The Panama canal was one of the most gargantuan and ambitious engineering feats in world history— based on the vision and determination of a few strong personalities— none of them were Colombian or Panamanian!!
The results of this impressive technological endeavor was that it streamlined East-west travel, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean , from three weeks down to only 12 hours.
The story is replete with monumental engineering marvels, uncompromisingly treacherous geological and weather conditions, savvy politics, colorful persuasive characters, France versus the US, failure on an epic scale, the largest bankruptcy in history, a deadly mysterious illness, colossal loss of life (30,000+), a silent bloodless coup, massive funding, immense corruption, sleazy creation of a new country, two oceans, full-blown Jim Crow protocols (even paying black workers significantly lower salaries in inferior currency), a misleading postage stamp, first US presidential visit to another country, stupendous egos, broad scale media spectacle, a choice between Nicaragua and Columbia, a choice between sea level and lock -style canal, and even a misnomer of a white hat. (The Panama hat is not from Panama; it’s from Ecuador.)
The most expensive transit was more than $1 million for a large ship and the least expensive transit was for a swimmer who paid $.36.
Panama city is the only city in the world where the sun rises in the pacific ocean and the sun sets in the Atlantic Ocean.
For more information, the two following documentaries:
A man, a plan, a canal, Panama. (read that backwards please!)
The history channel’s “the engineering that built the world episode number 4. The Panama Canal.” It originally aired October 31, 2021 and is available online including via YouTube.
I am enjoying the Christmas themed activities on board the cruise:
Christmas Eve:
Ugly Christmas sweater competition, poolside.
Christmas Pictionary.
Christmas caroling with officers and crew,
Mr. and Mrs. clause bingo.
Holiday themed trivia.
Movie: Arthur Christmas.
Family arts and crafts making tissue paper wreaths.
Storytelling with Santa Claus.
Solemn mass of Christmas Eve in Rome shown in state rooms
Letters to Santa.
Children’s game: what’s in Santas bag.
Lively Christmas Eve dance party with lots of fun dances with the activity staff. All are great dancers and know the popular line dances.
Christmas day:
Christmas scavenger hunt.
Christmas movie: onward.
Santa meets with the children.
Family arts and crafts: snowflakes.
Family activity: reindeer tag game.
Mr sexy legs contest by the pool. Not Christmas related but always funny.
Christmas scavenger hunt.
Family cookie decorating.
Pope Francis delivers his Christmas service from Rome show on TV.
Really fun Christmas party tonight. 10:00.
Holiday Word search.
Movie: the Grinch.
Photos with Santa and Mrs Clause.
🎅 Santas parade.
Santa gave gifts to the children wrapped and labeled with their names.
Christmas trivia.
Thomas Kincaid Christmas exhibition
Christmas dinner in elegant dining room.
The ship was spectacularly decorated throughout and there were multiple elaborate gingerbread houses and beautiful Christmas trees.
I was amazed that so many guests wore Christmas themed attire including reindeer ear headbands, Christmas light necklaces, Santa hats, elf hats, Christmas sweaters, matching family Christmas pajamas, Christmas masks, Santa Claus Everything, and more.
I brought Christmas decorations for my room and some Christmas attire and accessories.
Throughout the day, crew members have been saying “Merry Christmas, Karla!”
It’s so nice to be in a place where everyone is in a good mood!!
New Year’s Eve and New Year’s day will be next.
I highly recommend cruises over the holidays.🎅🎄🎊🎆🌅🎶😎
Highlights of my
12-day Panama Canal/Central America cruise on the Norwegian Pearl in the fall
of 2016-(see previous post for text only version-sans photos)
·A
ship that I love, The Norwegian Pearl, that is filled with lots of tasteful
creative spaces like the Bliss Lounge, the Spinnaker Lounge, a covered Promenade Deck, a nice
spacious pool area, and the Great Outdoors for meals. There were lots of open
spaces enabling you to experience the sea with the wind in your hair.
·Service
with a smile, always!
·Fun,
uplifting solo-traveler activities planned and organized by Jefferson, devoted
to our group. Some of the activities were as follows: nightly social
gatherings, dinner with wine, bowling with champagne, 🎤 karaoke, a birthday party for Susie, going to see the
show together, dancing together, sitting together for the Halloween party,
going to the white party together etc. Many in the group even visited ports of
call together.Some have made friends for life and
even found future travel buddies.
Some found romance. Jefferson was a class act! He is personable, helpful, reliable, patient,
and always pleasant.
