Day 6 Wed Jan 9, 2008 Transiting the Panama Canal

Panama Canal photos
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Forgot to note that Capt. Romeo did a signature spin approaching the dock in Cartagena yesterday and we backed in next door to Crystal Serenity for a quick nose-out getaway later.
A funny story from Grand Cayman that we forgot to tell. Merril took us to eat, we were talking about what we'd like to eat. Clay wanted local dishes, fish. Merril said he didn't think we'd like his fish places. Debbie said that Clay'd eat fish with faces. Merril said, you'll eat fish heads, oh man that is the best part of the fish. He said when he was a boy, his Dad took him out on a boat for the first time with American tourists and he learned that you have to filet fish for them and they don't want to see any of the parts. He told his Dad, those Americans are crazy, they throw away the best parts. Debbie told him, no we don't want to see the eyes or heads of anything we eat, we don't even want to know they ever had heads. Merril was just laughing and he chopped with his hand and flung it away, then he said we Caymanians would throw out the filets and fight over the heads!
Although with our invitations to the Forward Crew Only viewing area at 7:45am we had thought to sleep in and have a leisurely morning, we were already approaching the entrance to the Gatun Locks when we woke up in the dark. So, we all got showered and dressed and listened to announcements about the Canal by Terry Breen from about 6 to 7. She said we would be the 8th ship to enter. Clay came back down from the 12th Observation Deck and said there were chairs set up there and all the good spots were already taken. Terry announced that we would enter the first lock about 7am. Clay rounded us up and said that we needed to go find someone to let us go ahead to our Special Event Viewing area. We were instructed to assemble in the Main Atrium on Deck 7. Since we are on Deck 7, we started for the Atrium. Debbie met a waiter with a cart full of milk and let him go before her. Clay and Margie caught up and we followed the waiter to the door to the Spa. Debbie asked him if he was going to the Invitation event and he said yes. We asked if we could follow him there and he nodded and held the door. We followed him through a maze and we did get to the forward deck area. Another waiter stopped Debbie at the exterior door to the deck, but he also let us go outside. Out front the crew, tour desk personnel, etc. were out on the point of the ship viewing and taking photos. We got a chance to put Bob and Roy out on the point for a photo. Before we got attached to the electric locomotives, we were asked to move back under the covered area so we could not be seen by guests above who were unhappy they were not out there. The mystery, as always, on these RSSC ships is that the paying passengers have to struggle to find any where to see forward while the crew have full access without crowds. Then, once the invited Circumnavigators were out there on the Forward area, all the rest of the passengers were going to be unhappy anyway. Also, we had Terry Breen out there talking and it is not clear that at that point she could be heard on the rest of the ship, so maybe they were without a commentator. We are sad that we have still never been in a position on the ship to see the rowboats that attach the cables to the ship. If we had not received the invitation and had woken up early and gone to a good viewing area, we would have just been there without any worries. Though, when we discussed the morning's awkward logistics with some fellow Circumnavigators and 2006 WCers they said that it was a war of elbows up on Deck 12 and we were better off not being there. Anyway, they served coffees, teas, juices and served tortilla chips with either salsa or guacamole and tiny bagels with cream cheese and lox. There really were no bagels without lox! We got to go back out to the point area forward after 7:45am after we were completely inside the first lock. So, we were there when the water started coming in. We stayed until the gates started to open and we moved to the next chamber. There was a man alone in a wheelchair who had been waiting patiently for a spot, but people were crammed in there sitting on the ledges with their backs to the view and just chatting, eating, etc. and not even looking or taking pictures. So, Margie and Debbie decided that they would hold their spot until the man in the wheelchair could get in there. Margie went back and coordinated it with him and Debbie asked the other few people blocking the space if they would mind giving the man in the wheelchair a turn there. Everyone shifted over and then we held the spot until he could get up there. He still couldn't get close enough to get right up to the rail, but he angled in and stayed with his camera until we exited the 2nd chamber. Shortly after that, we left just as it started drizzling rain. We went back to LaVeranda for a real breakfast.
Once we were inGatun Lake, Debbie and Margie started out on a laundry quest again. Debbie had planned to get in a good day of exercise classes, but when she went to the Fitness Room, there was a sign up saying that the day's classes with Leanne were cancelled, sorry. So, it was definitely laundry time. Unfortunately, it meant that since Margie would not leave Debbie alone to the laundry room that she missed most of the sail through and she had never done a complete transit before! It was still a busy day in the laundry rooms. So, they just picked the least populated room and stayed put until it was done. That meant that they did not get finished until we were approaching the Pedro Miguel locks. Margie and Debbie had some entertainment by the concert pianist onboard, who did a Goodfellas routine about Tommy, his missing sock, that is "gone, just gone!" Debbie interrupted his rant at one point and asked if he was telling us that there was a Mafia hit on his sock. He stopped for a breath and said yes. Debbie told him, "we've been in here all along and we didn't see nuthin'." Of course, that set him off all over again. They are still laughing about it.
