"Treasures of Cruising the World" with Bill & Mary Ann: Report # 12 Transiting the Panama Canal January 9, 2014 Thursday Hot and humid, 91 degrees, chance of rain

Happy "100th" Birthday Panama Canal

Here is the question of the day: How can you get from New York City to San Francisco by sailing 5900 miles instead of 14,000 miles around Cape Horn? Easy, you take the Panama Canal, one of the world's most successful project of creating a shortcut. The history of the making of the canal is filled with almost unsurmountable problems that came with a sad cost of human life. It was finally completed in 1914, which makes this year the Panama Canal's 100th birthday. Not too much of the basic operation has changed over the years....the concept of using water in locks to elevate or lower the ships was clever beyond description. We're talking about the power of millions of gallons of water just to move one ship. This process is repeated over and over, 24 hours around the clock. That is one heck of a lot of water. Good thing there is a constant supply of rainwater that comes from the nearby mountains and rain forest.

Our scheduled time to enter the first set of locks, Gatun Locks, was around 6:30am, after the pilot boarded at 5am. Since we have done this transit numerous times, we chose not to be up at the crack of dawn. No, it is much more convenient to watch the progress by turning to channel 41 in our stateroom. The ship's camera above the bow of the vessel catches some of the deck, so we could see that the bow was not overly crowded with guests that early. The only thing that may have brought us out early was the call of the Panama Rolls they serve on the outside decks from 6 to 8am. However, from experience, we do know there will be some of those tasty treats in the dining room at breakfast time.

Islands in Gatun Lake

We watched our slow progress through Gatun Lake while eating breakfast. Every ship is given a time to approach the set of locks at the Pacific end, so that dictates the speed the ship will go. Today, it was painfully slow. Painful, because there was little or no breeze, and the temperatures were climbing by the minute. So was the humidity. Usually this time of year, the drier season, it is not so hot or humid. Today was an exception. Passengers should be well aware of the warning printed in the daily newsletter, titled "The Heat Is On". Among other warnings, it said to avoid seasick meds, because they can reduce heat tolerance. Of course we know to wear light clothing, drink plenty of fluids, and limit exercise.

Guess what? The rain came and came....

Sure emptied the decks quickly

So, what did we do all day? Put on our swimsuits, and go to the aft pool, where we think the best viewing point is for going through the locks and canal. Just as we were wishing for more clouds, we must have wished too hard. A very black cloud came overhead, and the rain came down in torrents. That sure cleared the outside decks off in a hurry. But it also cooled everything off. We thought we could wait it out, but it hung on until we were gong through the last of the locks at Miraflores. The Amsterdam was pretty much on time as we dropped off the narrator and pilot at Balboa. We were sailing south in the Pacific Ocean before 5pm.

One thing we did see today was the progress of the new construction on the canal expansion. Specifically, both entrances at the Pacific and Atlantic are being deepened and widened. A new Pacific access channel is being completed that almost parallels the current channel. It will join the new Pacific Locks with the Culebra Cut.

The new locks at Gatun

Should be finished by early 2016....maybe

Looking good

Lots of progress

Lots more to do

Gatun Lake will also be deepened and widened, as well as the elevation of the lake raised. A totally newly-designed set of locks on both ends of the canal are nearing completion. They will be capable of handling much larger and longer ships. Even though it appears that they are far from being done, the projected date of completion is late 2015 or early 2016. Whatever we may have missed seeing today, we will have another chance to catch on the way back from Ft. Lauderdale to San Diego next May. And for those who wish to have a forever keepsake of this particular transit, you can buy a Panama Canal DVD for the price of $34.95 through the Photo Gallery. In fact, if you wish to purchase a special 12 DVD collection on the entire cruise, it would set you back $250.

We decided to go to the sandwich bar in the Lido for a late lunch. They had trays of hot pizza there, much to our surprise. Since the cruise began on January 4th, we have not had an opportunity to go to the Grill at the Lido pool. Well, we found out that the pizza baking and serving station is gone from there. Only hamburgers and dogs are served now. We are not certain that the taco bar is still there, but will check that out soon. As for us, we think taking that pizza station away from the grill area is a very good move. Do you know how many times we have seen people pick up a slice of pizza with their hands, then put it back? No wonder when the virus hits, so many people are infected. From here on out, all the pizza will be served in the Lido restaurant. Now the good news is that the pizza we tested today was really, really good. The bad news is that the pizza was really, really good, and will be difficult not to over-indulge. While listening to the demo on how to make Panama rolls on TV, someone asked if the pizza dough was made fresh onboard by the bakers. The head bakery chef said no, the pizza dough was purchased, probably frozen. If that is the case, we agree with the passenger who said the crust was also really, really good.

Our big job of the afternoon was to fill out the Chilean arrival/departure cards and declaration forms. Christel, our guest relations manager, makes it easy for us. She attaches a letter and describes exactly what we have to fill out. Most times the required information is pre-printed for us. Actually, we are not visiting mainland Chile, but stopping in Easter Island, weather permitting. Easter Island belongs to Chile, so these forms are necessary. One nice thing is that Chile does not charge for a visa.

A couple of other changes have occurred since we sailed last fall. The Pinnacle Grill dinner has gone up to $29. per person The three, four, and five star Mariners still do get a discount on that price. And for the first time on a world cruise, the Canaletto restaurant has a charge of $10. per person. We have yet to try the Italian food there.

Speaking of Italian food, we thought we would give the lasagna a try again in the dining room this evening. The recipe has not changed, unfortunately, and we were disappointed once again. Good thing we had ordered the braised short ribs with mashed potatoes. That entree was even better than we can remember. It is becoming quite obvious to us that the high quality of the beef has been reserved for this grand voyage.

Showtime in the Queens Lounge featured Dance Trance, a couple who performed dances from different countries, such as a bullfight in Spain to the carnival dance in Brazil. Everyone went except for us and Barb. As usual, we hung back to continue our conversation, while our waiters continued to bus the tables around us, as we had requested.

One more lazy day at sea, and we will be in Manta, Ecuador.