Photo Trip Report – Panama Canal Cruise plus 3 days in DLR

What do you enjoy/look forward to most about a repositioning cruise?

  • Different Ports of Call/Itinerary

  • Variety of entertainment

  • More opportunities to dine at Palo

  • More Sea Days

  • New and different dinner menus

  • More interaction with cast and characters


Results are only viewable after voting.

He was great! We were on deck 5 and he was our neighbor. The morning after his show we were out playing cards at the round tables by the theater and Mike stopped to get on the elevator. My DS yelled "hi magician" so Mike came over to visit. He asked if he could use our deck of cards and for the next 10 minutes gave us our own private show.

Oh and he had a Lavenous magnet on his door:)
 
Frustrating when people complain about their jobs publicly while on company property. I represent my employer, which is pretty big and absolutely well-known in my city...even when I'm not on our property, if I'm in public I keep the negative comments to myself.

I just looked over at my calendar to see how many days away I am from our cruise...I'm getting way too excited!
 
:cool1: Good job. Too bad there is no prize money.

LAVENOUS!!
does make for some good storytelling.:)
Rebecca
popcorn:: agreed

I agree. Sounds like these guys were acting completely inappropriate. This would definitely take some of the magic away for me. I doubt Disney would approve.
thanks for posting and for reading along.

Loving your TR! We are on the EBPC in September.
Go gators! I'll be interested to see how the cruise is different in September - different view of the canal and you'll be losing hours when we were gaining. I hope you do a trip report! Panama Canal itself, we all agreed, was very special. Happy planning to you.

He was great! We were on deck 5 and he was our neighbor. The morning after his show we were out playing cards at the round tables by the theater and Mike stopped to get on the elevator. My DS yelled "hi magician" so Mike came over to visit. He asked if he could use our deck of cards and for the next 10 minutes gave us our own private show.
:thumbsup2 this is so cool

I just looked over at my calendar to see how many days away I am from our cruise...I'm getting way too excited!
:beach: yeah!
 
This morning Dad and I met at the fitness center to work out. It was not as crowded as the Fantasy was last year and we had no problem getting a bike and an elliptical at 7:30am.



The bikes, treadmills and ellipticals had individual monitors for watching tv or for following a video of a trail in another part of the world.



Or you can just enjoy the view out the ship.



This was my view while doing crunches in the corner.

After using some free weights, Dad and I went down to the 4th deck to walk and cool down.



No, they don't give you a lanyard based on your hair color.



I thought this section of the deck 4th walking path was pretty neat to see.

After two laps, Dad stopped to lose a game of shuffleboard to me. In high school in Florida I lettered in shuffleboard, horse-shoes, and bridge.
:joker:



We had our game interrupted by a couple of quacks. This was one of my favorite parts of the cruise - just running into characters - made me feel like a kid at WDW again in the 1980s when they used to just walk around (before the lines and fastpasses and autographs).
 


Dad and I then went to breakfast in Parrot Cay - Dad was going to faint if he didn't eat asap he assured me and Parrot Cay was fast - a buffet with table service for beverages.



breakfast of champions of shuffleboard



and Dad's plate.

Mom and DSis went to breakfast at Triton's this morning which was the a la cart menu that concierge has in their room.
 
Oh how I love the random run-ins with characters on the ships...and those run-ins seem more plentiful on the classic ships!
 
That reminds me - on this WPBC I actually had a bit of an uncomfortable moment with a server (not one of ours, but someone who served us at lunch in Triton's): His nametag said he was from Italy, and since I love to practise my Italian I spoke to him for a bit. He then said he wasn't actually born in Italy but in Switzerland, but he didn't live in Switzerland anymore and was glad about it, because Switzerland was much too much like Germany for his liking - and he made a disgusted face. I wanted to stop him before he said something he might regret, so I smiled and said "Oh be careful, before you continue I just want you to know that I am German".

