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2018 NCL Panama Canal cruise Nov 4-16 #198115
06/19/2019 08:37 PM
06/19/2019 08:37 PM
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 1,116
missouri
Cathyg Offline OP
Traveler
Cathyg  Offline OP
Traveler
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 1,116
missouri
2018 NCL Panama Canal cruise Nov 4-16

We booked this cruise in May 2017 with Bonnie Buchanan at CruiseOne. We have used Bonnie to book several cruises for us and she always does a great job. We got a mini suite balcony room…and in doing so we got the liquor package free, as well as 4 upgraded dinners. I prepaid the gratuities, preordered all of our excursions, preordered the photo package, preordered the internet package. So, everything was paid for and scheduled ahead of time.
We left STL on Sunday Nov 4 at 5:43 am and flew first class to Miami. We caught the shuttle to the Hilton at Blue Lagoon. We got room 733. We had a late lunch at the pool bar.

On Monday, we got up and had our free breakfast… though we upgraded and it was $10 apiece. We caught the shuttle we prebooked to the ship for $15 apiece. The Jade is the sister ship to the pearl we took to Alaska. This time…we booked a room on the back of the ship so we could see the Panama Canal from both sides…11152. We have both really looked forward to this cruise. We are visiting places we have never been…and adding a continent to our list of things we have done. Itinerary…is very important to us when planning a trip. We choose cruises that check off the boxes. We have also learned that days at sea can be our friend…especially at the beginning of the cruise. We find that it sets the mood and gives us time to “chill”. So, as we begin our 11-night Panama Canal cruise…. we are somewhat familiar with the ship, we have two days to relax…and we are excited about the new places we will get to see.
We got to the ship at 12:45. We checked in…my most unfavorite part…and sat in the atrium waiting for our room. We had a couple of glasses of chardonnay. We got our room at 2:00…our room is perfectly fine. We will certainly enjoy the balcony at the aft of the ship. We went through the emergency drill. The sail away party was at 3:45 but we did not leave until 6:00…not sure why. We had dinner at Grand pacific at 6:30. Steve had steak, I had shrimp. We feel the movement more in the back than we ever have before.

On Tuesday…we had breakfast at o’Sheehan’s. We toured the ship and I bought a scrapbook. We spent much of the day watching MSNBC and the election news. CNN is not available. We went to deck 12 and had some French fires and wine for lunch. We had dinner at Cagney’s steak house. The service was extremely poor and was very disappointing. We had crab cake appetizers, and a wedge salad and filet mignon.

On Wednesday, we woke up to the election results. We are happy the Democrats made progress in the congress…and also disappointed in other results. Today is another day at sea. We had dinner at le bistro which was the best meal and service of the week. We both had escargot and French onion soup and steve had shrimp and I had duck.

Thursday nov 8 we arrived in Cartagena Columbia. We caught the bus to take us on our tour. We did the old city and Spanish fortress tour…. $138. Our guide Elkin Hernandez was amazing. There were many street venders who were pretty aggressive. The tour was physically challenging…lots of walking and stairs…but it was very good. We had dinner at Aliza. Steve had a tomato salad and chicken cordon bleu.

Friday November 9, we came to the Panama Canal…the main reason we took this cruise…. we went through three locks to the gatun lake. We stayed a couple of hours and then went back through the same three locks to the city of colon. We got off the ship and did some shopping. We had dinner a grand pacific. We had mushroom soup and fried chicken. We went to the show….Blazin Boots. It was pretty good.

Saturday November 10, we docked at Limon Costa Rica. It was pouring down rain. We caught the bus to the tortuguero national park. We saw some howler monkeys and a variety of birds and lizards, some Cayman and some Sloths…though it was hard to really SEE much. The river was polluted with trash. One would think that the government would “clean” It up since it is a huge tourist attraction. Honestly…it was disappointing. We then went to a chocolate plantation where we watched the entire chocolate making process. The highlight of the tour was meeting a couple of sloths up close and personal…. cost was $218. We had dinner at Aliza. We had Caesar salad and shrimp.

Sunday was a day at sea. We had dinner at teppanyaki.

Monday, we docked in Roatan Honduras. We took the bus to our tour. We first went to another chocolate demonstration which was not included in the description of the tour…and were given the “opportunity” to shop. Again, the street vendors were pretty aggressive. We did get to hold a baby monkey at one of the shops. We again boarded the bus to go to the eco walk. We crossed 7 suspension bridges, which was a little scary. We saw a few iguanas but the walk was pretty disappointing and really quite challenging. We got to hold a monkey. We were then taken to a beach resort where the beach was extremely crowded and filled with vendors. We chose to have lunch in the bar…. cost of the tour was $178. We had dinner at O’Sheehans. We had shepherd pie.

