Review of Panama Canal Cruise–14 Nights on NCL Sun October 14–28, 2016 (with photos)

[SeahawkSiren]

We passed by a Holland America cruise ship

 

 

And a Celebrity cruise ship

 

 

Dredging in the canal is a daily activity

 

 

Titan, heavy lift floating crane

 

 

El Renacer Prison where Manuel Noriega is held

 

[SeahawkSiren]

Going through Culebra Cut and Continental Divide

 

 

 

 

 

 

Centennial Bridge

 

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Going through Pedro Miguel Locks

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Now we are getting ready to enter into Miraflores Locks

 

 

 

I took these photos from the Promenade Deck. We had about 2 feet of clearance on the sides of the ship!

 

 

 

Miraflores Locks Visitors Center

 

 

[SeahawkSiren]

 

 

 

 

 

[SeahawkSiren]

Ship coming out of the new locks

 

 

Port of Balboa

 

 

 

Bridge of the Americas

 

 

 

Wow! So much to be said and I have to try and condense it. This day alone was such a wonderful experience and ranks very high up on my list of most memorable and special days in my life! As our canal transit was coming to an end after we passed under the Bridge of the Americas it really started to hit me and I was in awe with what I had just experienced. The Panama Canal is such a magnificent and unique wonder of the world, and the ingenuity in building it 100+ years ago and what it has withstood in all this time is, in itself, so impressive. And to literally get to experience going through this roughly 50 mile canal connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans was an unforgettable time and I am so thankful I got to experience it in person. It was truly incredible! Starting this day in the Atlantic Ocean and ending it in the Pacific Ocean in a span of about 10 hours, well, what more can I say.

[SeahawkSiren]

Wednesday, October 19. Today was another at sea day. It was nice to just relax and wander around the ship.

 

I captured both of these photos from our aft balcony within seconds of each other. On one side of the ship was big rain clouds coming and the other side was blue sky and sunshine. The rainy side ended up taking over for awhile

 

 

 

Spent some time in the casino and had a few good hits

 

 

 

[SeahawkSiren]

Thursday, October 20. Puntarenas, Costa Rica.

 

Welcome to Costa Rica!

 

 

 

 

[SeahawkSiren]

Our excursion here was visiting the Pura Vida Botanical Gardens. This tour is about 5.5 hours. It is approximately an hour and 15 minute travel time each way.

 

On the way to the gardens we stopped alongside the road to get a view of some monkeys! What a wonderful and unique experience to see these cuties!

 

 

 

 

[SeahawkSiren]

After seeing the monkeys we stopped at the Tarcoles River Bridge to view crocodiles! Amazing! Glad we were safe on the bridge and not down along the river! We did not want to become their next meal. Ha ha!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[SeahawkSiren]

The Pura Vida Botanical Gardens are privately owned and it is hands down the most beautiful botanical gardens I have ever been to.

 

I’m an avid gardener and lover of nature and really enjoy visiting botanical gardens at every opportunity and love seeing different flora and fauna I do not have at home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[SeahawkSiren]

This place was incredible! It is at 2,000 feet elevation with sweeping views!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[SeahawkSiren]

We even got to see toucans in the wild at the gardens and near the road on the way down the mountain. This was one of my favorite highlights of this entire trip. Such beautiful birds!

 

 

 

 

 

[Turtles06]

OP: so glad you had a great trip, and thank you for taking the time to do this review. In particular, I know it's quite time consuming to go through your photos, and select and post them. Much appreciated.

 

We'll be on our first Panama Canal cruise in a little over two months, on the NCL Jewel, same direction in which you traveled, so I'm reading along here with interest. I share your thoughts about the Canal and the engineering marvel that it is, and I'm so excited about our transit.

 

BTW -- I got a smile from your photo of the Panama Canal day balcony breakfast. I've read so much on here about NCL's Canal cruises, but this is the first anyone has mentioned that breakfast. I love huevos rancheros, so I hope the Jewel will be serving them as well. :)

 

Looking foward to the rest of your review.

[SeahawkSiren]

After our guided tour of the gardens we were served tropical fruit and beverages. Very refreshing after walking in the heat and humidity.

 

It's not every day you see a snake in the trees when you are enjoying your beverages

 

 

On the way back to the ship we stopped at a spot along the beach where scarlet macaws are known to hang out. And luckily there were some there! I could not get any good photos of them but here they are. They were busy eating something and weren’t interested in posing for photos.

 

 

 

[SeahawkSiren]

Made it back to the ship! Quite a day that included monkeys, crocodiles, birds and a snake. The only thing we didn't get to see (and our guide and driver were really trying to find one) is a sloth. That would have been cool too.

 

 

 

I don't know what these birds were but saw them several times in Central America. They liked flying over the ship

 

 

All in all a great day in Costa Rica! Goodbye Puntarenas!

