Memories of Panama Canal, Costa Rica, & Caribbean
Coral Princess Cruise Review to Panama Canal, Central America
Contributor Level:
Purser
Cruises: 2-3 cruises
Reviews: 2
Helpful Votes: 77
10 Night Panama Canal Partial Transit (Ft. Lauderdale Roundtrip)
Sail date: February 15, 2016
Ship: Coral Princess
Cabin type: Balcony
Cabin number: C637
Traveled as: Couple
Reviewed: 6 years ago
Review summary
Our cruise started off lovely!!!! We were given $810 in on board credit and we didn't know why. We obviously didn't question it (wink wink). They cancelled our first cruise we booked, so maybe that had something to do with it. Looking back, I wish that I had not overbooked ourselves. this was no fault of the cruise line. I wore out my poor hubby with all of the running around.Embarkation
We waited a while before embarking, was wishing that I was an elite member when that group on boarded way before us.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
We enjoyed the dining room every night. Absolutely loved the souffle for dessert. We did not partake in any specialty restaurants this cruise.
Onboard Activities
The casino was small, but lots of fun playing with fellow shipmates.
Lotus Spa
We had the hot stone massage. I did it once, but I don't think I would do it again. Very pricey.
Cybergolf
Fun, my husband and I had a little competition. Of course he WON! (grumpy face)
Entertainment
Loved the comedy. Magician Alexander the Great was good.
Children's Programs
No children
Service and Staff
Was fabulous.
Ship Quality
Was nice but occasional smell of sewage in certain areas of the ships.
Cabin / Stateroom
Our cabin was wonderful. We had the end cabin which had a wrap around deck with clear view. It was so nice. The wind was not bad and no noise heard. I didn't seem to notice how private our area was, but I didn't really care at the time.
Ship tip
The only regret I had was not booking an excursion when we came back to port. When I decided to do this, they were already fully booked.
Thumbs up
0
Ports of call
Ft. Lauderdale (Port Everglades), Florida
We did Segway tour in the evening. The area was pretty dead during that time of the day.
We booked a lot on this day. We rushed to our jet ski/stingray excursion 08:15 ("Wave Runner" Stingray City & Snorkel Tour, {345-925-5273}. It was so much fun! Water was a little choppy. I made a male stingray go to sleep in my arms (My hubby called me the Stingray Whisperer, wink-wink). We then went snorkeling, but the water was a little murky. Fed the fish (SCARY) felt like I was going to be eaten. After we jet skied back, we had them drop us off at Dolphin Discovery which was across the street from the turtle farm/museum (I think). It was amazing to see how strong those dolphins were! We got lifted way up into the air by two of the dolphins {dolphin royal swim}. I got a great deal on this excursion "Buy one get one free". The cashier was whispering in Spanish and questioning if it was a mistake. Nope! I just booked it early during a special online. The TOTAL was $189 which is the best deal I could find on any of the islands. I am glad I did not book the one that is connected to the ocean because the water was a bit choppy that day. The cruise ship was charging $259.90 for the dolphin & stingray encounter (and I'm sure the dolphin encounter did not include lifting you in the air and swimming with them). We jumped on a rickety old van that the locals jump on for a few dollars and made our way back to port. It was fun feeling like a local (we even had some interesting conversations). At the end of these excursions we were exhausted and made our way back to the ship. We never got to visit the beach (sigh), but I have something to look forward to the next time we visit.
This is one port I would love to spend more time at. I believe this port may become a little dangerous after night fall, gleaning from recent research I have stumbled upon. After researching on TripAdvisor I decided on a $60 Segway Tour "Sightseeing tour for 70 min" (SegwayCartagena.com) and later a tour of the Cartagena Castle (Castillo San Felipe de Barajas). We used the prearranged taxi for $15. My >70 year old sister-in-law and brother-in-law came with us with some apprehension (hee hee). They did great and learned how to operate the Segway without difficulty. They later said they were so glad because there was no way they could have walked all throughout the walled city. Once done they went off on their own and we ventured to the castle. It was quite a steep hike up that hill but we made it (whew!). We rented the audio tour and got bored about half way through. I believe I overbooked ourselves with excursions. It was nice to say we were there when it showed up on Amazing Race (lol).