Somehow, though, he must have completely misheard that sentence - he continued for a while about how Germans are always so humourless and so punctual. I laughed along with him - because what can I say, most of us ARE quite punctual and maybe really just a tiny little bit humourless! :thumbsup2.

Upon serving the first course, he then asks me "So anywhere, where are you from? Not from the States, right?". And I say "No, sorry, from Germany!". He stared at me as if he had seen a ghost ... and for the rest of the meal I had the feeling he was a bit angry that I had led him into a trap. Which I hadn't! I did tell him straightaway, he just didn't hear me! Oh well, I guess I gave him a good scare :rolleyes1 And the next time I saw him on another day, he greeted me in German :thumbsup2

Sorry for that moment!! I can imagine it being a bit embarrassing - but more for the CM than for you! But then I guess you never ought to say bad things about any group to someone whom you don't know. Even if you had not been German, he would have had no idea whether not your best friend would have been German and you would still have been a bit offended by his comments. :confused3

A question for the German viewers - have you seen corn on the cob like this in Germany? Our Norwegian cousins had never seen corn on the cob before they visited us in the States. They only have the corn kernels frozen or in cans.

It used to be very uncommon here in Southern Germany. When I was a kid we would sometimes get cobs from the fields where it is grown as food for the cows. The cow feed corn is less sweet, but still ok. I loved it and when I was in the US for a trip after I finished high school in the early 90s I visited friends in Maine and they had this huge meal for my sister and me with lobster and corn on the cob. I found out that I hate lobster (later found out I am slightly allergic against it even) and the friends were so sorry for me that there was nothing else but potatoes and corn, but I was so happy to be able to eat a whole meal of corn on the cob!

In recent years it has become more available. And if you go to an American restaurant, you would most likely get it there (and I usually order it there).

Loving all the pictures of your TR!!
 


Only three cruises - Magic Western Caribbean January 2011; Fantasy Eastern Caribbean May 2012; and Wonder Panama Canal May 2013.

Many people on our Panama Canal cruise were wearing Platinum lanyards so we realize we are very new to DCL.

I know some people from PC 2008 went back to PC May 2013...

I have been on Wonder and Magic for 4th and love to Magic and I cannot wait go back next year to WBTA...

Scottishwee35
 
Thank you for showing the photos and these are so beautiful..

I cannot believe Mike Magic man was there as he was on PC 2008... I had photo with him on departed day...

Scottishwee35:thumbsup2
 
Today is a sea day so the only challenge is coming up with what to do between eating. :)

After breakfast with dad, DSis and mom met in Studio Sea for the cooking demonstration. I spent the morning in the spa getting the Fire and Ice manicure from Tricia (from Jamaica).


They learned how to make baked crab Martinique.




during the cooking demonstration there was also a carving demonstration - side by side













There was also a wine paring with the dish


at dinner in Parrot Cay we had this as an appetizer and it was also served with a fried plantain.
 


Manicure finished, I met up with DSis in Studio Sea for the napkin folding, while Mom left to meet Dad at the lecture on the Panama Canal. DSis read that massive book - path between the seas or whatever and gave me the cliffsnotes version- Pacific is higher than Atlantic, there's a railroad, the French failed, there's malaria, Nicaragua has a volcano, there's yellow fever, West Indians are brought by the hundreds and paid nothing, Teddy Roosevelt visits, country is founded, there's a lot of dredging, thousands die, hundreds of millions spent, and then we give it up to the Chinese. Got it.






She makes it all look so easy!




candle stick


peter pan's shoe




corn


bird of paradise
 
[Pacific is higher than Atlantic, there's a railroad, the French failed, there's malaria, Nicaragua has a volcano, there's yellow fever, West Indians are brought by the hundreds and paid nothing, Teddy Roosevelt visits, country is founded, there's a lot of dredging, thousands die, hundreds of millions spent, and then we give it up to the Chinese. Got it. [/QUOTE]

I enjoyed your edited version of David McCullough's book on the Canal.:rotfl2:
Rebecca
 
What a fun TR! We seriously considered this cruise but ended up opting for the 8 night to WDW and CC (fantastic cruise!) We will do a PC cruise hopefully in the next year or two. Can't wait for more of your TR!
 
