hotel. Any suggestions? 

 

Cabin:

We are booked in a mid-aft S4 PH Suite. I was hoping that the balcony would be like the Grand – nice and wide, but based on the few photos I have seen, it will not be as wide. It will still be nice! I planned (and purchased) the Ultimate Balcony Dinner but have heard on other threads that The CB is not offering this.  Weird, right?  I am hoping they will during the holiday cruises. If not, we may try for the Chef’s Table. It is a lot of food, but my DD really wants to experience it.

 

Oh and SCORE - my friend won an upgrade from a mini-suite to an aft penthouse suite! This will be great for viewing the locks. 🥳
 

[c-boy]

I like the itinerary, happy sailing 🛳️ 

[HBCcruiser]

As always if you are on this cruise please feel free to join the posting fun here on this thread. The more the merrier! We have a great roll call both here and on the website that shall not be mentioned F...B. A huge thanks to @Me by the Sea for setting up the M&G and putting in a lot of work. Thanks Kate! 

Edited December 15, 2022 by HBCcruiser

[HBCcruiser]

I will be running the poker pub crawl which should be a blast. Right now 25 have signed up! 

[HBCcruiser]

7 minutes ago, c-boy said:

I like the itinerary, happy sailing 🛳️ 

Have you done it? Any recommendations? 

[c-boy]

Nope. Bucket list, you'll be my eye's and ears. 😁

[HBCcruiser]

Yes, we will be bringing on wine. I have heard that the supply chain issues have impacted some of the ships. I can't do without tasty wine! 😱

 

There is a Total Wine right by our hotel. I ordered my wines online and plan on picking them up on our way to the hotel. They do not close until 10, so I think we will be fine. 

Edited December 15, 2022 by HBCcruiser

[HBCcruiser]

Last night we received an email noting the C-19 vaccination requirements for Columbia. Please take note in case you, or your traveling companions are not vaccinated: 

 

 

[HBCcruiser]

I purchased the Princess Premier package for my DD and I. On our last cruise in November, I felt it was worth it, PLUS I won $250.00! You can't beat that! Most of the wines we drink are in the $18 range, and I like to order Bacardi 8 when I can. 

Edited December 15, 2022 by HBCcruiser

[HBCcruiser]

The NEW additions to the Premier Package do not start until February, so I do not think they are an option for this cruise. 

 

[voljeep]

no UBD on CB over Thanksgiving, at least for us in a lowly deluxe balcony - maybe better with your 'suite statue'  Also, the only night we could book Specialty dining was Sabatini's the first night - nothing after that for either CG or Sab. - we were told to just walk up and see if any cancellations, which we did NOT do ...

[HBCcruiser]

1 minute ago, voljeep said:

no UBD on CB over Thanksgiving, at least for us in a lowly deluxe balcony - maybe better with your 'suite statue'  Also, the only night we could book Specialty dining was Sabatini's the first night - nothing after that for either CG or Sab. - we were told to just walk up and see if any cancellations, which we did NOT do ...

I think I heard about the UBD from you. I am not sure if suite status will make a difference. The only thing that might help, is I heard that they are increasing the number of staff right now. Let's hope this is true and that they will offer it. On the Discovery it was our favorite meal! If it does not work out we will try for the Chef's Table. I already booked our specialty dining nights, so we should be good on that. I was able to book a table for 7 on the App (yeh, we shall see how that turns out 🙄) in the Coral dining room every night at 7. I plan on speaking to the head waiter day 1 to see about getting the same table every night. There is one cabin of peeps in our group that is not a suite or CC mini suite, so we will not be eating in the CC section nightly. 

[Arizona Wildcat]

16 minutes ago, HBCcruiser said:

The NEW additions to the Premier Package do not start until February, so I do not think they are an option for this cruise. 

 

Correct.  

[HBCcruiser]

7 minutes ago, Arizona Wildcat said:

Correct.  

That is what I thought. If they start giving out special dark chocolaty deserts onboard and I do not get one, though, they are going to hear about it! 😜

[RNRcruisers]

I will be following with interest! We will be a group of 8 on this cruise in February. When I booked our dinner reservations all that was available was the Coral starting at 7:00. Was that the case for you?

[HBCcruiser]

2 minutes ago, RNRcruisers said:

I will be following with interest! We will be a group of 8 on this cruise in February. When I booked our dinner reservations all that was available was the Coral starting at 7:00. Was that the case for you?

No. We also were also able to book the Palm dining room. I prefer a mid-ship dining room so did not consider booking that one. I did not see the Island Dining room, though. I thought perhaps it was because we are in Club Class? Note sure. 🤷‍♀️

[RNRcruisers]

2 minutes ago, HBCcruiser said:

No. We also were also able to book the Palm dining room. I prefer a mid-ship dining room so did not consider booking that one. I did not see the Island Dining room, though. I thought perhaps it was because we are in Club Class? Note sure. 🤷‍♀️

 

Thank you for your response. We were hoping for the Palm, thinking we might be more likely to have the same table every night there. Not sure that is true anyway.

[HBCcruiser]

Just now, RNRcruisers said:

 

Thank you for your response. We were hoping for the Palm, thinking we might be more likely to have the same table every night there. Not sure that is true anyway.

We plan on trying to get the same table every night too. I will post how it goes. 

[Campbell soup]

Lots of great information.  The only thing I can suggest is to bring rain ponchos.  It poured the last time we went through the canal and we were lucky they were selling the ponchos.  We wanted to move from port to starboard multiple times so it meant being outside in the rain. 

Karen and Bob 

[HBCcruiser]

4 minutes ago, Campbell soup said:

Lots of great information.  The only thing I can suggest is to bring rain ponchos.  It poured the last time we went through the canal and we were lucky they were selling the ponchos.  We wanted to move from port to starboard multiple times so it meant being outside in the rain. 

Karen and Bob 

Great idea - thank you! 

[1emerald1]

3 hours ago, HBCcruiser said:

It is time to begin our LIVE review of our upcoming Christmas Cruise – CB Panama Canal partial transit. I love holiday cruises and seeing all the Christmas decorations. 🎄⛄🤶

 

This is our last FCC Princess cruise - using up all the FCCs from our COVID canceled cruises. My DD and I were scheduled to take this cruise back in 2021 but we all know how that ended up. 🙄. We rescheduled to this year and so far, so good! I have never been to the Panama Canal, so this checks off a bucket list trip for me. 

 

My DH is not very fond of sea days (I love them) so he was not interested in this cruise. 🤷‍♀️  My younger DD wants to be home with her friends during her college winter break, so she and DH will be home while my older DD and I will be cruising. This will be the first time we are not all together for Christmas, but we celebrated Christmas early, over Thanksgiving, so all is well with the world.  AND - As luck would have it, dear friends of ours will also be on this cruise, making us a group of 7! Mostly girls. Yes, it will be party time!  🥳. 🥂

 

Our Itinerary:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Love the Panama cruise!  Hope you are able to post a lot of pics!  Looking forward to another great LIVE!

[HBCcruiser]

12 minutes ago, 1emerald1 said:

Love the Panama cruise!  Hope you are able to post a lot of pics!  Looking forward to another great LIVE!

I am planning on it.😊 It seems as though the WiFi onboard is pretty good (unlike the Discovery). Can anyone attest to that? 

[cruisingpeople]

6 hours ago, HBCcruiser said:

AND - As luck would have it, dear friends of ours will also be on this cruise, making us a group of 7! Mostly girls. Yes, it will be party time!  🥳. 🥂

 

Well.... Isn't this wonderful...... Where do you want me to send the "Bail Money" ??🤣😂