Panama Canal (Cruise Into Canal)
What a marvel. Loved watching and we booked the excursion through the cruise line to go through the locks with a small vessel. "Panama Canal & Locks Transit by Boat" which cost us $339.90. It was crazy to see how many vessels, we were next to a huge shipping container ship (send chills down my spine). I kinda regret not staying on the ship the whole time since we had a balcony cabin. It was a long day with a long bus ride back. I almost forgot, our bus got pulled over by the policia! They apparently wanted some money but our feisty guide starting yelling at him and threatening him that she would notify her friends who were government officials because it was illegal for him to stop tour buses and demand money. THAT was just a LITTLE SCARY!
Definitely a third world country. The people are so welcoming and warm "Puda Vida" (I just had to say that). We did the 'Your Lucky Tours' through trip adviser. We chose to do the zip-lining & canal trip. We really wanted to do the white water rafting but we were told we can only do that if we had 6 peeps (sigh). Yourluckytour@gmail.com 321-338-8720. We did the zipline for $33ea and jungleboat tour/ banana plantations for $35ea. We met our kind driver with broken english outside by the main street. He was holding up a sign with my name on it. He was such a sweet man who loves his country. The drive to ziplining was wonderful. We saw sloths, toucan (yes, just like Fruit Loops!) & holler monkeys (yikes, they truly can make some noise). Our banana tour was cut short because someone had to go to the bathroom and there were no bathrooms open nearby (we won't mention who that was, lets just say it wasn't me. wink wink). We then went to the fruit stand and had fresh bananas (YUM) and a coconut (GULP). During our jungle tour we some lizards, birds, sloths, and locals fishing (boy did I wish we could have rafted). Overall it was a fun filled day and we were tired at the end. I got my toes painted in the little flea market, I figured it was okay as long as they didn't do the scraping/scrubbing/filing right? In the end I am happy with our excursion and thought it was better than doing the 'Original Canopy Zipline Tour & Veragua Aerial Tram' for $199.95 with the cruise line.
Jamaica is one of those places I would love to stay for an extended period of time. I thought about going to the all inclusive areas but the drive would have been a little long and wasn't as appealing as waterfalls. So we decided on using a tour guide to the blue hole and inner-tubing. We used TripAdvisor and "Liberty Tours" had great ratings. We brought cash to pay and Carlton was our tour guide. Carlton did an amazing job of presenting us with a learning experience about the island. I actually enjoyed learning about the history of Jamaica and the different stages that the island went through. We didn't have a single dull moment going through the roads of Jamaica and my family does a lot of traveling and understands how boring longer trips can be. Carlton was very generous with his knowledge of Jamaica. The Blue Hole was amazing, we both loved jumping from the waterfalls and cliffs. We were introduced to this young man who was going to be our chaperone at the falls. He was very energetic and ready to show us all the hole had to offer. We had the best tour guide because he led us past all the back up of people without any problems. He also took our camera/phone and took pictures of us. I need to tell you that the phone was NOT in a water-proof case, but he kept it safe and sound. While we were out having fun, Carlton was watching over our stuff in the locked van. When we were done there we went inner-tubing down a lazy river. This was fun, but nothing compared to the blue hole. I think it would have been better if more people were their. We stopped at a little souvenir shop on the way back and bought a few items. My husband is so generous that he gave away all of our cash for tips (ugh), so i used my credit card to buy a few items. Unfortunately a few months later the cards identity was used in the Caribbean. This shop was the guilty subject, because that was the only time I used our card while we were on vacation. Lesson learned, do not use credit card in Jamaica.
Disembarkation
Smooth exit.