"" Writer's Wanderings: January 2025

Monday, January 27, 2025

World Cruise--Cartegena And Through The Canal


 Cartagena, Colombia, is a place we have visited almost half a dozen times. On the previous visit, we discovered that there was an aviary right at the port that we could walk through and enjoy the collection of birds they have. Since we have done the old city several times and have no desire to go into the main city, we opted to explore the aviary again.

We were a little concerned when we heard that there was now a charge and someone mentioned $70. While it’s beautiful, we didn’t want to spend that kind of money for it. As it often turns out, you need to search out the facts for yourself and when we arrived at the port we planned to do just that.


This morning was the first one where the ship felt stable enough to safely play some pickleball but the temperature had climbed to the mid 80s with the humidity rising as well. Half the pickleball court was shaded and there was only the two of us so we stayed in the shade and just smacked the ball back and forth for a while. It was still a pretty good workout but we only lasted about 45 minutes.

After stowing our paddles in our stateroom, we grabbed our water bottles and hats and headed out for the aviary. Did I mention there were a total of four large ships in port? The walk to the aviary is not far and there was a gentle breeze blowing which helped with the heat. We arrived to find that it was still free albeit wanting some donations since the aviary is a shelter for injured birds, or so they say.



The crowd was quite large but once we got past the place where many had stopped to get a tropical drink or get into the gift shop, it wasn’t quite so bad. They have added a monkey who was being held by one lady tourist as we entered one section. He seemed quite content until it took too long to get the picture I guess and he bit her. A little later we would see a sloth that the attendant was draping over willing tourists. No thanks. At least the sloth didn’t look dangerous and I think by the time he would have opened his mouth to bite, you would have seen what might be coming and avoided it.

Our time in Cartegena was a bit short. We had to be back on board at one and were supposed to be on our way shortly after. For some reason we didn’t leave until 2 but we would still make it in time for our scheduled passage through the Panama Canal.


We awoke the next morning early to be up in time to watch the beginning of our trip through the new locks of Panama. This would be our fifth trip through the canal but the first through the new locks. Queen Anne is much too large to pass through the old locks. As a matter of fact, the Promenade Deck was closed for the day. Sometime late evening or through the night, the crew had lowered the railings around the deck and moved the lifeboats in a bit. They overhang the side of the ship by about twelve inches or so and to prevent scraping against the sides of the locks, they were pulled in a lirrle as were some lights that also extend out past the side of the ship.




As we neared the first lock at the Agua Clara locks, tugboats met us. These are special tugs (if I heard correctly, they came from Spain) that are high powered for maneuvering the large ships to keep them centered in the lock. Some guide ropes appeared to be used as well as we could see attendants on shore tossing ropes over to the ship.


The ship uses its own power to move from lock to lock once the water level is reached and the gates opened. There were three levels going into Lake Gatun and three levels at the Pacific side when we exited. It took much longer (about 2 ½ to 3 hours at each end) than I remember taking when we went through the old locks. Not quite as much fun for me. The “mules” that are used at the old locks are more interesting to watch and there are two locks side by side so you can also watch another ship going up or down in the lock.


I’m not going to go into all the explanation of how the new locks work. I posted that after our last trip when we did an excursion to see them when they were first finished. If you are interested in a bit more information click on my link here to the earlier post.


Bridge of Americas

Once through the locks, it is about a five hour cruise through Lake Gatun and “the big ditch” to get to the Cocoli locks on the Pacific side. The weather was beautiful and it was so peaceful and restful to sit on the balcony and enjoy the fresh air and lush  green scenery. 

Once we reached the Cocoli locks, the sun was beginning its late afternoon descent and as we exited to pass under the Bridge of the Americas, we could see the skyline of Panama City. Always impressive and even more so as the sun was beginning to set. The multi colored structure is a museum. I think that's new since our last visit. I don't remember it. 

By the way, for those who are as curious as my husband, the cost for the ship to go through the canal was $415,000. Bob is still wondering if they paid cash or use a credit card.

I haven’t said much about life on the ship but we are enjoying wonderful meals, have gotten to know tablemates to one side from Britain and the other side from Scotland. Have shared some hilarious stories. Two gala nights (one red/gold themed and another just formal). Bob is happy to get more use out of his tux. Lectures have been very interesting and I’ll post more about that next time. For now, it’s on to Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala.

 

Thursday, January 23, 2025

World Cruise--New York City to Miami

 Always as a safety measure, we fly into our embarkation port at least a day early and especially during the winter months so we arrived with our five bags of luggage and two carry-ons (plus Bob’s backpack) on Friday afternoon. When we booked our world cruise on the Queen Anne, we thought we would have to start in Hamburg, Germany, as that was the origin of the world cruise. It would have required a long plane flight plus a night or two in Hamburg. Then we found that there was an option of starting instead in either Southampton or New York and still be able to have all the benefits that come with doing the complete world cruise. As we Americans say, it was a no-brainer.

