TestingH2O
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 10, 2014
Panama Canal: Part 3 (March 12)
We arrived back at the room to watch the end of our transit. The downhill locks were quicker than the uphill. I assume it is faster because of gravity (faster to drain a lock than to fill it,) but I don't know for sure. Before I knew it, we were through the locks and passing under the Centennial Bridge. How cool is it to think that you are traveling west with the sunset at your back?
So, before things go off the rails, I want to take a moment to talk about how cool the transit was. I did some learning before we traveled, and then I really enjoyed the lectures on board. I loved seeing that amazing feat of engineering in action. DD and I also did some learning together before we traveled. She read the "What Is" book about the Canal and we went to the locks and dams on the Mississippi to actually see a similar system in action. I think it really helped her know what she was looking at once we were there.
OK, here we go. Now is the moment I suspect many of you have been waiting for. We were leaving the Canal Zone and it was time to get ready for dinner. I hopped on my phone to post a couple more photos to social media and there it was. The announcement.
Oof. I actually saw it first linked in a news story from Orlando, but this was posted soon after.
What did it all mean? How were we going to be impacted on the ship? Did we need to rearrange flights? I decided to tell my parents because I knew my dad was also still checking email etc. We decided that there was nothing we could do until we had more information, so we went to dinner as scheduled. We enjoyed the Panama Canal menu very much. The dining room was a bit subdued on this night but overall things were still pretty normal.
After dinner, my dad and DD went to see ET in the Walt Disney Theater. I don't think I mentioned it, but on the long cruises, they do a film series of movies not typically shown on Disney cruises. The theme for our voyage was the music of John Williams. They showed Indian Jones, ET, Jaws, etc. In addition to showing ET, EVERY musical performer (except for one,) agreed to make a Super Band and perform on the pool deck for a HUGE dance party. They had Bongi Maestro, Soul Duo, Dragos, Sean Flowers... I'm sure I am missing someone. Willem and Natalia were also up there leading dances. Ashley said this had never been done before, and I believe her. It was really cool.
While the movie was going on, my mom and I decided to head down to the atrium to see if they knew any more information about the shutdown. Guest services was incredibly nice, but they didn't have any more information about what was happening. I couldn't tell how many people in the atrium really had heard the news because the atmosphere was pretty jovial. A couple minutes after we got there, I noticed that there were lots of officers.
***Announcement Chime***
Captain Henry came online and greeted us in his very calm voice. He told us that "in an abundance of caution" DCL was choosing to cease operations for 30 days. Because we were already at sea, our trip would not be impacted and we would finish our itinerary as scheduled. He continued on to say that we had no indication that anyone on our ship was ill and that we needed to take extra care to wash our hands and practice good hygiene. If anyone was feeling ill, we were implored to go to the infirmary to get checked out.
Now, if you have been on a DCL cruise, you know that the atrium is a hub of activity. A critical mass of people obviously had already heard the news because once the announcement chimes sounded it got very quiet and lots of guests were shushing others. It was a bit eerie to realize that the place was full of people and you could hear a pin drop. After the announcement, the officers were swarmed. Of course everyone had so many questions! I got in touch with DH and shared the information that we had. We were still about to have several sea days in a row, so who knew when we'd be able to talk again. Plus iMessage wasn't working well. With no real information to go on, my mom and I headed to Cadillac Lounge to just kind of process. I find that spot on the ship so relaxing, so it was nice to just let the atmosphere take over.
When we headed to the rooms to turn in, we found our commemorative lithograph.
I love it so much! I am sure I will frame it.
As DD got ready for bed, I headed out on the verandah. We had stopped to take on more fuel and it looked like we were in the middle of a big city! Those lights are mostly container ships who are waiting to cross. If you remember a few days ago when the Wonder was waiting to head back east, she and several other ships were all grouped together for a day or so. They were all in that waiting area until the PC authority gave them permission to cross.
And so, we are officially off the rails. Of course, at this point, we just knew we were going to be the last DCL cruise that would be sailing. Little did we know, there were more twists and turns to come.
