We were on this cruise too!
This was
DCL #25 for us and omg our best ever! I completely agree with what previous posters said about our wonderful crew, gorgeous weather, amazing experience going through the canal, the incredible beauty of the calm ocean. Almost like a mirror. I said to dh, "This is why they call it Pacific." (as in pacifier, calm). Really a sight to behold, and all the while watching birds dip down, scoop up a fish, gulp it down and keep going.
We've never spent so much time on a cruise just watching the ocean and the sky and appreciating the beauty of nature.
It was a long enough cruise to not see the moon at all and to see a full moon too.
I completely disagree with the pp who said aggressive vendors in Cartagena are fake news. On our excursion, we stopped by the outside of the fort without entering, where we could barely take pictures because saying No thank you was a non stop job. They were not nearly as aggressive as the next stop we went to, a little strip of shops. After a while it started feeling like I was being swarmed, really creepy, and I'd run into a shop just to have a few seconds of peace. Dh did buy a leather belt from one for only $10. He also bought some fake Cubans. I understand the people are just desperate to earn some money but after an hour I was just exhausted from it. Not enjoyable at all. We then visited the site of the Tribunal of the Spanish Inquisition then on to a jewelry store full of emeralds. At least it had AC and they gave us water. By the end of our excursion, I couldn't wait to get back on the ship and practically ran through the aviary next to the pier. I would have liked to spend more time there but I was hot, hungry and cranky. In walking around the city, the architecture reminded me of the PoC ride at WDW.
I'm glad others found areas to enjoy.
I agree with the pp who mentioned how many times Turning Red was played on the ship. The last few days of the cruise, you could call it the Turning Red Theater. We did see it and I'd give it 2-3* out of 5. It was ok but I won't be buying it or watching it on
Disney+. Sometimes I feel like they're running out of ideas for movies.
The app was glitchy for us as well. We never saw the PC lecture schedule for Dr. Costanza in the app. We walked into the first one by accident. As a pp stated, the app wouldn't allow us to complete the muster drill, so it told us to meet in the WD Theater the next morning to complete the drill. We went and didn't realize it was a lecture until we were seated. We really wanted to stay but had go to GS to resolve the muster drill requirement and had to wait a long time for a safety officer to meet us and check us off the list. We never saw lectures #2 and 3 until they were put on our SR TV and didn't see #3 until the day after we sailed through the canal. This should have been an easy to find highlight in the app.
I had no idea about the star gazing either; we would have loved to attend that and see with the ship's lights dimmed down. Again, no mention of this in the app. Reading about it here is the first time I learned about it.
We tried to book a placeholder but when you clicked on it at the home page, it took you to another page without any further links. (Worked fine in early December.) So we visited GS again to have our name put on a list and was told we'd get an email in a few days. The CM was earning her ears and I knew we were never going to get an email or a placeholder unless I contact them myself.
One of the shows in the WD Theater was a Crew Talent show. It was interesting and different. Some aspects very different, leaving me thinking, "Am I really seeing this in the WD Theater?" To each his own.
That one rough sea day was wild!!! Everything at the bow and stern was tied down to a railing: ping pong tables, foosball, stacked tables and chairs outside of Palo, loungers, etc. the night before. I never heard our cabin creak so much during the wee hours and it lasted until around dinner time. In the daytime, only deck 9 still had chairs and tables out so we sat by the Goofy pool to watch a movie. Out of nowhere, comes a splash of cold ocean spray on several of us, completely catching us by surprise while our attention was on the movie. Never before would I have believed it if someone told me water splashed them by
coming up over deck 10 onto deck 9. Now I would believe it!
All of the glass windshield panels on deck 10 were coated with salt by the end of the day, with kids drawing smilies on some. Everything sparkled again by the next day.
We also enjoyed the 2 times we received the signature sheet titled, Chip and Dale Canoeing the Canal, with instructions to sign your name and cabin number, and attach it to another cabin door. Many people added where they're from which made it more interesting. Besides Americans, cruisers were from Canada, UK, Germany, & Australia. Pretty cool.
I am sad that this was most likely DCL's last PC sailing. We finally got to the stage in our lives that kids are out of school and working and we
can sail for this long. We feel very fortunate to be able to do this cruise. Dh felt it was too long though and I admit, it was hard to save up that much vacation time, but I'd do it again in heartbeat. I guess it will have to be on another cruise line.
