Live from Emerald Princess, April 16 - May 4, 2023, full Panama transit

[jaycruising]

I have decided to do a semi live trip report, this will be my first live report and content will depend on my ability to get photos from my camera loaded. If I cannot I will follow others lead and do general observations and answer questions followed by a trip report. 

 

We are heading out on Emerald Princess’ last Panama Canal cruise for the season. From April 16th until May 4th. We are leaving Canada tomorrow morning with a direct flight from Calgary to Fort Lauderdale, arriving around 5pm local (hopefully), just enough time for us to grab some dinner and a visit to Target. We are staying a ways away from the port, but hotel prices near the port were just crazy for that night, and when we have to consider the exchange rate in everything we pay, gotta save those dollars we’re we can. 

 

This trip will be myself (Jay) and my mom B. we usually plan at least one trip per year together, we’ve been to Hawai’i a couple times, Mexico and this will actually be our fifth cruise together, all have been on Princess. Our last was a pacific coastal on the Crown in November, it was very different than this one will be. 

 

Our original plan for this year was not to take a cruise, instead we were going to drive across Canada and take in the east coast, which neither of us has ever got to see. But when we were on our Crown cruise we bought future cruise credits, we usually do as we find them to be a good value.  And I asked DM what next cruise she may be interested in and she said Panama Canal. So I started to do some research (I’m the main planner and I love it) and came across this cruise and I was very drawn in by the ports and the cost was one I don’t think we could beat. So I called up DM and asked if maybe she wanted to postpone driving across Canada and instead go and see 7 new countries and 2 new ports to us (now 6 new countries since Nicaragua has been dropped) and she agreed, so here we are.

 

Our longest cruise before this one was 10 days, this one is 18, so we shall see!  I am looking forward to some extended sea days, I work a pretty stressful job and am really ready for this vacation, I don’t think I have ever taken 3 weeks off of work before!  Our ports on this trip are Bonaire, Aruba, Cartagena, canal transit, Fuerte Amador, Puntarenas, Huatulco, and Puerto Vallarta. Which are all new ports for us!  We have booked a couple excursions through the ship and quite a number of private excursions. 

[jaycruising]

Once we pulled the trigger it was time to start researching, which is one of my favourite parts. So I headed over to YouTube to see what I can find and mixed in some Viator and Tripadvisor to do my research. As all of the ports are new to us, we generally like to do a bit of a tour to get to know the area. We have booked excursions, a combination of independent and cruise ship excursions, in each of the ports with the exception of Huatulco. This one just stumped me, the cruise ship excursions have terrible reviews and ones from others aren’t so great either, so we will wing it there or take advice from others, maybe enjoy the beach at the port. 

 

I have had my clothes ready to go for a bit of time, since I live in the frozen tundra I don’t need them. I like to lay out everything and then go in and reevaluate what I have laid out every once in a while to see if I really want to take it or not. I have been looking for new shoes to take, but that is a process for me.

 

I had my appointments all lined up for the final few days before we leave. I have a disability that gives me some mobility issues, but I work hard to not let that stop me, so got in my final appointment with my physical therapist a chiropractor on Wednesday , so I can be active on this trip!  I finished work yesterday, so I got to spend today doing a little prep and self care before heading out. 
 

The rain and airport situation in Fort Lauderdale added a little extra stress to the last couple days, so I spent some time last night looking for some alternate options. It looks like if we have to we can change our flights to Orlando and make the drive down, but it is currently looking like our flight is scheduled to depart on time tomorrow morning. 
 

My main suitcase is ready and at the door.

 

I am going to take it pretty easy for the rest of the evening. Before my fantastic friend picks me up bright and early for a ride to the airport where I will meet up with my DM who has to be up even earlier then me to fly to Calgary from Saskatoon. 

[pmallen]

Safe travels, and have a wonderful cruise.

[gottagocit]

We will be on this voyage as well and just arrived in Fort Lauderdale this evening. Have a safe trip down. See you onboard in a couple days. 
 

[nini]

We really enjoyed this itinerary in January 2018. It was hot and humid then so I hope you two will be ok. We are from Washington State (and are a half mile from the ocean), so I hope the heat and humidity will be gentle to both of you.

Enjoy and thanks for sharing.

[jaycruising]

April 15, Travel Day

 

Made it to the airport bright and early and was very thankful again for my Nexus cards, the line ups are quite long and it is a pretty busy place this morning. Thanks to those I made it through security and customs in about 15 minutes, up the escalator to wait for DM who was coming in from Saskatoon. Unlucky for her she had to do special security clearance this morning and had to pull pretty much everything out of her carry on for them to check. 
 