We went to the Horizon Lounge's back covered deck to take in the rear view back towards the Gatun Locks. The first ship we saw back there was a familiar one. It is a small world. We blogged about that ship here.
Kenny Smiles gets kicked off Voyager!
We went up to the Pool Deck for the German Fruehshoppen and stayed out on decks until we had come down 31 feet on our way to the Pacific. We have seen more people onboard in bathing suits in the past 6 days than we saw in 122 days in 2006! There are a whole bunch of swimming pool/sunbathing people on here now. We saw things today on the Pool Deck at the German lunch that we could have gone our whole lives without seeing.
It is now just after 1pm and we are still closely following HAL's Amsterdam as we near the final set of locks, Miraflores. Terry Breen has been making shipwide announcements and says she will be leaving the ship soon. Not sure what that means? But, she told us this is her 70th Panama Canal transit! Terry told us that she had only seen 1 crocodile this trip through and wondered about it. We are just now getting hooked up tothe cables and have begun through the last set of locks. It is now 3:30pm and we have completed our Panama Canal transit. Terry Breen said goodbye. We still don't know what we have missed about that. Is she leaving the ship for good? If not, when will she be back? We had understood that she would be onboard for the entire circumnavigation. She is certainly listed as onboard for this entire segment. No idea, if we learn anything we will report later. Maybe she was just signing off on the Panama Canal Transit.
We expect to be anchored off Fuerte Amador before 7pm. Dinner tonight is at served at 4:45pm! The entire ship (540 passengers) is invited to the Miraflores Visitors Center for cocktails. We have been told that something like 380 people have accepted the invitation and we have to be in the Constellation Theater no later than 6:45pm to queue for tenders. Each tender will hold about 80 people. Then it is a bus ride back to Miraflores locks basically for evening cocktails and to see if any other ships come through that we can watch. The ship spends overnight here and leaves in the afternoon tomorrow. We hope that our Miraflores Visitors Center visit this evening will be a full one because we do not plan to return tomorrow to see the exhibits there. So, the last time Debbie and Clay were here it was a Formal night and New Year's Eve. We anchored for the day in the Gatun Lake and had a really wonderful few hours at the Gatun Yacht Club. That was a really special day that was missing with this trip. Late, after dinner that evening Debbie and Clay went up on the top deck for the Miraflores Locks and in our Formal wear, we sailed right past a party on the top of the Miraflores Visitors Center. People were taking pictures of us transiting and we waved back all dressed up and feeling very special. Today Bobbi and Sherm were telling us that at the same time, they had been out on their balcony in their jammies, feeling quiet and all alone in the privacy of the dark of night, when suddenly they found themselves in the middle of a cocktail party with camera flashes going off! Both stories were pretty funny. You have to wonder how many people got caught like that in their cabins or balconies. We know that we were the only ones on the top deck of Voyager at the time because it was such a luxury to be alone when all those people were crammed together at the MVC photographing the ship passing! So tonight, we'll be switching places. The Captain speaking about tonight's event have asked for patience because he has never seen this many people at once in MVC for an event. It felt very crowded today on the Forward area of the ship and that was only the Circumnavigators, or less than 1/2 of the people expected tonight. Interestingly as we passed HAL's Amsterdam today, we saw that they had a tent up with a special event for their World Cruisers on their own Forward area. It appeared very lightly attended and they were out there all day. On Mariner, we were only invited out there this morning. By the time breakfast was being served, they were asking us to leave. As we were on the elevator, on the way to breakfast this morning, the F&B Mgr. got on and Clay asked him about provisioning with local beer. He answered that he would be bringing on local beer, wine and food as much as possible all the way around South America. He did not know about Cay Brew from Grand Cayman, so we let him know that he had missed a good lager. He said he would check it out next time he was there.
It is 4:15 and we are nearing Hal's Prinsendam near the tender port for Fuerte Amador and HAL's Amsterdam is approaching behind us. The HAL folks surely have big plans for the evening! We need to start thinking about dressing. We have instructions to dress Country Club Casual with flat shoes and a light sweater or wrap as it may be breezy ashore in the evening. Unless the humidity suddenly drops, it is unlikely anyone will be chilled. It was like a warm wet blanket in the face this morning at 5am, so unless somehow the Pacific side gets a lot drier (and it hasn't yet!) this makes little sense. Anyway, dinner is being served in about 30 minutes and then we need to get queue up to tender off. 4:16pm and we just dropped anchor.
We got to the Compass Rose for dinner a little after 5. First weirdness of the evening. The Dining Room Manager walked up to the table and said Good Evening Mr & Mrs Burch, he appeared to be speaking to Clay and Margie and ignoring Debbie. We're not sure. Then, he asked if we had gotten our invitation. No, what invitation. He said not to worry, it was for 2 evenings hence, dinner with... here it gets tricky. Clay and Margie heard accented mumble mumble mumble. Debbie heard "a TV actor onboard" which made no sense. We all said we had not received an invitation and he said maybe it would be on the door later and he just wanted to make sure we would reply. Debbie asked him to repeat what the invitation was with thesame results as reported above. Still makes no sense. He then said, don't worry about it, you can accept or decline (duh!) as you wish because he is on for the whole cruise and is inviting everyone onboard at some point. So, don't worry about. (Well, it now the next morning and still no invitation, so not worrying is easier said than done. We would always reply! But, only if we get an invitation!)
