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

[vickykay]

David, 

 

Have a great trip and looking forward to following along!

 

Vicky

[Barwick Cruiser]

David and Marcia, wishing you both a wonderful cruise…the full transit is amazing, DH and I did it years ago on the Infinity from Ft L straight thru and up to Seattle. Amazing ports along the way and thoroughly enjoyed. I’m also interested in the dive you’re doing tomorrow, hope you give details and pics from that! Safe travels!

Edited April 18 by Barwick Cruiser

[fshepinc]

Safe travels, everyone. I’m heading to the airport tomorrow morning. Dreading the long flight from San Diego, but I will have the cruise to recover from it!

 

[Mummo]

52 minutes ago, fshepinc said:

Safe travels, everyone. I’m heading to the airport tomorrow morning. Dreading the long flight from San Diego, but I will have the cruise to recover from it!

 

We are taking a red-eye  👁️ late tomorrow night...I am nervous about that. Just want to get ON THAT SHIP!!!

[mahdnc]

We have checked into our room at the Courtyard at Key Largo. Fairly simple and clean hotel. A big draw for us is that it’s right next to tomorrow’s dive center, Rainbow Reef which is great because we have to be there bright and early at 7:45 am tomorrow. 
 

We booked a basic room with Marriott points but received an upgrade to a Marina View room at check in. The hotel is not very full tonight. 
 

[mahdnc]

Having dinner at this restaurant in Key Largo tonight. It’s not too far from the hotel and seems well reviewed on TripAdvisor. 
 

[janabellev2.0]

@mahdnc Have a wonderful cruise!  I did the transit last year on Millenium and loved every minute of it.  Along with several others, I'll be joining Summit in Los Angeles for the beginning of the Alaska season, so can't wait to hear what your comments about the ship!

[bjahil47]

Following along!  Have a great cruise!  We did a partial Panama Canal transit on Beyond last month and it was great!  Enjoy!

[AZCruisergirl]

5 hours ago, mahdnc said:

Having dinner at this restaurant in Key Largo tonight. It’s not too far from the hotel and seems well reviewed on TripAdvisor. 
 

Doesn’t look like much from the outside but They have the best Key Lime Pie. I hope you tried it. 

[celebrity cruiser]

MOVE UP OFFERS DECLINED!

Put in two offers and found out they were declined this morning.

Oh well, full ship i guess.

See you tomorrow!

[mahdnc]

17 hours ago, Barwick Cruiser said:

David and Marcia, wishing you both a wonderful cruise…the full transit is amazing, DH and I did it years ago on the Infinity from Ft L straight thru and up to Seattle. Amazing ports along the way and thoroughly enjoyed. I’m also interested in the dive you’re doing tomorrow, hope you give details and pics from that! Safe travels!

Cathy, because me asthma has been acting up lately, I’m a scratch for the diving unfortunately. Marcia is diving with a guide. I’m sure she’ll have fun. Meanwhile, I’ll enjoy the marina view (and I got to sleep in). 
 

[mahdnc]

12 hours ago, AZCruisergirl said:

Doesn’t look like much from the outside but They have the best Key Lime Pie. I hope you tried it. 

No. I’m not a big Key Lime Pie fan. It wouldn’t have mattered anyway. The food portions were huge and I couldn’t even eat all the lobster mac and cheese I ordered!

 

Edited April 19 by mahdnc

[Barwick Cruiser]

David, too bad you’re missing the dive, better to look after your health, but that is a gorgeous view while you wait for Marcia to return. Did she take a GoPro or underwater camera with her? Enjoy your land day and safe travels to the port! Exciting day coming up! 🚢  🤿 🥂 

[mahdnc]

Just now, Barwick Cruiser said:

David, too bad you’re missing the dive, better to look after your health, but that is a gorgeous view while you wait for Marcia to return. Did she take a GoPro or underwater camera with her? Enjoy your land day and safe travels to the port! Exciting day coming up! 🚢  🤿 🥂 

She took her GoPro with her. So we’ll see what she brings back. 
 

I dove Key Largo back in 2010  We took our kids to Key Largo for five nights and Key West for five nights back then. Katie and Chris got their open water testing done there which got them certified. 
 

The diving is pretty good here and Marcia has always wanted to come back. So here we are!

[MikeMary4449]

@mahdnc Great review so far and looking forward to following along.  Enjoy your cruise on the Summit.

We did the full transit but in reverse (San Diego to FLL) on the Infinity back in 2017.  It was great!

I was especially interested to see that you are having dinner at The Strand House in Manhattan Beach after you disembark in Los Angeles.  I grew up in Manhattan Beach and lived there for 49 years but have been away for the last 25 years.  (Did you live near LAX from 82-83?)

Safe travels and have a wonderful trip!  We look forward to sailing with both of you one day.  Mary (and Mike)

[mahdnc]

17 minutes ago, MikeMary4449 said:

@mahdnc Great review so far and looking forward to following along.  Enjoy your cruise on the Summit.

We did the full transit but in reverse (San Diego to FLL) on the Infinity back in 2017.  It was great!

I was especially interested to see that you are having dinner at The Strand House in Manhattan Beach after you disembark in Los Angeles.  I grew up in Manhattan Beach and lived there for 49 years but have been away for the last 25 years.  (Did you live near LAX from 82-83?)

