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Review of NCL Pearl cruise to Panama Canal - Dec 2016 with photos


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Tuesday, December 13 - Puerto Limon

 

I checked my email this morning and I received the following email reply from my travel agent:

 

No, remember when we switched to the December sailing, we lowered the rate by over $2300 and we lost the on board credit but you got prepaid gratuities, the unlimited beverage package, the 250 minutes of internet and the 5 dinner specialty dining in addition to the lower rate. We discussed that the $2360 savings and amenities were better than the two-hundred dollars ON BOARD CREDIT.

 

I save all my documentation, as does my agent. Then just before the cruise I sort out what I need and what I don’t need. What I should have done when the switch was made was to throw out all the old information and just keep the new information. By keeping the old information and forgetting about the changes (except the lower cost) I confused myself. But no harm done. I did not say anything to anyone that I need to apologize for, nor did I spend any money I now regret.

 

As I said earlier, I did not argue with anyone. I have an agent who I trust and it is her job to iron out any discrepancies. Of course getting a full explanation from my agent rather than a simple, “Miami said you are not entitled to an onboard credit”, was much more customer friendly. NCL knew about this, the change after all was forced on me once the January cruise was chartered out from under me.

 

That said, my agent is not totally correct in what she said. I already had the pre-paid service charges and the Ultimate Dining Package. So what I gained when I last the two-hundred dollars onboard credit was the unlimited beverage package (which does not include water) and the 250 minutes of free Internet time (which I used to ask my agent about the missing onboard credit and to make sure my co-workers know I am having more fun than they are).

 

Of course I also saved over $2,300 dollars, which I would always trade for two-hundred dollars onboard credit, so I really cannot complain. And, I did not spend any of that expected two-hundred dollars credit on anything I would not have purchased anyway, so I have lost nothing and saved over $2,300, which is why I am not complaining. Still, having the onboard credit would have been nice (picture a smiley face here).

 

So, this is my first time to Puerto Limon. Normally for my first visit I find a ship sponsored sightseeing excursion to kind of get an idea of the lay of the land. This time I decided to do something different. I decided I would do a self-guided walking tour. So after breakfast (an omelet) I joined the priority group (suite perk) and started walking around. After walking around for a while I realized I was not seeing much. For some reason there are a lot of placed selling things around the port. At least the shop owners are not aggressive (did you read that Jamaica and Mexico - Americans, which make up about eighty percent of the cruising public, do not like aggressive sales people, even if they are in the United States).

 

 

On my way back I was approached by a taxi driver offering me a two hour tour for thirty dollars. I’ve never done this before (what happened in Jamaica in 2011 was a miss communication which I will be careful not to allow to happen again). Since walking was not working and I’ve read some good reports about these off the street taxi tours, I said yes.

 

Turned out to be a good deal. I saw things that were not the touristy places and really enjoyed the tour. I not sure the driver caught on to the fact that when he asked if I wanted to take a picture of a place I said no, but when he showed me any wildlife I jumped out the taxi. Funny thing the first time, I could not find my camera. I was sure I had it in my pocket and kept searching. He asked me if it was on my belt. Oops, I forgot, I moved it to my belt so I would have room in my pocket for my hat (it was not sunny when I started out).

 

First we saw a sloth. I have no idea how he found it. It looked like a bird’s nest. Next was a yellow bird. I don’t remember what it was called, I just liked the color. It was not all yellow, it just had a yellow breast. But since all I see where I live are sparrows (all brown) and crows (all black) any two toned bird is an upgrade.

 

It was hot (anything above seventy is hot to me – and it was well above seventy) and muggy. I am comfortable wearing a t-shirt when it is sixty-five. At work my office has the thermostat. Unfortunately it only goes down to sixty-nine. Our newest employee has a heater in his office. The secretary has a heater under her desk. In the Caribbean it is in the eighties year round. The low eighties in the winter and the upper eighties in the summer. However, when you add ninety percent humidity, it feels more like ninety-five degrees. Remember, once it reached one hundred percent humidity, sweating no longer works to cool you down.