 

 

Sunset in Puntarenas

 

 

I'm going to stop here for tonight!

 

Up next: Corinto, Nicaragua; Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala; and Acapulco, Mexico.

[Oakman58]

I'm really enjoying your review and thank you so much for taking the time and effort to post photos.

 

The bird you saw flying is a Frigate Bird, found over tropical and sub-tropical waters.

[SeahawkSiren]

That was a great start with nice photos. Will be following along.

 

Thank you for following along.

 

Very excited to read this review. I. Booked on a 16 day Panama Canal cruise from Miami on 1/20. I loved the pool shot on the sun, it's not cluttered with those obstructive water slides

 

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Enjoy your Panama Canal cruise. I hope to go again some day. It was an incredible experience.

[SeahawkSiren]

My DH would like to cruise the Panama Canal. After reading your review and looking at your photos it has gone up higher on my bucket list. Looking forward to seeing the rest of your reviews.

 

Glad it is higher up on your bucket list now! It was a very rewarding and memorable trip.

 

I'm enjoying your review and looking forward to seeing the rest. We did a Panama Canal cruise two years ago and your review is already bringing back great memories.

 

Thanks for following along. And I'm glad you had an opportunity to go on a Panama Canal cruise a couple of years ago. I too will have fond memories of mine.

[SeahawkSiren]

The Panama Canal is on my hopefully 2018 short cruise list. I'm just trying to decide what time of year is the best time to do it.

 

Glad you have a Panama Canal cruise on your 2018 list. I think it is a cruise everyone should do at least once. Thanks for following along.

 

OP: so glad you had a great trip, and thank you for taking the time to do this review. In particular, I know it's quite time consuming to go through your photos, and select and post them. Much appreciated.

 

We'll be on our first Panama Canal cruise in a little over two months, on the NCL Jewel, same direction in which you traveled, so I'm reading along here with interest. I share your thoughts about the Canal and the engineering marvel that it is, and I'm so excited about our transit.

 

BTW -- I got a smile from your photo of the Panama Canal day balcony breakfast. I've read so much on here about NCL's Canal cruises, but this is the first anyone has mentioned that breakfast. I love huevos rancheros, so I hope the Jewel will be serving them as well. :)

 

Looking foward to the rest of your review.

 

Enjoy your Panama Canal cruise in January! Having an appreciation for the marvel that it is will really enhance your experience.

 

I too hope the Jewel will have the Panama Canal breakfast. I thought it was a really nice touch by NCL to offer that.

[SeahawkSiren]

I'm really enjoying your review and thank you so much for taking the time and effort to post photos.

 

The bird you saw flying is a Frigate Bird, found over tropical and sub-tropical waters.

 

I'm glad you are enjoying the review. And yes it definitely takes time and effort to post all of these photos. But I am really getting enjoyment out of it and I get to relive my cruise all over again!

 

And thank you for letting me know what kind of bird that was. Mystery solved! We saw them in numerous places throughout Central America near the waters. And they loved flying very close to and above the ship!

[SeahawkSiren]

Friday, October 21. Corinto, Nicaragua. I won’t have much to report here. I chose not to do an excursion here and just enjoyed a quiet day on the ship. I like to get at least one of those on my cruises to enjoy quiet time onboard with no crowds. DH went on the Cerro Negro volcano hike. This excursion was about 7 hours so it took up almost the entire time in port (the getting to and from the volcano was about 4 hours so a good chunk of the time was just the travelling). I really wanted to do the volcano hike with him but I’m still recovering from broken ankle surgery so hiking up a mountain in a foreign country was probably not going to be a great idea for me! And the tour specifically mentioned participants needing full use of their limbs and there would be travel over loose rocks so I had to pass this time around. When DH returned he said I would have had a hard time with it, especially on the descent, so I made the right decision to not go.

 

Here are a few photos he took from the hike

 

 

 

He did say the long travel time was well worth it as the hike was very rewarding with great views!

 

The ship docks literally where all of the containers are being loaded and unloaded. So there was little to even view from the ship and it was noisy all day being in such a busy, industrial location.

 

 

 

[SeahawkSiren]

 

 

 

While DH was busy hiking, I was busy trying more new drinks thanks to the UBP.

 

The Rebellious Fish was pretty good

 

 

The Bacardi Mojito not so much – waaayyy too much mint! This picture does not show it very well but there were at least 10 mint sprigs in this drink! Yuck!

 

[SeahawkSiren]

The main part of town/shopping is right near the cruise terminal and is within walking distance of it, but apparently it has little touristic value according to what was posted on our stateroom tv. And I did see a lot of the ship passengers heading over there and many coming back without any shopping bags so not sure how much there was there of interest to actually purchase.

 

We did have a really nice sunset as we were leaving Nicaragua