Live: Apr 20, 2024 Summit 14 Night Panama Canal Westbound Cruise!

[mahdnc]

For some reason, our itinerary was adjusted many months ago to have us dock at Puntarenas (Costa Rica) at 5:30 am.  At 7:30 am there was an announcement that the ship has been cleared by immigration.

 

We are heading to breakfast now.

[mahdnc]

We got our first bag of laundry back (18 pieces) yesterday afternoon after we sent it out on the evening of Apr 23.  Our stateroom attendant, Gede, said that it was done the evening on the day before but we had the Do Not Disturb sign on the door.  So 48-64 hr turnaround time depending on how you look at it.

 

We got chocolates on the first night of the cruise but nothing afterward.  I asked our stateroom attendant what the current practice is.  He said chocolates are available upon request. So we made the request on the spot--and I asked for backpay in chocolates for the nights missed as well.  And since I was in the requesting mode, I asked for all the chocolates to be milk chocolate and not the dark ones.

 

[90scruzer]

1 hour ago, mahdnc said:

For some reason, our itinerary was adjusted many months ago to have us dock at Puntarenas (Costa Rica) at 5:30 am.  At 7:30 am there was an announcement that the ship has been cleared by immigration.

 

We are heading to breakfast now.

Enjoy and thanks for the updates to you all!   It will help when we do the PC.   Unfortunately my wife has a specific itinerary in mind and it's only available date (so far) isn't workable for me.  With all the interest in PC full-transit cruises, I would have thought that there would be more offerings with better (to us) itineraries.  The one my DW wants is Miami->San Antonio.   Hopefully one will open up in 2026.   

 

As for the coffee remark, frankly it depends upon the farm to me.   Some of CR coffee is excellent, but not all.   I'm sure that some columbian is good, but as I don't drink it that much - I haven't found one I liked.   and Vietnam best in world?   I guess I will try it when we get there, but it's not something I imagine would be that good.    

[mahdnc]

Here is a time lapse video of our sail away from Miami (link).  I had trouble getting this 24 second video to upload until recently which is why I am posting it now.

[mahdnc]

Just now, 90scruzer said:

Enjoy and thanks for the updates to you all!   It will help when we do the PC.   Unfortunately my wife has a specific itinerary in mind and it's only available date (so far) isn't workable for me.  With all the interest in PC full-transit cruises, I would have thought that there would be more offerings with better (to us) itineraries.  The one my DW wants is Miami->San Antonio.   Hopefully one will open up in 2026.   

 

As for the coffee remark, frankly it depends upon the farm to me.   Some of CR coffee is excellent, but not all.   I'm sure that some columbian is good, but as I don't drink it that much - I haven't found one I liked.   and Vietnam best in world?   I guess I will try it when we get there, but it's not something I imagine would be that good.    

 

I think you will be looking at a non-Celebrity cruise sailing then.  I know several years before COVID, Celebrity did offer that type of Florida to South America itinerary.  I haven't seen it for a while--heck Celebrity isn't even doing South America this year.  

 

As you know, Celebrity now positions its fleet so it stays on the same ocean year round for most of its ships.  Some ships do the Caribbean/Bermuda in the winter and then Europe in the summer.  Other ships do Alaska in the summer and then Australia/Asia in the winter.  And (as you know) Summit is the only one doing the full transit as she moves between Alaska (summer) and Caribbean (winter).  But that means that Celebrity does the full Panama Canal only twice a year.

 

The funny thing is that Celebrity used to do the Panama Canal a lot when the fleet was smaller.  Here is a link to an old eight page Jan 1998- Apr 1999 Itinerary Guide that I got during a cruise aboard Mercury.  Looking at it now several things stand out to me:

 

1. Celebrity only had 5 ships--none of them are currently sailing for Celebrity anymore. 

2. However there were 30 full Panama Canal sailings scheduled during that 16 month period.

3. Some of her Alaska sailings included Glacier Bay.

4. The back cover lists Celebrity's advertising resume' which includes "Award-winning cuisine by master chef Michel Roux.  Fresh food, always prepared from scratch."  Those were the days!

 

I hope you find a Panama Canal itinerary that suits you in the near future.

[mahdnc]

 

I purchased the Specialty Dining Trio through our Cruise Planner on May 24th last year for $222 for two people including the gratuity charge.  The "trio" is 2 dinners + 1 lunch.  Anytime you buy a dining package in advance, you cannot schedule the meals until you get on board.  We were given only one date that was available for lunch at the Tuscan Grille--and that was for yesterday (Fri Apr 26, Sea Day #3 of 8).  The restaurant was pretty busy for lunch.

