WB Panama Canal | Mar 4 - Mar 18 | Cruise-Along Thread
- Thread starter Intr3pid
- Start date
Intr3pid
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Entertainment calendar for the crossing + the following four sea days:
Day 7: Songs for Ever After
Day 8: John Armstrong (the Magician) + Fireworks
Day 9: Turning Red
Day 10: John Armstrong (the Magician) + Pirate night deck party
Day 11: Golden Mickeys
Day 7: Songs for Ever After
Day 8: John Armstrong (the Magician) + Fireworks
Day 9: Turning Red
Day 10: John Armstrong (the Magician) + Pirate night deck party
Day 11: Golden Mickeys
TestingH2O
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John Armstrong! He was on the 2020 WBPC and was excellent. He was supposed to get off in Cartegena, but, you know, that didn’t happen.
He made so many new shows over those two weeks and was always super nice around the ship. I’m glad to hear he’s still doing shows on board.
HeatherLassell
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OOOH so you actually had a pirate deck party?!
happycamper47
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Is Fredrico still in the French Quarter Lounge? If he is tell him the "Evian water guy" from the November East bound cruise said "HI"..
happycamper47
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Double post
Grumpy4568
Earning My Ears
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With all the technology and talented tech savvy people available, I have always been amazed at how inept a company the size of Disney is at providing a good internet experience and app development.
happycamper47
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When we went through the original locks the ship only had 2 ft of clearance on each side
lolomarie
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Eeek!!!!! This is so exciting! I hope it bodes well for our April 30th Fantasy cruise.
DisneYE
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Got back from the trip on Sunday - I just barely recovered from it today after spending Sunday and most of yesterday sleeping. - I was so tired.
The Panama Canal was AMAZING. Overall I enjoyed the cruise very much, never expected I would like it so much.
The PC day, the crossing was one of the most special moments in my life. The entire beauty of the canal, the human engineering around it that you get to appreciate at every moment, it was just incredible.
The whole cruise was very special.
We had great weather 90% of the time. there was only 1 day of (very) rough seas.
The day right after the PC crossing was sublime. I've never seen the ocean so calm in my life. To say it was mirror-like would be an insult to the ocean. It was beyond calm. It was like it was sailing through the depths of space. something hard to describe. I wish a poet would have sailed with us to they could describe was it was like.
I took 2 pictures of the ocean that day, one doesn't do it justice (below) the other is at sunset but I won't share it because it's very special to me - it's a picture where I felt the creator being beside me and I cry every time I see it. But those who sailed this cruise will know what I'm talking about.
Also, it was very tiring.
I ate too much, drank too much, and as a result, I napped too much, at least a couple of hours a day.
Other than the 3 shows and a couple of tastings, I barely went to other activities. Oh I did go to pirate night which felt it was almost like any regular pirate night pre pandemic.. I was mesmerized by the dancers, they were so good. fireworks were ok, but lasted about 2 minutes.
I skipped all the trivia, animations, crafts and other activities, but the rest of my family did go to most of them and they said they were nice.
It almost didn't feel there was a pandemic going on.
Wore masks indoors, but never outside.
Family pool was virtually empty every day so it was nice to spend some time in the hot tubs there. No lines for the pool, a couple of times at the hot tubs but they do let you stay for 15 minutes and if you want to go back in you tell the lifeguard you want back in and she counts the time and tells the other party to get out when it's your turn.
The adult area and pool was always full so we never went there. Lounge chairs were taken early and by 9 am all were gone.. I didn't mind it because a) the family area was virtually empty and b) I spent most of the time I wasn't eating/drinking in my verandah reading or napping.
As mentioned previously, this cruise was overwhelmingly a senior citizen cruise. 60% at least were over the age of 60... 75% or more 50+... which is fine, but felt weird for a Disney cruise....very few young couples, only a handful of small kids, and maybe a couple of dozen teenagers (my DD16 reported vibe only had 8-10 teens going there regularly - she did hang out with them most of the time)
Even though it was an amazing cruise, to me, it felt too long.
14 days with only 4 stops, that was too much for me.. there was a period of 4 straight sea days and although I read a lot and napped a lot, it felt boring... my DD says it's because I'm an antisocial and although it's partially true, I much rather go on a port-intensive cruise than one full of sea days.
Covid? if there weren't people wearing masks indoors you'd think it was some kind of urban tale.
Never heard about anyone catching it or going to deck 2 for quarantine. In fact, no one ever mentioned the C word.. if it wasn't for masks, it's as if it never existed.
The almost normal pirate night we had is an indication things are almost back to pre-C19.
Highlights for me:
- The mirror ocean after the Panama Canal. It was mesmerizing and humbling.
- Cartagena - What a lovely city - safe, nice people, great weather, the downtown is astonishing... I'm planning a standalone trip there soon.
- The staff - CM's were incredible. I can't think of a single bad thing or experience with them. On the contrary, they were the most kind, attentive, professional and always looking to make the cruise special.
- The weather - Almost perfect, except for that one day of high winds and rough seas.