The flight to New York had a tail wind so we arrived a bit earlier than expected. At CLE we had been dropped off in front of the outside baggage check so we didn’t have to schlep bags through the airport. In New York, we opted to get a wheeled cart to help with the luggage. Bob was shocked to find the price was $6 to use one. We remember when it was only twenty-five cents or half a dollar and you could return it to get your money back. But, this was NYC or rather Newark, NJ.

Our luggage was quickly retrieved and we headed for the taxi stand. The attendant entered our destination, printed a ticket, handed it to Bob and pointed to an SUV (five bags of luggage). The driver loaded it up and drove a little ways from the departure stand to be sure we understood what the cost was to get to Brooklyn and our hotel. It was then Bob looked at the paper the attendant had handed us and saw the $90 plus the $43 dollars in tolls. He shook his head. “Well, guess it’s our only choice.” We drove on.


The drive was about 45 minutes through some traffic that obviously wasn’t being reduced all that much by the recent increase in tolls. Outside the door of the Hampton Inn, the driver began to unload our suitcases while Bob ducked inside to get a luggage cart. Before we could begin stacking the luggage on it, a gentleman from the hotel was there and loaded it all for us. I’m not sure what his position was in the hotel but he turned out to be extremely helpful and especially with luggage.

Craig (we learned his name later) took the cart up to the room while we checked in and got a regular key. Bob always likes to use the key on the app but they said it didn’t always work properly. By the time we were up to the room, Craig had almost all of it unloaded. He apologized for the room being so small and we laughed. “It’s going to be a lot smaller than this on the ship,” we told him. He offered to put some of the bags in storage but we assured him we could manage for one night.

The suggestion Craig gave us for our late lunch was perfect. It was about a four block walk to Juniors restaurant, in the cold I might add, but was well worth it. The onion soup and the matzo ball soup were delicious as well as the pastrami and corn beef sandwiches. The “famous” cheesecake was too tempting to pass up so we got a piece to go and took it back with us.

Got to see the new pickleball courts in
Key Largo

On our way back to the hotel, we found a Target in an indoor mall and I purchased a pair of sunglasses and endured the teasing of “you always forget your sunglasses.”

Our evening and the next morning were spent indoors. While it wasn’t quite as freezing as back home it was still cold. When it was time to go to the ship, we again had lots of help from Craig and a great Uber driver (the price wasn’t a sticker shock). Luggage was handled at the drop off for the ship much to the Uber driver’s surprise and I assume relief. We were ready to board and begin our three and a half month journey.

The Queen Anne is large. We haven’t been on a ship quite this size in a while. Just for instance—most times we have to walk 4-6 times around the promenade deck to get a mile walk in. This ship was only 2.5 laps. Lunch was had in the Golden Lion although we passed on fish and chips, the specialty, and settled for sausages with gravy and potatoes. Thankfully not a big helping. We then began our exploration of the ship as we usually do our first day. It would not be completed before dinner. There was just too much to see and the parts that were outside we skipped. We had a bigger chore awaiting us—unpacking.

While the QA is large, the storage space in the rooms is not. I had planned ahead and brought several plastic baskets that we could store some things in on the top shelf above the desk area. We organized closets with “gala” clothes (the formal nights) and regular clothes and managed to get most everything in a place hoping to remember each place later. Bags were a bit tricky to store under the bed but eventually we worked it out with our room steward and he removed some of the storage units he used under the bed so ours would fit. We can slid two open suitcases out like an extra drawer.

Meals have been wonderful. We have an assigned table for two between two others that have some lovely couples we’ve grown fond of from Scotland and the UK. Lectures have been interesting. Weather finally warmed up as we neared Miami and the sun came out!

Our personal excursion in Miami was to rent a car and drive to Key Largo to meet some friends for lunch. Bob wanted to try out a Tesla. So, of course it was to be an adventure starting with the fact that the returned Tesla had not been cleaned yet and only had a 60% charge on it with no place to charge it at the rental place. We took it anyway and knew of a place in Key Largo where we could charge it. When it came time though, we discovered that the car did not have the adaptor needed to fit the charging station. We went on and met our friends, had a great time catching up and eating at one of our favorite places in Key Largo and then started back north to the Tesla Charging Station on the map that was 24 miles away. By the time we got there we were at 6% battery power.


There were a few other problems with the car along the way. To begin, just trying to figure out how to get the doors open. We never did figure out the passenger side. Bob had to stretch across to open my door. We called his brother who had a Tesla and asked how to set the cruise control. All in all it was quite an experience and we decided against a Tesla in our future.

From Miami, our next port is Cartegena in two days. The sun is shining. It’s getting warmer and we have finally finished our tour of the ship—well most of it. I suspect there are places we still haven’t discovered.

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