Live From Nieuw Amsterdam Through the Panama Canal Followed by One Week in the Caribbean

[Crew News]

This begins my traditional "live" thread.  During my15-day repositioning cruise through the Panama Canal and another seven days in the Caribbean, I will be collecting menus, answering CC questions, chasing rumors, experiencing the west entrance to the canal for the first time, giving my impressions (except on food quality), interviewing crew members, trying some new beaches, meeting CC members, and experiencing new excursions.

 

Although I have my standard list of questions to ask, I encourage all new ones to be posted here.

 

If you are on this cruise with me, feel free to add your experiences and photos.

 

The journey begins tomorrow.

Edited October 6, 2023 by Crew News

[oakridger]

I'll be here reading along!

 

Thank you,

~Nancy

[kelliebiz]

Can’t wait to travel along with you. I’ll be doing the canal next spring on the Volendam so I’m looking forward to hearing about your journey. Bon voyage!

[albingirl]

I always enjoy your reviews.  Bon Voyage!

[geocruiser]

 

thank you for taking the time from your cruise to post.  I will be enjoying read about your adventure.

[Haljo1935]

Looking forward to reading about your experiences and impressions. Thanks for bringing us along.

[Wholeheartedmom]

See you all soon!

[Ken the cruiser]

Looking forward to your review as we'll be on a similar HAL Panama Canal cruise in April 2025, and are interested to hear what enrichment lectures they will offer on your cruise.

 

Have a great cruise!!!

[Brentt_M]

Hope the repositioning part goes well! We will be joining you in FLL.

[dobiemom]

@Crew News

[CruisingGrandmaW]

We leave on Oct 12th (Eurodam) thru the Canal.  Will be following you.

[flamingos]

Thank you. I'm interested in how the Panama Canal goes, as I've been reading about the wait times, the backlogs, and the limiting of ship allowed in because the water levels are so low.

[Crew News]

Embarkation Day began under blue skies and fluffy white clouds with temperature in the low 70's.

The Best Western Hotel on Ash street, five downhill blocks from the terminal, was beginning to fill with the incoming and outgoing passengers from two ships in port when I decided to get into the line to request a taxi be called.  When I checked in the night before, the Desk Clerk told me to allow ten minutes for a taxi to arrive after calling.  As I watched the line at the Front Desk grow, I activated my "mental math" skills from Great Courses to calculate fifteen minutes in line, plus ten minutes waiting for a taxi, plus seven minutes driving time to the port, putting me at the port five minutes before my check-in time. 

 

Glancing behind me, I noted more guests were joining the queue.  Ten seconds after I joined the line, the six guests in front of me took several steps to the right.  I was suddenly "next in line" and faced with a big decision.  Should I request a taxi now or allow others to pass me in line?  I opted to request a taxi.  When I turned to begin moving my luggage to the door, the taxi pulled to the curb no more than one minute from the Desk Clerk's phone being disconnected.  The taxi driver made every light and drove inside the terminal gates less than three minutes after I took my seat in the taxi.  It was not my fault that I arrived in the terminal a full 30 minutes before my assigned check-in time.  That is my story and I am sticking to it.

Boarding Process:
The Security scanning area was filled with unintelligible screaming.  As I approached within 20 feet, I could recognize, "Everything out of your pockets."  Being a seasoned traveler, I carry a plastic bag for the contents of my pockets to not hold up the line.
The normal booths and handheld camera photos were replaced with a single tablet facial recognition scan.  It was "open boarding" so no sitting or waiting.  At no time did anyone want to look under by right thumb to see my covered check-in time.  They just wanted to see a barcode.  A brief stop to make Specialty Restaurant reservations at the Deck 2 Pinnacle Grill podium and I was in my aft stateroom two minutes before my assigned check-in time

.
No holes in my stateroom card so I had to join the dreaded Embarkation Day Front Desk queue to have one punched to use my lanyard. Much to my surprise eight personnel were working to help passengers and I was finished in five minutes. I made a mental note to start packing my own hole puncher again.

