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

[KyCruisinSusan]

Happy to see that you recommended the pheasant. As I was looking at your photos of the menu I thought to myself, I said self, "I might just have to try the pheasant" , and the next thing I see is your recommendation.
But seriously, I ordered the escargo and the duck on our first Wonder cruise and I really was not impressed. The snails tasted like garlic butter soaked rubber bands and the duck was greasy and not nice, but on a cruise I am much more adventurous when ordering, since there's not extra out of pocket cost, like when dining out at home , and I will probably have to try that pheasant when the opportunity arises.

 

[speedo]

I remember that! We were walking past the Mickey Pool and the poor CM sitting by the slide entrance nearly jumped out of her skin when the captain sounded the horn!

Vedran (in the Outlook Cafe) said it was so unexpected when he heard it he was about to go to his muster station, lol.

Too funny! thanks for posting!

Happy to see that you recommended the pheasant. As I was looking at your photos of the menu I thought to myself, I said self, "I might just have to try the pheasant" , and the next thing I see is your recommendation.
But seriously, I ordered the escargo and the duck on our first Wonder cruise and I really was not impressed. The snails tasted like garlic butter soaked rubber bands and the duck was greasy and not nice, but on a cruise I am much more adventurous when ordering, since there's not extra out of pocket cost, like when dining out at home , and I will probably have to try that pheasant when the opportunity arises.

I do the same try to order things I wouldn't normally. On the first cruise my sister and I went on (no parents) we sat at a table of eight and became fast friends with 6 of the others - a couple from Scotland and sisters from Buffalo. One of the sisters decided to give tofu a try since she never had it. She definitely did not like it. We tried to warn her but it was great she gave it a try. The waiter was prepared to bring her another dish because he too was doubtful that she would like it

 

[speedo]

We skipped this show, but we happened to be near the theater when it let out and overheard a conversation between two guests. One asked the other if he had seen the show and the reply was that he hadn't seen it and asked if it was any good. The response from the first guest was "you've wasted your cruise if you didn't see Buckets N Boards"

Again, we didn't see it but must have been something else to trump the entire experience of crossing through the canal

 

[speedo]

The sunrise this morning was absolutely amazing so there will be three photos to share with you (I did edit it down from the 15 or so I have )







I decided to head the laundry room first thing (it was empty when I got there but it did get very busy even on a port day)



While I was in the laundry room my dad called my sister to bring a camera to the top deck, and I am so glad he did because she caught some great shots with that wonderful morning sunlight





you can even catch the famous arch from the cruise ship though it can only be seen from the correct angle so the window to catch a picture is narrow.









Sea Lions - we could hear them barking all morning long.

 

[speedo]

Beach Blanket once again. This is the most convenient place for breakfast.



The port:





Puerto Vallarta has Sam's Club and Cabo has Costco



Cabo is a very hip resort area as can be noted by all the paddle boarders we saw.



So we decided we would head over to check it out, expecting to see some trendy and high end stores. At this port, there is a tender. For those in concierge you just need to call the concierge and they will escort you from your room to the tender. In our case there was just one other family in concierge who wanted to go when we did so the tender was just handful of people. This is a huge advantage for concierge because the wait for a tender can be long and normally the boats run full especially early in the morning.















Mexico - brought to you by Corona



We lasted all of 10-15 minutes in Cabo. There were once nice stores, like Lacoste, as we were expecting to see but they had all closed and all that was left was the signage. Maybe it is the downturn of the economy. At any rate the stores that were in Cabo were the typical tourist stores with the overly ambitious vendors. That really didn't bother us - what did was the constant barrage of men asking us if we wanted a "Mexican boyfriend" or a "Mexican Bodyguard". After the fifth one we headed straight back to the tender to return to the safety zone of the Wonder.

We had the return tender completely to ourselves.

 

[mrp4352]

My dad and I are in Rotary and our club just had our sister club in Jamaica join us the week before.

Thanks to you and your father for all that Rotary does! Many, many moons ago, I was a Rotary Exchange Student to Germany - the experiences I had were amazing!! and it was all because of the kindness of the Rotary organization!