There was this rumor going around on the ship that it was the last Panama Canal cruise DCL will ever do.
I hope it's not true.
Even though it felt too long, if it comes back with at least 1 more stop in between and less sea days, I will definitely go back.
The Panama Canal was AMAZING. Overall I enjoyed the cruise very much, never expected I would like it so much.
The PC day, the crossing was one of the most special moments in my life. The entire beauty of the canal, the human engineering around it that you get to appreciate at every moment, it was just incredible.
The whole cruise was very special.
We had great weather 90% of the time. there was only 1 day of (very) rough seas.
The day right after the PC crossing was sublime. I've never seen the ocean so calm in my life. To say it was mirror-like would be an insult to the ocean. It was beyond calm. It was like it was sailing through the depths of space. something hard to describe. I wish a poet would have sailed with us to they could describe was it was like.
I took 2 pictures of the ocean that day, one doesn't do it justice (below) the other is at sunset but I won't share it because it's very special to me - it's a picture where I felt the creator being beside me and I cry every time I see it. But those who sailed this cruise will know what I'm talking about.
Also, it was very tiring.
I ate too much, drank too much, and as a result, I napped too much, at least a couple of hours a day.
Other than the 3 shows and a couple of tastings, I barely went to other activities. Oh I did go to pirate night which felt it was almost like any regular pirate night pre pandemic.. I was mesmerized by the dancers, they were so good. fireworks were ok, but lasted about 2 minutes.
I skipped all the trivia, animations, crafts and other activities, but the rest of my family did go to most of them and they said they were nice.
It almost didn't feel there was a pandemic going on.
Wore masks indoors, but never outside.
Family pool was virtually empty every day so it was nice to spend some time in the hot tubs there. No lines for the pool, a couple of times at the hot tubs but they do let you stay for 15 minutes and if you want to go back in you tell the lifeguard you want back in and she counts the time and tells the other party to get out when it's your turn.
The adult area and pool was always full so we never went there. Lounge chairs were taken early and by 9 am all were gone.. I didn't mind it because a) the family area was virtually empty and b) I spent most of the time I wasn't eating/drinking in my verandah reading or napping.
As mentioned previously, this cruise was overwhelmingly a senior citizen cruise. 60% at least were over the age of 60... 75% or more 50+... which is fine, but felt weird for a Disney cruise....very few young couples, only a handful of small kids, and maybe a couple of dozen teenagers (my DD16 reported vibe only had 8-10 teens going there regularly - she did hang out with them most of the time)
Even though it was an amazing cruise, to me, it felt too long.
14 days with only 4 stops, that was too much for me.. there was a period of 4 straight sea days and although I read a lot and napped a lot, it felt boring... my DD says it's because I'm an antisocial and although it's partially true, I much rather go on a port-intensive cruise than one full of sea days.
Covid? if there weren't people wearing masks indoors you'd think it was some kind of urban tale.
Never heard about anyone catching it or going to deck 2 for quarantine. In fact, no one ever mentioned the C word.. if it wasn't for masks, it's as if it never existed.
The almost normal pirate night we had is an indication things are almost back to pre-C19.
Highlights for me:
- The mirror ocean after the Panama Canal. It was mesmerizing and humbling.
- Cartagena - What a lovely city - safe, nice people, great weather, the downtown is astonishing... I'm planning a standalone trip there soon.
- The staff - CM's were incredible. I can't think of a single bad thing or experience with them. On the contrary, they were the most kind, attentive, professional and always looking to make the cruise special.
- The weather - Almost perfect, except for that one day of high winds and rough seas.
There was this rumor going around on the ship that it was the last Panama Canal cruise DCL will ever do.
I hope it's not true.
Even though it felt too long, if it comes back with at least 1 more stop in between and less sea days, I will definitely go back.
twopackages
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Aug 30, 2018
- Messages
- 31
We were on this cruise and had the BEST time! I really felt like I had enough time to relax, read and sit by the pool AND to do all the activities that I like to do. Usually I can't get enough of both.
It was my understanding that the cruise after us was going to start getting paper menus again - as per our server.
I was disappointed in the movie choices and the second week was basically ONLY Turning Red. It was scheduled to play a few times a day.
I didn't like that the schedule of everything was continually changing. You would "heart" something and then it would just disappear as it was no longer being offered. If you had known it was going to disappear, you would have planned to do it at an earlier offering.
We were told that there were only 80 children 12 and under on the cruise and that the "Edge" eligible kids only totaled 30.
I liked the spacing in the WDT and it generally wasn't a problem to get a seat. The Buena Vista had signs that every other row was out of commission. It was asked that you leave 2 seats between each family.
As others have said, the weather was great except for that one day. I never expected to see an ocean so calm and flat on a couple of other days.
I loved that there were a few events that were only offered on the Panama Canal cruises. There was a boat building competition that we had a hoot building. They made a big deal with the captain coming to judge and each boat had a floating in the pool.
There was also swim the Panama Canal - where you went one at a time through the pool and received a certificate that you did it.
