In an abundance of caution, let’s sail the Panama Canal! - Complete 9/6

I am not caught up with reading your report but if I do not make my comments soon, I will forget what I wanted to say.

Who knew there was a breakfast drink menu?
Not me. I had no idea there was a breakfast drink menu.

We didn’t have anything specific planned in Cozumel other than a trip to Mega.

We have been to Conzumel twice and was wondering where Mega was. Thank you for pointing it out.

How cool is it to think that you are traveling west with the sunset at your back?

Kind of weird. Even for a dyslexic (which I am), (left is right and right is left, etc.) .

Our first order of business today was Character Breakfast.

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Napkin hats all around!

Framable! So cute!


Ditto!

Of course, I have the unpopular opinion that the Pirate Night menu is just fine. I enjoy the samosas...

Me too, we have no issues with the pirate night menu.


Funny!

Classics are my favorite and the dining room experiences are a big part of that reason.

Me too, I like the classics, dining rooms, small ships, etc.


Save the college funds, encourage her to work for DCL. (Just kidding).

Off now to continue reading but are you planning another Panama Canal trip, since your trip was abbreviated? We were scheduled for the Nov 2020 crossing, then canceled due to discomfort with Covid and are now scheduled for the Nov 2021 crossing. Hopefully by then, life will be more stable.
 
She was in the VERY front row and so excited. We were standing off to the side, but I kept checking back on her throughout. All of a sudden, she wasn't there! I could not see her anywhere.

I would have totally freaked out.

There she is! On stage dancing away.

And then been embarrassed for freaking out...

DD begged to go to her first pirate buffet

We have been on seven cruises and have yet to make to the pirate buffet. It will definitely be on the "must do" list next time.

Gin Garden, one of my husband's favorite drinks. :)
 
So interesting to be catching up on your report and “reliving” the experience. My kids had a really great cruise except for the change to the overnight camp out. It was unsettling to be waiting for the chime and news that someone was showing symptoms. Luckily, that never happened! As not normal as it was, it was better than dealing with the craziness that was happening on land during our cruise. :) Looking forward to the rest of your report.

We would have been on the Los Caletas excursion with you. Sad to have missed that.
 
Exploring New Orleans Part 1

Now don’t get me wrong, I think vacation is all about relaxing. However, I knew I only had half a day in the city and I wanted to be able to see a little before we boarded. The plan for the day was to get up around 7, walk by Cemetery 1, walk through the French Quarter, eat breakfast at Cafe du Monde, visit Mardi Gras World, and eat lunch at Napoleon House. So, Friday came early. A wasn’t super thrilled but we had told her the plan in advance so it was ok.
First stop was Cemetery Number 1. We knew in advance that we wouldn’t be able to go in, but I wanted to see it anyway. Our hotel, was directly across the street. (Of note, we could also see the Hard Rock that was slated for demolition in March.) I think it would be interesting to take the tour some day.

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We then started walking towards the French Quarter and Café du Monde.
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Beautiful little garden.
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A thought this looked just like the animations in Princess and the Frog.
View attachment 483224Appropriate picture at the corner of St Louis and Bourbon.
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Love the hitching posts!
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Decorations still up.
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It never occurred to me that the park would be closed, but it was still pretty to look at.
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A loved seeing and petting the donkeys.

Then we crossed the street for the main event: beignets at Cafe du Monde! There was a live band playing and we were able to find a table right away. Even if we’d needed to wait though, it would have been worth it!

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Beignets were hot and sugary and the chicory coffee and Cafe au Liat. This I would definitely love to do again!

As we finished up, we ordered an Uber and headed to Mardi Gras World!
that sounds so delicious right now, i'm loving the pictures in your report
 


Thank you for sharing your story! We went on a Disney cruise in early February 2020. At that time Covid-19 was still a foreign virus. So aside from avoiding people in the airport, wiping down our plane seats, and Disney checking each passport for travel to China, we really didn’t worry much about Covid-19. And like they say, ignorance is bliss. I’m glad we didn’t know how bad Covid-19 would wind up being, or the risk we were taking being on a cruise. We didn’t find out about the quarantined cruise until after we got off as that was all taking place during our cruise. I’m glad we got to have one worry-free cruise before all this started.

