HAL Panama Canal – Day 10-11 Sea Days

(You will happy to know this is our last posting about this cruise. We are safely home now and thank God for all the treasures he gave us this winter.)

We are on the journey back to Ft Lauderdale. This is gala dinner night – lobster tail and filet mignon. We sit with 3 American couples and a mother and daughter from the UK.
The dinner is wonderful‎ and the conversation flows.

It has been a great cruise. We liked:
– the overall quality and tastiness of the food
– the relaxed pace
– the itinerary
– the daily Catholic Mass and priest on board
– the lack of pretentiousness of the guests
– the good natured hard working staff
– our large oceanview room with the king bed
– our cabin steward Agus and his assistant

We did not like as much (most of these are minor points):
– the alt-country music they blared around the pools
– the short time frames scheduled for live music
– lack of techiness on the ship’s displays (no distances, temperatures or access to your on board account)
– the ship did not cruise Lake Gatun as advertised but rather anchored all day; you had to pay to be tendered off on an excursion‎ (not minor)
– the small size of staff name tags making it hard to get to know them by name
– tardy service during some busy times‎ e.g., happy hour
– could not hear announcements clearly due to inadequate placement of speakers and background noise (not minor)

Favorite site: Panama Canal

Favorite ports:
– Aruba
– Cartagena
– Puerto Limon

Least favorite port:
– Colon‎ (a rough place)

We did not go on any organized excursions. We have done many before and don’t enjoy being herded if we can avoid it. We usually do our own thing in port. ‎We do wish we had gone on the optional small boat excursion through the rest of the Canal.

Would we cruise Holland America again? – probably.

Overall value: ‎8/10

Next up: Celebrity Silhouette in Nov, God willing.

….
We are on the road home now. Thanks for sticking with us this winter! Happy Spring and talk to you again when we get home‎.

Happy Easter!

XOX
‎Dave and Marie