 

After the taxi tour I found a shop that had lots of souvenirs. Coffee for my sister and brother-in-law, things for the neighbor’s kids, a mask for both households and shot glasses for my friend (I have enough souvenirs at home).

 

Then back to the ship, a cool shower, a change of clothes, and off to lunch. But first a phone message. New plans for the dinner that didn’t happen yesterday. I left a message for my choice, then off to lunch. By the time I got to the restaurant, I was ready for another shower and change of clothes. I had another cheeseburger.

 

After lunch I went back to the cabin. A new phone message. Everyone agreed to go to Lotus Garden, which is one of the free/included restaurants. It is first come first served, except that suite passengers can call the concierge who can make reservations, which I did for five at 7:00pm. Then I put together my bag of laundry. I packed for nine days, with plans for laundry at the halfway point, just to keep things simple. Since I was flying first class, two bags were free, so I could have easily packed for all thirteen days. I estimated my laundry cost to be thirty dollars. It ended up being $38.25 for six pairs of socks, six underwear and three t-shirts and regular service.

 

The slowest level of laundry service was an offer I saw on the first full day, and I believe everyday so far. “Fill your laundry bag and we will wash, dry and fold all items for only $19.95.” Sounds great, however, there is a catch. “Your items will be returned the evening of Saturday Dec 17.” So, you get your clothing back in time for the last full day. Now seeing this offer on the first full day was a bit odd.

 

 

Who is going to be able to fill their laundry bag on day two, and then wait a week to get it back? And as long as we are discussing odd things, I used one of the public restrooms. It was either designed by basketball players or designed for basketball players. I don’t know what a six year old would do. I guess in an emergency he could shoot his stream up in an inverted “U”. All I can say is, I hope the six year old has good aim.

 

There are three levels of laundry service. Express service is in by 9:00am out by 6:00pm. Express service carries a fifty percent surcharge. Normal service is in by 9:00am out by 6:00pm the next day. However, if you call your butler, normal service is expedited, but don’t tell anyone, it is not a published suite benefit. Actually I don’t know if that is true or not, however, it has been true for me the two times I have done it. Nonetheless, I had enough clothing for the next three days.

 

With all of that behind me I decided to just rest, even though tomorrow is a day at sea, also known as a day of rest.

 

The five of us balcony buddies met at the Lotus Garden at 7:00pm. There was a line, but I went to the side and mentioned that I had a reservation and we were soon seated. Lotus Garden is a Japanese themed restaurant. I had pot stickers for an appetizer and sweet and sour pork for the main course.

 

After dinner the other four wanted to go to a Broadway show. I figured they were talking about a production show in the Stardust Theater. So I said yes. Oops, this was in the Spinnaker Lounge. Right-away I realized this was not my style. But I decided to be a good sport and go. It didn’t take long before I realized that I would have to come up with an excuse to leave. I figured I would wait until it was half over. However, I got lucky. One of the couples were not enjoying it either, so I didn’t need an excuse to leave, I just followed them out the door. I did thank them for an enjoyable dinner, even if it was all free.

 

And with that I went to my cabin and just decided to watch a little TV and go to sleep. If you like news, there are lots of options. However, all that the news channels were talking about was Trump’s selection for this or that. Apparently not much else is happening in the world. If you don’t like news, there is plenty of soccer (football to the rest of the world). If you don’t like news or soccer, well your options are rather limited. There isn’t even a 24 hour cartoon channel for the kids.

 

And so, until sometime tomorrow (since I get to sleep in) good night.

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Wednesday, December 14 - Day at Sea

 

Well, we are booking. We are doing about 23 knots, the ship is rolling and it is raining. Other than that, it is looking like a great day. The pools were closed all day, so all I did was take a few pictures, watch a movie on the TV and just rest.