Have you decided which cruise you want to use your 40% off for? I’d definitely be choosing a longer/more expensive one! 😉
 
Cabo San Lucas Sea Day 9

I AM going to finish this! I taught a fully online intro chem class at the University this summer and it was A LOT. Luckily finals ended, students did well, and now I’m back with my middle and upper school students.

OK, we were supposed to be in Cabo today, but instead we were hustling towards San Diego. But, since it was a sea day, do you know what was an option? Palo Brunch!!! That’s right, they added brunches. With all of our refunds plus getting our Las Caletas refund as OBC, we had metaphorical money burning a hole in our pocket.

We were pleased to have Hristo as our server again, and our dining room team was again assisting at the buffet!

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I had heard lots of talk about the Balsamic Grande at Palo, so I decided to try one.
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Definitely worth the hype!

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I was particularly proud of my dessert plate on this visit.
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By the end of our meal, the seas were quite rough.
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When I spent some time in the room during the afternoon, the TV kept swinging back and forth from the wall. Obviously the pools were all closed today.
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Even though we weren’t getting off the ship the next day, everyone was going to have to go through Customs on board. There were also lots of announcements about making sure we took care of any gift shop purchases on this day. Because we would be in port, there were no retail sales allowed.

In the afternoon, DD had the opportunity to participate in Friendship Rocks! She loved it! It was a very fun event and she enjoyed being on stage with Mickey and Minnie.
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She also made some Stitch’s Space Goo.
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For dinner, we were in Tiana’s for Mardi Gras. I really enjoy that evening. DD also got to hang with her favorite for a bit.
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Because people were disembarking the next day, the moved Dreams to tonight. We opted not to go and instead saw characters and just hung out.

For late night, they did Sea Farers Saga and another round of Match Your Mate in the adult clubs. Sea Farers Saga was so fun! Mike, the assistant cruise director, was hilarious. He showed up in Deano’s St Patrick’s Day outfit. It didn’t fit well, and it was so funny.
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I didn’t know anything about the show, before we went. Basically, it has high ranking officers and they are asked technical questions about cruising. Then, the audience tries to guess who is telling the truth. The evening ended with Match Your Mate.

After picking DD up from the clubs, we all called it a night for our last night really AT SEA.

In case you’re curious, we were still on the list to book our next cruise.

Next Up: In Port at San Diego
 


So glad to see you're back! I've been enjoying your trip report, I'm glad you got to go, but it must have been nerve wracking.

I'm wondering, and I apologize if I missed this earlier, at Palo, did the servers serve the buffet? As I'm wondering what the future of cruising will look like, I'm guessing that will be implemented, if it wasn't already. If it was the practice on your cruise, how did it work? Thanks in advance!
 
I'm wondering, and I apologize if I missed this earlier, at Palo, did the servers serve the buffet? As I'm wondering what the future of cruising will look like, I'm guessing that will be implemented, if it wasn't already. If it was the practice on your cruise, how did it work? Thanks in advance!
So, we still had our regular Palo server who brought our drinks and took our plated food order. They had MDR servers handling the buffet food. They tried doing this all the time on the Dream class ships, but stopped. I think that, when cruising resumes, this will be the norm.
 
Sea Day San Diego

I think this day will be hard to write about. We woke up to the San Diego skyline.
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Looking over the railing, was our first real sign that the world had changed.

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I woke up DD so we could make it to our customs time. We ordered an All Hands on Deck and a couple croissants for breakfast. They announced our deck for Customs, so we headed downstairs.

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The agents were dressed in lots of PPE. It was creepy.

After getting our passports checked, we ran into Ashley. DD asked her why the schedule kept changing and she explained that customs had needed more space than they initially expected, so they had to reschedule some activities. At the same time, Chris, the CM who put the photo scavenger hunts came to do his customs check. On the morning show, Ashley had said that if you could get a selfie with Chris, you could get a prize. Well, Ashley was there, we took the selfie, and DD got a cool DCL keychain!