We had finished up dinner in time to be in the Constellation Theater to make it on the first tender that was leaving around 6:30. We sat on top of the tender. Being outside on the tender top is a much more pleasant experience than being cooped up inside where it is normally warm and humid with limited air circulating. It was a fairly long tender ride, maybe 20 minutes. The promised 15 minute bus ride to the Miraflores Visitors Center turned out to be 30 minutes but it was not a bad ride and went by quickly. Once at the MVC, we waited in a theatre for 4 buses to unload and then we sat through a 12 minute film on the canal and then meandered through 3 floors of various exhibits on the canal. On the 3rd floor there was a NASA-like simulation that allowed you to drive a loaded cargo ship through the locks. (Ships use their own power to propel themselves through the locks. The locomotive-type mules are only used to stabilize and center the ships.) There was also another exhibit where you could open the lock gates (not the real ones!). On the 4th floor there was an outside viewing deck and this is where we had cocktails and local food and a local band and folkloric dance show. Clay was able to get a local beer named Soberana. It was a little stronger tasting than the Cayman and Columbian beers.
About 8:50pm, we decided to head back. The Captain had stood at the rail for a while and watched a ship lock through and he and the F&B Mgr. said we were actually 500 people tonight, using 18 buses running continuous loops to get everyone ferried back and forth. We thought things up to this point had gone pretty well considering the number of people. They seemed to have plenty of buses so we did not wait more than 5 minutes or so for a bus back to the port. But, they dropped the ball on the returning tenders. We were probably in the 2nd fully loaded bus to return to the dock to catch a tender. When we got there, there was a Mariner tender just loaded that was pulling out. That put us number 30-40 in line so we knew we would just be on the next tender as they hold about 80 people. While we were waiting for another tender (about 40 minutes), three tenders from the Amsterdam came and went. By the time the next Mariner tender showed up, an additional 4 full buses at least had unloaded and the line was about as long as half a football field, or out into the dark part of the parking lot. By the time the tender we were on was moving back toward the ship, the line was as long as a football field. They must have been only running a single tender back and forth when the crowd hit at the tender dock. When we got back to the ship, it was clear from the radio traffic that we heard that they now had 3 tenders running. Unfortunately, by that time most of those people had been standing in the parking lot in a line for over an hour. I guess the good news here is that it was near 11pm and people were not being roasted in the sun and passing out. It was dark and humid, but not much over 80F and there was a nice breeze off the water to keep the bugs off. Hopefully, they were able to clear the line out quickly with the additional tenders later. It was sad that there were no senior or management people from Regent out at the dock to oversee things. There was only one Regent security person on the actual foot of the tender dock and she could not see up into the parking lot and had no idea what was going on out there.
As we tried to get in our cabins last night, we had our second weirdness of the evening. We were examining our doors and removing the giant Panama Canal Transit certificates from them, a man and woman tried to get past us in the hall. The man stopped and demanded to know where we got the magnets on our door. We thought he meant the door plaques for Circumnavigators. But, we had not met him before and weren't sure how to reply when we all started talking. He interrupted and started poking our Big O magnets that Debbie had made. We each have one on each of our doors and Babs & Jim have one too, 2 doors down since he is turning 80 on this cruise. He and his wife said that he was turning 73 soon and he was furious that he had not gotten a magnet. Huh? They had been to the Front Desk and demanded a Big O Circle South America magnet. Clearly, they had not yet seen our T-shirts! Clay tried to explain to him that Debbie made them. Clay finally said with a computer and the Internet and the guy backed off and his wife realized that the Front Desk really could not help them. Clay told him to wait and went inside and got one of the magnets off our wall map and gave it to him. Clay told him to keep up with it because Debbie only had 10 of them made. We have actually been surprised that no one had stolen them off the door yet, since that happened on the WC. The guy practically had tears in his eyes as he thanked us and told us how important this was to him. His wife told us too and how we had made his cruise, he was so upset about this. Then she laughed about the Front Desk and said we would probably hear from the Front Desk since they gave them our suite number to get the info on the magnets. Weird! We fell into bed exhausted and planned to sleep in since we have no fixed plans here tomorrow morning.
Final news is that we learned that RSSC paid $138,000 to transit the canal today. The highest ever paid was $313,000 very recently by either Island Princess or an NCL ship or else both of them did. Varied by source.
Oh, one last thing. We have mentioned Sherm and Bobbi. Debbie and Clay sailed with them on the WC 2006. Sherm kept a blog that Margie read and we all read his 2007 WC blog. Not one to break with tradition, sherm is posting another blog. Here is the link: http://2008regentmariner.blogspot.com/ Give it a read. He is a funny guy.
Panama Canal photos