 

Here is the menu and a coupe of food photos:

 

 

Here is the crab parfait:

 

 

and the mushroom cappucino.  After enduring the flying ant-like insects that swarmed me at the ship's heli-pad at Gatun Lock on the day before, I inspected this soup very closely before eating it:

 

 

I had the buttered poached lobster black truffle emulsion for the main course:

 

 

Limoncello cheesecake for dessert.  This cheesecake looks like it is topped with melted cheese in the photograph--I assure you that it was not:

 

Edited April 27 by mahdnc

[mahdnc]

Last night was our second Evening Chic night.

 

 

Here is a photo of the chateaubriand:

 

 

The dessert menu: 

 

 

I ordered the creme brulee with a side of ice cream.....

 

[mahdnc]

During our sea day yesterday, it was pretty humid outside and the cumulus clouds started to develop.

 

 

By the time we went to dinner at 5:30 pm, the clouds were getting darker.  You could see a lightning bolt every now and then during dinner.

 

 

In the middle of the evening, I decided to to take my camera out to our balcony to try to get some lightning photos.  Too late, I didn't realize it but it was raining real hard outside.  There was a pool of water on the back third of our balcony.  We got some claps of thunder that were the loudest I have ever heard while on a cruise ship.

 

[mahdnc]

21 hours ago, TMLAalum said:

I've been through the Soo Locks and Yangtze River locks plus river locks on the Danube and Rhine, but I gotta say, the transit through the Panama Canal has a bigger wow! factor thanks to seeing them via this thread!

DH has sailed through the Panama and the Suez canals back when he was 3rd officer on various merchant ships.

 

2 hours ago, hcat said:

 Soory the mules..i got my lingo confused!

 

 

The Panama Canal is very interesting partly because of the complexity of the lock operation.  So you are watching a show while you are crossing it.  It is impressive as it is entertaining.

 

Depending on your interest and patience, there are so many details to examine during the long 12 hour day.  One example is this photo below.  Notice the circular wheel with tracks on it--although we did not see it in action, it is obviously a switching station which rotates and allows you to re-route the mules to a different track.  In this case, the switching station allows a mule to go to the shed at the bottom of the photo perhaps for maintenance.  It is reminiscent of the rotating circular platforms used to turnaround the famous cable cars of San Francisco.

 

 

 

Edited April 27 by mahdnc

[goofysmom99]

46 minutes ago, mahdnc said:

Here is a photo of the chateaubriand:

 

 

David, I'm curious, were both sauces ordered or did this come sitting in gravy with bearnaise?  Thanks.

[mahdnc]

Just now, goofysmom99 said:

David, I'm curious, were both sauces ordered or did this come sitting in gravy with bearnaise?  Thanks.

It came that way, Ruth. 

[DaKahuna]

2 hours ago, mahdnc said:

I asked for all the chocolates to be milk chocolate and not the dark ones.

 

 We both prefer the dark variety.  

 

 

2 hours ago, 90scruzer said:

As for the coffee remark, frankly it depends upon the farm to me.   Some of CR coffee is excellent, but not all.  

 

 We really enjoyed this coffee.  We purchased it at the gift store at the plantation we toured. 

 

 

 

These two photo's are an indication of how close the side of the ship comes to the walls of the locks 

 

 

 

Even with the mules, I am surprised there are not more instances of ships brushing against the sides. 

 

 

[wrk2cruise]

2 hours ago, goofysmom99 said:

David, I'm curious, were both sauces ordered or did this come sitting in gravy with bearnaise?  Thanks.

 

Celebrity seems to be serving all beef in a pool of gravy now.  They used to have nice reduction sauces but now seems to be brown gravy mix.   Since this was Tuscan it may have been a bit better but I have learned to order no sauce or sauce on the side.

[Beachlover1989]

1 hour ago, DaKahuna said:

 

Even with the mules, I am surprised there are not more instances of ships brushing against the sides. 

 

 

We did the full transit on Infinity in 2018 and they referred to as the “Panama Canal Kiss”. 

[AZCruisergirl]

Hope this video works. Didn’t know how to post it any other way. This shows the train being turned around after releasing Summit

[BillB48]

7 hours ago, mahdnc said:

Thank you for posting screenshots of Summit crossing the canal as I wanted to do that, too, but simply didn't have time.

 

I have several of the Summit at each of the locks plus a few of the Summit as seen from other locks.  I sent them to your narrator so he could make a few extra slides of your transit.  I will post them to this thread if you like.

[90scruzer]

4 hours ago, mahdnc said:

I hope you find a Panama Canal itinerary that suits you in the near future.

thanks!   I think there will be one fall 2026.   The one from HAL in 2025 just doesn't work for us, but the same timeframe in fall 2026 would.   And I agree that celebrity would be nice, but so far I only really see 2 options: HAL and O and only the HAL Nov 2025 sailing going the right direction.   Maybe the other players will mix something up for 2026 as well and become an option.   And BTW - the other issue with celebrity and PC was that at a travel expo, the rep was saying it was only 50-50 whether they would use the old locks.  I cannot attest to the veracity, but that is close to 50% too low odds for my first transit.   

