Saturday Morning We Wake Up in Panama

 When we awoke Saturday morning, the sun was shining and this tug, above, is what we saw below our balcony leading us into the famous Panama Canal. 

It did not take long before we entered our first lock as we were heading west.  Because we live not far from Sault Ste. Marie, back in Michigan, the workings of nautical locks are no mystery to us.

As we were leaving our lock this large container ship was coming in eastbound for the Atlantic.

We sailed into a lake which serves as a parking lot for ships coming, going and waiting their turn in line.

We really hoped we did not park too close to this ship if the "L P G" on its hull stood for "Liquefied Petroleum Gas"!!

We were told by our captain that approximately 35-40 ships go through the Panama Canal each day for a total of about 14,000 vessels per year.  The length of the Canal is about 40 miles.

🚢

 

A Closer Look at Our Ship

 As previously stated:  our Viking ship -  the Mars was launched in May of 2022 and can hold 930 passengers when full.   We were told, unofficially,  that there are about 800 people traveling with us.

The ship has eight levels.  Our cabin is on deck five amidship.

This miniature replica  of the Mars is on deck 2 near the information desks.

Like all cruise ships - our crew has a wide variety of nationalities.  The officers on the ship all appear to be Scandinavian, but other that that, it is impossible for us to identify what countries people on board are from:  both passengers and crew.   All the ship employees,so far, have been very polite, courteous and well-trained.

👤  👥   👮

Thursday - We Visit Jamaica

Wednesday was another day spent sailing the sea around Cuba.  Our cruise director gave us a slide presentation of the history, and the do's and don't  while on the island nation of Jamaica.

 We sailed into Montego Bay early Thursday morning 11/02/2023. 

  Karen posed for this photo before we took a shuttle into downtown.

This Carnival Cruise ship beat us into port but left us a spot to dock.  

Skies were cloudy and rain was forecast.  We took the ship's shuttle to downtown Montego Bay.  We walked around, hit a few souvenir shops, and were soon ready to get back to the ship.  

We found little to like about Jamaica, but Karen bought a shirt and Bill bought a bottle of rum.  We are spending only five hours here so we are happy to move on.

🌴

Second Day Out and We Find a Stowaway on Board

 On Tuesday while on a walk around the ship we discovered this critter, below, sitting on an outside deck light trying to look inconspicuous

He seemed to be minding his own  business - so we did not turn him in to the authorities.

This Viking ship is spotlessly clean, so we doubt he is looking for rodents at night.  However, it was Halloween so whooooo knows what creatures were out last night??

🐀     🐛     🐉     🐍

Happy Halloween from the High Seas

 It is Tuesday, October 31, so the goblins could be out tonight.  So beware.....

Some of the skilled crew members showed off their talent by creating this jack-o-lantern display for the ship.

This pumpkin in the display needed a closer look to show off the ship's name.

And this one was a bit fancier than we made as kids!

Happy Halloween to you!

🎃🎃🎃

We Set Sail With Viking Cruise Lines

 On Monday morning, October 30,  we caught a shuttle from our hotel to Port Everglades where we boarded the Viking Ship Mars.  For the record, Mars was the Roman god of  war.  The Mars was launched  in May of 2022 and can hold 930 passengers when full. We watched and listened to all the safety instructions and settled into cabin # 5067.  We pushed off and headed south on our fifteen-day voyage.

Above was the planned route of our trip with Viking that includes Jamica, Panama, Costa Rica, Roatan, Belize, and Cozumel

However..........

Here is our location on Tuesday morning. (see the ship logo above Cuba).  It has become obvious that we are taking an easterly route around Cuba rather than to the west.

We hope the captain did not take a wrong turn??

😕

PS:  We were happy that we could watch the Detroit Lions beat the Raiders last night on our small laptop when we went through our Spectrum account. 

🏈

Our Fall 2023 Trip is Underway

 To celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary we are taking a Caribbean Cruise on Viking.  We flew out of Grand Rapids at 7 PM on October 29, 2023, stopped in Chicago at Midway then had a smooth flight to Ft. Lauderdale.  When we stopped in Chicago we were two of only four passengers to stay on the plane, so we got to move up to the very front seats!  Before we took off - the plane was full again and Karen was the very first person to step off in Florida!  We arrived at 1 AM and took a cab to our hotel:  Springhill Suites in Dania Beach.  We will take a shuttle to the ship this early afternoon for our journey to continue.  The weather is warm and sunny with a temp of 82 degrees.

With the help of our lovely daughter, Beth, we managed to get the blog up and running again to keep a journal of our travels.  We have had smooth sailing so far ---- and we haven't yet got to our ship!

🚢