Date: October 9, 2018 – October 23, 2018
Location: Onboard Celebrity Infinity from San Diego, California to Fort Lauderdale, Florida

After spending the weekend with Bryan and Diana, we took a bus to San Diego. The next day we boarded the Celebrity Infinity for a 15-night cruise through the Panama Canal to Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Here is San Diego from the cruise ship.

On the ship we could also see the USS Midway.

The aircraft carrier is open as a museum.

The ship departed San Diego at around 7:30 pm, so we were able to see the city lights.

Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

The first port the ship visited was Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. We got off the boat and walked around the port.

At Tequila Lighthouse we did a free tequila tasting.

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

The next day the ship docked in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. We booked a shore excursion to go ziplining and then to a villa. To get to the Sierra Madre mountains – where the ziplining took place – we traveled on some bumpy roads and even drove through a river that was going over the road.

There were only 5 zips on the course, but the views were amazing! The zips went over a valley with a river running down the middle. There was also a zip that was along the river.

After ziplining, we were taken to a villa where a delicious Mexican lunch was waiting for us.

We had lunch and were able to relax at the villa. It’s nearly impossible to see, but our ship is docked in the picture below near the buildings in the middle of the picture.

Before we departed to return to the ship, a few of the people in our group made Salsa de Molcajete. They were all delicious! Some were just much, much spicier than others, according to the chef’s preference.

Here is one of the sunsets looking from the bow of the ship while we were at sea.

One night, there was a complimentary slot machine challenge where we got raffle tickets and 4 people were selected to partner with an officer. The pair had 3 minutes to get as many points playing slots as they could. After the 3 minutes, the person with the most points won a $50 credit for the casino. Brian was selected from the raffle and his team came in second. He was given $25 credit for the casino. We got the chips and lost all of it on the roulette table.

Brian has been on many Celebrity cruises and is a member of the Captain’s Club, Celebrity’s rewards program. One of the benefits Brian has on the cruises is a free wine tasting class.

On the back of the ship was a rooftop terrace with a movie screen.

On October 14, 2018, the Patriots vs Chiefs game was shown on the screen.

Guatemala

In Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala the shipped docked in an industrial port so we had to take a shuttle to get out of the industrial area.

The shuttle took us to a small market where there were all sorts of tables set up selling souvenirs. There were no prices on anything so you had to barter with the locals. The nearest city was an hour and a half away, so we decided to head back to the ship.

While we did get off the ship, I can’t really say that I saw Guatemala. If you are stopping in the port I recommend booking an excursion to the see the country.

Another night on the ship there was a friendly feud game show. It was like Family feud, with a team of 4 officers being pitted against 4 cruisers. From the random drawing, Brian was selected to be part of the 4 person passenger team. The passengers barely beat the officers and won a lanyard.

Costa Rica

The next port was Puntarenas, Costa Rica.

We got off the ship and walked to the end of the peninsula to see a lighthouse.

The area looked quite rundown.  We also didn’t see anyone in any of the restaurants.

Later that night, Brian got selected out of the crowd to participant in the “Yes and No Challenge” with the Cruise Director Luigi. Each person had to have a 3 minute conversation with Luigi without saying the words “yes” or “no”. Brian was able to do it and won a t-shirt.

Panama Canal
October 19, 2018

Construction of the Panama Canal to connect the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Ocean began on January 1, 1881 by the French. There were financial and engineering problems with the project, as well as an estimated 22,000 deaths from tropical disease like malaria and yellow fever. On May 15, 1889 the project was suspended when the company went bankrupt. After 8 years, the project was about 40% completed and about $235 million had been spent.

In November 1901, the United Stated purchased the french holdings for $40 million and resumed building the panama canal. The United States spent around $375 million on the Panama Canal.

The Panama Canal opened in 1914 with two passageways so that (theoretically) boats could travel in each direction at the same time. In reality, typically both passages are used with boats going in one direction for one part of the day, and then later in the day going in the other direction.

From the Pacific Ocean, boats cross under The Americas Bridge before reaching the first locks.

On the ship in the early morning, many people were already on deck watching the approach to the canal.

A Quick Note on Our Fellow Cruisers

Back on Day 1 when were going through the boarding process, we noticed that we a lot younger than everyone else. For the first few days on the ship we didn’t see anyone close to our age.