DD needed to go back to our room, so my dad took her while my mom and I went to pick up our photo prints.
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The people waiting to debark. They started late, so I hope no one missed their flights home. Captain Henry was there talking to people and trying to keep everyone calm and happy. He was thanking everyone personally for sailing.

For those of us staying on board, the CMs were trying to make things magical.

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We spent most of the day playing family games. Spirits and spirits was pretty fun.
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I had a mimosa special while I watched.

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DD got to play and she won!

That afternoon, I decided to cash in my full card at Cove.
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I had no idea they made frozen coffees! Yummy. It certainly helped make packing more fun

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Dinner was in Triton’s and we said a heartfelt goodbye to our serving team. They truly were the best of all time.

Because they had performed Dreams the night before, they did the See Ya Real Soon Show in the atrium at the normal show times. Can I just say that I loved this? The crowds were much lower because half the people were at dinner. Plus, we finished much earlier which meant DD could go to bed at a reasonable time.

After the show, DD went to the clubs for one more hour and I went to the last adult show. It was fun and a little sad. Everyone was very clear that the reality was upon us.

When we got back to our room, DD had a gift waiting.
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This photo is in a place of honor in her room right now.

Next Up: Traveling home
 
Thank you for taking the time to get back here and finish this off, especially as it sounds like you've had a very busy summer! It must have been so strange to have some of the passengers leaving and still being on the ship but it looks like you made the most of it and DCL did some extra things to make it magical. :thumbsup2 We have had Minda as our server before, he was very nice.
 
Debarkation and Travel Home

The time had come to leave the ship. My parents hadn’t eaten ANY of their rice crispie treats so we took them home.

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We has breakfast in Cabanas and then headed to the French Quarter Lounge to wait. Our tags were called pretty soon and we debarked. As we exited the ship, we were handed a paper that outlined the CDC policy that we should quarantine for 14 days after getting home. Our luggage was out and ready to go, and we were directed to the buses. Bus transportation to the airport was complementary for everyone since California was on lockdown.

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I’d like to go back to San Diego some day.

When we arrived at the airport, it was pretty much just cruise passengers. However, we were too early to be able to check our bags. There was just one fast food restaurant open, so we went and got sodas. Well, DD had a shake because she was still in cruise mode.

Once we could check our bags, we headed through security. Again, pretty much everyone in the terminal was a cruise passenger from the Wonder. My parents flew out about an hour before DD and I did. We were originally supposed to go through Las Vegas, but we had called SW to change to a flight through Denver. I have family there and we figured, if something happened, it was better to be close to someone to help. Plus we would be within driving distance to my parents in NM. Well, the lady at SW had said something along the lines of “I’ve heard something bad about Las Vegas, let’s definitely switch you.” Well, it turned out the tower was closed due to a positive case so we were definitely glad we’d switched.

The flight was on time but pretty full.

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Denver was quiet, but McDonald’s was about the only food option. Our flight from Denver to St Louis was almost empty.

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The pilot brought everyone candy.

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The stress of the day caught up with DD.

Overall, the whole travel experience was eerie. I felt edgy the whole time. I happened to fly in October of 2011, and it felt kind of like that. Empty, everyone was quiet and keeping their distance, little interaction, and an increased feeling of being watched.

When we got home, the airport was almost empty. DH picked us up and we headed home.

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The dogs were happy to see us.

Our cruise countdown when we debarked looked like this, and we all figured this whole thing would be over by summer....
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Next up: Reflections and Plans
 
Thank you so much for sharing your experience. We are SO ready to book another Disney Cruise. Your report has helped "scratch the itch." I am also a teacher (actually a school librarian). You are so lucky you colud miss school! I would love to do one of these longer cruises.
 
Thank you so much for sharing your experience. We are SO ready to book another Disney Cruise. Your report has helped "scratch the itch." I am also a teacher (actually a school librarian). You are so lucky you colud miss school! I would love to do one of these longer cruises.
Had it not lined up with Spring Break, I never would have been able to do it. I’m so grateful it happened to work out.
 
Reflections and Plans

Let me start by saying that I do not regret going on this trip at all. We had an amazing trip and I got to see the Panama Canal! That was my big reason for going, and we got to do it. Did we miss out on some other experiences? Yes. But the goal of the trip was to transit the Canal and we did that.

