Seattle to Florida 2021

At long last we were at the southern entrance to the Panama Canal at 4:45am.     This would be our first time transiting the the Canal from south to north; we've done it the other direction 3 other times.     This is one cruise destination that should be on everyone's bucket list.     I'll not describe the transit in much detail as it's pretty much enter a lock, fill with with water, exit the lock chamber, repeat, sail across Gatun Lake, enter lock, discharge water, repeat twice, and enter the Atlantic Ocean under the brand new Atlantic bridge around 3:30pm.   Personally I love the transit process which is largely unchanged from 1914 when the canal opened and found a great view point on deck 10 mid ships under a protective ledge which kept me dry during the early morning portion of the voyage during which it rained.     When the rain stopped mid morning, I changed locations to the railing forward on deck 7 where I watc...

Of all the places in the Caribbean, I never expected to choose Aruba as a favorite place to visit.     Including this trip, we've now been here three times.     And on all three visits we've been able to spend time with a couple who live here that we met on an Asian cruise in 2019.   Overnight the ship sailed on smooth Caribbean seas and we apparently docked by 7am.     I say apparently as I didn't feel a thing and remained asleep. After breakfast we met our friends near the exit of the terminal area.     Our ship was docked at terminal 2 and we had the longest walk to the terminal exit having to walk 1/2 the length of our ship plus 1/2 the length of the Carnival Horizon which was berthed behind us.     From there it was a dogleg walk of about a quarter mile to the Main Street.     Since our last visits in 2019, the exit path has been revamped.   Just before the last vendor gauntlet, I spott...

Today is our second to the last full day at sea.     The Caribbean Sea has been very flat with virtually no motion to the ship.   We started the day at 8:30am with our second Covid Antigen test which replaced our test scheduled for last Saturday which had been cancelled by the ship.     I then squeezed in a quick breakfast before the 9am coffee chat with gymnast Lance Ringnald which was very good. That was immediately followed     by a Port talk on Aruba and Half Moon Cay.   I tried some photography but all I could see were hundreds of flying fish which are very hard to photograph.     While the ocean was pretty flat, there was a stiff breeze and slight chop on the water.     I'm certainly becoming known for being the wildlife photographer as many people stop to chat with me not only on the Promenade deck but elsewhere onboard.     After my customary lunch, the Port To Table presentation was...

When I wrote yesterday that today would be quite different, I never dreamed how different it would be.   Our first view of outside was very low clouds and rain.     This would be interesting for photography.     But we made our way to breakfast a bit earlier than normal as we expected a full house at the coffee chat with The Alley Cats.     It was really good and that led to the Cruise Director's canned presentation on the Panama Canal which was quite good.   Afterwards I went out to see if photography was feasible, and it really wasn't.     So I gave up and we ate a quiet Lido lunch.     The afternoon was a repeat of the morning Panama Canal presentation followed by two Panama Canal documentaries: Panama Canal: Mountains & Mosquitoes and Big, Bigger, Biggest (a technical film about how canals work and are built). Both were quite good.   I tried to photograph more, but the conditions were poo...

Relaxing can be informative,     repetitive, entertaining,     boring, exhilarating, and even musical.     Such was my day today.   Our day started with a most informative coffee chat when a male stateroom attendant and a female bartender were interviewed by Valerie.     They recounted how they came to be on ships and what it was like coming back from the pause in operations.     Both were super appreciative about being back to work.       The repetitive part of my day occurred many times.     First was my breakfast.     If you read yesterday's blog, today's breakfast was exactly the same.     And there would be more repetition as the day progressed.   We then watched a repeat of the canned EXC talk on Rum before I repeated my photography vigil on deck 3.     Except that today, there wasn't much action (boring), so we walked a mile around the Prom...