Panama Canal on the Ruby Princess 2023 Christmas cruise-photo/ video journal by Bimmer09

Bimmer09 · January 13

CHRISTMAS WISHES

That's tonight's show

Song and dance

A very good singer from Toronto on the Ruby Team

The twin violinists play in rooms around the ship. Stanley doesn't do much. He's sort of like the guy who has passed out at a party and no one remembers how he got here or whom he is with.

As always, good singers, dancers and band. Everybody puts their heart and soul into the show.

From the theater we take the Promenade deck crowd-free shortcut to Club Fusion where we see a very funny comedian called Rodney Johnson. Our faces hurt from laughing. Don't miss him if his name pops up on a poster.

A surprise when we return to our suite...

Panama Canal Certificates, an invite to the Captain's Cocktail party, tomorrow's Patter and the clocks are going back an hour tonight. And a Polar Bear towel animal.

dmwnc1959 · January 13

1 hour ago, Bimmer09 said:

A surprise when we return to our suite...

Panama Canal Certificates, an invite to the Captain's Cocktail party, tomorrow's Patter and the clocks are going back an hour tonight. And a Polar Bear towel animal.

Lovely review as always and great pictures! Are the Panama Canal Certificates standard issue for everyone aboard when doing a transit on Princess Cruises?

Jasperdo · January 13

The Panama Canal Transit Certificates were a nice surprise when we returned to our cabin after a full transit. We framed them and mine is hung up next to my computer. Norris, on your next Panama Canal cruise, try and do a full transit through the old locks, with a day in Panama City. It was definitely the highlight of my 18 cruises.

John

Edited January 13 by Jasperdo

Bimmer09 · January 13

4 minutes ago, dmwnc1959 said:

Lovely review as always and great pictures! Are the Panama Canal Certificates standard issue for everyone aboard when doing a transit on Princess Cruises?

I'd say they are standard as we certainly did nothing special to get them.

We'll be crossing the Arctic Circle next year so will probably get certificates for that. Neither of us will be taking an ice bath, that's for sure!

Thanks for reading along.

Norris

katisdale · January 13

I love this journal. We have been on a partial transit twice, once through the old locks and once through the new. My dad was in the navy during WWII and stationed in the canal zone. I had really wanted to cruise there. I wish he had still been alive and able to go with us. We also got the certificates on both cruises, also got one for being above the arctic circle.

dmwnc1959 · January 13

2 minutes ago, Bimmer09 said:

I'd say they are standard as we certainly did nothing special to get them.

We'll be crossing the Arctic Circle next year so will probably get certificates for that. Neither of us will be taking an ice bath, that's for sure!

Thanks for reading along.

Norris

This sounds promising. I’d love to have one as an eventual transit souvenir. I have a certificate from having crossed the equator in 1979 from my Navy days.

Bimmer09 · January 13

We are on our way from Colon to Limon, Costa Rica.

Carol has a Room Service breakfast timed for 6.30 a.m. I'll hit the buffet for my usual corned beef hash, baked beans and bacon. We are going to visit a sloth sanctuary this morning.

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She has described it as hot and delicious. Booked for 6.30 it arrived at 6.45. She speaks very highly of the Ruby Room Service.

My buffet breakfast was also delicious but lukewarm due to cold plastic plates.

We have to meet up in the Princess Theater at 7.40 for our excursion.

Norris

dmwnc1959 · January 13

18 minutes ago, Jasperdo said:

The Panama Canal Transit Certificates were a nice surprise when we returned to our cabin after a full transit. We framed them and mine is hung up next to my computer. Norris, on your next Panama Canal cruise, try and do a full transit through the old locks, with a day in Panama City. It was definitely the highlight of my 18 cruises.

John

Have my first ever Panama Canal transit booked for early 2025, ‘Eastbound’ with a full day at Fuerte Amador. Very much looking forward to crossing off another Bucket List item.

Bimmer09 · January 13

Before going anywhere today I owe you the Patters from Christmas Day and today

Plans for the next couple of days, as the clock ticks down, include dinners in the Crown Grill and Sabatini's...

DANCING GRANDMOMMY · January 13

How are you and Carol feeling. Hope you are both completely recovered.

Bimmer09 · January 14

LIMON, COSTA RICA

(3 PICS PANORAMA)

A band has set up in a little shelter to greet passengers as they come ashore. Nice!

Our balcony faces the town

Time to get to the muster at 7.40

Bimmer09 · January 14

3 hours ago, DANCING GRANDMOMMY said:

How are you and Carol feeling. Hope you are both completely recovered.

Hi, thanks for asking.

I can only speak for myself and I am much improved thanks to Paxlovid being prescribed. Only my cough remains but it is much less than the constant previously. It is 12 days since the cough materialized.

It is too cold to go out here in Chicago so our social whirl hasn't been impacted too much.

Norris

Bimmer09 · January 14

This is our motor coach, complete with restroom, that will take us to the Sloth Sanctuary and eventually back. It will be about an hour away, down the coast. Don't be surprised if I take iPhone pics out of the window...

The band is singing away on the pier. Nice voice!

Bimmer09 · January 14

Now these photos are flawed, I'll grant you. The bus windows cast some startling hues but the windows don't open so it's these smudges or nothing. I hope they give some of the flavor of the trip. There's less trash than I have grown used to but I can say from my observations that a man who has a business selling razor wire can make a fine living here. I thought La Paz held the Guinness book of records entry for "Most barbed wire sold". Beware burglars is the gist.

park furniture

kids playground

coffee shop near the docks

Now out of town

more...

