“Our bags are packed, we’re ready to go, standing here outside our door…” Where are we headed ? Well it’s April 1st and today is our departure date out of the Port of Los Angeles on Princess Cruise’s “Emerald Princess” ship. We are so excited to begin a 3 month international adventure and today is Day 1… We set sail today for a complete passage of the Panama Canal over the next 16 days with several unique stops before arriving in Ft Lauderdale, Florida.

We have had a Panama Canal Cruise on our bucket list for years though just haven’t found the right time to book it and the Covid pandemic definitely had delayed the adventure since retiring. We have gone on many cruises over the years though with the Covid lock -down we haven’t booked one since February 2019. When we were taking cruises while we were still working they were never more than 7 days long. One of our goals we often talked about before retiring was looking forward to the day when we could take a 2 week cruise, walk off the ship, and then walk onto another ship and take another 2 week cruise. 4 weeks on the Ocean… That was the plan for this first part of 2023 adventure… (Checking off the bucket list…)

The 16 day cruise included a super itinerary with stops in Mexico and Central America.

Our cruise adventure…

The first few days on the boat were “Sea Days” which we love! Our routine each day included morning work-outs at the gym or walk track, breakfast with an ocean view, time by the pool, games, a cocktail in the afternoon, and often a SHOW after dinner. If it sounds like fun, IT IS, and it is exactly what we look forward to when cruising.

At the gym in the morning…

Afternoons on the Sea Days…

The shows in Emerald’s Auditorium”…

April 4th we arrived at our first port of call; Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. We have been to this port before on a few other Mexico cruises, so we knew the lay of the land. One thing we hadn’t ever done is walk the entire distance from the port to the end of the Puert0 Vallarta boardwalk. The plan was to walk the 10 miles roundtrip, enjoy some people and beach watching, and have some fish tacos and a Margarita at a seaside cafe. We also figured this would be a test of “my new hip” I had replaced at the end of February. That was the plan and we had a perfect day executing it completely. The only hiccup was Mike had new Hoka Brand Sneakers for the trip and developed a bad blister on mile 8 on our return. The hip was tired though worked perfectly. It was a great port day combining exercise, people watching, the beach and some local fare…

The Puerto Vallarta Mini Bus Pic…

Got to love the Mexico Beach…

Margaritas on the beach…

Our next stop after one sea day was Huatulco, Mexico. This was our first visit to this rather new port for cruise ships. Located in the state of Oaxaca on the Pacific Coast of Mexico, Huatulco was once a small fishing village and over recent years has taken a progressive/responsible stance on development, infrastructure, tourism and then coupled with it’s 9 Bays and 36 Beaches it is a spectacular place for a visit… Our visit included a bus tour, water tour, and stops at the downtown markets.

The view of the Emerald Princes from Huatulco’s mountain…

So many private sandy beaches…

Following Huatulco we enjoyed a couple of sea days again before arriving at our next port, Puntarenas, Costa Rica. This is our first visit to Costa Rica. Most tourism is on the East side of Central America and there are limited things to do on the West side. Many cruise passengers opted for an all-day bus trip to the East Coast where you could Zipline, see Monkeys, rain forests, and … though we opted to just stay and walk around the port. Definitely some cultural AH..Hahs here, though it was still fun to stretch our legs around town. Boy was it ever Hot & Humid here!

Costa Rica Beach…

We docked right in downtown Puntarenas..

Next up Tuesday April 11, 2023 found us docked in Fuerte Amador, Panama. This is the location that we prepare for the following day’s entrance into the New Panama Canal. While docked here we opted to do an excursion for most of the day to visit the Original/Old Panama Canal. The Panama Canal officially opened on August 15, 1914. There had been a planned grand ceremony but it was significantly scaled back due to the outbreak of WWI. The canal was completed at a cost of more than $350 million and was the most expensive construction project in U.S. history to that date. The original locks are 33.5 meters (110 ft) wide. Annual traffic has risen from about 1,000 ships in 1914, when the canal opened, to 14,702 vessels in 2008.

The Original Panama Canal…

The Panama Canal expansion project opened in 2016, also called the Third Set of Locks Project, doubled the capacity of the Panama Canal by adding a new lane of traffic allowing for a larger number of ships, and increasing the width and depth of the lanes and locks allowing larger ships to pass. Sixteen new lock gates were installed as part of the canal expansion: eight on the Atlantic side, and eight on the Pacific.

The Panama Canal is, by all accounts, an engineering MARVEL. The vision, planning, engineering, politics, financing, and ultimately the work of thousands of laborers is one of the wonders of this world. A trip thru this remarkable project that has had such a significant impact on people and cultures around the world, is really an amazing experience.. Add to that the monumental effort to overcome the mosquito carried disease called Malaria all contributed to a renaissance project that significantly impacted world commerce and distribution since.

The canal passage takes a full day end to end. Starting early in the morning, arriving in Lake Gate mid Day, and then the staging of ships to exit the final 77 feet from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean, is a day we won’t forget…

Panama City at DayBreak as we enter the Canal…

Here we go…

The locks…

A new ship waiting in-line to enter the lock…

The Panama Canal Cruise transit from SEA to SEA is truly an incredible experience. “Wow”  just doesn’t do it justice. We have so many friends that have reflected on the experience, and now that we have done it ourselves, we completely understand how easy it is to get excited about sharing the moments from that day. Pictures just don’t do it justice…

Having arrived on the Atlantic Ocean after exiting the Canal we arrived on Thursday April 13th at our next port/stop Cartagena, Columbia. This is our final stop of this 16 day cruise before arriving in Ft Lauderdale, Florida on Sunday. This is actually our 5th country to visit since departing on April 1st.

The city of Cartagena — named after Cartagena, Spain and by extension, the historic city of Carthage – was founded on June 1, 1533, making it one of South America’s oldest colonial cities. It was originally settled by various indigenous people in the region around Cartagena Bay dating as far back as 4000 BC. Cartagena today has a poulation of 876,885 according to the 2018 census. Because of several comments by the on-board excursion planners we decided a formal tour of this stop.  We just wanted to be prudent and safe with our day to explore Cartagena.

Cartagena, Columbia

A typical tourist ploy that we captured though opted out of…

The bus tour was informative and safe…

The city of Cartagena…

The Castillo San Felipe de Barajas is a fortress in the city of Cartagena, Colombia. The castle was built in 1536.

Walking the streets of Cartagena…

Heading back to the Cruise ship late afternoon we opted for a walk-thru the famous “Cartagena Port Oasis Aviary”. This wildlife paradise can only described as incredible! We observed some the  the most exotic birds & animals in our lifetime!!

Our 16 day Panama Canal Cruise adventure on the “Emerald Princess” came to a close on Saturday April 15th, 2023. It truly was a trip of a lifetime. So many different cultures. So many different countries. An inspiring Man-Made Wonder. Incredible food and Perfect weather.

Docking and disembarking in Ft Lauderdale, Florida  we were not disappointed at all. Because Part 2 of this years “Revolutionary Journey” had us boarding next our Transatlantic Cruise to Europe….

Baked Alaska night on our Panama Canal Cruise…