 

2 hours ago, DaKahuna said:

 We really enjoyed this coffee.  We purchased it at the gift store at the plantation we toured. 

I will have to see If I can find it the next time we are in the area.   Thanks for the suggestion.

[mahdnc]

16 minutes ago, BillB48 said:

 

I have several of the Summit at each of the locks plus a few of the Summit as seen from other locks.  I sent them to your narrator so he could make a few extra slides of your transit.  I will post them to this thread if you like.

yes, let’s see your photos!

[mahdnc]

1 hour ago, wrk2cruise said:

 

Celebrity seems to be serving all beef in a pool of gravy now.  They used to have nice reduction sauces but now seems to be brown gravy mix.   Since this was Tuscan it may have been a bit better but I have learned to order no sauce or sauce on the side.

I didn’t declare this explicitly, but the chateaubriand was served at the MDR yesterday (our second of three EC nights)

[mahdnc]

18 minutes ago, 90scruzer said:

And BTW - the other issue with celebrity and PC was that at a travel expo, the rep was saying it was only 50-50 whether they would use the old locks.  I cannot attest to the veracity, but that is close to 50% too low odds for my first transit.   

I will ask our Panama Canal expert on Summit, but my feeling is that the M class ships are always sailing through the legacy locks. Our narrator never mentioned that we were lucky for getting assigned to the legacy locks.  

[BillB48]

Gatun...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pass in Centennial Bridge headed for Pedro Miguel...

 

 

Pedro Miguel...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am not sure how may pics I can upload in one post.  I'll send the Miraflores pics in another post.

[BillB48]

Arriving Miraflores...

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the upper level of Miraflores from the Cocoli cam...

 

 

 

 

Almost back in salt water!

[BillB48]

21 minutes ago, mahdnc said:

I will ask our Panama Canal expert on Summit, but my feeling is that the M class ships are always sailing through the legacy locks. Our narrator never mentioned that we were lucky for getting assigned to the legacy locks.  

 

While ships that could have passed through the legacy locks have been re routed through the new larger Neo-Panamax Locks.  This is done solely for Canal convenience.  To date there has been only one cruise ship shifted from the Panamax Locks (the Canal's terminology to differentiate between the two) and this is one of the smaller HAL ships was sent through the new locks.  Lots of extenuating circumstances, mainly during the beginning of the pandemic and there were several active cases on board.  As a result they sent the ship through the new locks with a single pilot (who was quarantined after the transit) used no line handlers, and put no lines out while in the new locks.  Absolute minimal contact with Canal personnel.

 

The bottom line is they are only locking through about 8 ships per day at the new locks because of the water restrictions.  These ships will pay more in tolls than a ship such as the Summit.  They would much prefer to save those slots for the ships that are going to pay more in tolls.  While a ship such as the Summit would pay a little more if they used the Neo Panamax Locks as compared to the original Panamax Locks it would not equal what they could charge the larger ship.

[mahdnc]

3 hours ago, AZCruisergirl said:

Hope this video works. Didn’t know how to post it any other way. This shows the train being turned around after releasing Summit

thank you so much for posting this video! It’s better than trying to imagine how they switching station is used!

[mahdnc]

1 hour ago, BillB48 said:

 

While ships that could have passed through the legacy locks have been re routed through the new larger Neo-Panamax Locks.  This is done solely for Canal convenience.  To date there has been only one cruise ship shifted from the Panamax Locks (the Canal's terminology to differentiate between the two) and this is one of the smaller HAL ships was sent through the new locks.  Lots of extenuating circumstances, mainly during the beginning of the pandemic and there were several active cases on board.  As a result they sent the ship through the new locks with a single pilot (who was quarantined after the transit) used no line handlers, and put no lines out while in the new locks.  Absolute minimal contact with Canal personnel.

 

The bottom line is they are only locking through about 8 ships per day at the new locks because of the water restrictions.  These ships will pay more in tolls than a ship such as the Summit.  They would much prefer to save those slots for the ships that are going to pay more in tolls.  While a ship such as the Summit would pay a little more if they used the Neo Panamax Locks as compared to the original Panamax Locks it would not equal what they could charge the larger ship.

thank you for that explanation. Makes sense to me. 
 

Since our aft balcony is on the starboard side, the only question for me was whether Summit would be using the east locks or west side locks. It turned out that the answer was both: west side locks for Gatun and east side locks for Pedro Miguel and Miraflores.