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

HBCcruiser

By HBCcruiser,
in Princess Cruises

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cruisingpeople

cruisingpeople

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6 minutes ago, HBCcruiser said:

Too bad you two aren't onboard as well. Then we'd REALLY be in trouble! 😜🥂

 

How True. Unfortunately, since my cruising money  comes from snow plowing, I can't cruise between December and mid-to-late March.

 

We've done the Full Transit (Left Coast to Right Coast) once and the Partial Transit twice. All those however, were through the Original Locks. Some day we'll go for the New Ones. You are going to want to move about the ship as much as possible while transiting the Locks. Besides observing things from the outside, go down to the Good Spirits at Sea Bar next to the International Cafe and watch out the windows as you are changing elevations in the Locks. It's kinda neat as the land around you appears or disappears.

 

HAPPY CRUISING ! ! ! !

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CruzeQueen2

CruzeQueen2

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8 hours ago, HBCcruiser said:

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. 🥳
 

Please clarify how your friend WON an upgrade to the suite. Thanks! Happy Christmas, thanks for posting. @HBCcruiser 

Edited by CruzeQueen2
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Raze

Raze

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9 hours ago, HBCcruiser said:

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. 


what night(s) did you pick for specialty dining?

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HBCcruiser "Live from...." Rare

HBCcruiser

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51 minutes ago, Raze said:


what night(s) did you pick for specialty dining?

I selected Cartagena for the UBD which is the 22nd or day 5. We have night 1, 4, 6 (canal day) and the last night for specialty dining. More Sabatini’s than CG. . 

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HBCcruiser "Live from...." Rare

HBCcruiser

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The temps are not supposed to drop below freezing so she should be ok. There are a lot of flights from Boston to Fort Lauderdale. I told her to keep a list in case she needs to book on another airline. We have status on American, and will use that if needed, but she is flying Jet Blue. Luckily we are both flying in the day before. Hopefully things will go smoothly. 🙏🙏

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HBCcruiser "Live from...." Rare

HBCcruiser

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In 2019 I was blessed to cruise on a Tauck 

 

River Cruise - Amsterdam to Budapest. We went through a ton of small locks - up close and personal. It was a wonderful trip, one I highly recommend. I am so excited to see the huge Panama locks and see how they compare to those on the Main and the Danube.

 

Through a small lock;

 

IMG_5003.thumb.jpeg.8d8399d45a5ce8dfd79de520f9a42be2.jpeg

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cruisingpeople

cruisingpeople

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1 hour ago, HBCcruiser said:

Worse comes to worse my DD has a 4-wheel drive vehicle!  Get in the car and GO! 😜

 

If it came to that, Bradley Airport in Hartford is only a 2 hour ride from Boston. We are getting strictly rain for this entire storm.

 

To bad you aren't going through the Original Locks. It's amazing to see what they did over a hundred years ago with the equipment they had back then. Definitely an engineering marvel.

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HBCcruiser "Live from...." Rare

HBCcruiser

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36 minutes ago, cruisingpeople said:

If it came to that, Bradley Airport in Hartford is only a 2 hour ride from Boston. We are getting strictly rain for this entire storm.

Great tip, thanks!

 

36 minutes ago, cruisingpeople said:

Too bad you aren't going through the Original Locks.

Actually. we will be during our excursion. It's the small boat/ferry excursion that goes through the old locks. I know it will be a long day, but hopefully will be worth it. We both read the book, "Path Between the Seas" in preparation for this cruise. I love history. 

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Vic The Parrot

Vic The Parrot

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I'll be following along.

 

I think you'll like going through "the ditch" ... I've done 4 full transits, and each time seen something that never caught my eye during the previous trips.

 

Enjoy, and have a few drinks for me!

 

Oh yeah ... as for your FLL dinner query.

I recommend Manhattan Pizza for a good meal. Nice choices of Italian food (the strombolis are very filling).

You'll find them in the same complex as Total Wine, opposite end.

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cruisingpeople

cruisingpeople

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8 hours ago, HBCcruiser said:

We have boarding Group A - 11:00 AM. Does anyone know what time Ft. Lauderdale port opens? We usually like to get there around 10:30 AM. 

 

Your arrival time should be just about perfect. I'm trying to remember if you've made it to at least Platinum if not Elite. If you are, look for those signs around the terminal.

 

5 hours ago, HBCcruiser said:

Actually. we will be during our excursion. It's the small boat/ferry excursion that goes through the old locks. I know it will be a long day, but hopefully will be worth it. We both read the book, "Path Between the Seas" in preparation for this cruise. I love history. 

 

I did that excursion twice. The first time, the Captain let me up on the bridge and the next thing I know, I'm piloting the boat through the Locks and then completely across Gatun Lake including the other 2 Locks. He handled propulsion while guiding me with the navigation. It was a blast. It took Amelia almost an hour to find me and she just about flipped. So the Captain had her come up also and then she wasn't so mad LOL.

The second time I went, he recognized me right away and immediately had me come up to the bridge and I had the whole experience all over again.

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HBCcruiser "Live from...." Rare

HBCcruiser

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18 minutes ago, cruisingpeople said:

 

Your arrival time should be just about perfect. I'm trying to remember if you've made it to at least Platinum if not Elite

I become Elite on this cruise! 🤗🤗 I’ll look for the suite/elite area, thx! 

18 minutes ago, cruisingpeople said:

next thing I know, I'm piloting the boat through the Locks and then completely across Gatun Lake including the other 2 Locks

How flipping cool is that?!!  You have the best luck, Joe! 

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nini

nini

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Thanks for sharing your journey with us! We did a full transit in January 2018 on the Coral.

We did the Chef's Table on the Grand this last September and they did such a fantastic job!!! The crew gave us a photo of our group and a cookbook! the food and presentations were amazing. Enjoy!

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HBCcruiser "Live from...." Rare

HBCcruiser

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Well of course I did not sleep well last night. 😩 I think I got 4 hours. Too excited. Ugh! I suppose I can try to sleep on the plane. We leave our house at 5 AM. Flight leaves at 7 AM. Luckily we are super close to LAX. Praying for smooth flights! 

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