CORAL PRINCESS - Panama Canal Cruise
by Carolina Ashe

The Coral Princess

We traveled on the Coral Princess on a repositioning cruise from Vancouver, BC to Fort Lauderdale, Florida in September of 2009.  I wasn't excited about the actual transit of the canal beforehand, but that all changed when at we went through.  The Coral Princess  and the Island Princess are the only two Princess cruise ships that can currently transit the Panama Canal.  The Coral Princess has 700 balcony units and 90% of the suites have an ocean view, so the Coral Princess is perfect for witnessing the engineering marvel of the Canal. 

Island Princes and Coral Princess in Cartegena, Colombia

Watch the Princess video of the ship     Coral Princess Bridge Cam

View down to larger balconies that fit 4 chairs.

Long Beach, California - Our first stop was Long Beach and we enjoyed a visit to the Aquarium of the Pacific, Long Beach. 

Aquarium of the Pacific, Long Beach 

Cabo San Lucas, Mexico - By the time we arrived in Cabo San Lucas, temperatures were in the 100F 38C range.  All the ports in Mexico have young soldiers armed with guns and rifles.  We took a tour to nearby San Jose del Cabo, where we visited a cactus garden and a glass blowing factory.  They've developed the glass blowing industry from supplies of recycled bottles.

See also Tim's trip to Cabo San Lucas on the Carnival Pride including pics of El Arco and Lover's Beach.

Acapulco, Mexico - Acapulco was not one of my favorites.  We did the historical tour of Acapulco.  In spite of some disappointing stops, our tour guide was excellent and knowledgeable. First we visited the Hotel Los Flamingos on the cliffs overlooking the sea.  This hotel is famous for its co-owners - John Wayne and Johnny Weissmuller (early Tarzan movies).  was really not worth going to. Its best days are long past, and it’s just a tired old piece of a bygone era.  We visited the non-denominational Chapel of Peace (Capilla de la Paz) on a high mountain on the outskirts of Acapulco, which was very interesting.  The church is dedicated to two brothers who died in a plane crash.  The church has no doors and is continually open to the public for worship.  There is a sculpture of two right hands joined in brotherhood.  The views from the location are fantastic.  We also visited San Diego Fort (Fuerte de San Diego).  It's a Spanish fort located on the water in downtown Acapulco right beside where the Coral Princess docked.  It was built in 1615 to protect the area from English pirates such as Sir Francis Drake.  It is now a museum called the Museo Historic de Acapulco. It rained torrentially, which made the tour of fort rather difficult. We were drenched. I think if we weren’t trying to escape the downpour, it would have been more interesting.

Another aspect of the tour was the ‘shopping opportunity’. We were escorted into a jewelry and art/craft store with armed guards standing outside. We were plied with alcoholic drinks and had about ½ hour to buy souvenirs. We had to stay inside because it was pouring torrential rain outside and we didn’t know how to get back to the ship. While the quality of the items was good, the vendors were very aggressive. We felt like a captive audience.

So in summary the tour was a mixed bag:  The Chapel of Peace and Fuerto San Diego (minus the rain), and our great tour guide – thumbs up.  The Flamingo Hotel and shopping – thumbs down.  While there were some good aspects to this tour, I would not recommend it to others.

On the tour, we drove past La Quebrada, which is the site of the popular daily Acapulco cliff diving, but didn't see the diving.

Take That Vacation Recommendation for Acapulco - The Acapulco cliff divers are a short taxi ride from the cruise ship dock.  Divers must time their dive with the waves in order to ensure the water is deep enough that they don't hit bottom.  The jumps happen every hour starting at 1pm and they continue after dark as well.  You can pay about $4 for a viewing balcony or eat at the La Perla restaurant which offers a good view of the divers.  Try your own tour to the cliff diving instead of the historical tour and also visit the nearby Zocalo, which is the Acapulco town square.  It contains fountains, trees and the Acapulco Cathedral.  You'll experience the local culture there.