 

 

Well, I didn’t “just” rest. My butler and room steward are driving me nuts. I can barely relax for ten minutes without the door bell ringing. The butler wants to know what he can do for me. Well, he could just let me rest. He brings me so much food that I don’t need to leave the cabin. I have more than enough food and water without going to any restaurants. All I am missing is nice rest. The room steward wants to know what time I am going to dinner. I use the dial by the door. He knows I use the dial by the door, because he resets it to welcome when he is done.

So, if it says welcome, come back later. This is one of the reasons I am not sold on the Freestyle concept. With traditional dining (always eating at the same time) the room steward knows your schedule and doesn’t bother you as much. The other things I like about traditional dining is you have the same wait staff each night and they learn you likes and dislikes. By the third night you don’t have to tell them what you want. Also the dining times always work well with the show schedule. With Freestyle if you want to see the shows, you have to do the scheduling yourself. I’m trying to get away from that when I go on vacation.

 

The dial has four settings, welcome, make up the room, turn down the room and do not disturb. I do not want run outside every time my mood changes, so I don’t use the “Do not disturb” portion of the dial. Besides, my co-workers can confirm that I am already disturbed enough - especially since I am emailing them on my vacation. Since I have 250 minutes of free Internet time, it was either email my co-workers (just to make them jealous) or do a “live from” thread and live from threads require real work and there is no special interest in this itinerary or this ship. I have done live from threads twice before, but both times there was some special interest in the ship.

 

Cagney’s and Teppanyaki seem to be the most popular extra cost restaurants on the ship. Teppanyaki because of its limited seating (forty people) and Cagney’s is a steak house. I wanted to go to Cagney’s today, but there were no available time slots. So I booked it for tomorrow and the next day (to use up my five free extra cost dinners). I’ll likely repeat La Cucina (the Italian restaurant) after I use up my five dinners because it is the least expensive of the extra cost restaurants. So today I’ll go to O’Sheehan’s Bar and Grill. I would describe it as sit down fast food. You can get hot dogs, hamburgers and other sandwiches, like you would at a fast food restaurant, except it is cooked to order and you are seated at a normal restaurant table.

 

Well, there really isn’t much to talk about today, and tomorrow I have an early private excursion with Island Marketing. It is so early, that since the ship moved the clocks back one hour, the excursion leaves thirty minutes before we arrive. I have gone with Victor Bodden the two prior times I came here. He is good, but he doesn’t have a sloth, so I am giving Island Marketing a try this time because they have a sloth.

 

So until tomorrow, good night.

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Thursday, December 15 - Roatan

 

I am up early and decide to go outside and get some sunrise photographs. Not the greatest sunrise but not bad either. We were sailing away from the sunrise, so I took most of my photographs from the ship’s stern, enabling me to get the ship’s wake in some of the photographs.

 

 

Yesterday I noted the channel for showing the emergency procedures is now showing how to board a tender. Are we tendering? I’ve been to Roatan twice before and we have docked both times. As we approach I notice another ship is already there. As we get closer I realize it is the NCL Jade. I have not seen the Jade since I debarked from her after my full transit of the Panama Canal in February 2008 (which was the maiden voyage of the Jade. Prior to that the NCL Jade was the Pride of Hawaii. At that time the ship did not have its hull art. It left Miami for Europe where it went into dry dock. The Jade is docked. The pier will only hold one ship. So we have to tender.

 

As noted, I have a private tour that thanks to the change in the ship’s time leaves thirty minutes before we arrive. I am really not that concerned about it. They know when the ship will arrive and I’m sure they will wait.

 

Once off the tender I have to walk outside the pier area (Victor Bodden has a booth inside the pier area). I find Island Marketing (people are holding up signs) and find out that they are waiting for two more people. Given that the ship is tendering and I have priority (which I took advantage of), this could be a long wait. So I check out what is for sale in the little shopping area where the tour guide said she will look for me. I find some items I will purchase when I get back from the tour.