It must be noted that the boarding process was only for 1054 incoming guests and not the full ship capacity. The Eurodam in the next few days should have the same experience.

 

Staterooms:
My stateroom was ready and in my initial inspection, I noted that the TV had been remounted on the wall with enough space for fingers and outlets for two more HDMI connections.  If I have an HDMI cable with me, I will give connecting my tablet a try.

There are two US and two European outlets on my verandah stateroom desk as well as two additional USB ports.  Each bedside has a single USB port.

I discovered that the ice bucket tray, with glassware, fits nicely in a bedside open nightstand shelf to give more room on the desk.  My collapsible 18-can cooler is filled with and requires filling only every two days for 33-degree beverages.  The best the minibar can do is 38 degrees at the very back.

Dining:
Two of the three Specialty Restaurant Managers have confirmed that regular coffee is free  Will check with the PG Manager tomorrow.

The new Canaletto daily specials have a rotating schedule that I will have this week.

The Morimoto fish specials are an additional charge ($25 for lobster tails tonight in the MDR). No scheduled Morimoto nights in the Tamarind this cruise.

October 10th is a special Indonesian night in the Tamarind ($30).  Limited to longer cruises.

Someone aboard, after seeing all of my Specialty Restaurant reservations to spend a lot of OBC, decided that my "confirmed, requested table for two" should be changed to "anytime dining."  I opted for the Tamarind instead of the Embarkation Night rush and found only 20 guests in the restaurant.  My Tom Kakai soup bowl appeared to be 25% smaller than in May.  The filet was amazing and my cloud dessert a bit smaller than in May as well.  Over my last five cruises, I have never seen the Tamarind more than 2/3d full.  That means walk-up are quite possible now.

 

Beverages:
Bar menus will be changing for the Caribbean in the next days as the current mixes disappear.  I will copy and post the new ones.

 

Miscellaneous:
Departure was delayed because the individual that operates the gangway was stuck in traffic.

The ship tour for 10 CC members covered the public areas and noted the amazing new library.  The book exchange shelves are still a bit naked.

Dolphins were spotted on the port side during my Tamarind dinner.

My 6:00 PM dinner changed from partly cloudy skies to need to blow the fog horn.
I spent around 20 minutes with Ruben Koolman, Hotel Manager, after he recognized me in the Lido Market and he declared his intention to attend our Meet & Greet tomorrow.  The downside is that the 3, 4,& 5 Star 30-minute Mariner Reception is at the same starting time as our Meet & Greet so he will be about 40 minutes late to our event in the Crows Nest.

I was surprised that the ship still has the three internet packages.  My premium plan was $279 before my Mariner $30 discount.  I will try to get the daily average price for the social package.

The WiFi antenna in my Samsung laptop is not so good but tethering via my phone is around 52 MBPS and 11 MBPS upload.  My tablet probably likes sharing with my phone as well.

 

No Starlink yet on this ship.

It was interesting talking with the crew and our shared four hours of 13-degree ship listing experience in Alaska this past May.  

Conclusion:
And so it was on Day 1 of this Panama Canal repositioning and 7-Day Caribbean cruise. Tomorrow is a sea day with partly cloudy skies forecast.

 

We have only just begun, more later.

[LouChamp]

Aloha.  Thank you for taking time to post. Have a wonderful voyage!

[Cruise Suzy]

3 hours ago, Crew News said:

The new Canaletto daily specials have a rotating schedule that I will have this week.

 

 

Thanks in advance for this. 

[katezufall]

Lovely Meet & Greet, Roger.Thanks.

[IPB4IGO]

How does a repositioning cruise differ from a regular Panama Canal cruise? We have been on three PC HAL cruises (would have been four if I hadn't been kicked off because I caught COVID during the eastbound trip), and they have always been 14 days each way.

[CruiserBruce]

11 minutes ago, IPB4IGO said:

How does a repositioning cruise differ from a regular Panama Canal cruise? We have been on three PC HAL cruises (would have been four if I hadn't been kicked off because I caught COVID during the eastbound trip), and they have always been 14 days each way.