View from Hotel Los Flamingos, cliffs of Acapulco

Chapel of Peace

Historic fort and museum built in 1615, downtown Acapulco

Huatulco, Mexico - Haultuco is a newly developed Mexican resort area, which is well planned and completely modern.  It wasn't geared toward tourists and it was the best port in Mexico that we visited.  The beach front in town was very small.  There are 9 different bays in the area.  Two have been designated for water sports and 7 have been preserved.  We went on the bird watching tour to the estuaries.  The road to the tour was so new that the cross roads weren't completed.  The tour included a walk in the rain forest and views over tidal pools from the cliffs.  While it would have been nicer to see some of the birds closer up, it was still an amazing experience, just walking through the rain forest. And we did see quite a few birds.   On the walking tour we also came across an archaeological excavation of a stone pyramid that was being uncovered.  This wasn't part of the tour and was a huge bonus.  It’s too bad that we couldn’t take pictures, but it did not in any way detract from the experience.

We had an excellent, enthusiastic guide and this was a trip that we could not have done without being on an organized tour.  I would recommend it to anyone who likes nature and birds. 

Tree growing over stone

Ecological preserve of tidal area.

Hautulco

Sailing out of Hualtuco

Puntarenas, Costa Rica - Our excursion in Puntarenas had two parts.  First we went on an open boat ride to the Guacalillo Estuary on the Tárcoles River.  The boat sat 4 across and seated about 20 of us.  We saw lots of crocodiles and bird life along the river. 

Large crocodile just below the surface looks like mud or floating wood

Jesus Christ Lizards - they run across the top of the water surface

Mangrove Swamps

Crocodile nesting in the grass

After a lovely lunch, including traditional plantain in brown sugar, we departed for an aerial tram ride through the rain forest.  It included views both under and over the canopy.  It was very hot and under the canopy it was humid and dark.  There were lots of vines hanging Tarzan style from the trees.

Aerial tram through the rainforest.

Puntarenas Rain Forest

Fuerte Amador - The port is at the entrance to the Panama Canal and is very close to Panama City.  We opted for the Authentic Embera Indian Village and this was our best tour on the cruise.  It lasted almost 7 hours.  We bussed  through the outskirts of Panama City and saw everyday life on a ride that lasted more than 2 hours.  Children waved to us as we passed by.  There were no street addresses and the people in the area are proud of the fact that mail delivery is done by name and description of the house and the area instead of by numbers.  Our bus didn't have washroom facilities, so we ended up stopping in a small town at the police station to use their facilities.  The police chief jumped on the bus, chatted about the New York Yankees and took pictures with women on the bus.

When we reached Chagres National Park, we traveled 15 minutes by motorized dugout canoes for our cultural visit to an Embera village where we enjoyed native music, song and dance.  The houses were all built on stilts to protect their homes from flooding.  The men wore beaded skirts and the women wore tops that were made out of American quarters that had been hammered flat.  During their performances in the big meeting house, it began to rain so heavily that it was hard to hear.  The Embera strip palm leaves, dye the strips and weave them into lovely baskets.  The large baskets sell for $35.  I wished I could have brought a large collection of them back with me.  The chief and his wife spoke to us through an interpreter.  They immigrated from Colombia and started with 25 people.  After several decades they have a population of 75 people. The chief is elected.  The children are learning Spanish as part of their settlement agreement with Panama. 

Venturing up the Chagres River

Embera men in beaded shorts

Embera Village on Stilts

Children playing in the afternoon downpour.

American quarter tops on dancers in the big meeting house.

Embera housing

Panama Canal Transit - 
We left Fuerte Amador at 5am the next day and entered the Canal.  Panama City was dark.  Panama City is an industrial port with lots of high rises.  Unlike Mexico, the poor world economy hasn't delayed construction here.  The country is generating so much revenue from the canal that a poor world economy can't put a stop to economic growth.  The Bridge of the Americas, the older of the two bridges over the canal, wasn't visible in our pictures due to the lack of light.  Ships wait their turn to enter the canal, so there are lots of freighters waiting.  The Coral Princess pays for a specific time slot, so we went through right on time.  

