Day 7 – Sunday, March 24, 2019 Panama Canal Transit

Today we woke up at 6:30 AM and we were at the start of our transit through the Panama Canal. We had just passed under the Bridge of the Americas.

The Panama Canal stretches across the Isthmus of Panama in Central America. The waterway measures 50 miles, including dredged approach chanels at each end. The canal consists of three separate canal locks, as well as other artificial waterways and has artificially created lakes, channels, and a series of water-filled chambers that raise and lower ships through the mountainous terrain of central Panama.

35 ships a day pass through here

92 individuals gates

Cost to go through the Panama Canal for a cruise ship can be anywhere from $250K-$300K.

We went on the Spa deck to watch as we entered the Milaflores Locks (West Lane) which took about an hour.

The next lock was Pedro Miguel Locks (West Lane) which took 40 minutes.

We went to the Terrace Cafe for breakfast and was able to see another crew ship entering the lock in a different lane.

Jim had eggs, bacon,corn beef hash, brioche, orange juice and coffee. Patricia had muesli with strawberries and blueberries and a donut with chocolate frosting.

The Gatun Locks (East Lane) were the last set of locks we went though starting at 12:35 PM.

We went to the Terrace Cafe for lunch. Jim had a caesar salad and tuna salad sandwich and Patricia had a tuna salad sandwich, pita bread and cucumber sauce and salad. Jim sampled some desserts and Patricia had a scoop of chocolate ice cream and mini chocolate chips.

We were at the back of the ship so we watched the last lock fill up and close and open. There was a ship behind us that was very interesting to watch as they went through the lock as well. The locks are an engineering marvel and fascinating to see the process.

The rest of the afternoon we spent reading and looking outside balcony at the marvelous views.

The captain announced that some passengers have gotten a gastrointestinal illness and we need to sanitize our hands and be very careful. If we are affected we need to go see the doctor for a complimentary visit and then you will be quarantined for 72 hours.

Luckily nothing has happened to us. But they are taking precautions on the ship and washing everything down that is touched as well as the food is covered with plastic so no hands can get near it. There is a certain time frame that has to happen when new cases are reported and I guess there were 3 new cases reported today. Always something happening to keep us on our toes.

Tonight we had dinner in the Grand Dining Room. We walked in and there were no table settings on the table because of this virus going around. There were seven people that had it now there are 10 people today. They are taking every precaution not to spread it. They even gave us paper menus that were not in the vinyl menu holder. They also didn’t leave the bread basket on the table.