• Dinner last night was very good at Canaletto — the pasta course being especially superb, particularly the pan fried gnocchi with short-ribs
• Adrian, our cabin steward, is a wiz at folding towel animals. He made a point of especially inviting us to a demonstration today, and he seemed to be genuinely moved that we showed up for his event (he was one of two stewards hosting the show). He even invited Emerson by name onto the stage to help him fold an animal.

Meet “George” — Emerson’s towel animal creation…

Indeed, I sat smugly at breakfast this morning talking about how I wasn’t even sure if a partial transit really counted for a Panama Canal transit for someone wanting to scratch it off their bucket list. (For the record, I’m still not sure, but I’ll go with “why not” if pressed.) While others scouted out prime spots on deck long before our arrival at the first lock, I munched on one of HAL’s sublime bran muffins confident in my superiority. Yet, as we finished breakfast and approached this wonder of the modern world, I couldn’t help but find myself a bit excited by the prospect of experiencing it firsthand.

Of course, by this time the bow of the ship was positively crammed with fellow passengers.

Undeterred, we watched closely the movement of ships ahead of us and exiting the canal in the other direction. For those that don’t know, the locks of the Panama Canal work like a kind of escalator for ships: the lock gates open, a ship enters, the water level rises/falls to match the water level in the direction of travel, the opposite gates open, and then the ships moves on. That’s how all canal locks work. Of course, the Panama Canal does this on a grand scale (and even a grander scale for the new locks, which support ships considerably larger than the historical Panamax size).

To get a private, front- (well, back-) row seat, we returned to our aft-facing balcony cabin on the stern of the Zuiderdam.

Entering the first of the Gatun Locks…

This provided an unobstructed view of the operation of the lock gates behind us.

In the second lock, watching the water rise…

After making our way through all three of the Gatun Locks, the ship stopped in Gatun Lake and disembarked passengers (including us) going on excursions in Panama. Our plan for the day? An ecological adventure on the man-made Gatun Lake in search of native wildlife, especially monkeys.

Unfortunately, it was a bit rainy (that’s our ship on the lake!)…

Zuiderdam on Gatun Lake

But, hey, it’s the rainforest! This is part of the adventure! Besides, we took a lot of sea-spray from the boat on the river anyway.

Being at water level on the Panama Canal really changes one’s perspective. It allowed us to better examine the topography of the land and imagine the islands of today as the hills of a bit more than a century ago.

Boating along Gatun Lake…

We did manage to see some monkeys (though the photos are much better on my SLR — I’ll have to upload those later).

Following our two-hour boat tour, we all were thoroughly soaked for our return to Colon, where our ship was awaiting us. It had transited the Gatun Locks in the opposite direction while we were on tour. Needless to say, our shipmates were all keen to get out of their wet clothes and warm up. As such, nobody had a desire to explore Colon on our arrival there, which was a good thing as Colon has a bad reputation (not a place to wander outside of the port gates).

Indeed, I have to say the town looked fairly rundown and rather seedy. This was one of the nicer streets:

Colon, Panama

All in all, we had a fun day… I like a mild adventure and sense of slight discomfort sometimes when traveling (which isn’t especially easy to do on a cruise). It makes me feel a bit more alive.

Today’s box score: +1 country (Panama)

View of Bocagrande from the Bay of Cartagena

Given that we’d never been here before and only had a half day visit, we opted for a walking tour of the old city arranged by HAL mostly to ensure a timely departure and return to the ship. Our impression of Cartagena was very positive. The areas that we traversed from the port to the old city all seemed relatively well maintained, clean, and safe.

Colonial balconies typical of Cartagena…

The old city within the walled fortifications was particularly charming with its colorful, balconied buildings festooned with ornate doors and tropical vines, such as bougainvillea. It reminded me a bit of both Old San Juan (due to its seaside location and fortifications) mixed with the historical center of Quito (due to its colonial architecture). Although our walking tour was brief, we were able to visit the inside of both the cathedral and the Inquisition museum.