 

It was a long wait and the other two did not show up. So I and two others head off to the West End. The other two just want to go to the beach so I end up with a tour of the island. Then in town we stop by a store that makes its own chocolate. The tour guide wants to know if I would like to go in. Yes. So she stops right next to a no parking sign. I ask her if she is going to park next to this no parking sign. She is embarrassed because she didn’t see the sign. So she goes up the street a bit further, makes a U turn and finds a spot right in front of the store. I go into the store, sample a few products and buy one of the bars for five dollars. Then I give half to the tour guide.

 

We wait and I find out that two more people are going to join us. The tour guide’s boss is bringing them. She keeps looking around the corner. I ask her if she is looking for her boss. Yes she is. So I suggest that she call her boss. She does and it turns out her boss in the town headed our way. The problem is, the street is two lanes wide and when people park on the side, it turns into an alternating one way street. So it takes some time before they catch up to us.

 

With the two new arrivals comfortably seated (this is a brand new looking SUV with over 130,000 miles on it) we head off to the iguana farm. It is the same one I visited in April. The main attraction for me is, the sell they big leaves two for a dollar. The leaves have a long stem and as soon as you put the leaf down to ground level, the iguanas come running. They step on each other and size rules. It is kind of fun, though the iguanas are not cute furry things.

 

Their monkeys and sloth are close by (half a mile) and the other two are from Florida and are not interested in seeing the iguanas. They have iguana in Florida. The tour guide/driver take them to the monkeys and then comes back for me. I spent four or five dollars on food for the iguanas. I also bought four waters to share with the group. The tour guide was grateful for the water. The other two had their own water. No problem, I’ll just bring the water back on the ship with me.

 

 

The monkeys they like to hop on peoples’ arms, shoulders and head. They will also steal anything in your pockets, so we leave all of our stuff out on a bench. They feed the monkeys sunflower seeds. Next time I’m going to smuggle some grapes off, because I know the monkeys like the grapes. Feeding the monkeys is a little more fun. However, one of the smaller ones was a little fearful of one of the bigger ones, and they let one of the monkeys out of the cage. So there was only one we could feed.

 

Apparently they let each monkey out of the cage for one hour per day. It is interesting that they have no trouble keeping their monkeys. In April Victor Bodden had one monkey that escaped.

 

Now we have two monkeys on the outside, people in the cages with all there belonging sitting on the bench. I was outside and noticed the monkeys were “investigating” the items on the bench. I said, “Hey, you’re not supposed to do that” which drew the owner’s attention. Fortunately just by walking over to the bench the two monkeys dropped their ill-gotten gains and headed for the trees. I picked the items up and just put them back on the beach, since I don’t know which purse the items came out of. The people in the cage will have to sort that out for themselves.

 

After the monkeys it was sloth time. I was the first to volunteer to hold the sloth. Three towed sloths are gentle. Two towed sloths are bigger and aggressive. The sloths don’t move much, and don’t like to be scratched behind the ears (like a dog). They like to be petted on their backs (like a cat).

 

We also got to feed some of the smaller green parrots. They have other animals there that we could did not get to feed, like the bigger multicolored macaws, raccoons and a couple of other animals they have.

 

Then we went to a resort where we could spend some time on the beach. This was actually a protected body of water, more like a pond. There were no rocks and thus no fish. But perfectly safe to play in, even for children. Being a bit hungry, I decided to have a hamburger. Once the tour guide and I were done eating, we returned to the ship.

 

All in all, very enjoyable. There are some things about the Island Marketing tour that I liked better than Victor Bodden and some things I liked better with Victor Bodden. I would recommend either one.

 

Back at the little shopping area I bought something for everyone except me (I have more souvenirs and t-shirts then I need), and then headed back to the ship.

 

I shower and dress before going to Cagney’s Steakhouse tonight. I decide on creamed corn and mac and cheese for the sides, and the rib eye for the main course. All are good. After dinner I am tired, so I head back to the cabin, watch a little TV, and fall asleep.

 

 

Click on the link below and you can watch the iguanas make short work of some very large leaves ...