There were SO MANY crew earning their ears - I was actually quite shocked at the number. From my understanding they pulled crew from all the ships to staff the Wish and all the new hires were sent to the other ships. There were times that I didn't feel that I was getting the full Disney service. But with so many new people we just took a deep breath and moved on.
I really enjoyed the low population of the cruise. We had an area in Cabanas and there was never a time that we couldn't get a table in that area. Always able to get a deck chair or table and chairs on the deck. Lines were not a thing at all. We were spoiled as I don't think that will ever happen again.
I am very sad that there are no more PC cruises listed as I wouldn't hesitate to go on another one.
It was my understanding that the cruise after us was going to start getting paper menus again - as per our server.
I was disappointed in the movie choices and the second week was basically ONLY Turning Red. It was scheduled to play a few times a day.
I didn't like that the schedule of everything was continually changing. You would "heart" something and then it would just disappear as it was no longer being offered. If you had known it was going to disappear, you would have planned to do it at an earlier offering.
We were told that there were only 80 children 12 and under on the cruise and that the "Edge" eligible kids only totaled 30.
I liked the spacing in the WDT and it generally wasn't a problem to get a seat. The Buena Vista had signs that every other row was out of commission. It was asked that you leave 2 seats between each family.
As others have said, the weather was great except for that one day. I never expected to see an ocean so calm and flat on a couple of other days.
I loved that there were a few events that were only offered on the Panama Canal cruises. There was a boat building competition that we had a hoot building. They made a big deal with the captain coming to judge and each boat had a floating in the pool.
There was also swim the Panama Canal - where you went one at a time through the pool and received a certificate that you did it.
There were SO MANY crew earning their ears - I was actually quite shocked at the number. From my understanding they pulled crew from all the ships to staff the Wish and all the new hires were sent to the other ships. There were times that I didn't feel that I was getting the full Disney service. But with so many new people we just took a deep breath and moved on.
I really enjoyed the low population of the cruise. We had an area in Cabanas and there was never a time that we couldn't get a table in that area. Always able to get a deck chair or table and chairs on the deck. Lines were not a thing at all. We were spoiled as I don't think that will ever happen again.
I am very sad that there are no more PC cruises listed as I wouldn't hesitate to go on another one.
Sykes
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 1, 2017
- Messages
- 690
Jon Armstrong is one of my favorite magicians in the world. The last time I saw him at the Magic Castle in Hollywood he performed for four hours straight without repeating a single trick. (I wasn’t there the entire time, but came back several times throughout the night and saw new tricks each time.) He really is a world-class magician.
disneyfunfamily4
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Dec 4, 2010
- Messages
- 34
We were on this cruise too and had such a good time. We took our 18 & 21 year old daughters and we keep talking about what a great cruise it was and how it was truely the experience of a life time with such low crowds on the boat. We loved getting to know all the crew, we tried to find out how many that we had come to know would still be there in June when we go to Alaska. We went to every trivia we could. I heard there was approx 1070 guests on the cruise and the only place it felt really crowded was the adult pool most sea days and in the Crown and Fin for 7:30 trivia.
I don’t know why my pic is sideways but as others have said this day at sea was just glass. It was amazing, I have never seen the ocean like that. We also saw crocodiles as we were going in to the canal, we say sting rays, a sword fish, sea turtles, dolphins and whales. Loved it. I hope this isn’t the last PC Disney does. Oh and when we entered the Panama canal they played disney music for us from the shore! It was a fun little touch. 
mousefan73
Germans are faster at dubbing
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- May 9, 2012
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If they dont do Panama anymore, this means the Wish stays on the westcoast?
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- 21,617
The Wonder is staying in the West coast right now as the Wish will be sailing the Caribbean on the east coast.
I had this challenge too. If you make a minor adjustment to your picture and resave it it will publish properly. It happens for some reason when pics are posted without being adjusted at all. Hope this helps.
lilsonicfan
DIS Veteran
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- Jan 20, 2003
- Messages
- 3,476
Happy hour at 8am - two beignets and specialty coffee for $4.50.
IDK about drinks/beers.
Events: most of the morning/afternoon was usually family crafts, they were listed every hour but what this really meant was that the cruise staff set up a table for crafts that was there all morning/afternoon. There were a couple of game shows in the FQ lounge too. Evenings, usually some live music.
lilsonicfan
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 20, 2003
- Messages
- 3,476
I will agree the app totally sucked.
Tastings: when I boarded, there were TONS of tastings available through the app, these were getting booked quickly though. I did notice that they came available all the time though. I needed to use that section of the app "Onboard Fun" to book youth club activities so I was on it often and saw lots of tastings come available.
B/c the cruise was 14 days I think we got most of the menus available! We had a pirate night, we also had World of Flavours, Seasons, California (Vista?), Panama Canal, Frozen, I wrote most of them down but I think it was pretty much the same as the 2021 EBPC menus which you can find on the DCL Blog site.
jujubiee4
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- Jan 5, 2013
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