Overall, we thought Cartagena compared favorably with other large cities that we’ve visited in South America previously. Only complaint? Not enough time…

In the afternoon, Libby and I took our turns about the deck before having a very delicious dinner in the main dining room. Indeed, Libby liked the look of the menu so much she actually rescheduled our planned dinner in the ship’s Italian restaurant. What’s more, it proved to be a wise decision, which is saying something for a cruise ship’s dining room.

Today’s box score: +1 country (Colombia)

Between our walks and attending a port lecture, we ate lunch in the Pinnacle Grill, which I think is a bargain at $10/pp. for a very nice meal in a speciality restaurant.

All in all, a nice and relaxing day…

View of Willemstad…

Given that this was a long day in port and that we didn’t have any particular plans, we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast before disembarking the ship. We then spent the morning hours wandering around Willemstad. Being a Sunday, many of the shops, restaurants, and museums were closed and the town generally felt sleepy, but it was nonetheless charming with its brightly-colored, Dutch-Caribbean architecture.

Iconic view of Willemstad…

Highlights included the Queen Emma pontoon bridge (jokingly referred to as the “Swinging Old Lady”), the floating market (which has been somewhat curtailed due to the troubles in nearby Venezuela of late), and the Mikve Israel-Emanuel Synagogue (which is the oldest continuously operating temple in the Western Hemisphere).

We returned to the ship for lunch, and I took Emerson for a swim in the ship’s pool. In the early afternoon, Libby and I walked a little over 3 miles around the deck while Emerson went to Club HAL.

Dinner was in the main dining room. Once again, Emerson especially enjoyed her meal — Caribbean jerk chicken and a white chocolate and lime pop (which was a firm lime mouse coated in a thin layer of white chocolate shaped to look like a popsicle, complete with a wooden stick). After dinner, we attended another performance by the quintet at Lincoln Center Stage and had a lengthier conversation with the viola player’s mother.

Just before bed, I noticed a large ship coming into port behind us, which I thought odd for a passenger ship at that time of day. It turned out to be the Norwegian Sun returning to port, as it had departed from Curaçao about 5 hours prior. From what I could see, they were met by an ambulance. It seemed clear that they disembarked a passenger who had taken ill, as well as their family (based on the amount of wheeled luggage that accompanied them off of the ship). The ship actually released its lines and sailed back to sea before the ambulance or police vehicle left the pier. Based on what I could see of the pace of the emergency personnel’s movement, my **guess** is that the passenger needed urgent care in the relatively near-term. It just didn’t look like a “critical, fighting desperately to save them” kind of situation. But, I could be wrong — I’m hopeful someone will be mentioned on one the cruising message boards.

Obviously, I’m hopeful for the best for the passenger and their family. My thoughts are clearly with them. At best, I’m sure this has proven to be a scary and stressful circumstance. It also reminds me of why we travel now when we can, as you never know when fortune may preclude future plans.

Today’s box score: +1 country (Curaçao)

On this cruise, we’re starting to find that pattern. Breakfast in the Lido (usually an egg white omelette, fruit, and some pistachios for me). Walking around the deck (about 3 miles each day). Watching the ATK demonstration (“New Italian Favorites” today). Enjoying the talented LCS quintet perform (“Women in Music” today).

View sailing into Aruba…

Today, we did much of that in the morning as our ship wasn’t scheduled to dock in Aruba until after 1pm. Given that folks had been on the ship for nearly two days and likely itching to get ashore, we opted to wait until after 2pm to disembark ourselves. Plus, we didn’t have a lot more planned than simply wandering around Oranjestad (Libby and I had been here previously), which we recalled as one of the nicer ports in the Caribbean.

Libby and Emerson in Aruba

The port was largely as we remembered it; although, I thought it was a bit more upscale than it appeared on this day. It’s not that it was especially run down — just a more vacant shops and a higher concentration of touristy-tacky merchandise then I’d remembered. We did a little shopping and picked up some tennis shoes for Libby, which we’d in hindsight not-so-strategically opted to leave at home. It was a pleasant enough way the spend an afternoon, though I wasn’t “feeling Aruba” today.

