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baldilocks

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Posts posted by baldilocks

  1. 21 hours ago, JHawk63 said:

    I'm so confused on these Panama excursions! When we first booked the Grand Tour, it listed a longer time for the excursion & it also said "cruise" along in a boat, which I took to mean you went thru the canal. The person at the excursion desk said it went thru, too, but honestly, he read word for word what the website said. Now it says "glide" along & is a shorter time. I thought I was booking a tour that took you thru the canal, but looks like that isn't the case. And now the one that looks like it DOES go thru, is fully booked. I'm so bummed....I guess I'll have to just check with the excursion people when I get on board & hope they know what they are talking about!

    Book the Grand Tour before it is sold out. You can change your mind later and book another tour if you wish. These tours go fast. Waiting to book on board the ship may leave you with nothing to choose from. We took the Grand Tour. It goes to a very nice observation site where you can see locks and ships. Like I stated before, one of the through the locks ferries got stuck behind a freighter that had trouble. Our ship had to wait an extra 2 hours for them. I heard it cost Celebrity $110K for over staying their departure time.

    • Like 1
  2. 5 minutes ago, CruiseMomTX said:

    Thank you everyone for the information!  After seeing the comments of people on tours being 2 hours late we decided on the Eco Cruise on Gatun Lake for now.  We can always cancel and book something else if we change our minds.  

    I still think the Grand Tour excursion is your best bet. It has the eco part plus the canal observation deck and the native village. I think it covers everything that you might want.

  3. 2 hours ago, Crazy planning mom said:

    There are multiple threads on the Celebrity Board.  Celebrity has scaled back the buffet in the evening to just 3-4 entrees, one food station, salad and dessert.

    You can say that again. We just off the Celebrity Constellation. The choice of food seemed to be more limited and not what we expected. We were in Aqua class, so we had the Blu dining room. We ordered a couple of nights off the MDR menu. The buffet had about the same thing as the dining rooms. There seemed to be a lot of lamb and Asian dishes being served. Not out cup of tea. Back to Royal from now on.

    • Like 1
  4. 10 hours ago, CruiseMomTX said:

    Did your excursion go through the canal?  Wow and thanks for the info on that excursion.  We plan to carry off water and some packaged snacks just in case.  

    No. We watched the ships go through the locks for about an hour before we headed off to the native  and lake part of the tour. They had a nice 15 minute video about the canal in the visitor center....yes, my wife bought a T-shirt at the shop. The whole trip was very clean. No trash or smelly restrooms.

     

    The folks that booked the ferry excursion through some locks got trapped by a freighter having trouble in the lock. The ship waited an extra two hours for then to get back. They looked like a real bunch of tired, hot and hungry tourists when they finally boarded the ship. I vote for watching the ships from the observation deck.

  5. We just got off the Celebrity Constellation in mid-December. I highly recommend the Grand Tour of Panama. You overlook the locks, have video presentation and watch any ships going through. After that, you will see the Embera people who great hosts. Great views of all the animals and plants along the lake. We enjoyed the excursion. Our ship did not go through the canal.

     

    Just an after thought. We had one ship excursion on a ferry get delayed in a lock due to a freighter / lock problem. The Connie waited two extra hours for them to get back. We were in one of the bars when a couple came in and just wanted to have a drink. They looked awful. They said they were stuck on the ferry with little food or drink practically all afternoon. So, I would not recommend that excursion.

  6. We are D+ from Royal so that makes us Elite on Celebrity. It is our first Celebrity cruise (Constellation Dec. 12th). I know Elite's get free drinks, but I am confused in the way Celebrity handles this.....how many and when? I know it is different from Royal.

  7. 5 hours ago, nelblu said:

    I wonder what it would be for lobster night.

    On one Royal cruise (can't remember which one) two rather rotund fellows decided to have a lobster eating contest at our large table. They got up to five each and they were still going at it when left the dining room. I think their wives were about ready to brain both of them.

    • Haha 2
  8. On 10/28/2022 at 7:31 PM, BirdTravels said:

    First it is not a private island. It is a resort in Haiti. It is relatively isolated and protected by armed guards at the gate. The past and current unrest has not affected RCCL from using it as a port call.  Just another beach day. We were there earlier this year. No indication of problems. 

     

    A couple of years back, Royal would not anyone leave the ship as the local protests came by the boat load to Labadee. The completely circumvented the guards.

  9. Suggestions:

    - Mel Fisher's Atocha museum...relics recovered from the Spanish galleon Atocha

    - Sloppy Joe's for lunch

    - Hemingway House...six toed cats around

    - Fury Sports for water tours (we liked the parasailing)

    - Hop on...hop off bus tour is about the best way to travel to see most sights.

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