Day 7: Panama Canal

Today was the best day yet!  It was, as we’d expected, hot and mostly sunny, but not steamy-humid, and we had occasional large clouds to give us some reprieve. We took a laid back approach to the transit, and that worked out tremendously well. 

We fell asleep last night with the bridge cam channel on TV, so as we approached the canal and Dr. Engman started narrating from the bridge, it woke us up and we could listen along. About the time we were entering the first of the first Agua Clara lock chambers, we left the cabin to go to the Sanctuary Restaurant. 

Walking across Deck 9, the view from the Piazza as we entered the first lock chamber

We didn’t know that the Sanctuary Restaurant was run a little differently today. Instead of opening for breakfast and then again for lunch, it was open from 8am to 12:30pm for brunch. This featured a combination of menu offerings and a wonderful buffet (and, we were told, anything else we might want could be made to order). Wow!

I know, you didn’t come here for food pics, but, truly, this was a feast. We had fruit and coffee, and left to watch our progress through the Agua Clara lock chambers from different viewing points around the ship. 

We started out behind the Sanctuary Restaurant where there were lots of people but not so many that we couldn’t stand against the railings. In fact, we found that to be the case around the entire ship today. We’ve done the canal transit in ships where people were lined up three deep to watch, and that was definitely not the case today. 

The Star Princess in the Agua Clara lock

Being held in place in the second Agua Clara lock chamber with the Atlantic Bridge across Cthe canal the background

We’re not certain if this drone was from the ship or the canal authorities but we all waved

Looking up at the large balconies on the aft suites

Agua Clara control tower

The floating gate begins to close off the final lock chamber

The lock gate is almost closed

About this time we went our separate ways, and I went up the Deck 19 for the first time this cruise, finding the pickleball,  basketball and shuffleboard courts, the judging/walking track and even what I believe is a splash pad (or maybe just a fountain. I’m not sure). That area also looks over the Sanctuary. There’s a lot of space up there, with ample seating, but it was supposed to house the amusement park-type features intended for this class of ship until that concept was abandoned. It’s a very uncrowded area, even on Panama Canal day. I walked a mile while I was up there but the sun and heat finally forced me to move on. No worries; I’ve been getting in over four miles a day of steps just walking around this ship. 

Going from the Deck 19 midship elevator lobby to the outside deck

Water feature or splash pad? I’m not certain

Looking down at the Sanctuary

Another Sanctuary view

G and I connected again in The Dome where we found two loungers together at 10:30am on Panama Canal day. Amazing!  When this ship layout was first announced, I couldn’t help but think that The Dome was going to be beastly hot on sunny days in tropical climates. It is heavily air conditioned but it is still warm, just not oppressively so. We stayed until about 11:30am and then returned to the Sanctuary Restaurant to have the second half of our brunch. I enjoyed those jumbo shrimp (the waiter told us they’re from The Catch restaurant). 

Our phone batteries were exhausted by then, so we returned to the cabin to recharge as we cruised through Gatun Lake. Dr. Engman had stopped narrating for a while, but we kept our TV on the bridge cam channel to be able to catch him when he started again.  It never rained today, so this was most impressive weather we’ve ever had for a Panama Canal transit. 

97° Real Feel in the shade isn’t bad

The Centennial Bridge from the bridge cam

Tug on our port side as we approached the Cocoli lock

Our phones charged, we went outside again, aft on Deck 9 to the Dining Promenade area. There we found plenty of available comfy seating in the shade, and we stayed there until we had almost reached the Bridge of the Americas. 

Freighter on the Pedro Miguel (old) lock

Ship’s photographer on land taking photos of us on the ship

Panama City has changed enormously since we first saw it 24 years ago

The Cocoli Lock webcam is so close to the lock that the entire ship couldn’t fit in one shot

We went to dinner in the Sanctuary Restaurant later tonight, planning to go to the 9pm performance in the Princess Arena. We’ve decided that we will hear the later show one way or another, and we may as well have a leisurely dinner and attend in person. 

None of the desserts appealed tonight, so I swung by the International Cafe for the first time to see what they were offering. Lots, and it all looked delicious. It’s on the same deck as our cabin. That’s a little dangerous, and I may stop back after the show (but shouldn’t). 

Tonight’s Princess Arena performances were Uptiwn, back with a different show. I’m going to publish this post while we’re waiting so I can crash right afterwards tonight. Today’s sun has left me reddish and worn out, and we will be arriving in Fuerte Amador (for Panama City) in just a few minutes, so we’ll be able to get off tree ship early tomorrow morning. If we want to, that is. 😉

Oh, I almost forgot to add…I mentioned the confusion about whether or not the Star Princess today became the largest cruise ship to ever transit the Panama Canal. The Disney Adventure has more capacity, and it transited in February. But the Star Princess is physically larger, 10 feet longer and 4 feet wider. So it does win the prize!

