Live! Radiance of the Seas - Panama Canal cruise - April 8, 2024

[RobInMN]

7 minutes ago, Jimbo said:

We are going to get a good look at Radiance, She is in the inside lane  close to the camera.

 

Hope everyone onboard smiles !!

Actually, it's hard to tell on the web cam without another ship, but we are in the far set from the web cam

[Jimbo]

7 minutes ago, RobInMN said:

Actually, it's hard to tell on the web cam without another ship, but we are in the far set from the web cam

Yes, I see it now with another ship in other lane coming toward you.

 

That  other ship is flying through the locks, Radiance is still going super slow, doesn't want to damage the paint job I guess !!

 

 

This is like watching grass grow............so slow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

I would love for them to put a webcam camera on one of those light poles, that would be some awesome video.

Edited April 13 by Jimbo

[Jimbo]

@RobInMN You guys should get a do over for the amount of time this is taking, I don't get it. The other ship that was coming toward you is long gone. Almost out of sight!

 

This is painful, I'm giving up on watching it!

 

 

It's turning into taking well over 2 hours to get through these sets of locks. Unbelievable.

 

Canal is going to dry up before you can get through..........

 

Did the Captain anchor the ship there?

Edited April 13 by Jimbo

[Another_Critic]

[Jimbo]

and here comes another ship moving into the picture and Radiance just sits there.........................

 

Blocked out by that other ship, couldn't see the people
on the bow.

Edited April 13 by Jimbo

[Another_Critic]

1 minute ago, Jimbo said:

and here comes another ship moving into the picture and Radiance just sits there.........................

Maybe the "mules" are taking a siesta?  😄

[Jimbo]

6 minutes ago, Another_Critic said:

Maybe the "mules" are taking a siesta?  😄

Another lunch break, for the guys on this end of the locks!! They are in a different time zone.

 

For those going through the locks in the future, this is not the usual way it works, very unnormal for it to take this long.

Edited April 13 by Jimbo

[SilkySal]

I gave up watching right before you @Jimbo said you were giving up! When I just now came back, Radiance was gone. Guess you just couldn't stand it! LOL! Hope our PC trip this Fall doesn't take that long to go through. Will make sure we have plenty to drink in our cabin! Cheers all!

 

Off to finally finish some never-ending laundry!

 

Edited April 13 by SilkySal
add

[Essiesmom]

 Because of the drought they are using the approaching ship in the neighboring lock to transfer the water lowering it sideways into the lock you are in to raise you.  Unfortunately it makes the transit through the locks longer as they wait for the second ship to move into place.  EM

[Jimbo]

9 minutes ago, Essiesmom said:

 Because of the drought they are using the approaching ship in the neighboring lock to transfer the water lowering it sideways into the lock you are in to raise you.  Unfortunately it makes the transit through the locks longer as they wait for the second ship to move into place.  EM

I hope the Cruiseline and passengers get a discount fare then for the buddy system for the transit?

[RobInMN]

Pedro Miguel Locks

[RobInMN]

And finally Miraflores Locks:

[Teeara]

I was up at 5:00 this morning and at the front of the ship around 5:45.  We were originally supposed to hit the locks at 8:00, but got bumped to 9:45. We finally started moving towards the canal at 8:55.

 

 

We were approaching the bridge by 9:10.

 

 

We started approaching the locks at 10:10.  It was slow going this morning.

 

 

 

 

People were 8 deep by now and tempers were running a bit high at this point.  And yet as you guys have been posting, we weren’t moving.  Since I had a front row seat I can show you exactly what the hold up was.

 

The left side locks were working fine.  We had two ships go through the locks before we were even in our first lock.  As they were waiting for the water to drain this is what it looked like.  Notice the massive amount of water being released on the left side.

 

 

Now, here’s how our lock looked like as it was draining.  Note the small amount of water coming from the gates and that no water was being released on our side the way the left side was.

 

 

As a matter of fact, there was a group of workers under the right arch.  So obviously they were having issues with the pumps to get the water out of the lock in order for us to enter.

 

The lock finally opened at 11:00, a full 3 hours after our original time slot or 1.25 hours after our second time slot.

 

 

 

 

 

It was now 11:30 and I had been standing at the front for 6 hours.  I was hot, tired and hungry so I left.  But here’s me just before I left to give you an idea where I was, front and center.

 

 

Here’s how the people looked during my walk back to the cabin.

 

 

More to come.

[Luckynana]

What great pictures of the ships going through the Locks!  Thank you so much!  I've been waiting to see pictures from your experience.

[Jimbo]

19 minutes ago, Teeara said:

I was up at 5:00 this morning and at the front of the ship around 5:45.  We were originally supposed to hit the locks at 8:00, but got bumped to 9:45. We finally started moving towards the canal at 8:55.

 

 

We were approaching the bridge by 9:10.

 

 

We started approaching the locks at 10:10.  It was slow going this morning.

 

 

 

 

People were 8 deep by now and tempers were running a bit high at this point.  And yet as you guys have been posting, we weren’t moving.  Since I had a front row seat I can show you exactly what the hold up was.

 

The left side locks were working fine.  We had two ships go through the locks before we were even in our first lock.  As they were waiting for the water to drain this is what it looked like.  Notice the massive amount of water being released on the left side.

 

 

Now, here’s how our lock looked like as it was draining.  Note the small amount of water coming from the gates and that no water was being released on our side the way the left side was.

 

 

As a matter of fact, there was a group of workers under the right arch.  So obviously they were having issues with the pumps to get the water out of the lock in order for us to enter.