Safe travels and have a wonderful trip!  We look forward to sailing with both of you one day.  Mary (and Mike)

 

Hello, Mary. My residential history is spelled out in airport codes for fun since this is a travel forum. So LAX for Los Angeles. I went to graduate school in Pasadena from 1982-1983. It's a nice area and I enjoyed the time I spent there. 

 

For Christmas vacation in 2021, I took my family on a Las Vegas - Zion NP - Bruce Canyon NP - Death Valley NP - Joshua Tree NP - Los Angeles vacation.
 

On the last night of the trip, we had dinner at The Stand House and we really liked it. We also walked around Manhattan Beach to watch sunset on that New Year’s Day. 
 

 

Edited April 19 by mahdnc

[PaulS]

We were on the Summit last week for a short four day cruise in a Sky Suite. I thought the ship looked to be in good shape. Our room showed a little wear and tear but nothing that would prevent me from choosing the room again. Service in Luminae was great, George, the head butler, checked in every day but did not offer to do anything. Our Retreat Host/room steward was mostly AWOL. However, we did not ask for anything either.The only negative was the very loud music that the DJ played on the pool deck. We used the pool deck rather than the Retreat deck area since there was no shade up there.

We enjoyed the short trip very much and wish we were on your upcoming 14 day cruise. The crew we spoke with were very excited to be going through the canal and up to Alaska.

[mahdnc]

15 hours ago, Mummo said:

We are taking a red-eye  👁️ late tomorrow night...I am nervous about that. Just want to get ON THAT SHIP!!!

 

Good luck with your flight, Linda.  See you onboard tomorrow!

[DaKahuna]

On 4/18/2024 at 11:21 AM, mahdnc said:

We had a long talk about ChatGBT. He uses it quite a lot. It was an illuminating discussion. I may try it at work when I get back from this cruise. 

 

 Good luck.  I used ChatGPT to debug any scripts or programming code when i was working.  Now that I am retired, I very seldom use it any more. 

 

 Looking forward to reading your experiences.

 

[mahdnc]

27 minutes ago, PaulS said:

We were on the Summit last week for a short four day cruise in a Sky Suite. I thought the ship looked to be in good shape. Our room showed a little wear and tear but nothing that would prevent me from choosing the room again. Service in Luminae was great, George, the head butler, checked in every day but did not offer to do anything. Our Retreat Host/room steward was mostly AWOL. However, we did not ask for anything either.The only negative was the very loud music that the DJ played on the pool deck. We used the pool deck rather than the Retreat deck area since there was no shade up there.

We enjoyed the short trip very much and wish we were on your upcoming 14 day cruise. The crew we spoke with were very excited to be going through the canal and up to Alaska.

 

The only thing kinda bad about this Panama Canal sailing is we disembark on Derby day.  Are you going to Thunder tomorrow or will you skip the event and the crowds?  

[mahdnc]

1 minute ago, DaKahuna said:

 

 Good luck.  I used ChatGPT to debug any scripts or programming code when i was working.  Now that I am retired, I very seldom use it any more. 

 

 Looking forward to reading your experiences.

 

 

I am waiting for our first Live thread created by ChatGBT.

[hcat]

23 minutes ago, mahdnc said:

 

Hello, Mary. My residential history is spelled out in airport codes for fun since this is a travel forum. So LAX for Los Angeles. I went to graduate school in Pasadena from 1982-1983. It's a nice area and I enjoyed the time I spent there. 

 

For Christmas vacation in 2021, I took my family on a Las Vegas - Zion NP - Bruce Canyon NP - Death Valley NP - Joshua Tree NP - Los Angeles vacation.
 

On the last night of the trip, we had dinner at The Stand House and we really liked it. We also walked around Manhattan Beach to watch sunset on that New Year’s Day. 
 

 

WOW...Truly amazing!   

 

I would  not mind lounging at the Key Largo  hotel pool,  but sorry you are missing the dive trip!

 

I am thinking we might enjoy the drive down the keys. In .all  our yrs in Fl  we never did it!

 

Right now, Summit is asking high prices for AQ and Concierge..We have a limited budget these days  &  might try a shorter cruise  to check it out before plunging ahead!   So I will enjoy your  review even more!

 

ENJOY!

[mahdnc]

3 minutes ago, hcat said:

WOW...Truly amazing!   

 

I would  not mind lounging at the Key Largo  hotel pool,  but sorry you are missing the dive trip!

 

I am thinking we might enjoy the drive down the keys. In .all  our yrs in Fl  we never did it!

 

Right now, Summit is asking high prices for AQ and Concierge..We have a limited budget these days  &  might try a shorter cruise  to check it out before plunging ahead!   So I will enjoy your  review even more!

 

ENJOY!

 

The drive from Miami to Key West via Highway 1/Overseas Highway is very scenic and takes at least 4 hours on a good day and considerably longer on a not good day.  So in my opinion, four days is about right.  One day to get there, one day to get back, and two whole days to spend there.  Don't forget a visit to the very nearby Everglades National Park.

[mahdnc]

We just filled out the health questionnaire. Remember when this was not so straight forward 2-3 years ago?

 

[mahdnc]

Today’s trip plan. 
 

Finish diving and check out of the Courtyard hotel. 
 

Drive back to Miami. Pick up a few things at the grocery store along the way and refuel the car rental. 
 

Check in at the Miami Marriott Biscayne Bay. Then drive over to the nearby JW Marriott Marquis to drop off the car by 4pm to keep the car rental charge to one day (Enterprise). 
 

Dinner at Osteria Positano (Miami Beach) at 6:30PM.