mahdnc

Our first stop was Convento de la Popa which is located at the top of a hill overlooking the city. The bus takes a few switchbacks to get there with views of the city along the way. When we got off the bus, we were surrounded by a welcoming committee of people selling souvenirs (dressed in yellow in the next photo below). There quite a few of them during the whole tour. They were polite but persistent.

Our first stop was Convento de la Popa which is located at the top of a hill overlooking the city. The bus takes a few switchbacks to get there with views of the city along the way. When we got off the bus, we were surrounded by a welcoming committee of people selling souvenirs (dressed in yellow in the next photo below). There quite a few of them during the whole tour. They were polite but persistent.

Here is how our day went at Cartagena with the Cruise Critic popular guide, Dora De Explorer. This was something that @julieawill suggested on our roll call. Dora ran 3 buses with 3 guides including herself. Our roll call was in Dora Group 2. There were a total of 12 passengers in our bus although not all of them necessarily from our roll call. Summit arrived at Cartagena on time (8:00 am). We agreed to meet at Cafe Al Bacio at 8:10 am so that we could walk off the ship together. The ship was cleared at approximately 8:25 am and some of us took the elevator to get from Deck 5 down to Deck 2 while others took the stairs. So in the end, we did not get off together at the same time, but it worked out as we all re-grouped right at the pier immediately at the gangway. We were instructed to skip the shuttle buses (which would go past our meeting point) and walk to the end of the pier where Dora and her guides found us. The tour lasted about 4.5 hours as we got back to the ship around 1:30 pm (ship left port at 4:00 pm). Although the day was mostly overcast, the humidity slowly took the energy out of me and I was very ready to get back to the ship when the tour was finished. The cost of the tour was $80 USD per person and it was payable with cash when the tour finished and you got off the tour bus at the pier. The tour guide for our group was Josette who spoke English well and threw in a joke or two. All 3 groups were transported in their own air conditioned mini-bus which appeared to be the same. Our bus had 4 rows with 2 seats on either side of the center aisle. This doesn't count the very front row where Josette sat along with another young female employee who kind of acted like a shepherd to make sure the group stayed together. There was also a large single row of seats at the very back of the bus that sat 5 people. I believe that Dora limits the group size to 16--so the seating was ample and no one gets stuck in the dreaded middle seat. The bus was in good condition, rode very smoothly, and the air conditioner worked well (by the end of the tour the AC was becoming the highlight of the trip).

Full moon tonight. And supposedly a Full Moon Party to go with it.

Fourth and final course, Chocolate Cremeux:

Without and with the light show:

Third course, Beef Tenderloin En Croute:

Second course, Citrus Poached Cod Loin:

First course, Creamy Potato Leek Soup

Here is the menu that this week’s show is built around and the alternate menu:

20 guests for dinner at this 6pm seating

I will post my photos tonight. I have to stop now and get the laundry bag filled and ready. We are eating at Le Petit Chef tonight. We've done it a couple of times before a while ago and it's ok. We booked it two more times for this sailing just to break the monotony.

Cartagena = kinda humid

Celebrity Today Day 4 Cartagena Celebrity Today Day 3 At Sea 2 of 8 Celebrity Today Day 2 At Sea 1 of 8 Celebrity Today Day 1 Miami

Cathy, We also did the famous "Dora" today at Cartagena. It was nice but the heat and humidity slowly sapped us as the morning wore on. Here is a list of our other activities including shore excursions: link