 

 

http://s18.photobucket.com/user/ZefH/library/NCL%20Pearl/Day%2015%20videos

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Friday, December 16 - Belize

 

 

Originally I planned to just stay on the ship. But eventually I decided to go into town. It took about twenty minutes to fill up the tender, which is a big open air commercial tender (not one of the small stuffy ship tenders). Another fifteen minutes to make the five mile run to the town, and about five minutes to exit the tender. All told about forty minutes, and I was not the first one on the tender.

 

The problem here is the reef. The reef is protected and it is too shallow for the deep draft cruise ships. So the ships anchor out in the middle of the Caribbean and the passengers spend somewhere between eighty minutes and one hundred minutes of this port stop traveling between the ship and shore.

 

I walked around until a taxi driver offered me a one hour tour for $25. The nice thing about these taxi tours is that you see parts of the city the tour buses don’t show you, and in my opinion, are more interesting than seeing another church. For some reason the ship tours always seem to include a church.

 

After that I found a few things to buy, including a shirt for yours truly, and took an early tender (before lunch) back to the ship. I showered, changed clothes and had lunch inside the cabin. The butler brought me enough food for lunch, so I munched on two sandwiches (each cut into quarters) and fruit.

 

After that I decided to stay cool, stay in the cabin, rest, and work on this. Then when I realized there was a good sunset developing just outside my cabin, I warmed up my camera and captured some good sunset pictures.

 

Here is a little hack you can use to get a cold camera and lens warm enough to work in warm moist air. Use the blow dryer on it. Just remember, you are trying to get the camera and lens warm, not hot. If the camera and lens are eighty degrees, your pictures will not look like they were taken just as fog was settling in.

 

I was going to have the porterhouse steak tonight, figuring is was “only” 24 ounces. However, it is actually 32 ounces. I didn’t feel like having a two pound steak. So I ordered chicken drumsticks for the appetizer, onion rings and fries for the sides, and the “big” fillet mignon (eight ounces - the small is six ounces). Once again all were good.

 

After dinner I went back to the cabin, worked on this, and eventually went to sleep. Tomorrow is our last port visit and my second of three ship excursions.

 

For some reason we are moving out clocks back to Eastern Time tonight. I don’t know why we are doing this tonight. Costa Maya is on Central Time and the following day is a sea day. It makes more sense to change the time before a sea day rather than before a port stop, especially when that port is on the same time the ship is currently on.

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The next two pictures were taken at a setting that very closely matches the human eye. So this is what Belize looks like from where the ship stops to begin the tendering process ...

 

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The Great Outdoors is a rear facing buffet just outside the indoor buffet ...

 

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Saturday, December 17 - Costa Maya

 

Costa Maya has a large pier. It is large enough to have a shuttle and to dock three ships, including the extra-large Royal Caribbean ships (Oasis class). It also has a very nice port area complete with a swimming pool and of course, plenty of bars, restaurants and stores.

 

 

I have a 9:50am meeting on the pier, so I’ve got plenty of time to have breakfast and then head out for my shore excursion. It is a Segway tour. I’ve ridden a Segway before and enjoyed it so much I actually thought of buying one. But then I realize it would be a six thousand dollar toy. It is great for riding around town. However, there are some drawbacks. It has no trunk, so its carrying capacity is about the same as a bicycle and given its design, you cannot lock it. Even for just riding around town it has a drawback. You just stand on it. The only difference between riding a Segway and just standing is that you are moving while you are standing on a Segway. You cannot adjust your stance because shifting your weight is one of the methods of controlling the Segway. Still, it is fun to ride on.

 

If you are going somewhere that is five miles away, and you are moving at ten miles per hour (top speed is about twelve miles per hour) you are basically standing still for half an hour each way. Try standing still for half an hour and you will see that this is not all that comfortable. However, if your front door and the mailbox are a quarter mile from each other, and you want to have some fun while you are traveling between the two, this is the way to go.

 

First there is a release. It is no more dangerous than riding a bicycle. Then there is a video on how to control the Segway. Then we get to practice for a while. Finally it is out into the real world. I am not sure of compass directions, but looking at Costa Maya from the ship, we are heading to the lighthouse, beach, and tourists area to the left of the port area. I didn’t buy anything except a taco and Coke for lunch. I did have a backpack with me, but I had my eye on some stuff in the port area.