Caught up with her and we are currently enjoying some lounge time before our flight begins boarding in about half an hour. 

 

Our flight is currently showing as on time so given the events of the last few days that is making me feel better. 

 

Hopefully the rest of the day goes smoothly and the next update will be from the warmth of Florida 

Edited April 15, 2023 by jaycruising

[Lovinthesun]

14 minutes ago, jaycruising said:

April 15, Travel Day

 

Made it to the airport bright and early and was very thankful again for my Nexus cards, the line ups are quite long and it is a pretty busy place this morning. Thanks to those I made it through security and customs in about 15 minutes, up the escalator to wait for DM who was coming in from Saskatoon. Unlucky for her she had to do special security clearance this morning and had to pull pretty much everything out of her carry on for them to check. 
 

Caught up with her and we are currently enjoying some lounge time before our flight begins boarding in about half an hour. 

 

Our flight is currently showing as on time so given the events of the last few days that is making me feel better. 

 

Hopefully the rest of the day goes smoothly and the next update will be from the warmth of Florida 

I recognize the airport. Enjoying a Starbucks before we board.

[jaycruising]

We successfully made it to Fort Lauderdale! The mountains were showing off as we left Calgary this morning, it’s still so brown though as our snow just melted. 

 

Flight was highly uneventful, watched the Elvis movie, chatted with my seat mates, who are also on the cruise. 
 

They turned on our seatbelt signs on early as there was some turbulence and the Everglades looked cool from the plane. 

 

Got off the plane and while waiting for our luggage we just happened to stand next to @Lovinthesun, it was great meeting you and see you on the ship. 
 

Picked up our rental car and made the drive to Deerfield Beach, we are going to have a quiet evening as it’s been a long day and we will have a busy one tomorrow since it’s cruise day!

Edited April 15, 2023 by jaycruising

[capriccio]

If you are looking for a Deerfield Beach restaurant this afternoon or this evening, I can highly recommend JB’s On The Beach (https://www.jbsonthebeach.com/).  The food and the ambiance will be a great beginning to your vacation.  I hope you and mom have a wonderful cruise!

[jaycruising]

15 hours ago, capriccio said:

If you are looking for a Deerfield Beach restaurant this afternoon or this evening, I can highly recommend JB’s On The Beach (https://www.jbsonthebeach.com/).  The food and the ambiance will be a great beginning to your vacation.  I hope you and mom have a wonderful cruise!

Thank you, we were pretty tired so just had some chick-fil-a and called it a night!

[jaycruising]

April 16, Embarkation Day

 

We were up bright and early this morning (5:30 at home) took some time to relax at the hotel before we headed out about 9:15. It was about a 25 minute drive to the car return, but we had to detour to get gas. Returned the rental and lucky for us the shuttle was packing up to head to the Princess Ships. 
 

After a quick stop at Regal to let them off we quickly made it over to Emerald (who parked next to Oddessy of the Seas looks tiny). We got here right at 10:30, through passport check and got our boarding group in 10 minutes. 
 

We are currently Group 8, but have only seen 7 around. They have just announced that boarding will begin at 11 and that staterooms will be ready about 1pm. So ready to really get this vacation ready!

[Lovinthesun]

47 minutes ago, jaycruising said:

April 16, Embarkation Day

 

We were up bright and early this morning (5:30 at home) took some time to relax at the hotel before we headed out about 9:15. It was about a 25 minute drive to the car return, but we had to detour to get gas. Returned the rental and lucky for us the shuttle was packing up to head to the Princess Ships. 
 

After a quick stop at Regal to let them off we quickly made it over to Emerald (who parked next to Oddessy of the Seas looks tiny). We got here right at 10:30, through passport check and got our boarding group in 10 minutes. 
 

We are currently Group 8, but have only seen 7 around. They have just announced that boarding will begin at 11 and that staterooms will be ready about 1pm. So ready to really get this vacation ready!

Already finishing my first drink! 

[jaycruising]

They started boarding shortly after 11, and we were the second group called and were heading up the escalator by 11:11. 
 

First stop was the Sanctuary, we wanted to book a few afternoons on sea days, and we were able to get the days that we wanted and we also decided to go ahead and book for our day going through the canal.

 

After that we headed to Sabatini’s and put our names down for the Chef’s table. Those were the 3 main goals once we got on board and we were done both by 11:45. Then we decided to knock the safety video out of the way and sat in Adagio and got that out of the way!

 

International Cafe for lunch, or so we thought!

 

 

They also have gelato for $4.00

 

Nothing was calling our names so we decided to go to the dining room for lunch. 
 

 

 

 

The bay shrimp was fantastic!  While enjoying our appetizers they announced that the staterooms were ready, this was at 12:25, so nice and early. My main was the salmon, also very tasty. 
 

