Introduction

This is a blog of the Jazzbeaux 11-day Partial Panama Canal cruise on Coral Princess starting January 19, 2014. We drove to the Hampton Inn-Ft. Lauderdale City Center where we had booked their Ship and Shore package that included free parking for the duration of the cruise and the transfer to the port. We sailed to Ocho Rios, Jamaica; Limon, Costa Rica; through the Atlantic locks of the Panama Canal into Gatun Lake – where we took the ferry boat through the rest of the canal to the Pacific side and then a bus back to our ship, now docked at Colon, Panama; Cartagena, Colombia; and Aruba – before returning to Fort Lauderdale.

During the trip, Jazzbelle kept detailed notes and I [Jazzbeau] took lots of pictures. After returning home, I revised the notes to remove names [to protect the guilty, as they say…] and put it in my voice to avoid confusion. Jazzbelle became ‘DW’ in internet parlance [‘Dear Wife’].

Coral Princess Review

We had been on Coral in Alaska last summer and we were looking forward to sailing her once again. She’s a manageable size vessel with just under 2000 passengers and lots of public areas. The full Promenade Deck is great for walking any time, and the public balconies fore and aft are great for viewing things like glaciers or canal locks. We never found the ship crowded [maybe our diurnal schedule is enough off-kilter that everybody else was otherwise occupied]. We had Anytime Dining and never had to wait for a table. And we have found Coral one of the easiest ships to navigate [our cabin was right near the midship elevators/stairs, so we were able to get to most places on the first try]. Coral is definitely our favorite ship so far, and we hope the enlarging of the Panama Canal and the new restrictions on large ships in Venice will lead Princess to give her (or Island) some new itineraries so we can sail her again.

We have sailed in Inside Cabins on Oceania (R-ship), NCL, Celebrity (M-class) and Princess (Coral). The inside cabins on Coral Princess are the nicest and most roomy feeling, but this time we treated ourselves to a Mini-Suite with balcony and now we are spoiled for life! All I can say is WOW! Plenty of room everywhere: the room itself, the bathroom [tub!] and closet, and the balcony (3 chairs, 2 footstools and a table). We used the balcony more than we expected, but even for short doses it was great to have available.

Although Coral is now considered an “older” ship [as a certified Senior Citizen, I really resent this ageism!], we found her to be in great condition. A recent review complained that Coral was looking tired, and specially mentioned carpet stains in public areas. We did not see this [either they were cleaned in the meantime, or there is a benefit to aging eyesight!] The only real sign of wear was that our balcony rail needed varnish [only ours – the ones on either side looked much better, and the Promenade Deck railing was refinished during our cruise] and the metal bits on our balcony showed a lot of rust. But the Panama Canal itinerary takes a toll on a ship: the crew was repainting the hull just above the waterline at every port on our cruise and had just finished when we got to the canal and it emerged all scratched up again!

We enjoyed the food much more than when we were on Coral this past summer. DW and I both agree that it was the best cruise so far. We had a free ticket to Sabatini’s on the first night, but after that had no interest in the specialty restaurants because the MDR food was so good. The pizza was also good [high praise from a New Yorker!], and DW loved the brats at The Bar & Grill on deck 15. The head chef was new for our cruise, so he seems to have had an immediate positive impact.

They did offer the wine bottle packages, but since this was an 11 day cruise the smallest package was 7 bottles [I was hoping for 5, so it didn’t work for me]. It’s a good deal if you will use that many bottles by the end of the cruise, but the prices are still well above retail store levels so it’s not a good deal if you end up bringing bottles home. The wine list has had some changes since this summer. One disappointment is that the Zuni Amarone on the new list isn’t as good as the Bolla Amarone it replaces. [I had the Zuni at the premium Wine Tasting, so the bottle had some time to breathe.] Luckily the Maître d’ at Sabatini’s let me know they still had a few bottles of the Bolla left. It’s $66, but SO good…

This was one of our longer cruises: 11 days but only 5 ports, so we were at sea a lot. DW had some apprehension about this before we boarded, but to her surprise she thoroughly enjoyed the sea days. She didn’t mind that feeling of being disconnected or of seeing nothing but sea and waves, and instead found it very peaceful. [There were also lots of activities, so the sea days weren’t as restful as I had expected.]

All the ports were new to both of us, and we enjoyed them very well. Other than the Panama Canal we really didn’t have high expectations [we’re not beach people, so the Caribbean loses a lot of charm for us compared to other people], but we found interesting things to do everywhere.