The Panama Canal is a 48mi (77km) lock system that allows ships to pass between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans without going around South America.   It was constructed between 1904 and 1914 by the United States and has two parallel channels so that two ships can go through at the same time.  The first attempt to build the canal was made by the French in the 1880s but the project was abandoned after more than 20,00 workers died from malaria, yellow fever and landslides.  The US control of the canal continued from1904 until 1977, when the US committed to transfer control to Panama.  Since 1999 the canal has been  regulated by the Panama Canal Authority, which is owned by Panama.  Panamanians are proud of their country and their heritage.  The canal makes use of the natural flow of water from Gatun Lake, in the middle of the canal, to refill the locks and raise/lower the ships in both directions.  It takes 8 - 10 hours to traverse the canal.  A cruise ship can pay over $300,000 to book a specific time slot to use the canal. You might think the canal would run east/west, but the land joining North and South America is running that direction, so the canal basically runs between the Pacific in the south and the Atlantic in the north.

Fuerte Amador with Panama City in the distance

Two parallel locks with Coral Princess on the right
Both locks go the same way at the same time. 
Ascending to Gatun Lake

Water pouring over lock with gates about to open in the middle

Ascending to Gatun Lake

3 locomotives on each side pull us through the locks.

The Panama Canal Expansion Program will construct another channel comprised of two new sets of locks - one on the Pacific and one on the Atlantic side of the Canal. Each lock will have three chambers.  There will be three water reutilization basins, as water flow from Gatun Lake is insufficient to support the additional channel..  The program also entails the widening and deepening of existing navigational channels in Gatun Lake and the deepening of Culebra Cut.  In order to open a new 6.1 km-long access channel to connect the Pacific locks and the Culebra Cut, four dry excavation projects are being executed.  The project will allow larger ships, referred to as Post-Panamax  or New Panamax vessels, to complete the crossing between the Pacific and the Atlantic beginning in 2014.

Panama Canal Expansion Program - Construction of a new, wider channel

Centennial Bridge, Pan-American Highway, Panama Canal

Gatun Lake, 85 feet above sea level

Gatun Lake, Panama Canal

3 locomotives on each side pull us through the locks.

Descending to Colon and the Caribbean

Cartagena, Colombia - Cartagena was founded in 1533 by Spanish conquistadors.  Our tour of Cartagena included a visit to the Spanish fortress known as the Castillo de San Felipe de Barajas in the downtown area of the city.  The fortress was built in the 1600s as protection against invasion by English captains, including Sir Francis Drake.  In 1741, the English Commander, Edward Vernon attacked Cartagena.  His 186 ships and 25,000 men were unable to take the city in a three month siege.  The great height of the fortress prevented English canons from reaching it, while the Spanish used the height advantage to sink 70 ships and kill 10,000 English.  The fortress also has narrow entry passages making it easy to defend it from intruders. The wall itself was made of any available material and you can even see broken china embedded in the walls. 

Cartagena, Colombia

Cartagena, Colombia

Cartagena, Old city, Spanish influence

Cartagena, Colombia

Castillo de San Felipe de Barajas, Cartagena

Castillo de San Felipe de Barajas 

Oranjestad, Aruba - The water is the most beautiful shades of blue in Aruba.  I went snorkeling during our stay.  Others went in to the desert interior of the island.  The Dutch Colonial architecture reminded me of Disneyland.  See also our trip to the interior when we visited on the Caribbean Princess.

Oranjestad, Aruba

Oranjestad, Aruba

Oranjestad, Aruba

Oranjestad looks like Disneyland!

Miami, Florida, USA - 
At the end of the cruise, we stayed at a hotel near the airport, but next time I would stay closer to town and avoid the extra time and trouble to visit the city from there.  (Try the Hilton Miami Airport)

Everglades tour

Coral Gables Congregational Church, City tour of Miami

Cuban district  - dominoes.