Category: 2024 Panama Cruise
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Final Port: Tampa, Florida; then Home
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All good things must come to an end, and it was time to say goodbye to the Jewel and her crew on Day 18 of our voyage. We put our luggage in the hallway the night before, walked down our last gangway, and disembarked. Our luggage was in a huge room at port where we…
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Typical Day at Sea
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Each day of the voyage we had the Freestyle Daily paper delivered to our room door the evening before. This was our list of all of the many activities taking place on board for that day. This voyage had seven at-sea days where we underlined lots of things to try. Each morning started with exercise…
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8th Port: Georgetown, Grand Caymans
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In one of his rambling announcements, our captain announced as we left Colombia that we would have to anchor off-shore on the south side of the Grand Cayman Island due to expected rough seas. This meant having to find transportation into Georgetown after using tenders to get to the dock. Of course, those same rough…
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7th Port: Cartagena, Colombia
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“Mangrove Eco Canoe Journey” was the title of our shore excursion today. The forecast was heat with thunderstorms. There were no cancellations today as we took a bus trip through the city to Boquilla where the mangrove swamps provide a fishing spot for locals. On the way, our tour guide gave us some general facts…
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Panama Canal Transit Day!
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The highlight of our cruise was upon us. Our captain announced the previous evening that we would be passing under the Bridge of the Americas (opened in 1962) to enter the Panama Canal at about 7:30 a.m. I set my alarm to get a good viewing spot, and took a towel with me up to…
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6th Port: Panama City
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Our port of call today, while we wait for our trip through the canal tomorrow, is a very modern-looking city. It is beautiful by day and at night. My favorite building was the F&F Tower (52 story office skyscraper) which looks like a strand of DNA. The canal has positively impacted the local economy. “Highlights…
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5th Port: Puntarenas, Costa Rica
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The weather forecast for thunderstorms caused our “aerial tram and river cruise” excursion to be canceled. We were most disappointed, but know the tourism company was protecting us and lost out on today’s fees in the process. Instead we had a nice walk through Puntarenas, which sits out on a barrier island off the coast…
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4th Port: Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala
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After two back-to-back days at sea, it felt nice to have the ship stop moving. Our shore excursion in Guatemala was called “Colonial Antigua” and we took a comfortable bus ride to get there with our tour guide, Winston, giving us the history of the country along the way. I was most fascinated by the…
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3rd Port: Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
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The city of Puerto Vallarta had a pretty park to welcome us to shore. Our port time was shortened a bit from the tender delay problem yesterday evening, so Tony and I decided to just walk to a nearby shopping area. We could see a mall and a Sam’s Club a short distance down the…
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2nd Port: Cabo San Lucas, Mex.
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This is our first port outside of the US and our first experience with using a Tender to get dockside. Some of the covered lifeboats stored on level seven were put into service today, and the process of getting them into the water was fun to watch from our balcony on level nine. Davits hold…