Panama Canal Eastbound Sept. 14, 2013--it'll be WONDER-ful

[MPS516]

Thanks for the Roll Call, looks great. I PM'd you our info.

 

[pahrumpgirl]

Hi! I am Pahrumpgirl, Carol. My DH, Doug, and I just signed up for this cruise today. We did the PC in 2008 going west so it will be fun to do it the other way. We are good friends with Mommaluvsdis and have sailed many times with her and Steve. They were going to go with us in 2008 but had to back out. I am really glad we are able to do this one together.

 

[MPS516]

Hi Carol,

Nice to see repeat cruisers, you know all the secrets. This will be our first PC adventure and we are hoping for a good Canal day. We are trying to get as much information as we can to determine which side of the ship we wand our veranda to be on, expect to spend time out there in addition to being topside.

Mike

 

[pahrumpgirl]

Hi Carol,

Nice to see repeat cruisers, you know all the secrets. This will be our first PC adventure and we are hoping for a good Canal day. We are trying to get as much information as we can to determine which side of the ship we wand our veranda to be on, expect to spend time out there in addition to being topside.

Mike

Mike, you will want to be on the starboard side going east. That is the side that faces all the visitor platforms and Panama City. We were on the starboard side going west and missed a lot. We are on the correct side this time. -)

Like Denise I would be willing to do FE if it does not get out of hand and I would be willing to do the recipe cards.

It seems that there are several of us planning to fly in early and do DL. Doug and I have kids in San Diego and have been several times. We have not been or will be to Carsland before that so will be looking forward to that.

With so many of us planning on going in early maybe we ought to plan a mini meet on Friday before we sail. That way we would know each other before we leave.

World of Color is definitely worth doing. I would suggest doing a dinner package because you will have a much better place to stand. Oh, and there are no seats. It is standing room only.

 

[MPS516]

These are the little secrets the repeat cruisers know

We may be going to DL and CA at the end of March to get the Reagan Library in before the end of April to see all the Disney magic

 

[pahrumpgirl]

Another thing that you will want to be aware of is that you will want to be up bright and early the day of the crossing.

 

[MPS516]

We understand we should be topside when we enter the Canal early that day and after we get through the first lock we can move around. Lunch on the veranda and the time in the big lake before the Caribean side locks do everything else we would want to do and then back to top or veranda when we hit the river.

 

[pahrumpgirl]

We understand we should be topside when we enter the Canal early that day and after we get through the first lock we can move around. Lunch on the veranda and the time in the big lake before the Caribean side locks do everything else we would want to do and then back to top or veranda when we hit the river.

We were up on deck between 5 and 6 am. The area in front of the basketball court was for standing only and it was at least 4 deep. They set up a continental breakfast on the court. Going east to west we had several locks before the lake. If I remember right there was only two very close together after. We were told that only our time going into the canal was reserved but that we could sit for a couple of hours in the lake. We got lucky, though. A submarine came and took our place in line so we got to follow it straight through. They had a bar-b-que lunch on deck. I learnt the hard way not to spend too much time in one place. Seeing pictures later there was a lot I missed because I did.

 

[MPS516]

From our experience with the BBQ on deck during our Alaska Cruise I think we will probably have room service on the Veranda instead. We are getting a map from Cruise Map Publishing which should help timing where and when we want to be places since it includes detail such as buoy numbers. Can't believe we are actually detailing our plans 14 months out but our draft planning chart has us on deck early as we pass the breakwater heading into Panama, under the Bridge of the Americas and on into the Canal. We will probably then go down to deck 4 as we enter the first lock and watch them hook up the Mules, close the lock and raise us to the next level. The next lock may be watched from the Veranda along with the trip through Miraflores Lake. After Pedro Miguel we will probably do more topside as we travel up the Canal across the Continental Divide toward the lake. Once in Gatun Lake we understand it takes several hours to reach the locks at the northern end and out into the Caribbean, probably go back on deck for the last lock and leaving the Canal.

 

[pahrumpgirl]

Just thought I would let you all know that if you go to www.tiffanypublishing.com you can order an Order of the Ditch certificate to commemorate your passage through the canal. They are a little over $6 a piece. We got ours without the Captains signature and had him sign it on board.

 

[MPS516]

Its the "ORDER OF THE DITCH" if you are looking for it.

 

[MPS516]

Carol,

I went to Whetstone High School in Columbus, but it was back "in the day".

 

[pahrumpgirl]

Carol,

I went to Whetstone High School in Columbus, but it was back "in the day".

What year did you graduate? I graduated from there In 1965. Small World.

 

[oybolshoi]

popping in to say hello ... the hubba and I are hoping to book this cruise later in the fall while we're on the Fantasy; have been wanting a PC cruise for a number of years but the timing has always been wrong.

I will be lurking until I know whether or not we're official - enjoy your planning!

Brenda

 

[MPS516]

What year did you graduate? I graduated from there In 1965. Small World.

We moved to TN in 71 and I graduated from Germantown HS in 73.

 

[MommaluvsDis]

popping in to say hello ... the hubba and I are hoping to book this cruise later in the fall while we're on the Fantasy; have been wanting a PC cruise for a number of years but the timing has always been wrong.

I will be lurking until I know whether or not we're official - enjoy your planning!

Brenda

Welcome to the thread! I really don't think you will have any availability problems as last I checked all stateroom categories were still open. Enjoy your summer!

 

[oybolshoi]

Welcome to the thread! I really don't think you will have any availability problems as last I checked all stateroom categories were still open. Enjoy your summer!

Thanks! I've been keeping an eye on the availability as well. We actually hit our 90-day mark for bookings on our October cruise in a week, so I've definitely got cruising on the mind! The Wonder will be the only Disney ship we haven't sailed so it would be an extra treat to book this sailing.

Hope everyone is staying cool - the weather this summer is ridiculous.

 

[MommaluvsDis]

When do you sail? We are on the Dream October 18-21.

 

[oybolshoi]

When do you sail? We are on the Dream October 18-21.

We are on the Fantasy October 20-27.

We were on the Dream last October - it is a beautiful ship. If you haven't sailed on it already I think you will really enjoy it once on board.

 

[MommaluvsDis]

Steve and I actually sailed on the 1st Inaugural Dream cruise with Carol and Doug, pahrumpgirl. Beautiful ship!