October 2021 15 Night Panama Canal Cruise on Emerald Princess Week 2

 October 21, 2021 - Sea Day 
We had another sea day. The weather was good. I worked on the balcony in the morning. We attended the lecture on Aruba and Curacao. Then, I worked on the pool deck. We spent a lot of time in the pool and had our 2 pm Dance Party. Susan and Ma Crista love to dance so we’ve been having afternoon dance parties when the DJ or the band is playing. 

The funniest part of the day was when a partially filled whirlpool turned out spraying everyone sitting near it. All the staff froze not sure what to do. In swoops one of the bar stewards with a tray in front of him to save the day. He blocked one of the ladies from the spray until the deck attendants could arrive with more towels. They turned it off quickly after that. 

We went to the Captain’s Circle happy hour. We got a real treat of 5 – 7  dolphins playing in the ship’s wake. They looked like tiny fish from so far away,  but a couple jumped really high and really far so we could make them out. We had dinner in the buffet. The pulled pork quesadilla was my favorite. After dinner, we went to see Symphonee and play Songs of the Sea movie trivia.  We came in third. Glenn did recognize Bruce Willis’ version of Under the Boardwalk so that was pretty impressive. We stopped by the Crooners lounge to hear the piano singer. He was pretty good.

October 22, 2021 - Sea Day 

It was a rainy Sea Day. I worked most of the day. Susan and Ma Crista were very sad that the 2 pm band was cancelled. We had lunch in the dining room with two couples from the West coast. Topics ranged from climate change, forest fires, vertigo, and natural disasters. It was a wild ride. We participated in the Scavenger Hunt. We got all but one of the items. One of the cluses was get a photo with an officer. The Hotel General Manager - #2 to the Captain - was on deck so we got a fun photo with him. 

We had a lovely bottle of Gewürztraminer at Vines listening to the guitar players for our Friday happy hour.  

We went to Captain's Circle happy hour and then dinner in the buffet. The orchestra played a jazz set in Adiago - the bar next to the Italian restaurant. It was really nice. We called it an early night since we start entering the Panama Canal at 5 am. 

October 23, 2021 Unexpected Sea Day 

Well, yesterday did not go as planned. We woke up at 4:30 am and were out on deck at 5:00 am. We watched a cloudy sunrise over Panama City. 

Around 6:00 am, the Captain announced the pilot had not boarded the ship as planned at 5:00 am because Panama now requires a PCR test of all Bridge crew. The Emerald Princess Bridge crew had taken antigen tests. The Captain said they were hoping the Pilot would board by 7 am. That did not happen. We got updates every 30 minutes that basically said the Captain didn't know what was going to happen. Around 9:30 am, we decided to go back to the cabin. 

We caught up on some TV Shows on my laptop and ordered room service lunch. The chef's salad is pretty good. The chocolate cake was very good. Around 1:45 pm, the Captain announced we would not be transiting the Canal today. They were negotiating for a new slot and would have updates later. A few hours later, he announced we got a 5:00 am slot for Sunday. We'd need to move Aruba's call to Wednesday and cancel Bonaire. Each person would get a goodwill compensation of $100 per person.  

We went to the dining room for dinner. The pork dumplings, lemon sol, and biryani were very good. After dinner, we went to Explorers' Lounge to see Symphonee. We had a couple good laughs with them. We also played musical bingo. It was very fast paced and fun. 

October 24, 2021 Panama Canal Transit New Locks

We finally made it through the canal. We got up at 5:00 am. This time we turned in the Bridge Cam to make sure we were actually moving. We hung out on the balcony until we got close to the Bridge of Americas. We headed up to Deck 15. They opened up the platform on top of the Bridge. Guests had "relocated* chairs from around the ship. 

We sailed up to the first set of the new locks. Then, we headed down to the forward area of Deck 8 that they opened. You head to Deck 7 and walk up the stairs. That was a great way to see the sides of the locks.

After the first chamber, we went to grab a quick breakfast and then headed back to Deck 8 to watch sailing out of the 3rd chamber of the Cocoli locks. 

After Cocoli, we got a glimpse of the Old Locks: Miraflores and Pedro Miguel. We passed under the Centennial Bridge and entered the Gamboa Cut and into Gatun Lake. 

This is lovely scenic cruising so we went back to the cabin. 