We were originally booked on a March sailing, but we changed cruise dates in the hope of less humid weather in Panama, and we lucked out. [We also lucked out majorly by getting out of NY for the last part of January!] We had nice weather every day – warm but not hot, not too humid, no rain except short showers. We had some rough days at sea but so far we have never been affected with mal de mer. We were not bothered by mosquitoes anywhere, including the Veragua rain forest in Costa Rica and the Panama Canal ferry transit to the Pacific.

Three days into the trip there was an outbreak of norovirus. It was serious but not to the alarming proportions of a recent RCL cruise that had to return early to port. It lasted about a week and was gone by the time we returned to FL. The Captain intervened immediately with a Code Red and successfully limited the spread of the disease. The only disruption for passengers [other than those who got sick…] was not being able to touch any food-related items including salt/pepper/sweeteners – everything had to be given to you by crew. Oh, and we missed out on the Chef’s Table but the Ultimate Ship’s Tour did take place toward the end of the cruise, when the Code had been lifted, and even included the galleys. DW and I escaped it despite dining arm-to-arm with passengers who fell ill the next day or with crew members with whom we were in contact. We felt that the quick implementation of Code Red, and cooperation by the passengers, really made a difference.

Saturday Jan. 18 – Fort Lauderdale

We arrived in Fort Lauderdale on Saturday, Jan. 18 to temps in the high 60s. The locals were complaining about the cold weather, but compared to NY it was tropical!

We stayed at the Hampton Inn-Ft. Lauderdale City Center with the “Ship and Shore” package that allowed us to park our car in their secure garage for the duration of the cruise. They also included a free transfer to the port, and the return transfer was only $10 per person. The transfer vans tow a trailer for the luggage, so there was no schlepping of carry-ons or anything. [Our packing idol is not Rick Steves and his backpack, but Sarah Bernhardt and her 20 steamer trunks!]

As we turned the corner to the hotel garage, there was a sign for Catholic Mass. There is a very small church directly across from the hotel, the Parish of Sts. Francis and Clare, an ecumenical Catholic communion, the most welcoming parish we have been lucky to find. Mass was wonderful and a great change from the ultra-conservative parishes we are used to in the South.

We drove all over downtown looking for a restaurant [Saturday night – no reservation, no service!] until we found Joe’s Crab Shack, a huge place that is loud and fun. We both had lobster/shrimp pot pie and it was yummy.

Sunday Jan. 19 – Embarkation

On Sunday morning we had a leisurely breakfast and final repack, and then at noon the hotel shuttle took us to the pier. They loaded in reverse order, so we got on last but got off first (at pier 2) – that made it easy to find our mountain of luggage in the trailer! We chatted with a couple from Michigan who were also on Coral; we saw them later at the Passenger Services desk because when they got to their cabin it was already occupied by another couple! [It turned out the other couple had mis-remembered their room number and demanded to have their IDs rekeyed and their luggage re-delivered. Our friends got their cabin once the error was discovered, but no apology. Chutzpah!]

Check-in was very easy as the early birds were gone, and our cabin was ready. We were in plenty of time for lunch, but we went first to Passenger Services to sign up for the Ultimate Ship’s Tour, and then called the dine line to sign up for the Chef’s Table, and for Sabatini’s that night [free as part of our Amex Platinum benefits].

When we got to the cabin, our steward Mar introduced himself and brought us free glasses of Champagne. DW doesn’t drink, so that made two for me [the gift that keeps on giving in our marriage!]

Muster Drill was at 3:15 – our station was the Wheelhouse Bar. The safety program was short and sweet, and after dropping our life vests back at the cabin we explored the ship to refresh our memories from last summer, when we were on Coral in Alaska. We thought we knew the ship pretty well, but this time we discovered the 9-hole mini-golf course [cheesy, but we played it several times and had fun]. After that grueling exercise I took my first nap while DW painted her toenails.

We had a great dinner at Sabatini’s. We knew from last time that the salt-encrusted fish is a waste, so we both had the excellent Veal Chop. I started with calamari [which DW and I both enjoyed; there was enough that I could have made dinner out of it] and DW had the Mosaica appetizer; we both ended with Espresso crème brulée. We had a long chat with the Maître d’, who is from Sicily [like Commissario Montalbano from the mystery novels].

We walked the Promenade Deck [one of Coral Princess’ best features, and sadly missing on most new ships] and returned to our cabin to finish unpacking and turn in. We are not big show goers, but people said the comedian (Gary Delena) was good.

