Making History! A 2017 Westbound Panama Canal Trip Report **Complete**

Oh, I can't wait! The canal! Woohoo! Kinda poor planning on DCL's part on having The Edge's PJ party on the eve of the Canal Crossing... it's like.. the biggest and earliest day of the entire cruise. :: shrugs :: I can't wait to read about it. Locks are really neat and I can't wait to see if the photographers got any pictures of you from land. :)

Apart from the first and last night Edge doesn't close till 1am any day of the cruise...
 
Apart from the first and last night Edge doesn't close till 1am any day of the cruise...

That wasn't the case on this Panama Canal Cruise. Due to the low number of kids onboard, all of the clubs closed at midnight every night except pajama party night and the coast to coast campout.
 
That wasn't the case on this Panama Canal Cruise. Due to the low number of kids onboard, all of the clubs closed at midnight every night except pajama party night and the coast to coast campout.

My bad. I was just quoting what I read on the navigators.
I know the club and lab close at midnight. Edge and vibe are nearly always later regardless of itinerary. Must have changed it for this one. Unlucky.
 
I thought the same thing, but I didn't want him to miss out on the fun. He had a great time, so I guess it was worth it.
Oh yeah... totally. Besides, I don't think that children really think the actual canal part is that exciting, but I could be wrong- I look forward to seeing what the kids thought of the experience.
 


My bad. I was just quoting what I read on the navigators.
I know the club and lab close at midnight. Edge and vibe are nearly always later regardless of itinerary. Must have changed it for this one. Unlucky.

On all of our past cruises, the Edge was open until 1am. The Edge staff said that on the 2016 PC cruises there were so few kids that remained in the Edge and Vibe until 1am that DCL couldn't justify keeping the staff working that late. That wasn't the only change either. They limited the video game usage a lot more than usual and shut down all electronic games in both the youth and tween clubs (don't know about Vibe) during the open houses. On our previous PC cruise Jimmy, James, and I would go into the lab and play some of the games together with Emily. It wasn't happening on this one. Jimmy wasn't pleased with these changes, but made the most of it.
 
Oh yeah... totally. Besides, I don't think that children really think the actual canal part is that exciting, but I could be wrong- I look forward to seeing what the kids thought of the experience.

No, the kids don't have the same interest as we adults. However, this mama wasn't going to sleep soundly until her 13 year old made it back to the cabin. I can't imagine that I was the only one, and I think it was safe to assume that most of us mama's planned on an early morning.
 
On all of our past cruises, the Edge was open until 1am. The Edge staff said that on the 2016 PC cruises there were so few kids that remained in the Edge and Vibe until 1am that DCL couldn't justify keeping the staff working that late. That wasn't the only change either. They limited the video game usage a lot more than usual and shut down all electronic games in both the youth and tween clubs (don't know about Vibe) during the open houses. On our previous PC cruise Jimmy, James, and I would go into the lab and play some of the games together with Emily. It wasn't happening on this one. Jimmy wasn't pleased with these changes, but made the most of it.

Yeah, I had a room mate who was a vibe Counselor one PC and she worked till 2am every day. Most of the time they had no kids from around midnight but had to stay open, but they would open late morning, and the teens would want to be there earlier because there wasn't really anything else for them on sea days, so I'm glad they finally changed that one.
I don't get the video games though, especially in open house? That's sucks. A lot of families come in to use the games, especially on the long cruises. Did you ask if you could use them? What did they say? Although there are some managers who listen to one negative guest comment and will change things for everyone because of it. Usually (well we were always told) to put them on for guests if they asked when possible. I haven't been on the wonder since dry dock but have worked the magic, and I know they're pretty much the same layouts now and at least on the Magic there wasn't really a way to turn off the iPads or computers. Although the wii and Xbox would often have to be off if there was a programme going on due to the way the system works.
 


I don't get the video games though, especially in open house? That's sucks. A lot of families come in to use the games, especially on the long cruises. Did you ask if you could use them? What did they say? Although there are some managers who listen to one negative guest comment and will change things for everyone because of it. Usually (well we were always told) to put them on for guests if they asked when possible. I haven't been on the wonder since dry dock but have worked the magic, and I know they're pretty much the same layouts now and at least on the Magic there wasn't really a way to turn off the iPads or computers. Although the wii and Xbox would often have to be off if there was a programme going on due to the way the system works.

I admit, I didn't ask or comment about it. It didn't really effect James and I, but Jimmy did ask about both the computers and the game systems and was told that they were not available for use during the open house. I didn't get details beyond that, and he's at boy scout camp this week so I don't know anymore than that. He wasn't happy about it, though. While he had a great cruise, he kept saying that he liked the old youth clubs and Edge much better.
 
