Cruisin' to Panama

Well, we are back from our cruise and we had such a great time!! We flew to Miami, Florida, had a relaxing evening in our hotel and shuttled off to the pier the next morning to go aboard Royal Caribbean's Brilliance of the Seas. There was 14 of us and 3 cabins had a balcony and 4 had nice big windows. Our balconies were on the deck above the life boats and just in front of that lifeboat closest to the front of the ship. The windows cabins were right below that lifeboat!

We all had lunch together at the buffet, then went our separate ways to explore and unpack. Every afternoon around 5 several of us gathered in a lounge area where we could enjoy the view out the big windows and relax before we went into the dining room for dinner. This is my mom, her cruising buddy "L" and hubby the first night out.

No matter where we all went during the day, we all met for dinner every night in the main dining room - the food was great and our waiter and asst. waiter were just great! Every evening we had super entertainment in the big theater and we all met together to enjoy that too!

I decided I wanted to try the rock climbing wall on the ship - so hubby and I "geared up" and we did it! Hubby went right up and rang the bell at the top like he did it every day! I took a bit longer - it was harder than I thought it would be - but I made it and rang that bell!! It was fun - I don't know if I'll every try it again, but I did it!!

Our first 2 days were at sea and by the 2nd day we had relaxed sufficiently to really enjoy a deck chair and a good book instead of rushing from one activitity to the next! I was particularly fond of the solarium - no wind, plenty of sun, but not too hot - - I spent many lovely hours there over the course of our 5 sea days!! The guys could usually be found in the solarium playing cards - they had a great time!

Aruba was deserty - not what I expected. I guess the resorts are probably pretty - the beaches were beautiful white sand - but not someplace I would go out of the way to visit again. We did go to a butterfly farm on a tour - interesting!! I had no idea there were so many types and colors of butterflies!! They were beautiful!

The Panama Canal was amazing! We woke up early and watched the process from our balconies, with coffee, fruit and sweet rolls provided by room service! Our 3 balcony rooms were in a row, so we were all together and it was great!! It took about 2.5 hours once we were hooked up to the "mules" (engines that pull the ships through the locks). We were the largest class of ship that can go through and although we had about 17 feet in front and behind us, there was only 2 feet on either side! The mules kept us perfectly centered! There was a cargo ship that went up in the set of locks right beside us, so we could see how they handled that ship - It was facinating!! We went through the 3 locks on the east side of Panama and into Gatun lake where we went off the ship to go on sightseeing tours. The ship cruised around the lake, then went back out on the Caribbean side where our tours delivered us at the end of the day. Each port offered tours and since we only had a day in each, and they were foreign countries, we all took tours. Our group was usually split on their interests and at the end of each day we had several tours to share about.

The next day was Costa Rica and it is beautiful!! I think it was my favorite of the 4 countries we visited. This is where 9 of us went on the Crazy Monkey Canopy Tour! As promised - here are pictures! Here is mom getting hooked into her gear, and mom and hubby getting ready to climb up to the first platform! You can see the first level, the stairs to the 2nd level, and what you can't see is the 3rd level 60 feet in the air!!! Climbing those ladders was the scariest, although we were always hooked to safety lines and there was no chance of falling off. Once we were at the top the guy (or gal) hooked us to the cable and off we went to the next platform! There were 13 platforms and 12 spans - the shortest 60 feet, the longest over 400. I came very close to bad words looking down from that first platform, but since hubby and my 83-yr old mom had just gone before me I had to do it too!! Sliding on the cable was great - it felt very safe and flying through the treetops was incredible!! We would land on a platform, then climb up to the upper platform and take off again! The was a guy to make sure we landed safely, and another one who hooked us up to go again! Since I had the camera and followed mom, these pictures are of her not me! One of the "send-off" guys took a movie of me with my camera, but I can't figure out how to post it!!

We had another relaxing sea day then arrived at Grand Cayman - The sky was beautiful and the sea is the most incredible color there - several colors of turquoise and so clear that when we went snorkeling I could see the SeaPass card that had come out of hubby's bathing suit pocket and had settled on the sandy bottom 40 feet below! One of the guys from the snorkel boat dove down and got it! Whew!! - that was his security card to get back on the ship!! I think his angel guided me over there - I saw a 5-ft tarpin and followed it, looked down and saw a card. The water was so crystal clear I could see that it had our ship's logo on it, but didn't realize it was his til we got back on the ship. I told him what I had found and he patted his pocket and it was empty! Thank goodness it didn't fall out over the caves that dotted the nearby coral reef!! Here's mom, L and I getting ready to snorkle!

Our last day was a sea day going back to Miami. It was funny, before we left, some of the guys were apprehensive about spending 10 days on a cruise ship - they were afraid they might be bored! But on that 10th day we were all ready to turn around and do it again!! It was a wonderful trip!!

Now mom and L and hubby and I are looking forward to an Alaskan cruise with Morning Glory, the Dr, their daughter Beth and her hubby in July!! Yippee - I love practicing for retirement!!