Monday, Jan. 20 – At Sea

A big day, with lots of activities. We started off with the Cruise Critic Meet & Greet. We had an active Roll Call, with 50 signed up for the MG (of which 40 attended). Five officers and staff, led by Hotel General Manager Karin Luppes and Customer Relations Manager Terry Rossouw, greeted us, and we were able to make final arrangements for the three Roll Call private shore excursions.

I surprised DW by agreeing to attend the Ballroom Blitz dance class, and surprised myself even more by learning the Meringue [which I thought was just a topping for lemon pies!]. That overlapped the first port lecture, which we assumed would be a sales pitch for the ship’s excursions – wrong! Chris Roberts is very professional and witty, and his lectures are a good introduction to the upcoming ports no matter how you plan to explore them.

Lunch was bratwurst from the grille, then we attended the Historic Panama Canal video screening, which was a good introduction to the canal. We had followed the Treasure Hunt map around the ship to qualify for the drawing this afternoon, but didn’t win. [Luckily we were saving our luck for something better later on – stay tuned…]. We enjoyed our roomy cabin for the rest of the afternoon, including another nice nap.

In the evening we attended the Captain’s Welcome Aboard Party & Champagne Waterfall. I have heard complaints about people not getting to drink from the waterfall. I didn’t see that happening on our cruise and wouldn’t want to anyway: it was a photo op [which we skipped], and it didn’t seem to be the decent French champagne [Nicolas Feuillatte] they served generally, but rather the kind of stuff you wouldn’t mind pouring down a pile of glasses into the gutter. We did have a formal portrait taken on the Atrium steps, which got us a ticket for another free drawing that we didn’t win [but keep staying tuned…]

This was the first Formal night. There were very few tuxes in evidence, but lots of men in dark suits. [Sorry ladies, I’m not good at describing women’s clothes; I’m too busy admiring the women in them…]

We had anytime dining in Bordeaux. We never had to wait for table, because we always said we were happy to share – this way we met lots of people with whom we would stop to chat throughout the cruise. For dinner we both chose the Stilton mousse appetizer and the lamb entrée [both excellent]. DW had crème brulée for desert [excellent], while I had cheesecake [billed as “NY style” but had a graham cracker crust – so Not NY! also not much flavor]. The conversation continued until it was clear the waiters wanted to go home, so we missed the show What a Swell Party, which may have been a mistake because we really enjoyed the other shows.

Tuesday, Jan. 21 – Ocho Rios, Jamaica

I had arranged a private tour for ten of us from the Roll Call to Dunn’s River Falls and the Irie Blue Hole/Secret Falls with Liberty Tours Jamaica. Dunn’s River Falls involves a steep descent to a beach and then climbing the falls – not a path alongside, but right up through the cascades, over rocks, through lagoons… Somehow we all made it though, although not without ankles twisting, knees scraping and hands being offered for support [and laughter all around!] The hardest part was making our way through the maze of local vendors back to our van [but we learned that NY tough is better than Jamaica pushy…] We then went to the Irie Blue Hole, which is a private set of falls and lagoons. We had two young locals, Devroe and Riley, who helped us navigate the terrain and did stunt jumps, etc. for us. They were happy to take photos [with our cameras] as well. This was a hoot, and we were all glad we had added this to the itinerary [ship’s tours don’t do to the Irie Blue Hole]. We wrapped up the day at Scotches for a lunch of jerk chicken, rice and beans, and were back on the ship in plenty of time. [Near the port area is the large shed-like building which served as the “nuclear reactor” in the movie Dr. No]

Ocho Rios is an alternative port on the Coral/Island partial Panama Canal cruises [most stop at Grand Cayman instead], and there has been a lot of controversy on Cruise Critic about this port. Even our TA tried to steer us to the other cruises, saying “once you’ve climbed Dunn’s Falls there’s nothing else to do there.” Well, ok, but we hadn’t climbed Dunn’s Falls – and it was well worth doing. [We thought Grand Cayman was just a beach place but we later learned that they have Swimming with the Sting Rays there, so we may have to go back.] Anyway, we thoroughly enjoyed Ocho Rios and recommend it – and we heartily recommend Liberty Tours if you go there.

This was a very physical day so we repaired to the cabin for showers and ibuprophen [and a nap, which explains why none of the activities we circled has a check mark]. We did go to the portrait raffle [didn’t win] and after dinner [no notes, sorry] we caught the end of illusionist Alexander Great’s first show. He was very good, so we made a point to see all of his second show [see below].

DW took a Promenade walk after dinner as usual, but it was harder going with the ship pitching and rolling.

