HOOKED ON CRUISIN
  • Home
  • About Us
    • Group Cruising
    • Customer Referral
    • Cruise/Customer Information
  • Gallery
    • Africa And Middle East
    • Alaska
    • Australia
    • Bahamas
    • Bermuda
    • Canada
    • Caribbean
    • Cruise Ships
    • Hawaii
    • India
    • Mediterreanan
    • Mexico
    • New England
    • Panama Canal
    • South America
    • South Pacific
    • Southeast Asia
  • Cruise Deals
  • Our Blog
  • Contact

LET US FIND A DREAM CRUISE FOR
YOU!

Panama Canal - coral princess - Cartagena & Panama Canal

1/24/2015

3 Comments

 
We traveled to Cartagena, Columbia and took a private city tour with Marelvy Pena (www.tourincartagena.com).  Although, we had been to this port before we hadn’t visited much of the city.  We first went up to the Summit La Popa that overlooks the city that was built over 400 years ago.  Three monks live at this monastery that has become one of the most visited tourist sites in Cartagena where you have a magnificent full circle panoramic view of the entire city, as you will see from the photos.  We next went to see Fortress of San Felipe that protected the city of Cartagena from the pirates many years ago.  Although we didn’t go inside, we learned much about the history of the city as it struggled to survive many invasions by the pirates and the British.  From there we visited the neighborhoods of Getsemani and Bocagrande where we spent some time shopping (good places for emeralds, leather goods, coffee and handcrafts) before heading to the Old City where we took a nice walk.    We walked through main plazas, some cloisters, churches and the beautiful bougainvilleas that draped over many of the storefronts and hotels.  More beautiful views of the city were seen as we left the port.

Our next stop on the cruise was the Panama Canal!  Although we have been through the canal on a few occasions in the past, we were anxious to see the new canal and learn more about it.  We learned during our excursion that a large segment of the canal will be finished this year.  Once it is completed, they will add water and begin to test it by allowing a few ships to go through.  It is anticipated that the canal will be completely operational by 2020 and that the current canal will be closed (plans are to turn it into a museum).   I guess we will have another excuse to go back in 5 years.  The first few photos show our initial entry into the canal.  You will see the two sets of locks and the other freighters beside and in front of us as we went through the Gatun locks.  It is interesting to see the ship in front of you 20 feet higher than you as you enter the first lock and as they are about to depart the last lock. You will also see a good photo of the “mules” (locomotive engines) that guide you through the locks to ensure your ship is centered as it moves forward.  It takes approximately 2 ½-3 hours to completely go through the Gatun Locks.  Each lock is separated by a small lake.   If a ship goes through the entire locks (Gatun, Pedro Miguel and Miraflores Locks) it takes approximately 8 hours. Last year was the 100 year anniversary of the opening of the Panama Canal! 

The next few pictures you will see the construction of the new Gatun Locks that will be able to hold a ship 60% longer and 60% wider than the current locks.  They were just installing the lock gates when we were there which had just come over from Italy where they had been built.  There are four construction companies working together to build the new locks and expand the canal channels.  The money for construction is totally being paid by the income made on what ships pay to go through the current canal.  It cost our ship $350,000 to go in and out of just the first set of locks on the Atlantic side!  Most ships are charged around a $150,000 to go through the canal.  The last few photos show our ship and another two ships leaving the canal.  We were off the ship on our excursion where our guide better explained the process of how ships go through the canal and locks.  It was really interesting to see our own ship go through the canal locks from the “outside”.  It gave a different perspective than watching us go through the canal locks while on the ship earlier that same morning.  It is always interesting to see the Panama Canal and be told how it works.  It will be even more interesting to see the new canal when it is fully operational in 2020.

Greg & Sharon Conrad

3 Comments

panama canal cruise - coral princess

1/21/2015

0 Comments

 
Well we are back on a cruise ship again after spending 2 months on dry land.  We are traveling to the Panama Canal with several friends on an 11 day cruise on the Coral Princess.

After 2 days at sea we had our first port stop in Aruba.  It has been many years since we have been to Aruba and we decided to take an ATV tour around the island with Kini Kini Tours – www.kinikinitour.com.  The weather was beautiful and we were able to see most of the island during our 5 hour tour.  It was a very personalized tour with just 8 people from our cruise group and one other cruise couple who we quickly became friends with.  Our first stop was a small old chapel outside the main city where thousands would walk miles from the center of town for several miles and stop at each of the signs of the cross to pray.  We traveled along the seaside for much of the tour and had an opportunity to see some of the natural rock bridges created by nature over time. 

We stopped at the ruins of an old building where the Spanish stored their gold before taking it back to Spain.  In front of these ruins you will see many stone stacks that were originally used by fisherman to mark good fishing spots but people after seeing these stone stacks decided to build their own for good luck.  We built a few while we were there for our own good luck.  The views along the seaside were great with the water crashing into the coral rocks all along the shore.  Our next stop was a National Park on the island, which takes up about a third of the island.  The paths in this park were extremely rocky and we were amazed our ATV’s could handle this tough terrain as we were shaken about in our seats.  While in the National Park we visited a Natural Pool that was created by some rock formations preventing the waves and surf to get into the pool.  The water was crystal clear and many visitors/locals went to this pool to swim.  After our tour we stopped at the Old Fisherman and had a light snack before we boarded our ship.  The last photo you see shows the marina in the city that we could view from the ship.  We enjoyed out visit to Aruba!

0 Comments

    Greg and Sharon Conrad - Hooked On Cruisin'

    We are a husband and wife travel agency focused on providing dream cruises for our customers. We charge no fees for our services. Our goal is to find the perfect cruise for our clients that they will remember for a lifetime.

    Archives

    May 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    October 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    October 2022
    July 2022
    September 2021
    February 2020
    July 2019
    June 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    August 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    January 2017
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    March 2016
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    June 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    October 2014
    September 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014

    RSS Feed

HOOKED ON CRUISIN' |  PEACHTREE CITY, GA  30269  |  PH: 678.542.7319  |  CONTACT US!
Copyright 2025 © Greg and Sharon Conrad. All rights reserved.
Picture
Admin Portal 
​
Follow us on our social networks!
Picture
03062014