Do I think the trip SHOULD have happened? Maybe not? I do think that passengers and DCL made the choice to go based on the information available at the time. We didn’t know that COVID impacted all ages. We didn’t know New Orleans was a hotspot. Etc. Etc.

I spent the first week or two after I was back feeling awkward and almost guilty about having had a great vacation. People had gotten sick and some even passed away. It’s heartbreaking. The struggle to hold joy and sorrow at the same time was really hard. I don’t have contact information for our serving team or any of the amazing employees we encountered, and I hope and pray that they are well.

Like I showed above, we were scheduled to do a B2B on the Dream in March 2021. At this point, we obviously don’t know if DCL will be sailing then. Even if they are sailing, I don’t feel a big need to have been on the last cruise and then on one of the very first. So, we are planning to do a weeklong park trip next March! I’m sort of hoping things stay like they are now in terms of reservations, no FP, etc. That feels like my level of planning. At this point, we are closing in on the 180 day window, so any changes that Disney makes in reserving things will mean we need to scramble. I have no idea if I’ll write a trip report. The people on the theme park boards seem pretty cutthroat. BTW - why doesn’t the park app have a countdown too? They definitely need one.

We also plan to rebook our B2B 2022 using the placeholder extension policy. The placeholders we have on those are the good ones with OBC, so I hope we don’t lose them.

On the WBPC, we booked a cruise for next July going to San Juan on the Fantasy! (And 40% off certainly didn’t hurt.) That will be cruise #9. So that would mean we hit Platinum in March 2022 (in the middle of our B2B) instead of March 2021. We’d hoped to reach that level before the Wish came online, but this whole experience has definitely provided perspective.

Souvenirs
I do like to share my purchases, especially when I feel like we got fun stuff.

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I completed the fleet for my Christmas tree. (This was not available when we were on the Wonder in Alaska.)

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I love this pullover I got for myself. It’s lightweight and super soft.

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This is a long sleeve shirt I got DD. It is amazingly soft and I do wish they would have had my size. (They only had XS and XXS.)

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This was the New Orleans pin. I love that it opens like a book.

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And the PC pin. It’s also one that opens!

So, this report ends with lots of uncertainty. I am grateful that we had a WONDERful trip, and I look forward to traveling again. At the same time, I don’t know when that will be or what that will look like. I feel blessed that we are healthy and continue to talk about our trip fondly. I feel sorrow for the people who got sick and all the amazing cruise line employees who are out of work. I do hope that we can find a way to work together to get the virus under control so we can all sail again soon.
 
Thank you so much for completing your trip report. I followed your cruise here on Disboards and its really great to have a first hand experience on what it was like. The history loving part of me, also thanks you, as I think its important to document these strange times.

I think the biggest take away for me is the "we didn't know" part. You went with the information you had at the time. You should not feel guilty or be ashamed you went on this cruise. You achieved your goal of seeing the Panama canal and you had a slightly different experience on the ship. I bet those experiences prepared you better than the rest of us over the last few months.
 
Thank you so much for writing this! Panama Canal is a bucket list cruise for me. I’m a teacher and it often straddles my spring break... so maybe one year! I’d love to go when my kids are still young-ish! I’m glad you are all healthy and had a great trip!
 
I love the souvenirs that you bought. The pins are very cool. :thumbsup2 That whole time period was so crazy, things changed on a daily, if not sometimes hourly, basis. We struggled at work with whether we should close, and then we did, but we literally changed our minds constantly, sometimes between morning and afternoon. I say this because all anyone could do was make the best choices with the information we had - and sometimes that information changed very quickly. I'm glad you got to go and enjoy the trip. Transiting the Panama Canal is an awesome experience and looking back you will be able to say you had one of the most unique crossings ever! Thanks for sharing it with us. :teeth:
 
Glad to see you finished the report. Those mickey rice treats are probably $500 worth in street value! Good snag, plus it will give you something to munch on until you return again. Like you, we have an early 2021 sail date, and will likely push it to the fall to make our fall trip a B2B.
 

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