What a fun TR! We seriously considered this cruise but ended up opting for the 8 night to WDW and CC (fantastic cruise!) We will do a PC cruise hopefully in the next year or two. Can't wait for more of your TR!

Thanks for posting! WDW and CC sounds great - is that a land/cruise package? What ship is that?
 
on Day Three they had the ultra-confusing limited edition panama canal cruise pin release. That morning you could line up to get two wristbands - one for the panama canal logo pin and one for the ports of call pins. We thought this meant you could only get a total of four pins (two logo and two ports of call). So we decided ahead of time which of the ports we wanted but that didn't matter because we could buy two entire sets of the pins.

Also, not sure that the wristbands are entirely necessary it really didn't seem like there was a run on pins. So if you miss wristband distribution I am sure you can get the pins later in the cruise after the wristband time.

For those in concierge, the wristbands were provided to each suite. Though, I am not sure that they have done this in the past. But there were enough requests coming from concierge (including our parents) that they did end up providing the wristbands to concierge the night before. - Thank you Rodrigo :thumbsup2

 
[Pacific is higher than Atlantic, there's a railroad, the French failed, there's malaria, Nicaragua has a volcano, there's yellow fever, West Indians are brought by the hundreds and paid nothing, Teddy Roosevelt visits, country is founded, there's a lot of dredging, thousands die, hundreds of millions spent, and then we give it up to the Chinese. Got it.

I enjoyed your edited version of David McCullough's book on the Canal.:rotfl2:
Rebecca[/QUOTE]

I am here for all those who skip the book and skip the lectures :thumbsup2
 
Great trip report, makes me feel like I am there again :) such a great cruise.


I have to agree with some others who have said the "off duty" actions of the entertainment CMs on this cruise was inappropriate. I myself am a Cast Member but not for DCL so maybe it just stuck out to me more. I noticed the main stage entertainment people almost every day on Deck 9 and 10 talking loudly about things Guests shouldn't be hearing. The worst was on at Cabo when about 7 of them were clearly intoxicated and laying out on Deck 10, one of them made a comment to me as I walked by, then pulled his pants down and mooned the other CMs sitting with him, then ran down the stairs to the Quiet Cove pool screaming "cannonball!" and jumped in splashing everyone who was swimming. I have to add, this CM was probably the most recognizable of the bunch.

I had an amazing cruise, like I said, but was extremely disappointed with a very small group of certain crew members.
 
Great trip report, makes me feel like I am there again :) such a great cruise.

I have to agree with some others who have said the "off duty" actions of the entertainment CMs on this cruise was extremely inappropriate. I myself am a Cast Member but not for DCL so maybe it just stuck out to me more. I noticed the main stage entertainment people almost every day on Deck 9 and 10 talking loudly about things Guests shouldn't be hearing. The worst was on at Cabo when about 7 of them were clearly intoxicated and laying out on Deck 10, one of them made a comment to me as I walked by, then pulled his pants down and mooned the other CMs sitting with him, then ran down the stairs to the Quiet Cove pool screaming "cannonball!" and jumped in splashing everyone who was swimming. I have to add, this CM was probably the most recognizable of the bunch.

I had an amazing cruise, like I said, but was extremely disappointed with a very small group of certain crew members.

Totally unacceptable. Thy need to have some respect for their jobs, their company and their guests.
 
I had an amazing cruise, like I said, but was extremely disappointed with a very small group of certain crew members.

Thanks so much for posting. I am sorry you witnessed similar behavior - it did take away from the Magic of Disney to see the stage talent behaving like that. I would imagine there is a crew bar and there is the crew pool you can see from the front of the ship - I'm not even sure why they were behaving like that in public areas - on or off duty. But glad you enjoyed your cruise too! Thanks again for your comments and for reading.
 

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