The repo Canal cruises are usually designed to get the ship from the Caribbean to Alaska, or vice versa, and usually take 17-19 days. The west bound usually end in Seattle or Vancouver.

 

The standard 14 day you mention are usually FLL to SD, or vice versa. Otherwise, there isn't difference I am aware of, and I have been on 5 total Canal cruises.

[Crew News]

3 hours ago, katezufall said:

Lovely Meet & Greet, Roger.Thanks.

I merely coordinated the date and location. 

 

Mamacita123 sent the invitations to the staff and for the first time in the last five years, THEY ALL JOINED US. Hopefully, lots of questions were answered.  If not, we all had our chance!!

[crystalspin]

5 hours ago, Crew News said:

Mamacita123 sent the invitations to the staff and for the first time in the last five years, THEY ALL JOINED US. 

WOW -- I understood even pre-pandemic that officers were forbidden to attend and risk infection with any and every thing. So I stopped with the invites. Will re-think this!

[BetsyS.]

Bon Voyage! 🥂😊 Have a great time! Thanks for your posts.

[IPB4IGO]

20 hours ago, CruiserBruce said:

The repo Canal cruises are usually designed to get the ship from the Caribbean to Alaska, or vice versa, and usually take 17-19 days. The west bound usually end in Seattle or Vancouver.

 

The standard 14 day you mention are usually FLL to SD, or vice versa. Otherwise, there isn't difference I am aware of, and I have been on 5 total Canal cruises.

OK, but he is embarking in San Diego on a 15-day cruise, followed by a Caribbean cruise. I don't understand how the 15-day repositioning cruise differs from the regular 14-day cruise. What am I missing?

[Brentt_M]

1 hour ago, IPB4IGO said:

OK, but he is embarking in San Diego on a 15-day cruise, followed by a Caribbean cruise. I don't understand how the 15-day repositioning cruise differs from the regular 14-day cruise. What am I missing?

Repositioning is just moving the ship from one area to the next. So in this case they are leaving from the summer Alaskan cruise season and repositioning for the winter season in the Caribbean. Otherwise not much else different than any other  panama canal cruise. They will be transitioning some of the stuff like menus and drinks from alsakan themed to Caribbean and that transition period can be interesting for some and can make the onboard experience slightly different than what you would get once the ship is full setup for their season wherever.

[CruiserBruce]

1 hour ago, IPB4IGO said:

OK, but he is embarking in San Diego on a 15-day cruise, followed by a Caribbean cruise. I don't understand how the 15-day repositioning cruise differs from the regular 14-day cruise. What am I missing?

You aren't missing anything. The differences are semantics.

[Crew News]

Day 2 began under sunny skies and bright sunshine.

Unlike previous Meet & Greets, everything was prepared 30 minutes before the start of our event and both the Events Coordinator and the Beverage Manager were present.  Roll call members began arriving a bit before 10:00 AM as did several other ship officers.  Mamacita123’s invitations as well as the promises support from the Hotel General Manager appeared to be quite successful.  At 10:15 AM, the ship officers that attended the Mariner Reception that started at the same time began arriving.  With great surprise, I welcomed the Captain, Staff Captain, Hotel General Manager, Assistant General Manager, Guest Services Manager, Cruise Director, and several others.  It was a great opportunity to ask questions.  Hopefully, those roll call members who attended realized what a monumental experience that CC offered this time.  A very special thanks to mamacita123 and Ruben Koolman, Hotel Manager, for making this event happen.

 

There were about 50 attendees at the Military Meeting at 5:00 PM.

 

Tidbits:

The Beverage Manager assured me that no new bar menus were in the foreseeable future.

 

The Whatsapp phone app works well with the Premium internet plan. Internet speeds from my aft verandah stateroom measured by Okla are:  6.81/1.17 Mbps with VPN and 12.7/0.64 without VPN.

Per the Cruise Director, all classical music will be performed in the showroom.  There are production show being created now in LA for future Caribbean cruises.

Fixed early dining starts at 5:30 PM for a change.

There is some interesting weather ahead of us.

More later.