Up Next: Day at Sea
We arrived back at the room to watch the end of our transit. The downhill locks were quicker than the uphill. I assume it is faster because of gravity (faster to drain a lock than to fill it,) but I don't know for sure. Before I knew it, we were through the locks and passing under the Centennial Bridge. How cool is it to think that you are traveling west with the sunset at your back?
So, before things go off the rails, I want to take a moment to talk about how cool the transit was. I did some learning before we traveled, and then I really enjoyed the lectures on board. I loved seeing that amazing feat of engineering in action. DD and I also did some learning together before we traveled. She read the "What Is" book about the Canal and we went to the locks and dams on the Mississippi to actually see a similar system in action. I think it really helped her know what she was looking at once we were there.
OK, here we go. Now is the moment I suspect many of you have been waiting for. We were leaving the Canal Zone and it was time to get ready for dinner. I hopped on my phone to post a couple more photos to social media and there it was. The announcement.
Oof. I actually saw it first linked in a news story from Orlando, but this was posted soon after.
What did it all mean? How were we going to be impacted on the ship? Did we need to rearrange flights? I decided to tell my parents because I knew my dad was also still checking email etc. We decided that there was nothing we could do until we had more information, so we went to dinner as scheduled. We enjoyed the Panama Canal menu very much. The dining room was a bit subdued on this night but overall things were still pretty normal.
After dinner, my dad and DD went to see ET in the Walt Disney Theater. I don't think I mentioned it, but on the long cruises, they do a film series of movies not typically shown on Disney cruises. The theme for our voyage was the music of John Williams. They showed Indian Jones, ET, Jaws, etc. In addition to showing ET, EVERY musical performer (except for one,) agreed to make a Super Band and perform on the pool deck for a HUGE dance party. They had Bongi Maestro, Soul Duo, Dragos, Sean Flowers... I'm sure I am missing someone. Willem and Natalia were also up there leading dances. Ashley said this had never been done before, and I believe her. It was really cool.
While the movie was going on, my mom and I decided to head down to the atrium to see if they knew any more information about the shutdown. Guest services was incredibly nice, but they didn't have any more information about what was happening. I couldn't tell how many people in the atrium really had heard the news because the atmosphere was pretty jovial. A couple minutes after we got there, I noticed that there were lots of officers.
***Announcement Chime***
Captain Henry came online and greeted us in his very calm voice. He told us that "in an abundance of caution" DCL was choosing to cease operations for 30 days. Because we were already at sea, our trip would not be impacted and we would finish our itinerary as scheduled. He continued on to say that we had no indication that anyone on our ship was ill and that we needed to take extra care to wash our hands and practice good hygiene. If anyone was feeling ill, we were implored to go to the infirmary to get checked out.
Now, if you have been on a DCL cruise, you know that the atrium is a hub of activity. A critical mass of people obviously had already heard the news because once the announcement chimes sounded it got very quiet and lots of guests were shushing others. It was a bit eerie to realize that the place was full of people and you could hear a pin drop. After the announcement, the officers were swarmed. Of course everyone had so many questions! I got in touch with DH and shared the information that we had. We were still about to have several sea days in a row, so who knew when we'd be able to talk again. Plus iMessage wasn't working well. With no real information to go on, my mom and I headed to Cadillac Lounge to just kind of process. I find that spot on the ship so relaxing, so it was nice to just let the atmosphere take over.
When we headed to the rooms to turn in, we found our commemorative lithograph.
I love it so much! I am sure I will frame it.
As DD got ready for bed, I headed out on the verandah. We had stopped to take on more fuel and it looked like we were in the middle of a big city! Those lights are mostly container ships who are waiting to cross. If you remember a few days ago when the Wonder was waiting to head back east, she and several other ships were all grouped together for a day or so. They were all in that waiting area until the PC authority gave them permission to cross.
And so, we are officially off the rails. Of course, at this point, we just knew we were going to be the last DCL cruise that would be sailing. Little did we know, there were more twists and turns to come.
Up Next: Day at Sea