Wednesday, Jan. 22 – At Sea

Nothing like a relaxing day at sea after climbing up a water fall! But we also managed to attend several activities out of the many many choices.

DW went to the Scrap Heap Challenge intro, but decided that building a ship to transport six cans of cargo the length of the pool wasn’t the kind of leisure activity we had in mind [this opinion was evidently universal, as no one showed up at the launch event…] We both went to the Panama Canal Port Preview with Chris Roberts, which was very good. Having survived the first Ballroom Blitz class, I amazed both of us by agreeing to another! Cha Cha Cha! [This was our first hint about the norovirus, as the regular instructor Alicia was “under the weather” and DW noticed precautions at Horizon Court at lunch.] I had to leave early for the Maître d’ Wine Club tasting, which was well worth the cost of admission [even though, or maybe especially because, I found that I didn’t particularly like the two very expensive bottles they ended with]. That was a double win, because DW spent that hour at a Line Dance class, which she didn’t enjoy very much. In the afternoon we were invited to the Captain’s Club party, which seemed to be oddly located in the Princess Theatre [how would they hand out the cheap champagne and hors d’oeuvres?] – this was because they had the four Princess Singers give us a preview of some of the numbers from the Motor City show, and then gave us free drink tickets [I got both again] to use anytime we wanted, which was actually much nicer than what we had expected.

That evening they had photo ops set up all around the Atrium for casual portraits. Having learned that you got a raffle ticket at each station, we had our mugs shot everywhere! The toughest one was the continuous white background, on which a lovely but clearly sadistic young woman named Daisy got us into various Yoga poses that were almost impossible to rise from. [But this effort paid off later in two ways. Don’t you just love the anticipation???]

We decided to catch the early show and dine afterward. Motor City was the least interesting show for us – possibly because we had seen the preview earlier, or possibly because these particular singers just weren’t down and dirty enough for Motown. [Remember the joke about Blues singers? “You can’t be a blues singer if you were born in Scarsdale, NY.” But they redeemed themselves later.]

Dinner was again excellent, but we forgot to write all the details. DW had Tandoori shrimp, which she liked; I was having more fun with the waiter, Jose, whose dry sense of humor kept you on your toes. I will say that the menus varied nicely every night, so we always found several interesting choices among the appetizers, soups and salads, entrees, and deserts. Portions were reasonable, so with a little discipline we avoided gaining weight [except in my ankles, which always swell up from the added salt on cruises]. The sauces were well flavored, the meat was tender and identifiable as the animal promised, and the waiters were generally able to handle special requests for variations [DW avoids tomato and onion, which led to a lot of steamed vegetables but was accommodated without fuss].

We set the clocks back an hour tonight, but we’ll have to give up that extra hour of sleep soon!

Thursday, Jan. 23 – Limon, Costa Rica

There were many interesting opportunities around Limon [not in the city itself, which did not seem very tourist-friendly]. We took the ship’s excursion to the Veragua Rain Forest, which was great. I chose the earliest bus [7:30 am – oy!] to beat the afternoon heat. We learned about frogs [ranas] and toads [sapos], hummingbirds and butterflies, spiders, snakes [right up our alley as former pet-snake owners] and 3-toed sloths. On the latter, it seems that their legendary slowness is caused by the narcotic effect of the leaves of their favorite food trees [so we can expect similar behavior in Colorado and other states in the future…] And we walked and walked and took a cable car down and back up so we could see the cascades; the scenery was beautiful and the walking was spaced out well enough that it wasn’t tiring. The only dangerous part was slippery footing on the 350 steps we traced to the falls and back.

I should note that this is different from the Rainforest Aerial Tram excursion, which is in a different location. Veragua is a privately owned park which maintains an ecological research facility as well as the tourist attractions, and we had a presentation by one of the scientists about his research project. Veragua also has zip lining [which some people liked but at least one person was traumatized the way I expected I would be if I tried it]. We chose this tour because Veragua has the combination of rain forest, short aerial tram ride, butterfly garden [really outstanding], and the reptile cages and amphibian habitat. The trip also included lunch in the cafeteria – fruit, soft drink, and a sandwich [which DW pointed out included lettuce and tomato after I had eaten half of it — luckily there were no ill effects!] We had an extra stop on the way back when the guide spotted a sloth mother and baby in a tree, but we were still back on the ship in plenty of time. We were very happy with the entire trip.

Back on board, DW went to Horizon Court to make up for skipping lunch at Veragua, while I had a nap in the cabin. Then she went on deck for some sun and got her nap.