Karla and Jefferson
·Good
food around the clock. Fresh pineapple three times a day, chocolate
melting cake on
the menu every night in the elegant SummerPalace dining room,
fresh steamed and sautéed vegetables often, pretzel rolls, Vietnamese pho soup
at lunch daily, good salads, grilled fish almost every day at lunch, numerous omelet-making
stations, and more.There were several big lunchtime
barbecues out on the pool deck.
Breakfast on the Panama Canal
·Good
nightly entertainment. (ie 2 great comediennes, the production shows with
excellent dancers and good singers.)
·I
enjoyed coffee on my balcony every morning while I meditated and read my
prayers and affirmations.
·Good
weather for the most important ports of call including Santa Marta and Cartagena,
Columbia; transiting the Panama Canal; and Costa Rica.
Welcome to Santa Marta, Columbia
Leaving Cartagena
Costa Rica Jungle Cruise
·I reached my 95th Nation visited with
Belize.
·Lots
of great dancing. I won the best dancer, the first day, at the sail-away party.
I was in a twist dance contest with Alfred from LA. I danced for more than an
hour, nonstop at the white-hot party, poolside. I ballroom danced quite a
bit with Alfred, a Filipino from LA and Villar, a Brazilian from San Francisco.
Lots of fun dancing after dinner in the spinnaker lounge.
Happy Birthday Susie!
White Hot Party
·The
day before Halloween, 25 of us met to learn the "thriller dance" to
perform in a flash mob just before the Halloween party started. It was so much
fun; we were really impressed with ourselves!
·I
played trivia often. Our progressive trivia team discovered we won on the last
day! We accumulated 35 points more than the next highest contender. We won real
prizes including Tanzanite jewelry (necklace with pendant) from the gift shop.
·I
played Win, Lose or Draw and Scrabble.
·I
attended a few art history lectures and art auctions.
·A
fabulous Halloween. In addition to an incredible costume contest and dancing,
they invested a lot of time in creating and constructing a wonderful haunted
house in the Bliss Lounge. We laughed all night long. There were eight
categories of costumes in the costume contest, including best man, best woman,
funniest, best couple, most creative and more. My favorites were the towel head
lady, the headless Horseman, and the beekeeper (Carl).
·Joel
and I wore large :-) 😃 smiley-face masks. I truly enjoyed
watching other people's reaction to us. I kept walking up to people, getting in
their faces, and smiling. Everyone always smiled back! It was a real
pleasure experiencing the sensation of making others smile.
·The
entertainment staff was top notch including the cruise director, Daniel Olsson,
who was a real pro, and of course, our Jefferson.
·I
met lots of special people including Susie, Imelda, Ronnie, Shanda, Mark, Carl,
Villar, Alfred, Sashimi, my trivia mates, Valerie, Rhoda, and many more…… I
witnessed Imelda wearing her first Halloween costume, attending her first
Halloween party, and visiting her first haunted house.I even hung out
with Michael who was a solo traveler that I met on and Iceland, Norway, Denmark
etc. cruise last month. He was on my winning progressive trivia team.
·Watched
numerous sunrises and sunsets and even a few from the comfort of my balcony.
·Enjoyed
the sail-ins up on deck into Santa Marta, Cartagena, Costa Rica, Belize,
Honduras, Panama, and Costa Maya.
·Helpful,
comprehensive narration as we transited the Panama Canal. Perfect weather for
the experience. They open the bow on deck eight so passengers could view the
process of going through the locks, up close and personal.Joel spent two
hours at the very front of the bow.
Breakfast on the Panama Canal
From my balcony
·Great
line dancing on Norwegian cruise line. We even did the wobble and the Cupid shuffle and more.
·Joel
and I had a lovely dinner in Le Bistro, the French restaurant. It was elegant
and the service was outstanding. The maître d' came over several times and the
chef even visited our table. I had a very rich filet mignon, escargots, and we
shared fondue for dessert. This was one of my free perks for being a Platinum
member.
·Norwegian
Cruise line has an app that allows you to review your account, view all of the day’s
activities, view all of the shore excursions, and text friends on board and
more. Importantly, the texting feature
always worked!
·All
of the officers including the captain attended our cruise critic party on the
first sea day. They were very attentive and were good listeners. They even
scheduled a second, wrap-up session for us. Once again, all of the officers
attended and listened to our comments carefully.
·As
a platinum member, I received a free “behind the scenes” tour. It was awesome!
Included were a comprehensive visit to the restaurant galleys, the laundry
area, and backstage. I learned a lot.What an impressive
operation this floating hotel is!!
Giant sheet dryer and folding machine
·I
had no real complaints to share at the front desk or in writing.