Bimmer09 · January 14

Our guide on the loud and of course somewhat distorted microphone was called Rogelio (Roger). He had an alarming habit of shouting "Wake up" to anyone who fell asleep during his rambling narration. So rude!

"Wake up! I'm talking!" It's 8.15 when we set off. On a bus. Sun beating down. People nod off. Roger is going "blah blah blah" into a crackly microphone. He's not speaking at the United Nations. He's just an ass.

The miles come and go...

Finally we slow down

When we get off Roger amends some of the things he told us on the bus. The bit about there being 46 of us and we'd have to be split into 2 groups of 23 with two guides? Well scrub that as the other planned guide is taking another tour group. This would mean all 46 of us would have to cram into a space really meant for 23. This is why upon entering a 23 person sized room we were shoulder to shoulder trying to see some immobile creatures taking a nap in their cages. For 10 minutes there was no movement until 1 person taking phone photos stepped back and the rest of us were able to reshuffle. I couldn't work a big camera so switched to video that requires a thumb which I could move freely.

The poor sloths in this first room are all permanent residents as they are injured and unable to fend for themselves in the wild. Some blind, one missing a limb after a dog attack in nature. They can live to 35 years. They can't handle trees so well any longer.

Falling from trees is an issue. They come down to the ground once a week to use the toilet and that's when they are most vulnerable. Not something we can all empathize with from experience. Lovely docile animals dealt a raw hand.

I avoided the 2nd room. The first was informative for sure as the young guy who talked about the animals was a mine of information and obvious love for the critters. carol can speak to it.

I sat outside in the shade. It was quiet.

Another thing Roger had told us on exiting the bus was bring all your stuff with you as the bus is leaving to go get another tour group (presumably doubling their revenue?)

I'll show you the video I took of the sloths and the little river ride we did after the sloths when I return.

Edited January 14 by Bimmer09
adding an f

Walt fan · January 14

Following along with a nice glass of red this evening; Christmas looked festive and beautifully decorated; I had a snort laugh about Stanley the Bear; he really did look out of place and didn't quite know what to do.

Bimmer09 · January 14

Bimmer09 · January 14

13 minutes ago, Walt fan said:

Following along with a nice glass of red this evening; Christmas looked festive and beautifully decorated; I had a snort laugh about Stanley the Bear; he really did look out of place and didn't quite know what to do.

We do like the way ship's get into Christmas with the decorations, Gingerbread houses with model trains and the Santa visit and the giving of presents from a Dollar Store in Ft Lauderdale I imagine. We don't mind the kids on board as that's why Santa is there. Stanley just looks lost.

We've already booked next Christmas on HAL's Rotterdam (in service July 2021) in a huge aft suite.

Christmas Day to be spent in Aruba which we both like. 9 days of newness and our 4th cruise line. December 20 to 29. I will drop a link here next January.

Norris

rdsqrl · January 14

Hi, Norris and Carol. You may not have seen me around the ship but I saw y'all almost every night -- I was seated just a few tables away in Reserve Collection/Club Snob/whatever it's called. I apologize for not being sociable; it was a cruise just for me to spend quality time with my Kindle and a poolside deck chair, after a particularly stressful semester.

This was my first time in Reserve Collection and I'm a fan -- the service seemed better, a more relaxed/quiet atmosphere with fewer waiters rushing around with trays piled high, the good wine glasses... Overall, I thought the food was good to very good on this cruise. Absolutely the best Gingerbread Souffle ever! It’s such a shame it only appears on Christmas, but this one was worth waiting 364 days for. I should have ordered a second one . . .

Bimmer09 · January 14

So Carol saw her sloths and can comment on that experience. We saw at least one in the boat ride video, high above us in a tree. I hope you saw it too.

The boat was super uncomfortable. The sides were very shallow which meant the narrow seat was very low and there was no back support whatever. I was holding a camcorder in one hand and a heavy camera in the other.My back ached.

At the end of the 45 minute ride I was happy to get out of the boat. I was hoping for a comfy air-conditioned bus seat but the bus hadn't returned yet. We shopped in the upstairs gift shop using a Visa card, buying a fridge magnet and a bag of 1820 Costa Rican coffee which unlike the Jamaican dirt had a coffee flavor but still a poor man's Illy.

We were offered free bottles of chilled water, courtesy of the Sanctuary, while we waited for the bus to show. After 40 minutes waiting Rogelio announced that the bus would be here in 20 minutes. One hour late.

Better late than never they say. Once on board the bus and moving Rogelio announced that even though we are running an hour late we have to stop at a gift shop on the way back to Limon. I stood up so he could see me and protested loudly from the back of the bus where I live (without a crackly microphone but I'll have one on my next Princess excursion.)

I waved so he could see as well as hear me but he ignored me.

Half an hour later we pulled off the road into a dirt parking lot for the forced shopping.

Rogelio made an endearing announcement. "We do this for the money. You have to get a stamp when you get off-that's how we get paid"

Five of us didn't get off, instead staying on the bus for the 30 minutes. The other 41 people disappeared into some palm trees across a narrow wooden bridge. Think "Field of Dreams". Each came back bearing a sticker that said "39". No doubt a profitable stop for the guide and driver.

The only tour guide/driver team I didn't tip once we left the bus in Limon, arriving an hour later than planned and being disrespectful to snoozing passengers.

I would visit the Excursion Desk next day to complain and I slammed Princess like a rag doll on our Post Cruise survey. That was the 2nd (of 3) excursions this week where we were hijacked to go shopping so the guide and driver could get their beaks wet.