The bucket list cruise to the Panama Canal, so highly anticipated, is behind us.
First, let me say that this 11-day cruise was very different, in a good way, from our first 4-day cruise experience in January 2023. You can read about that here.
We liked the ship (Norwegian Joy) and the cruise line. We enjoyed the balcony room we had on the 11th (out of 20) deck. The weather was spectacular. We didn’t get seasick. Nothing annoyed us. We didn’t have any travel glitches. Everyone we met was friendly and helpful and seemed intent on providing a good passenger experience. The ports were interesting. There was a good balance of port days and sea days. We only had one itinerary change disappointment but because we chose not to dwell on it, it didn’t ruin our entire experience. All in all, it was a very satisfactory cruise experience. And hey, there is the excitement that comes with checking an item off a bucket list.
We were pleasantly surprised that though the Joy is larger than the Pearl (the ship we were on in January) it seemed much less crowded to us. The waiting lines I commented on in January were non-existent on this cruise. We waited for almost nothing. Randy and I agreed the food seemed better in January, but that may be a function of the fact that we only ate it for 4 days instead of 11. There was nothing wrong with it, but there was nothing memorable about it either. The entertainment was a bit mediocre, but entertainment isn’t our thing either. Norwegian is having a major shake-up with on-board entertainment right now. But that’s not the reason we chose the cruise either and its quality didn’t affect our perception of the success of the cruise at all.
The minor disappointment was an itinerary change which eliminated the full day we were to spend in Panama City. Since the history and construction of the Canal was the major impetus for landing this cruise on my bucket list, we booked an excursion that outlined the history of the United States in Panama. The excursions were all cancelled because we had to spend an extra day at sea to comply with environmental concerns, but through the magic of the internet and YouTube, we can still get that information any time we want, as often as we want. No selfies in front of the Miraflores Locks visitor center though. Bummer. We also never saw the original Panama Canal locks in person as the Joy was too large for the old locks.
This cruise introduced us to some incredible new tropical places: Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Curacao, Aruba and Panama. The blue water and tropics in December is absolutely my happy place. We also made an unscheduled stop in Cartagena, Columbia to offload a passenger with a medical emergency. It stunk for that passenger, but we can now say we’ve been to South America. Sorta.
The biggest surprise of the trip was how different my perception of Panama City was before I first saw the skyline. I envisioned (because I hadn’t done any research about the city itself beforehand at all) a Central American third-worldish country. In actuality, the skyline was modern, unusual, and sleek, much more so than either Randy or I expected. He said that some of the skyscrapers reminded him of the Dubai skyline. In fact, we ran into a couple at the Military Appreciation Reception who told us that many of the buildings were designed by Dubai architects. The couple lives in Orlando but she is from Panama, and they were sailing to spend the holidays with her family there.
By far the best part of the cruise were the people we met and spent time with. Cathy and Rich, who we randomly sat next to in the second row of the theater (we wanted to watch the magician up close and personal!) on the first night of the cruise, became friends who are well on their way to being those forever friends I write about often. We spent a lot of time with this delightful couple, generational farmers from South Dakota…. our kind of peeps all the way. I will never, ever forget Gleeful Rich, who has the absolute worst poker face playing cards that I’ve ever had the pleasure to encounter. We played double deck pinochle and Five Crowns and if Rich got a good hand, you knew it from the moment he looked at his cards as they were being dealt. Honestly, it was delightful, the glee that showed his face! We truly found joy watching him on the Norwegian Joy.
We also met, through a cruise specific Facebook group before we even left, a couple, Lindy and Phil, from upstate New York. Both Air Force veterans, we played double deck pinochle with them a few times before, sadly, they had to leave the cruise early in Puerto Rico. Phil developed a gall bladder issue and was admitted to the hospital there. I look forward to keeping in touch with them too.
We talked to so many people who we had some connection with…a place we were from, or had lived at one time, military…all kinds of things. On the morning of disembarkment we got to talking with a woman sitting at a table next to us at breakfast. She’s originally from Iron Mountain, MI, where Randy’s dad grew up. More surprisingly though, she lives about 25 miles from us, in Punta Gorda. Small world. That six degrees of separation theory seems to hold some water.
The worst part of the cruise? Well, I can’t think of a worst part. Abraham Lincoln famously said, “Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.” We didn’t go looking for any worst part and by golly, we didn’t find it either.
Will we take another cruise? Certainly. We bought Cruise Next certificates because an Alaska cruise is the other bucket list item that involves a floating hotel. But after that, maybe not. I’ve learned to never say never.
This cruise did reinforce our perception that we are vacation be-ers, not do-ers. We love to be somewhere interesting with great views, just hanging out and relaxing, enjoying good company. We don’t need (or want) to be doing things constantly, to cram as much into a vacation as some people seem to. I think there were people on the Joy who, with the help of the unlimited drink package, had far more “fun” on this cruise than we appeared to. But we remember every minute of it. 😉😉
P.S. This morning, our 48th wedding anniversary, is a gift that overwhelms me. We live in a place I love, a place we’ve created that I never feel I need a vacation from. I am married to a good man who constantly strives to be better than the man he was yesterday and who loves and supports me more than I deserve. It’s a very happy anniversary for me. For the record, I’m glad I married you, Randy. Thank you for marrying and sticking with me through it all. I am blessed. Life is good.
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