We then met some other people that are around our age and heard from the cruise director that there were only 36 people between the ages of 18 – 45 on the cruise. The ship holds 2,170 passengers.

Assuming there were only a handful of kids under 18 on the cruise, that means 98% of the cruisers were over 45, and we would bet that the majority were well over 60!

This is after the ship went under The Americas Bridge looking back at it.

Panama City is in the distance. I was not expecting to see so many tall buildings.

The New Locks vs. Old Locks

In September 2007, work began on a new third passage of locks, the new locks. The new locks were completed in May 2016 and the first ship used them on June 26, 2016. The new locks are wider so larger ships can use the canal.

For our crossing of the Panama Canal the ship used the old locks.

As we approached the old locks we could see a ship going into the new locks.

The ship is the largest that can use the new locks.

We approached the first lock, the Miraflores Locks. There was a ship going in on the right and the Celebrity Infinity was going to use the locks on the left.

The lock chamber is 110 feet wide and the ship is 106 feet wide. The new locks are 180 feet wide.

Since the lock chambers could be as little as 4 feet wider than a ship. all ships that go through the locks are guided by electric locomotives called mules. The mules control the side-to-side and braking of the ships. The ships provide the forward motion.

The mules run on rack tracks.

This is what the other side of the ship looked like.

Once the ship is in the lock chamber the locks close.

Once the lock was closed some workers would walk across. With the locks closed, the chamber is filled so the ship rises. In the Miraflores locks we rose around 54 feet, in a two-step process, to enter the Miraflores Lake.

Once the chamber is full the ship moved forward. This is a picture of the thrusters at the back starting to move us forward.

At the front of the ship there are locks as well.

Once the chamber is full the locks open to allow the ship to enter the Miraflores Lake.

After Miraflores Lake, the ship went through the Pedro Miguel Locks, rising 31 feet in a single step to Gatun Lake. Gatun Lake is man-made and takes ships 21 miles to the Gatun Locks. While entering the Gatun Locks we saw the other ship in the new locks.

The Gatun locks lower ships 85 feet to the Atlantic Ocean in three steps.

Crossing the Panama Canal is a slow process and it took over 8 hours to get from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean. Access to the helicopter pad on the ship was provided as a viewing platform.

During the day it started to rain but there were some dedicated passages who stood outside all day. The below picture was taken from the television in our room. For the entire cruise you can see the view at the front of the ship on the television.

Colon, Panama

The next day the ship docked in Colon, Panama, but for the night it sailed out a little ways from land. We saw many other boats in the area most liking waiting to enter the locks or the dock.

In Colon, Panama we booked a shore excursion and went kayaking in Gatun Lake.

We saw sloths, a white face monkey and a howler monkey in the trees from our kayak.

In the van back to the ship we saw Coati by the side of the road.

Each night on the ship has a featured show for entertainment. There is a cast on the ship who perform a few nights, but for the other nights guest entertainers are brought on. This is Gary Lovini, one of the guest entertainers who performed.

Catagena, Columbia

The last port before we reached Florida was Cartagena, Colombia.

We got off the ship and there was a small wildlife area by the port.

There were many parrots.

The parrots were not in a cage and some were walking around right beside us. We even saw a parrot trying to undo the strap of a women’s sandal.

One of the people who work there had a baby sloth that they carried around.

An Anteater was in one of the pens, pacing up and down.

There was also a bird area we could walk inside of.

There was an area with peacocks. I have never seen so many peacocks at once. The peacocks could move around and we saw some in other areas as well.

On the ship, the Patriots vs Bears game was shown on the rooftop terrace.

Another one of the guest entertainers was Joel Meyers, a magician. Brian and Arielle were selected out of the crowd to help him with a trick. Arielle and her husband, Kyle, were newly married just days before the cruise and were on their honeymoon.

Collecting Our First Artwork!

Park West Gallery always hosts art auctions aboard cruise ships, as well as art education seminars. On past cruises we have gone to art auctions (since free champagne is provided) so we have seen quite a few times how the auctions work.

As part of one of the mystery auctions, we purchased our first work of art! A painting by Daniel Wall.

Martini Bar-tricks

The ship has a martini bar and sometimes the bartenders show off. This one is pouring 13 drinks at once.

Sunrise in Fort Lauderdale, Florida the morning we got off the ship.

The cruise was enjoyable and we are glad that we got to go through the old locks.