 

Apparently the way the tour was set up, it would end at this beach area. We would then be given tickets for the taxi ride back to the port. However, we were running ahead of schedule and we were given the option on riding the Segways back to the port. That is what we all (four of us) decided to do, and away back to the port we went. In the port area I bought a couple of shot glasses and four color changing shirts (no coffee).

 

Then it was back to the ship to get my good camera and take some pictures of the ship and the port area.

 

Then back to the ship to shower, change clothes, and rest for dinner. I going back to La Cucina (the Italian restaurant). This will be my sixth specialty restaurant. As this is the least expensive of the specialty restaurants, and I enjoy Italian food, I wanted to save this until I had used up the five free specialty dinners.

 

Back at the cabin I started out working on this. Then my butler showed up with the debarkation instructions for suite guests and the custom forms. The room steward had already left the standard debarkation instructions. Suite passengers are supposed to meet with the concierge at 3:00pm tomorrow for some special debarkation instructions. Suite guests get a priority luggage tag. However, I am on an NCL shore excursion and that has its own instructions and a special shore excursion luggage tag. Before the butler left, I gave him his tip (the butler and concierge are not included in the standard daily service charge).

 

Eventually I decide to watch a little TV and go to sleep. I used to be a little more active, but age and all the free “adult” drinks has caught up with me on this cruise. I also am not a fan of heat or humidity, and especially not heat AND humidity.

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Sunday, December 18 - Day at Sea

 

 

I don’t have anything special to do today except pack. I get up late and decided to try out the buffet for breakfast, since I have spent very little time at the buffet this cruise, thanks to the special breakfast and lunch for suite guests.

 

At 11:30am the Meet & Greet participants have been invited back to meet with the department heads to discuss what went right and what went wrong with the cruise. 95 percent had high praise for the cruise and especially the crew. There was very little criticism. I agree, I have no real complaints. I asked why the time was changed before Costa Maya. Tony Rosa, the Hotel Director, explained that the schedule, and the time changes are set by management in the home office. He did agree with me that it would make more sense to change the time the night before the last sea day. I also asked why the Jade got to dock and we had to tender. Everyone got a good laugh out of that. Tony explained that these decisions are made two years in advance when the schedule is approved.

 

After that I took some (sunny) day at sea photographs. Most people were sunning themselves and only a few were swimming.

 

For lunch I had more in cabin snacks and watched (American) football. Then I showed up at the suite debarkation meeting only to give Noemi Yap (the concierge) her tip. She asked if I was going to stay. I told her I had a shore excursion and that the first line in the instructions said, you are on a shore excursion, don’t listen to anything Noemi has to say. She got a big laugh out of that.

 

Back at the cabin I am putting the finishing touches on this, adding the recently taken photographs, backing everything up, watching football and packing. I have a 7:30pm reservation at Lotus Garden, which is one of the free restaurants. Only the concierge can make reservations at this restaurant.

 

I look for something different from the last time I had dinner in the Lotus Garden, but nothing else struck my fancy. So, it was sweet and sour pork, fried rice, and pot stickers again.

 

Back at the cabin I sorted things by weight. I bought a lot of stuff and my smaller luggage is carry-on size. I figured I could put all the heavy things in the smaller case with no problem and I should be okay with what was left over in the larger suitcase. I didn’t look at the weight of the smaller case at the airport, but the bigger one was 47.5 pounds. So it worked out pretty good for me.

 

I made sure I saved some clothing for tomorrow. Last time I forgot to do that and I had to go naked until I reclaimed my luggage in the terminal. Not only was it embarrassing, but five people ended up throwing up and I think a few of the kids may have been scarred for life.

 

So I put my luggage out to be collected and tried to watch the Secret Life of Pets. I guess you have to be pre-teen or the parent of a pre-teen to appreciate this movie. I turned it off about the time the big brown dog showed up and went to sleep.

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