Tuesday, we docked in Harvest Caye Belize…NCL’s private island. It was absolutely beautiful. We gathered for our excursion lagoon wildlife and mangrove estuaries...$118. We got on a boat and went inti the lagoon looking for manatees and wildlife. We saw some star fish, and jelly fish and some birds and we did see some manatees but overall…it was very disappointing. We did some shopping…. which was by far the most expensive port. We had dinner at jasmine. We had egg rolls, egg drop soup and sweet and sour pork.

On Wednesday, we came to Costa Maya Mexico. It poured down rain and we were soaked even with using an umbrella. We took the bus to the Chochobban Mayan ruins…$198. It was smaller than previous ruins we have seen but it was only discovered in 1972…so there are many ruins to still be uncovered and renovated. We came back to the port where there was an extensive shopping area. There was a dolphin show and dancers. We had dinner at Grand Pacific. We had chicken parmigiana.

Thursday was a day at sea, and the seas were angry. We had 12-foot swells and there were barf bags all over the ship. We had dinner at La Cuccina. Steve had red snapper and I had seafood ravioli.

We pulled into Miami Friday morning. We had breakfast and began the disembarkment process. We prepaid transportation to the airport. We flew home with no hiccups.

Overall…I would give this cruise a B. We had higher expectations because our last NCL cruise was so wonderful. We noticed that the service was poorer, the food quantity and quality was poorer, the entertainment was poorer. None of it was terrible…it just was not as good as the last cruise. Our room was on the 11th deck…. just below the buffet. Every morning at 5 we were awakened by scooting and shuffling of tables and chairs. This was a lesson learned for us…never book the rooms below the dining. We had a wonderful time, saw many wonderful sights, and met some wonderful people. This cruise checked off many of our boxes. We saw the Panama Canal, we went to a new continent, we went to 5 new countries.


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Re: 2018 NCL Panama Canal cruise Nov 4-16 [Re: Cathyg] #198120
06/19/2019 08:53 PM
06/19/2019 08:53 PM
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 82,466
Central Florida!
Carol_Hill Offline
Traveler
Carol_Hill  Offline
Traveler
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 82,466
Central Florida!
The Panama Canal is really a wonderful thing to see. Everyone should see it! Always prudent to check what is above one, when booking a cruise cabin.. Glad it was overall a good trip.


Carol Hill
Re: 2018 NCL Panama Canal cruise Nov 4-16 [Re: Cathyg] #198126
06/19/2019 09:13 PM
06/19/2019 09:13 PM
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 1,116
missouri
Cathyg Offline OP
Traveler
Cathyg  Offline OP
Traveler
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 1,116
missouri
It truly was remarkable...and you are right...everyone should see it. It was a good trip. Meeting this little guy made the whole trip!
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Re: 2018 NCL Panama Canal cruise Nov 4-16 [Re: Cathyg] #198151
06/20/2019 08:09 AM
06/20/2019 08:09 AM
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 82,466
Central Florida!
Carol_Hill Offline
Traveler
Carol_Hill  Offline
Traveler
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 82,466
Central Florida!
What an amazing face! Thanks for the pic!


Carol Hill
Re: 2018 NCL Panama Canal cruise Nov 4-16 [Re: Cathyg] #198159
06/20/2019 08:39 AM
06/20/2019 08:39 AM
Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 779
Maryland
Maranjo Offline
Traveler
Maranjo  Offline
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Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 779
Maryland
I enjoyed your very nice report. We did almost the same cruise (visiting almost the same ports) on a 14 day Celebrity Reflection cruise in Nov/Dec 2017. However, while we had an excursion to the Locks, we did not go through them. It appears that we went on pretty much the same excursions and found them all to be long but interesting. Heck, we took what appears to be the same picture of the same Sloth (smile). They are not the fastest guns in the west.

Re: 2018 NCL Panama Canal cruise Nov 4-16 [Re: Cathyg] #198168
06/20/2019 09:33 AM
06/20/2019 09:33 AM
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 1,116
missouri
Cathyg Offline OP
Traveler
Cathyg  Offline OP
Traveler
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 1,116
missouri
We made very sure that the itinerary included going through the locks...We even booked a room on the back of the ship so we could watch and see both sides. IT was the highlight of the trip.
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