Indeed, it was one of those days of travel in which I just felt “off” for no particular reason. It’s not an unknown feeling to me. The first time I really recall feeling that way was on our second visit to Vienna, though I’m sure it wasn’t novel to me then either; it’s just that I don’t was more keenly aware of it that day. I’m at a loss to explain its genesis. It’s not that anything “bad” in particular happens to me on those days. I just inexplicably find myself feeling restive and/or filled with ennui on occasion when traveling.

Oh well. Enough with the psychoanalysis.

For dinner, we returned to the ship and enjoyed a surprisingly good meal in the dining room. Emerson, who’s forsaken the kid’s menu altogether, particularly enjoyed it having discovered carne asada and consuming a delightful strawberry crisp. This was followed by the aforementioned LCS concert. After the show, Emerson had a chance to meet some of the musicians, as well as the viola player’s very kind mother (who was herself a musician and violin teacher for 38 years).

View of the western tip of Haiti as we sailed past…

Between the usual grazing morning, noon, and night, we did the following:

11am America’s Test Kitchen — All About Chiles cooking show featuring recipes and tips from ATK (which replaced Food & Wine Magazine as their culinary enrichment brand partner since our prior HAL cruises)

2pm EXC Guide — semi-informative talk about Aruba and Curaçao (our next two ports of call); not as good as having a proper guest lecturer IMHO.

3pm Classical Favorites — a quintet of excellent musicians took to the Lincoln Center Stage (another brand partner) and played a variety of classic favorites from chamber music to classic rock.

Emerson joined us for the ATK cooking show and the musical performance.

For lunch, we ate at the al fresco Dive-In for some of the best hot dogs, hamburgers, and fries at sea (along with Emerson’s beloved HAL taco bar). It was as good as usual — a fan favorite with this fam.

Tonight, we had dinner in the Pinnacle Grill, which was as good as always. Stand-outs included the chef’s escargot amuse bouche, Libby’s crab cakes, my lobster bisque, and our truffle fries. The ladies all went with filet mignon steaks (very tender), and I opted for the pork chops (to be different). Although the ladies’ raspberry cheesecake “tower things” (forgot what they were actually called) and chocolate lava cakes were good, I think my lemon brûlée tart was the winner for best dessert.

View of Zuiderdam from Half Moon Cay

For our part, we had a delightful time. I even rented a floating map ($10 for the day), which was from Frontgate and something I might invest in for when the pool is finished at home. We did have some rain showers pass through intermittently, but it wasn’t really an issue for us as they weren’t accompanied by lightning or thunder. Plus, it was both novel and fun to swim in the rain.

The ladies ate the included lunch at the Island BBQ (decent enough). I opted for the path less frequently taken to visit the “Lobster Shack” for Caribbean lobster roll ($13).

Lobster Shack vs. Island Barbeque

We’d planned on having dinner at the Pinnacle Grill, but the swells started to kick up as we sailed south. This caught us off guard, making Emerson motion sick before we could get Dramamine into her. So, we rebooked our fancy dinner for the following night and opted for the main dining room again in case we needed to leave early (which we did).

Last night, I received an email saying that our boarding would be delayed due to “technical difficulties.” Holland America instructed us to arrive mid-afternoon. Fine. We still left early, but we went to he Sawgrass Mills mall to shop and have lunch @ Matchbox in Sunrise before driving to the port.

The port–on a random Wednesday–was very quite compared to the bustle that’s more typical of a Thanksgiving cruise weekend departure. Our fellow guests–mostly retirees–seemed to have ignored the instructions from HAL re: boarding. I have to imagine that there were delays earlier in the day when boarding was denied, but we waltzed at our appointed time from the parking lot, thru the terminal, and onto to the ship without any delays.

We have an aft balcony cabin (#7145) on Zuiderdam. Our cabin is typical of this class of ship (we’d sailed on a sister ship, Westerdam, with the entire family a few years back), although the balcony is extra deep. Mom and Emerson have an inside cabin opposite us, though their door is around the corner.

Zuiderdam, Cabin 7145

View of balcony, Zuiderdam Cabin 7145

The rest of the first day was typical. We did the requisite muster drill. We made speciality dining reservations (limited on this ship). We ate dinner in the main dining room (generally decent or better with fairly good service for a first night aboard).