 

The lock finally opened at 11:00, a full 3 hours after our original time slot or 1.25 hours after our second time slot.

 

 

 

 

 

It was now 11:30 and I had been standing at the front for 6 hours.  I was hot, tired and hungry so I left.  But here’s me just before I left to give you an idea where I was, front and center.

 

 

Here’s how the people looked during my walk back to the cabin.

 

 

More to come.

Like you said, I see now why so many people were upset................Makes for a very long day when things don't happen as scheduled.

 

You might have been on the longest Panama Canal crossing in the history of Royal Caribbean taking ship through there.

 

Very disappointing but out of control on Royal's part.

 

I was beginning to think you were going to have to back up out of the locks and sail around South America to get to the East Coast.

Edited April 14 by Jimbo

[RobInMN]

We're clear of the locks and making our way to the Bridge of the Americas. 

[RobInMN]

1 minute ago, Jimbo said:

 

You might have been on the longest Panama Canal crossing in the history of Royal Caribbean taking ship through there.

My GoPro is still taking 1 pic every 2 seconds on a timelapse

[Jimbo]

1 hour ago, RobInMN said:

And finally Miraflores Locks:

What time was this picture taken?

 

Should take 8 to 10 hours for the full transit....

Edited April 14 by Jimbo

[RobInMN]

Bridge of the Americas

From the other side

Edited April 14 by RobInMN

[Teeara]

7 minutes ago, RobInMN said:

Bridge of the Americas

Here’s mine after we went under.

 

 

I’m currently on Deck 7 overlooking the Centrum listening to the band with Pam.

Edited April 14 by Teeara

[Jimbo]

Like a 13 hour transit................amazing !!

[Jimbo]

40 minutes ago, Jimbo said:

Like you said, I see now why so many people were upset................Makes for a very long day when things don't happen as scheduled.

 

You might have been on the longest Panama Canal crossing in the history of Royal Caribbean taking ship through there.

 

Very disappointing but out of control on Royal's part.

 

I was beginning to think you were going to have to back up out of the locks and sail around South America to get to the**** West Coast.****

Edit: West Coast

[Teeara]

To continue…

 

I forgot to give you today’s maps in the first set, so here they are:

 

 

 

 

 

 

So after lunch in the Windjammer with Linus and Louise, I went back to the cabin for a nap!  After an hour it was 3:15 (our supposed time to hit the 2nd locks, but we were still in the canal making our way there).  I went out onto our balcony to shoot some video and caught a train passing by us on its way to Panama City.

 

 

We passed a big dredger (I think that’s what they said on the speakers - there’s a lot of echo when you’re out on your balcony).

 

 

Then we passed the Chagras River where it feeds into the canal.

 

 

Then we were in the Culebra Cut.  So many men gave their lives trying to dig this section of the canal.  The Centennial Bridge is in the distance.

 

 

Before we went under the Centennial Bridge we passed Gold Hill.  No gold was ever here and a lot of French folks lost a lot of money in the late 1800s buying shares in the canal venture because they were told the hills were full of gold.

 

 

And here’s below the Centennial Bridge.

 

 

It was at this point I realized that we had dinner reservations at Chops tonight.  Grrr!  It would’ve been fine if we had been on time with our original 8:00 a.m. time.  So note for you future cruisers - do NOT schedule specialty dining on canal day.  You’re going to be hot, sweaty and tired by the time the transit end and the last thing you’ll want to do is get all dressed up for dinner.  Just stick with the Windjammer.

 

Having said that, dinner was yummy.  Here’s some food porn for you!  My apologies but I kept forgetting to take the photos before I started to dig in.

 

 

First up, Colossal Shrimp Cocktail.

 

 

Alien baby or an onion roll.  Your pick!

 

 

Wedge Salad

 

 

Petite Filet with a wine sauce and Gruyère Tater Tots.

 

 

Then on to dessert.  We both had coffee in these cute triangle cups.

 

 

I had ice cream.  Pam had the chocolate cake with berry compote and lemon sorbet.

 

 

 

Here’s the MDR menu for tonight:

 

After dinner we went to the Centrum to listen to the house band.  Pam’s on the top on deck 7.  This is our favorite place to sit since it’s next to our cabin.  But again, when we’re in our cabin we can hear everything going on in the Centrum.  You can see the casino on deck 6.  So we get the smell of smoke in our cabin, too.

 

 

We had gone through the Pedro Miguel locks during dinner so I was curious where we were at.  Here is where we were at 8:38 p.m.:

 

 

When I saw we were heading for the bridge I went up to Deck 12 to see what there was to see.

 

 

 

 

 

We saw this cute older couple teaching the young lady on the bottom right some steps on the dance floor.  It’s stuff like this that makes me love cruising.

 

 

Here is today’s Cruise Compass:

 

 

 

 

 

That about wraps it up for today.  Tomorrow is a sea day, so I will be resting.  See you then.

[Teeara]

15 hours ago, island lady said:

 

Beautiful!  🙂   Enjoy your passage today!   Lots of really big Alligators in the canal.  

Actually we only had one dead fish. 😉😁😂

[Teeara]

12 hours ago, Jimbo said:

If you get a chance, in the Windjammer, can you get a few pictures of the stir fry setup they have? Should have both meat and veggies. See if each passenger gets to put on their own raw meat on a plate with the veggies and then hand it over to the chef to cook. Just wondering how Radiance currently is doing it.

I’ll try to get that for you.