World "shakedown" cruise on Serenade starting next week (Semi-Live Review)

[orville99]

Just entering the Gatun locks. Two chambers that each raise the ship 28 ft.

[Jimbo]

15 hours ago, Another_Critic said:

Panamax ships will use the old locks.  Serenade is a Panamax ship.

That kind of sucks, we had booked a Panama Canal Cruise this past October, but switched to a Greenland Cruise (September). Sure glad we did now because we surely would have been disappointed going through the old locks again since we had done that route before. Was hoping it was going through the new locks when we originally booked it.

[orville99]

Going through the second chamber of the Gatun locks now, then on to a nice slow sail on Gatun Lake. Rainstorm has gone and bright sunshine for our sail across the lake😇

 

[cruiselvr04]

Just went through the locks last month on Radiance.  Glad your day is clearing.  We found it interesting that the area around the locks and lake didn’t seem dry yet it’s a drought.  The levels were not visibly low.  I’m looking forward to doing it again someday.  

[Another_Critic]

1 hour ago, Jimbo said:

That kind of sucks, we had booked a Panama Canal Cruise this past October, but switched to a Greenland Cruise (September). Sure glad we did now because we surely would have been disappointed going through the old locks again since we had done that route before. Was hoping it was going through the new locks when we originally booked it.

IIRC, the only RCI ships that can transit the Panama Canal are Vision and Radiance class.  While the larger ships will fit in the new locks, supposedly they cannot clear the Bridge of the Americas.

 

Norwegian Breakaway Plus class ships (Joy and Bliss) have transited the new locks.

[orville99]

Leaving the Gatun locks and sailing through Gatun lake:

An LNG Battery Hybrid Car carrier - Hope it is carrying EV’s!

 

A view towards the new lock from Gatun lake

Edited November 13, 2023 by orville99

[orville99]

1 hour ago, cruiselvr04 said:

Just went through the locks last month on Radiance.  Glad your day is clearing.  We found it interesting that the area around the locks and lake didn’t seem dry yet it’s a drought.  The levels were not visibly low.  I’m looking forward to doing it again someday.  

Water level looks to be down 2-3 feet from where it was when we were here in February. In February, the grass was at the water line.

Edited November 13, 2023 by orville99

[gambler]

Great pictures! Thank-you.

[orville99]

Just made the sharp right turn to enter the Culabra cut at Gamboa. One way traffic through this part of the canal, but we are following a super freighter so we are good. Should pass the second of the three bridges that span the canal in about an hour and cross the continental divide shortly after that.

 

 

 

Pilots use these White columns at night to make sure the ship is properly positioned in the channel.

Edited November 13, 2023 by orville99

[orville99]

Continental divide and the Puenta Centenario bridge:

 

Edited November 13, 2023 by orville99

[orville99]

Pedro Miguel locks:

Edited November 13, 2023 by orville99

[orville99]

One more set of locks to go and we are stuck in a traffic jam waiting our turn. Oh well, I guess that was bound to happen. The canal has been very busy today going west.

Edited November 13, 2023 by orville99

[orville99]

Here we go…last set of locks…we just positioned ourselves in the first of two chambers. 

 

 

[Jimbo]

30 minutes ago, orville99 said:

Here we go…last set of locks…we just positioned ourselves in the first of two chambers. 

 

 

Bow pretty much empty by this time, looks to be hot and humid. Tropical Rain Forest weather?

[BillB48]

At Gatun...

 

 

[BillB48]

At Pedro Miguel...

 

[orville99]

How you do dat?

29 minutes ago, BillB48 said:

At Gatun...

 

 

 

28 minutes ago, BillB48 said:

At Pedro Miguel...

 

 

How you do dat?

Edited November 13, 2023 by orville99

[Another_Critic]

2 minutes ago, orville99 said:

How you do dat?

 

 

How you do dat?

Webcams

 

https://multimedia.panama-canal.com/

[BillB48]

4 minutes ago, orville99 said:

How you do dat?

 

 

How you do dat?

Just darn, Another Critic let the cat out of the bag😉

[orville99]

39 minutes ago, Jimbo said:

Bow pretty much empty by this time, looks to be hot and humid. Tropical Rain Forest weather?

Very much so. You should have seen it this morning when it was pouring rain.

[orville99]

This will do it for today. Cleared the last set of locks and now just exiting the harbor. More ships on this side than on the Atlantic side.

 

[RFerrington]

Amazing !  Thank you.

[orville99]

4 minutes ago, RFerrington said:

Amazing !  Thank you.

My pleasure, now off to Chops and then crashing into bed - it has been a loooong day😇

[BillB48]

Bon appetite and thanks... enjoyed.

 

[BillB48]

Miraflores...