We are set to sail on April 29 2010 on a repositioning cruise from Fort Lauderdale to Vancouver. 18 days aboard the Island Princess. A trip of a lifetime through the Panama Canal.
And yes, I'm getting a little excited!
Our itinery includes a stop in Aruba. We have no plans other than being beach bums here. We're geocachers and have noted a couple of caches hidden at beaches near the cruise ship port, on Eagle Beach and Palm Beach, so we're hoping to make a couple of finds and leave some travel bugs behind.
The next stop is in Cartagena, Columbia. We've booked a shore excursion with Princess to visit the mud bath volcano at Totumo. Jumping into a vat of mud isn't everyone's idea of fun, but we're looking forward to it. I found an article and photos of it here. http://www.twobackpackers.com/1692/south-america/mud-bath-in-volcano-totumo-colombia/
Then a day's passage through the Panama Canal. I found web cams here of some of the locks. Its kind of interesting watching the boats pass through. http://www.acp.gob.pa/eng/photo/camera-java.html
Then we anchor at Fuerte Amador and tenders take us ashore. We've found a tour company called My Friend Mario and have booked a 6 hour city tour while in port.
Then on to Costa Rica where we've booked a 7 hour tour to visit monkeys in a nature reserve, a plantation where we can sample fruit, a river boat tour for crocodiles, and a local lunch at a beach where we can swim, and a stop at a market where coffee can be bought for half the price as its sold in other shops. Sounds like a great day.
The Island Princess then heads to Mexico. We'll be doing the beach bum thing again at a stop in Hualtulco. At Acapulco I've booked a city tour with some other passengers on the cruise and we'll be seeing the cliff diver's afternoon performance. On to Cabo San Lucas where again we're planning to hang out at the beach for the day.
The ship then heads to Los Angeles where passengers will be embarking and disembarking. I've been to California so many times and seen most of the tourist attractions many times that none of the shore excursions interested me. The time in LA is so short that I didn't want to venture off in my own and get stuck in a traffic jam and miss the 4pm departure, so we'll be staying in the San Pedro pier area. There are heritage trolley cars that operate for a mile and a half and take passengers up to a mall, so that's likely all we'll be doing.
Then a couple more days at sea and we'll be back in Vancouver. The Island Princess then does the Alaska cruises for the summer months.