That evening they held the raffle from the Casual Portraits. The top prize was a $100 package of four 8x10s – this would be very valuable if you could chose the best shots from the entire cruise, but it said it was limited to the previous day’s casual portraits only. We didn’t win the top prize, so that was a non-issue for us. We did win the second prize, which was the DVD of our Panama Canal Experience – and for $15 we were allowed to upgrade to the 4-DVD package. [Actually it was even better because they threw in a 5th DVD of scenic photos from Princess cruises around the world, and they let us substitute an Alaska DVD for one of the usual four. The video team was really great, and their policies are very flexible – the portrait photographers would sell more photos if they had package deals like this, but it’s a straight $25 for each 8×10 no matter how many you buy.]

We had brought on two bottles of wine [one bottle per person is free to drink in your cabin], and I decided that even with the $15 corkage charge in the restaurant it was a better deal than the Zinfandels they sold on board. No problem – they opened it for me, and kept the bottle until the second night when I finished it. If you pay $15 or more for a bottle on land, it can be worth the corkage to bring it onboard.

We shared another table of 10 in Bordeaux, meeting eight more new friends. We both had surf and turf: petite filet mignon and shrimp, which was very good – top marks to Princess for cooking beef close to the ordered doneness every time [Oceania had amazed us with the randomness of their broiling!] – and “burned rhubarb Napoleon” [their term, we have no idea what was burned – maybe Bonaparte’s ego???] for desert.

DW struggled to walk her 6 laps [2 miles] of the Promenade Deck, due to the heat and humidity or general exhaustion.

No production show tonight: I guess Princess figured that everybody would want to turn in early to get ready for the Panama Canal tomorrow – and to add insult to injury we had to turn the clocks ahead and lose an hour of sleep! [Oh, the humanity of it!]

Friday, Jan. 24 – Panama Canal

The big day at last! We arrived before dawn at the Panama Canal. I got up early and saw my first sunrise! [Not as good as sunsets, IMHO, so I won’t be repeating this experience again soon…] I started out on one of the “secret balconies” at the front of the ship, then moved around to the public balconies at the rear and also spent some time on our mini-suite balcony – got lots of great photos, which I was able to supplement with some from another member of our Roll Call. DW had been tipped by Joel the lead videographer to call his name if she saw him filming balconies, to make sure she got a featured cameo in the DVD – done and done.

Coral Princess was guided through the three locks on the Atlantic side with the help of 8 mules ($2 million electric locomotives) into Gatun Lake where she anchored. The process was long and slow, but amazing to watch. There was a container ship ahead of us in the left lane and another even with us in the right lane, so we had lots of opportunities to see how the water levels rise. And when I looked down from our balcony, the small margin of error on a Panamax ship [18” on each side] was scary! No wonder the ship’s sides come out scuffed up after each passage.

We tendered to the Gatun Yacht Club [no yachts, no club – just a pier for tenders and a parking lot] and loaded buses which took us the Culebra Cut where we boarded a local ferry to sail through the remaining locks all the way to the Pacific Ocean. What an experience! Sailing through on a smaller ship [and watching an even smaller sailboat that shared the huge lock with us] is completely different from seeing a Panamax ship barely squeeze in. It was also interesting to see Panama City gleaming in the distance, and to be sailing on the Pacific Ocean on the same day we had been on the Atlantic [I felt just like Cortez, only much more pampered…] The weather was fine [hot and humid, but much less so of both than I had expected], the ferry was very nice [only 300 passengers out of 400 capacity, so lots of empty seats and space at the rail to move around], soft drinks were offered freely throughout the voyage and the buffet lunch was tasty and plentiful [nothing like Horizon Court, but perfectly fine], and the commentary was very helpful. We had a restful snooze on the bus ride back along the smooth 4-lane highway back across Panama to Colon, where Coral Princess was now docked. Thanks to lucky timing at the Pacific locks we arrived back well ahead of schedule. Aside from the freshly painted buildings facing the Sea, the rest of Colon is pretty much a slum; not the place where you want to go walking! But we had a great day, and we now have certificates to show that we have completed the Panama Canal transit! [I don’t want to hear any carping that we didn’t actually sail the middle part – I have a certificate and that’s my story and I’m sticking to it…]

Overall the Panama Canal & Locks Transit By Boat excursion exceeded our expectations and we were very glad we ignored all the negative comments about it. If we do this itinerary again, we would consider the Embera Indians excursion as the passengers who did that seemed very happy with the experience. But for this first time to the Panama Canal our bucket list required sailing through to the Pacific, and we’re very glad we did.