James and I hauled ourselves out of bed at 7am and were on deck 10 by 7:15am. We left the kids in the cabin to sleep. By the time we got to deck 10, the bow of the ship was not only packed, but loud! I couldn't hear the commentary from the bridge. We decided to settle ourselves closer to midship, port side where we could hear and it wasn't so crowded. A drone flew by the ship recording the event. The excitement from passengers and crew alike was palpable.

Here are a few photos as we entered the first lock.


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While the lock filled, James and I grabbed breakfast from Cabanas. We ate it in loungers by the Goofy pool, watching the action on the Funnel Vision.

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When we finished breakfast, we moved to deck 4. Check out all that room alongside the ship! If you read my trip report from our 2016 EBPC cruise, you saw that in the old locks mere inches separated the Wonder from the walls of the canal. Now there was plenty of room.

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The lock open

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The lock closed

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While on deck 4, we ran into our tablemates and this guy.

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A few more pictures from deck 4:

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The excitement really picked up when we reached the visitor's center. Look at all of the people who came out to watch the first passenger ship pass through the new locks. In fine DCL spirit, the captain began blasting Disney music and the horn. There was whooping and waving all around.

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So loving your trip report. I've just read the whole thing through (slow day at work :rolleyes1) One day I'd really like to take this cruise.

Looking forward to reading more.
 
Loving your report! Was the kid count so low because of the time of year you cruised? We are a homeschooling family as well and can vacation when we please.... I would love to go when the kid count is low!
 
Loving your report! Was the kid count so low because of the time of year you cruised? We are a homeschooling family as well and can vacation when we please.... I would love to go when the kid count is low!

Thank you! From what I understand, the kid count is always low on the 2 week Panama Canal Cruises. We had 250 kids on this cruise and only 190 on our one last August. My kids greatly prefer less kids. They receive more attention from the counsellors and make closer friends when the count is low.
 
We reached the lake at 10:50am. As you are well aware of by now, I am no professional photographer, however, the blurriness of this photo was not from my lack of skill. The air really was that misty out on the lake. The heat and humidity were tolerable, though.

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With the first set of locks behind us, we felt it was time to wake the kids. What better for breakfast than ice cream? The kids had pineapple/coconut, while I went for a blueberry/pineapple/coconut swirl.

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James and I needed something more substantial than just ice cream. I decided to try the schwarma and was glad I did. It was delicious! I had chicken and I'm not exactly sure which toppings. I told the CM who made it to have his way with it. It was both spicy and creamy with plenty of veggie crunch. He had great taste!

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James also had the schwarma. He had lamb, cheese, and garlic sauce. As you can see, he enjoyed it.

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With the kids off doing their things, James and I opted for dessert. We went to Cabana's for hard-scoop ice cream. James had mint-chocolate chip, while I had my favorite - coconut-pineapple with a mini chocolate lava cake. The combo may not sound all that good, but trust me, it was amazing!

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Bellies full, James met up with Emily to take on the Twist-n-Spout slide (this is when he got stuck), while I chose a spot in the air conditioning on deck 3 to read and enjoy the gorgeous view of the lake.

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Shortly before 1pm I headed back up to deck 9 to watch James and Emily "Swim Through the Panama Canal."

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While we waited for the swim to begin, the sky began to look pretty iffy.

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Plenty of people wanted to swim through the canal. The following pictures were taken only a couple minutes apart.

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Finally, the CMs running the swim showed up and lined up the participants. While James and Em were initially at the front of the line, the CMs kept reorganizing the line in a manner where James and Emily ended up at the end of it. If you look closely, you can spot James way back by the "Pool Rules" sign.

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It quickly became apparent that James and Emily were not going to "swim" any time soon. We agreed that we wanted to eat lunch in Triton's, but it would be closing at 1:30p. So, at 1:25p, I left my swimmers in order to us save us a place at Triton's.
 
Though we wanted to eat in Triton's, it was not our intention to keep the servers working beyond their usual shift, so I ordered for James and Emily.

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I started with the bruschetta.

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For my main course, I ordered the Buchatini Carbonara. I ordered the same for Emily.

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For James, I ordered the Peppered Sirloin Salad. I was halfway through my main course when James and Emily arrived. They were both starving! James ate half of his salad before I could get a picture. Emily not only ate all of her carbonara, but finished off mine as well. Apparently, swimming through the Panama Canal takes a lot out of you!

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For dessert, I had the warm lemon pudding. I ordered one for James as well. It was okay.

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I also ordered James a mint cookie crunch sundae.

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Emily had her usual Mickey bar.

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By the time we finished eating, the sky had finally let loose.

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