10-Day Island Princess - Panama Canal Partial Transit - Chistmas Cruise Photo Review

LittleMissMagic · January 2, 2013

It was during this part of the tour that Rachel and I started getting very annoyed. As an architecture major who has taken her fair share of awkward field trips where we stop in the middle of the streets to sketch buildings, you'd think I'd be used to traveling in a group of idiotic-looking tourists. However, it continues to bother me (maybe I'll get over this after four months in Italy). And it was even more annoying that Dad walk walking around with his iPhone taking pictures like a maniac. I thought briefly about taking the photos off of his phone, but later decided that I didn't want to bother with any of that. Just know that he took a million photos and looked like an idiot doing so. There was also a guy taking photos with an iPad. Don't be that guy.

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LittleMissMagic · January 2, 2013

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Rachel bought a mini gordita. She was very excited about it.

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LittleMissMagic · January 2, 2013

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When getting off the bus, the tour guide told my dad that he was his favorite. I guess he tipped him more than everyone else. Or maybe it's because he walked around with him.

We bought a few souvenirs before getting on the ship. And I took photos of flamingos.

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LittleMissMagic · January 2, 2013

We were in the port with the Grandeur of the Seas, our first Christmas cruise was on the Grandeur. Got us addicted to Christmas cruising!

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BillOh · January 2, 2013

Thanks, that is the most pictures I've seen of Cartegna. Very nice.

LittleMissMagic · January 2, 2013

Back on the ship, they were having Christmas festivities in the Centrum, hosted for the families by the kids' program. We weren't in the kids' program, of course, but they were letting everyone who wanted to participate have at it.

This is the Wheelhouse Bar, empty as always -

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They announced that they brought on additional kids' club staff just for the holidays. The staff seemed to be doing a good job, as I saw them greeting the kids by name. However, I do have some complaints about the teen club. Apparently on the first day, they decorated t-shirts that said "Remix" (the name of the teen club) with markers. Well, the group of teens wore these shirts everyday. In addition to coloring in Remix, on th back of the shirt, they wrote "Boats and Hoes." The girls' shirts read Hoe #1, Hoe #2, Hoe #3, and the boys' shirts read, "Baywatch." I understand that it's kind of funny in a Ho, Ho, Ho holiday sense... if only they had spelled it without the "e." But I was a little surprised that they were allowed to wear shirts demeaning women around the ship. If the teens' club didn't stop them, you'd think their parents would.

Back to Christmas festivities, Rachel and I decorated cookies.

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Darcy15 · January 2, 2013

Love your review :D

I hope to do this cruise next year, looks great :)

LittleMissMagic · January 2, 2013

Our cabin attendent, Ryan, folded our chocolate wrappers into little birds!

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We had another uneventful dinner. We were going to go straight to bed after, but instead decided to see the hypnotist since we really enjoyed the hypnotist on our Carnival Dream cruise. I volunteered to get hypnotized. People asked me what it was like, and I remember everything she was saying, and I remember little things of what I was doing. Like she told us to play instruments, and I chose the violin. Rachel took a video of me playing the violin like a madman. I was the one person to (admit to) "waking up" and no longer being hypnotized. She touched me on the back, and I just bolted up, then looked around and realized that I was no longer in a trance and went back to my seat. Back in my seat, Rachel and I noted a few people who were definitely faking. This one girl kept laughing at herself, and she did everything late and over the top... maybe because she wasn't really hypnotized. But we're confident that she was faking.

They hypnotist on the Carnival Dream was much better. He would eliminate the fakers from the stage and narrowed it down to five people who were really in a trance. This women allowed everyone to stay up which made her not look very good.

Beth C · January 2, 2013

At first glance I thought the guy on the right was your dad and wondering why/how you let him out in public with those lovely knee high socks on ;)

LittleMissMagic · January 2, 2013

At first glance I thought the guy on the right was your dad and wondering why/how you let him out in public with those lovely knee high socks on ;)

Oh, no - Dad was taking the photo. If I had to guess, I would say that those are compression socks for people who get blood clots in their legs.

LittleMissMagic · January 2, 2013

Day 6 - Panama Canal

We got up at 6:30 that morning to watch the ship go through the canal. It was foggy and raining lightly, but this is why we booked the cruise, so we were going to watch it!

We started on the top deck of the ship on the side, then decided to go down to the back of the ship on a lower deck.

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