No show again tonight. Dinner was open seating everywhere, so we decided to see how the other half lives and try Provence. We made it a four-course affair: we both started with the antipasto appetizer [goat cheese and marinated eggplant]; then I had potato, spinach and oyster soup [that was one item], and the duck entree while DW had a Caesar salad and then prime rib; for dessert I had a Grand Marnier soufflé and DW had latte ice cream with chocolate sauce.

After dinner DW walked her usual six laps, but the weather was fierce so she had to do part inside the ship.

Saturday, Jan. 25 – Cartagena, Colombia

Three port days in a row made me appreciate sea days even more, but at least we were on the late shift for this one (12 – 7 pm). We were surprised at the view as we sailed into Cartagena: large and modern, like a smaller Miami, with lots of white skyscrapers!

I set up a private tour for a Roll Call group with Lee Miles [insert muffler joke here], who is a joy to work with [he has a great reputation on Cruise Critic and Trip Advisor for tours, so I was surprised to find that his Emerald shop is on Princess’ recommended list – apparently the ships do recommend some reputable stores!] Lee and I went back and forth via email to develop an itinerary that included everything I wanted to see [and honored my “no shopping” request] with reasonable time estimates, and then he met us at the pier to introduce the local guide who led our tour. We had 16 people, and the total cost was $70 per person including all admission fees and bottled water. [In retrospect, 16 is too many. In the future I will limit the group to around 8 for a more manageable size.]

Lee met us at the pier in the distinctive green vest that matches his picture and introduced us to Niba, a Cartagena native who would be our guide for the day. Our tour was on a Saturday during the Novena to Our Lady of Candelaria, which meant that pilgrims would soon be walking up the steep, winding road to the top of the hill on which sits La Popa Monastery, so Niba changed the itinerary to make it our first stop – and rightly so. We enjoyed an empty monastery and got back to our minibus before the procession began, but just as eight Princess coaches were arriving! She then took us to San Felipe Fortress, which was also pretty much empty and therefore easy to navigate. Both of these places provided excellent vantage points to see the city. The driver then wended his way into the Old City, where we got out and walked around for the rest of the tour. We saw the Teatro Heredia, walked on the City Wall, Plaza Santo Domingo, Plaza Bolivar [we had decided not to visit the Palace of the Inquisition there, because unlike Monty Python we expected the Spanish Inquisition!], visited the Pre-Columbian gold museum, and visited the cloister and church of San Pedro Claver [Saint Peter Claver]. We were supposed to visit the Cathedral, but it was closed when we approached; luckily we made up the early traffic delays and were running ahead of schedule, even after a relaxing rest stop at a second-floor restaurant balcony, so Niba gave us some free time [in response to a request for shopping – on my “no shopping” tour!] so DW and I went back to the Cathedral and found that it was now open and in the midst of a liturgy. We couldn’t tell if it was Mass or Confirmation, but we always prefer to see how churches are used by the local community so this was excellent. [Peter Claver Church was also closed when we visited, but Niba negotiated our way in – and we found that they were doing Baptisms, which was also a nice treat.] Niba was a great guide, very knowledgeable about Cartagena and Colombia in general. She was also diligent in rounding up two members of the group who disappeared at the end, so we got back to the ship a little late but in plenty of time for sail away.

The tour bus dropped us off at the Cartagena port, which has a really nice tropical zoo with parrots, toucans, flamingos, peacocks [I got a great picture when the Alpha Male showed everyone why he’s the boss], iguanas, and bunnies.

When we got back to our cabin there was a letter from the Chef apologizing for cancelling the Chef’s Table due to the norovirus precautions, and a “make good” tray of hors d’oeuvres. I used one of my free drink coupons from the Captain’s Club party and made a nice happy hour out of it.

Because of the late sailing there was no production show this evening, so we had another leisurely dinner. in Bordeaux with another new couple. DW had hot pot and mini-empanada appetizer, Caesar salad, Coq au vin with steamed veggies, and apple strudel a la mode. I must have been stuffed from the hors d’oeuvres because our notes only mention tilapia for me. [I must have had dessert; I wasn’t dying …]

DW walked another 4 laps [she had done 2 laps earlier that I forgot to mention], despite high winds that kept part of the Promenade closed.

We lost another hour of sleep tonight, as the ship moved to Atlantic time for Aruba [a day early, but this way we can make it up by lying in tomorrow morning at sea].