[Ellipooh]

I’ll be on Emerald next year for Panama Canal (in reverse, I’ll be going LA->FLL), cant wait to hear about your experiences.  Already appreciate the ideas for Sanctuary and Chef’s Table.
Looking forward to your reports. Have a great voyage!

[gvre]

2 hours ago, Ellipooh said:

I’ll be on Emerald next year for Panama Canal (in reverse, I’ll be going LA->FLL), cant wait to hear about your experiences.  Already appreciate the ideas for Sanctuary and Chef’s Table.
Looking forward to your reports. Have a great voyage!

Yeah think we are on the same Cruise on the Emerald April 5th Total Eclipse of the Sun.

Looking forward to your review.

Thanks!

[msd808]

Thank you for the live review.  We may be doing a late booking on the Emerald this summer, so it's very helpful.

If you don't mind could you please share the pricing for the Chef's Table and the Sanctuary?

By the way, that margarita looked great!

[LACruiser88]

We have sailed on the Emerald many times and is one of our favorite ships in the fleet.  We will be on the Emerald's July 6th Hawaii sailing.

 

Enjoy your cruise!

[jaycruising]

51 minutes ago, msd808 said:

Thank you for the live review.  We may be doing a late booking on the Emerald this summer, so it's very helpful.

If you don't mind could you please share the pricing for the Chef's Table and the Sanctuary?

By the way, that margarita looked great!

Chefs Table is $85 or $100 to include wine. I will confirm sanctuary pricing. 

[CATGUY7]

Excited to follow along!

[jaycruising]

It feels like I left off 3 days ago, not several hours ago, it had been a pretty busy day. 
 

After lunch we headed up to our stateroom to check it out and get unpacked if we could!  This is our first time staying on Caribe, and it won’t be the last, these balconies are huge, I of course forgot to get a picture but will do so tomorrow. 

 

Our suitcases weren’t here yet, but DM went out in the hall and actually found them for us, so we were all unpacked and settled before 3pm, now it feels like we are on vacation!

 

We went and did a little tour of the spa and the gym and decided to enter their draw they were having. 
 

we then ventured out into the hot sun and enjoyed some of the sail away party, it was fun!

 

 

but we could only last so long, we have been covered up in Canada for so long that that heat got us, so headed in and went to Crooners for a couple cocktails. 

[travelin.sisters]

thank you for sharing your journey with us! 

[jaycruising]

We were supposed to have left earlier today, but it was actually after 5 before we left port today, they had a lot of inventory to get on board and it took longer then they thought, and then we had to wait for the other 4 ships to sail away, since we missed our original time. 
 

Bit we did miss seeing them all leave as we went in to the spa since you have to be in attendance to win the draw, and didn’t win anything, but DM won a $150 credit for use, so she said s going to do that tomorrow morning!

 

While she sorted out that I did sneak outside and got a few photos of sailing away. 
 

Regal made her way out bound for Europe 

 

We were next to Odyssey of the Seas in port, sure makes us look tiny!

 

and then we followed them out. 
 

 

 

[jaycruising]

Just now, travelin.sisters said:

thank you for sharing your journey with us! 

Thank you, I enjoyed following yours too!

[Olympic Crow]

We'll be on the Total Eclipse Panama Canal transit cruise next April. Very interested in all your observations and pictures!

[jaycruising]

We have a standing 6pm reservation in the Da Vinci dining room, it was quite lovely this evening and there was no wait to get to our table. We dined with @Lovinthesun and 2 other couples. We do like sharing a table as you meet so many interesting people. 
 

 

 

 

I spaced out and forgot to take pictures of my started but I had the Pina Colada soup, and it was probably one of the best I’ve ever had and then the shrimp cocktail appetizer. I finally got my glass of wine around the time I finished my shrimp. For my main I had the Risotto and it was very good too. 

 

I wasn’t feeling many of the desserts so I went with the cheese plate. 
 

 

Our dinner was for the most part pretty good, DM didn’t love the chicken, and we had great company, the service wasn’t great. This dinner took 2 hours and 45 minutes, and it wasn’t because we were visiting for long after. It was just that slow, we waited at least 30 minutes after our appetizers were cleared until we got our mains. No one was offered coffee or tea. We did mention it as we were leaving, and one of our table mates did say something about maybe speeding it up next time directly to our server. It is the first time I recall having bad service, but we will move on and enjoy it all go forward. 
 

Post dinner DM and I went and sat in the wheelhouse bar and enjoyed the music and played 3 games of crib, I won 2!

 

Now we are calling it a night and we shall see what adventures or not 😉 we get up to tomorrow!