Both sides of a Panama Canal brochure that was distributed to the cabins

Day 6: At Sea

I’m starting this post at 9:30am, before anything really even happened. I love sea days!!  Actually, we have already had our breakfast in the Sanctuary Restaurant with Somphot and Man (that’s his real name. It’s pronounced Mon and is unrelated to the English word “man” in his native Nepali.). Man sees us coming and runs for our coffees in the morning. (We have to find an ATM  in LA!!)

On another note, before I forget, we received our first laundry submission back after 36 hours, although we had been told it could 72 hours. It’s a good thing, because we are well into “sweaty” weather. There’ll be no re-wearing of T-shirts until we get past Cabo San Lucas!

Second, thank you to Dean for your email providing a link to turn off that darn sleep tracker on my Apple Watch. I don’t need that nonsense in my life!! It’s all fun and games until I have a particularly bad night’s sleep. 

Dr. Engman had warned us during his lecture the day before Aruba that those of us who’ve been attending his lectures (he called us “his people”) needed to know that his lecture today on the history of the Panama Canal was going to be packed and we needed to get to the Princess Arena early to get a seat. It was scheduled for 11am today, and just before it, also in the Princess Arena, was a lecture on the navigational bridge. We always enjoy those, so we went directly from breakfast to get seats for both presentations. 

Third officer Cristian from Romania (no, not cabin steward turned Rooms Division Manager Cristian from Romania) gave an excellent, humorous presentation that we thoroughly enjoyed. I tried to remember a few nuggets of knowledge that he shared with us but all that stuck with me was the existence of four bow theaters and the two rear azipods. 

As predicted, it was SRO for the Panama Canal lecture, and, I suspect  all of Dr. Engman’s subsequent lectures will be popular now that more guests have discovered how good he is. Professorial, yet fun. It’s obvious he has a lifetime of experience keeping hungover frat boys engaged and educated. 

We sat on the Dining Promenade in the sun until the heat forced us to get under cover. Oh baby, it’s going to be toasty tomorrow!  While there, we had a further discussion about the navigational bridge with First Officer Marco from (shocker) Italy. Marco from Italy…could he have grown up to be anything but a Princess Bridge Officer?  He was most generous with his time and filled us in on the 2:30pm briefing that the entire bridge would be attending to plan tomorrow’s canal transit. There will be two pilots coming on board, as well as 16 mooring handlers (8 each front and back), videographers, canal officials and others, since this is the Star’s first Panama Canal transit. 

We had been told by the Future Cruise person on the Emerald Princess that the Star would be the largest cruise ship to ever transit the canal, but I’m not yet convinced that’s right. I’ll try to find out and let you know. It would be nice if it is; when we went through the canal the first time on the Radiance of the Seas in 2002, that was the largest ship at that time to ever transit the original canal locks and we have a great pic of me somewhere in our archives standing on the Promenade Deck and touching the side of the lock. 

The Eatery featured a large seafood buffet today that I don’t believe was advertised anywhere. I just happened upon it, and filled a plate so full that I finally made use of a special feature in the Cronometer food logging app that I’ve used for (checking here) 443 straight days. 

They’ve recently rolled out photo logging so I decided to put it to the test, because, while it’s easy to log my food at home, it gets time consuming on the ship. It did a remarkably good job! I’ll definitely be using this going forward while on the ship. 

What I ate

What it was analyzed as

The heat was finally starting to take its toll, so we spent an hour in the cabin before getting cleaned up for the evening. Our medallions both started acting up today, which was remarkable considering that both of our medallions lasted 52 days straight on the Emerald Princess last winter. Both of them needed to be replaced. G’s actually showed him as being in the cabin when we were in Princess Live. 

The Elite Lounge now has a musician (today a guitarist) for a short while each evening which has certainly improved the experience, but the food seems totally repetitive. I remain unimpressed but G enjoys it. 

I had so much protein at lunch today that I had just a salad tonight (but we did return to the Sanctuary Restaurant for dessert and coffee after the show). 

Tonight’s Princess Arena performance was a trio of male vocalists singling Motown, Soul and even Bruno Mars (no surprise given their name). It was a party from start to finish. I loved it, but tomorrow is a long day and so after our dessert and coffee we did not return for the second show. We’re instead in the cabin listening to it 😉 while I finish this post. 

Thankfully, we move clocks back an hour overnight. I’m not certain how we’ll approach spectating tomorrow. This is my (I think) 7th time through the Panama Canal; G is well over ten. A lot will depend on the heat, humidity and how people-y the public decks feel. Thankfully, we know that in the midday heat, we’ll be in Gatun Lake and will have a bit of a reprieve. 

I can tell by the bass drum that they’re into their last number, Uptown Funk, below us in the Princess Arena. The show will finish up about the same time this post does. Life is good. :-)