Aqua Clara is the locks that lead to the Atlantic. After clearing those three chambers, we passed under the Atlantic bridge and we were in Atlantic.

It was SO HOT. We changed into our suits and jumped into the pool. Then, we went to Captain's Circle Happy Hour. We chatted with Bob and Ruth for 2 hours. They are from just outside Sacramento and told great stories. We ended the night with pizza at Movie Under the Stars while watching the Colts game. 

October 25, 2021 Sea Day 

Yesterday, we had a relaxing day. I filmed the ship tour for YouTube. We took and passed our COVID tests. We spent most of the day hanging out by the pool. We had a nice Captain's Club happy hour. We went to the buffet for dinner. They had a really good fried calamari, scallops, and shrimp. After dinner, we went to the Explorers' Lounge to hear the band and lose at trivia. Our normal routine. 

October 26, 2021 Curacao 

Yesterday, we docked in Curacao - late of course. It all worked out okay. We visited five resorts: 

• Baose Luxury Resort -  This is a small resort with 23 suites and villas. It has a small cove beach and a Balinese feel. I couldn't take pictures for the privacy of the guests. 
• Zoetry Curacao - This resort is set to open in a month so that was fun to see it. It's set up on a  small hillside. 
• Dreams Curacao - This is a family all inclusive resort. It opened at the end of 2019. It was nice. 
• Curacao Marriot Beach Resort - Right next door to the Dreams. It was a nice Marriott and reminded me of the Marriott in Grandy Cayman. 
• Renaissance Wind Creek Resort - This resort is right at the port. They built a second level beach and salt water pool since there's no beach at the harbor. That's pretty cool. 

The highlight of the day was lunch. Our guide asked if we wanted somewhere local for lunch. Of course we said yes. We went to Purunchi. It was in a stretch of small buildings right on the water. You walk through the kitchen to enter. It's all fresh caught fish. We sat on a floating dock. It was so delicious. A great experience.  

On our way back to the ship, we stopped and tried the local Montana beer at a stand right by the port. 

We were so hot we headed straight to the pool. We had a nice happy hour and had dinner in the dining room. It was pasta night! Glenn finally got his pasta. The evening was filled with live music: Symphonee, the jazz orchestra, Symphonee, and then the cruise entertainment staff did a cute skit show. 

October 27, 2021 Aruba 

We had a great day in Aruba. We got off the ship around 10 am and walked around the downtown area. We found a nice outside bar right at the harbor. We had some local beers, great fish tacos, smoked fish dip and a burger.  

We headed back to the ship in the early afternoon because it was really hot. We spent the afternoon at the pool. We went to Captain's Circle happy hour, dinner in the dining room, and then listened to Symphonee. 

We had ice cream on deck and went to bed early. 

October 28, 2021 Sea Day 

I had a nice pedicure in the morning then worked for a while. Glenn went to trivia. He did not win. We spent most of the day at the pool bar. Susan, Ma Crista, and I convinced their supervisor to let them take their break at 2:30 pm so we could have our 2 pm dance party. It was so much fun. Several other guests joined in. 

We had a nice dinner in the dining room. The beef wellington and pork were very good.

 We had the Captain's Circle party. It was hilarious because the bar staff from the Captain's Circle happy hour and the bar staff from the Explorer's Lounge were there so we had 5 waiters checking on us and bringing us drinks. 

After dinner, we went to Explorers' to hear the orchestra. We won the music trivia so we are now the proud owners of a Princess wine stopper. We also watched the Marriage Show. 

October 29, 2021 

Yesterday we had a nice day. We enjoyed the culinary demonstration. 

We had lunch at the buffet and dinner in the dining room. We enjoyed doing our regular routine one last time.

October 30, 2021 

Guess what? We arrived late in Fort Lauderdale and had trouble offloading luggage. It didn't affect us too much. We were in one of the last groups so we disembarked about 15 minutes after our schedule time. Global Entry helped us skip the line. We made it to Plunge Beach Resort by 10:15 am. 

Overall, this cruise was a disaster. Late arrivals, missed ports, delayed transit of the Panama Canal, the whole aft portion of the ship shaking, and no tonic water. We still had a great time with the crew and the party band Symphonee. It makes me even more excited for our February transit as a take 2 opportunity.