 

[speedo]

Thanks to you and your father for all that Rotary does! Many, many moons ago, I was a Rotary Exchange Student to Germany - the experiences I had were amazing!! and it was all because of the kindness of the Rotary organization!

It is great to be part of an organization that does so much good!

 

[speedo]

Nope, this post is not out of order. When we got back on the ship after our brief visit in cabo, we stumbled upon a rehearsal of this Adventures Away show that is performed the first day at cast off.

We have never actually seen this show. It is always so much fun seeing us leave port or have been busy unpacking that we haven't actually seen the show. But what a great way to watch the show on an empty deck!











We then stayed around to watch another movie at the goofy pool that neither of us had seen before - brother bear. I thought this was a surprisingly good movie considering I don't even remember hearing much about this movie.

 

[speedo]

We decided to order room service today for lunch since I really wanted the steak sandwich that is on the room service menu. I've ordered this each time I've been on a Disney ship but it never has been as good as the first time I ordered on Magic. Maybe it tasted good that time because I just had returned from an awful snorkeling trip and got stung by two tentacles of a jellyfish. It must have been comfort food after a stressful morning. I used to be a scuba diver in my teens/twenties and seems like if there is something stinging in the water it will get me.



we also picked up pizza from Pinocchio's



no idea where we got the chips and salsa maybe it was ordered from room service?



and I think these came from cove café (the food is free) either that or these were the treats from concierge that day.

 

[speedo]

Today as we were leaving port we had an escort to block the smaller boats from getting in our path. Not sure if this was because of the experience in Puerto Vallarta with the Sail Boat or if the coast guard in cabo is just better but we didn't have any trouble leaving cabo.







some photos as we leave:





There's the famous arch - no need to rent a boat to see it





sea lion:



there's a female on the rock too - no wonder he is acting the stud:







Adios Cabo San Lucas

 

[speedo]

This was a cute show and really enjoyed seeing the characters in their Mexican wear.

 

[speedo]

so after 13 days on a ship surrounded a little too closely by family, a little break from one another was needed. So if this happens to you a great alternative place for dinner is beach blanket which offers casual table service in the evenings.



also has a great view in a quiet setting:









Others in our family ate with the main dining rotation which had the captain's gala menu





California mixed salad (also served in beach blanket that evening)


wild forest mushroom soup


Lobster served by Patryk


venison




Best dessert of the cruise - warm chocolate lava cake

 

[speedo]

this was not listed in the navigator but our servers told us that tonight there would be a chocolate buffet in Tritons. Unfortunately the camera was on the wrong setting so the only pictures that are somewhat clear are these:











Back in the room


we received this lithograph as a gift

 

[jjje]

I am LOVING your trip report. The only problem is that it's making it really hard to wait for my Panama Canal cruise!

 

[KyCruisinSusan]

I am LOVING your trip report. The only problem is that it's making it really hard to wait for my Panama Canal cruise!

I know, right. 391 is gonna just drag by

 

[speedo]

I am LOVING your trip report. The only problem is that it's making it really hard to wait for my Panama Canal cruise!

I know, right. 391 is gonna just drag by

I know the feeling we also booked over a year ahead for the panama cruise. It is definitely worth the wait! It was such a cool experience!

 

[speedo]

Dreams was by far the best show of the cruise and I really did enjoy it, but the shows on the Fantasy are even better.

 

[speedo]

Baja California:









First sighting of a whale exhaling - or as my ex-aquarist DSis scientifically called it Whale Snot:



In one of my pictures after magnifying it we do see the tale of a whale:

 

[speedo]

We enjoyed brunch at palo so much the first time that we decided to schedule it again for our last day on the cruise. It was very special and they gave us the same table we had for the first brunch and for dinner. And of course we had Sasha once again.













Cold strawberry soup - after I had a taste of my mom's at the first brunch I decided to have a cup of this all to myself this time (very yummy):



these cannot possibly be all for me - I am sure it was for the table

 

[MNTravels]

WE board the Wonder in 4 weeks for our Panama Crossing, can't wait.