By Sharon Sept

 

I had the pleasure of going on the last Panama Canal cruise of the season (April 19 – May 4).

 

We landed in Fort Lauderdale and had a pre-hotel stay at Springhill Suites by Marriott which had free shuttle from the airport to the hotel and also a free shuttle from the hotel to the cruise terminal. It also included a free breakfast.

 

We sailed out of Fort Lauderdale on the Island Princess. The ship was refurbished recently and several cabins were added. We booked one of the new rooms in the aft on the Promenade Deck. I had heard stories of vibration and noise with these cabins, this was not our experience at all. We only experienced vibration one morning as we were docking at one of our ports. I did manage to see a few of the other cabins on board. They were all very nice including the window view mini suite at the bow of the ship which is also a new addition. The cabin was quite large as the space normally taken up by the balcony was incorporated into the cabin. The only complaint the passengers in this room had was the noise, whether it was the waves hitting the bow or the anchor being lowered.

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We chose anytime dining which in hindsight was not really the best choice as they only have one dining room where we could have dinner as the other dining room was for traditional dining only. The line ups were very long. We then discovered we could call in the morning each day to make reservations and avoid the long lines. Of course, the food and service was amazing.

 

Our first port of call was Oranjestad, Aruba where we went on a self-guided walk.

 

Our next stop was Cartagena, Columbia where we went on a pirate ship excursion in the harbour. It was a very good excursion with lots of sightseeing and info on Columbia and Cartagena.

 

The entertainment on the pirate ship included dancers and a musical group in authentic colourful attire of Columbia.

The day we went through the locks we were given the option to either accept a $60 OBC or spend the day in the Sanctuary.

 

The reason for this was the cables from the mules, which pull the ship through the locks, went across the front of our balcony on the 7th deck.

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The Sanctuary was a prime location to view the locks and we were very happy with the opportunity to spend the day up there.

 

The next day I went on an excursion to see the new locks. The tour guide was amazing. She extremely knowledgeable about the locks and took us on an extensive tour of area. I would recommend this excursion to anyone wanting to learn more about the Panama Canal.

 

The next port of call was in Costa Rica. We went on an excursion of the Macaw Sanctuary which was very good.

Then we were taken on a boat tour of the mangroves. This portion of the excursion was very disappointing as we saw very little in the form of wildlife.

 

The next port of call was Puerta Chaipus, Mexico. This was the most disappointing port of the entire trip. We took a shuttle bus into the nearest city Tapachula which was just a typical Mexican city. There is really nothing to see here unless you take an excursion to the Mayan ruins. There were lots of complaints about this stop and the excursion was reported to be very poor. If you have clients going on this cruise I would suggest you not recommend this excursion as the ruins were nearly non-existent.

 

Overall it was a very nice cruise, the ship was good, the food and staff were excellent. The age of the passengers on this cruise was definitely older so please keep that in mind suggesting this cruise to your clients.