Before I jump into our most recent trip, I realized that I skipped one. Over the holidays we went to Vancouver, Portland, and Seattle. We spent Christmas in Vancouver, which was new to us, and we loved how close it was to the mountains. We did a fair amount of sledding along with general sightseeing. In Portland, we hit the usual spots (Voodoo Doughnuts, Powell’s Books), and in Seattle we explored much more of the various neighborhoods this time around.
Fast forward to Spring Break. We were looking for Panama Canal cruises last Fall but nearly all of the ones that went all the way through the canal were 14 days or more in length, which was just too long for us. We finally found a great compromise — a cruise that went through half of the canal and also allowed us to visit many new countries!
Overall the cruise was great, we really enjoy sampling countries without the need to drag our luggage around. The Holland America ship we were on was recently renovated and it really showed. It was the best cruise in terms of decor, food, and room amenities (we even had a bathtub!). We felt it was a little lacking in onboard activities that interested us, but maybe we weren’t their primary audience. Most of the ship was older people, and ones that stood in the pool and complained when kids were swimming around them because they didn’t want to get their hair wet.
Bahamas
Our first stop was a private island owned by the cruise line named Half Moon Cay. We sprung for a private cabana, which was a little pricey, but after a medical emergency caused us to shorten our visit to the island, the price was cut in half. We had a beautiful day on the beach and the water was crystal clear. The kids were not fans of the gentle waves, though our eldest got used to it eventually. We swam, snorkeled, and floated our time away. About half way through the day, we were surprised with a food delivery of fruit, shrimp, and chips and dip. We ate most of it and then some wild roosters helped us with the rest before we returned to the ship.
Aruba
We decided to go our own way in Aruba. We started walking down the main drag near the port. It wasn’t very exciting — just mostly some shops, a sort of mall, and lots of pushy restaurants. We ate lunch at the first place that wasn’t begging for our business, called The Paddock. After lunch, we went back to the port to see if we could haggle for an island tour. We had read about some good sightseeing within the national park, but unfortunately it required 4 wheel drive and those tours were already filled up.
We ended up with a private van that drove us to the highlights. First stop was a series of rock formations in the middle of the island that you can climb up and get good views of the island. We then stopped at a grocery store to get some water and the driver convinced us to try some local beer while we continued the tour. Next stop was a quick tour of ruins along the coast where they used to smelt gold. After that we went a little bit down the coast to a natural bridge. There was a large famous one that collapsed about a decade ago but it’s still advertised everywhere. What remains is a smaller one next door that was pretty dirty, surprising to us since it was the key attraction. Last stop was the lighthouse in the north west corner of the island and then a drive down the coast where all the fancy hotels and famous beaches are along with a cool ship wreck sticking out of the water.
Once back at the port, I had read about a free trolley that takes you around the main shopping areas. We got on one and it turned out to be the last trolley of the day, so we just enjoyed a relaxing ride around the town back to the port again. We then took a cab back to the fancy part of the island and ate a delicious (albeit expensive) dinner at Smokey Joe’s.
Curaçao
Next up was Curaçao where we were in port the longest, from 9am to 11pm. We ate breakfast on the ship and then headed out to wander around the main shopping distinct. To get to the shopping distinct we had to cross a very unique bridge — it’s fully floating on pontoon boats and will move completely out of the way when boats need to get through. When the bridge is opened by an engine on one side and a hinge on the other, they start a ferry service to keep the people traffic moving. The shopping area itself was pretty deserted in the morning but it was still fun to walk around and see all the beautiful colored buildings. The architecture around the island has a strong Dutch influence and you almost feel like you’re in Amsterdam or Copenhagen. We stopped for some ice cream before going back to the ship for lunch.
After lunch, we walked around the shopping area a bit more, and now it was quite crowded. On the ship-side of the bridge, there was a small market where we got the girls some new dresses that they were obsessed with the rest of the trip. We ate dinner at a restaurant called The Sopranos inside a rehabbed fort called Rif Fort.
After dinner, Jaime took the girls back to the ship and let me wander the town after dark. It was really cool to see all the buildings lit up and the quiet dark alleys. The pontoon bridge was also covered in rainbow light arches that changed colors. Back on the boat, the girls were in the kids’ club so we had a couple drinks while taking in the sights and watching the bridge move in the dark.
Colombia
Cartagena, Colombia was the port city we were most looking forward to, and unfortunately it was the shortest stop on the itinerary. Because of this, we were extra vigilant with our morning routine and stalking of exit stairs. It paid off as we were the first people off the ship! For some reason there’s a maze of paths to leave the port which was a bit tricky to navigate with no one in front of us. Once we escaped we were confronted with some pushy tour salespeople. We were able to get a normal taxi pretty quickly and our driver Richardo took us straight to the Old City. Richardo was friendly and offered to drive us back to the port if we met him at the same spot at the end of the day.
The Old City was almost completely empty at this time of day, and it was utterly stunning. We went to a coffee shop I had read out but it wasn’t open yet. We wandered around a bit, including a brief climb up the city walls where a security guard mimed to us not to walk along them (they were narrow without railings so we didn’t really intend to anyway). As the tourists poured in, they turned the streets around the main attractions into pedestrian-only. We bought a painting that resembles a fat Mona Lisa by a famous Latin artist (not an original). A couple blocks away another seller offered to wrap it up for us, which was a very nice gesture. We made our way back to the coffee shop, called Abacus, and drank some tasty lemonadas and frozen hot chocolates.
We then walked a bit outside of the tourist areas to mingle with the locals a bit. It was pretty hectic and overwhelming there so we worked our way back into the core of the Old City. We realized it was about the time to rendezvous with Richardo so we went back to the meeting point. I couldn’t find his taxi but someone else came up to me and just said “Richardo?”. I waved him away a couple times but he was persistent, saying “Richardo…uh…impossible…” over and over. It finally hit me that he was trying to say that Richardo couldn’t make it so he sent someone else to drive us back to the port! Knowing that was half guessing, it was a little concerning getting into this guy’s taxi and him not speaking a word of English, but it went off without a hitch.
We’re looking forward to explore more of Colombia in our future travels.
Panama
We arrived in Panama on my birthday. We all got up around 5pm to go through the Gatun Locks on the Atlantic side of the Panama Canal. At the bow of the ship we were able to watch the whole process with amazing views. It was a pretty surreal experience with the boat being raised up multiple times, and very quickly.
After the ship stopped, we took a tender boat to shore and bused over to Panama City. The city was gorgeous and somewhat similar in architecture to Cartagena, though with more construction going on and lots of nicer buildings. We stopped a few times in the city squares, at an old church, and a longer stop for shopping / mingling. The tour then took us to the more famous Miraflores Locks on the Pacific side. There’s a large museum there that we mostly skipped in favor of watching boats go through from the observation deck. It was a totally different experience than going through them, and I’d recommend doing both. We had a couple birthday beers at a restaurant there before busing back to the port that the ship went to while we were on our tour.
Costa Rica
Last, but not least, was Costa Rica. We knew there wasn’t much to the port city itself, so we took another excursion tour the ship offered. It consisted of a wildlife sightseeing boat tour up and down a canal. It was reminiscent of the safari we went on in Sri Lanka in that we stopped at the slightest movements to look for wildlife and then raced to new spots if other tour guides radioed in a sighting elsewhere. We did end up seeing quite a lot, including sloths, caymans, toucans, bats, monkeys, and an iguana. After that we went on an old coffee train for a relaxing ride through the jungle and over the canal we were just on before heading back to the ship. We know this was just the tip of the iceberg in Costa Rica, so we’ll definitely be back there!