The Chit Chat Chit Chat Thread

donaldtoo

donaldtoo

Well-Known Member
Cesar R M said:
oh separate restrooms.. how I miss you! XD
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Yep, that’s one of the first things we noticed when we were assigned these staterooms…!!! 🙂
Crazy thing is, we saved 3K ($1,500/stateroom) by letting DCL pic our staterooms for us. Although we were guaranteed balconies, we weren’t guaranteed our staterooms would be near each other, or even on the same deck for that matter, and were pretty much told adjoining wasn’t going to happen.
Disney Magic Magic, I guess…!!!!! 🤷‍♂️:hilarious:
 
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W

wdwfan4ver

Well-Known Member
MinnieM123 said:
Come to think of it, that's 13 days away yet. (Wondering how accurate is that specific forecast?) 🤔
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Could be like what is happening here in Southeastern Wisconsin for accurate weather. Last night weather.com claimed of it being 23 degrees out as a high for Christmas Day, but today weather.com claims the high would be 18 degrees on Christmas Day. Personally I don't think the weather people have no idea what is going to happen on that date yet.
 
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ajrwdwgirl

ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Cesar R M said:
Panama Canal 2022 Trip Report

Who: Me, my mother and sister(older than me).
Reasoning: My mother and I were always interested in seeing Cartagena was was labelled as a gorgeous town to visit. We also wanted to try a Panama Canal trip. A few family members and friends also recommended a few places along the way, including the hotel.

The Plan: We first had in mind taking a Royal Caribbean Cruise, but they all left from US ports (San Diego, Los Angeles to New Orleans and the other way) That means costly flight to US and hotel but on the good side we would visit those places.
Then we managed to find a Norwegian Route that gave us even more days for better price departing straight from Panama ( RCCL was a 7 day cruise, Norwegian was a 9 day cruise ). This made us decide to stay a few days in Panama to know it well then head to the cruise and then back home.

The Logistics: There was no direct flight from my hometown to Panama, so we decided to take a 4 hour bus from my hometown to the nearest largest city ( Guadalajara) to take the COPA airlines flight from there to Panama directly. And thus we avoid paying more money and having the nightmare that is the Mexico City's airport.
We also found a flight that would allow us to fly very late night and arrive very early morning to Panama to use that day instead of wasting one night of hotel doing nothing.

The first part: The first part was a bit complicated, because out of nowhere ( we forgot there was a holiday with an extended weekend) our 2 favourite bus companies were full. We had to take a third, which had much narrower seats. But we arrived fine, just a bit late thanks to the traffic.

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In Guadalajara we visited my sister's daughter, we chatted, meet her rescue cat, had dinner and then they drove us to the airport. The airport was a bit messy as its under huge renovations. Overhauling the older terminals and the main gate. There we bought some USD for cash. Abit annoyed as the company sold us the USD way higher than anything. But we could do nothing as there was no open company at the time (it was almost midnight).

Our flight was uneventful and was nice. Other than being full (we had to seat separated). Even saw some VERY BRIGHT (never had seen them before) falling stars as approached the Panama coast.



When we landed we were in unfamiliar territory. Sadly we had to walk A LOT.
We arrived at the Terminal 1, one of the farthest gates ( I think we walked 3 miles before we reached customs). As it was mostly under construction and everything was being done in Terminal 2 services wise ( aka baggage claiming, customs, etc..)
The whole process was very uneventful and everyone was helpful.

Until the end when we arrived to the exit. We were hit by something we were not expecting.. HUGE.. and I mean HUGE PRICES to everything.
We were baffled as a few friends of my sister and a cousin claimed Panama was "cheap".
The taxi was at least 75 USD. We haggled a bit and got it down to 55 USD. Those are US prices! (Orlando and Houston's level)

The trip was nice, we saw the sunrise from Panama City's costline and we were marvelled at the sights.
Panama no longer looked like a city on the beach. It looked like a giant New York.
With an impressive sprawling skyscraper area with 50+ floors.

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We took a tour via the express highway and we went to our first hotel. The highly recommended GAMBOA RAINFOREST RESORT.
Which is located right by the Gamboa national reserve.

The trip was hilarious, because the traffic, the potholes and the whole thing right in the middle of the forest with some random views of very high construction zones while others were pristine and full of nature.

The hotel was absolutely gorgeous with a breathtaking view of the river CHANGRES that feeds the Panama Canal's main lake.
Only downsize is that the resort definitively needed maintenance. But I imagine that maintaining an hotel in the middle of nowhere with the nature trying to take over is expensive and hard.

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And now comes the other issue lol.
We arrived too "early".
We wanted to check in and leave our bags but turns out 1) We were exhausted and wanted to have a shower and a small nap before taking some tours from the hotel itself.
So we ended paying 40 USD (10 per hour) to be able to "check in" in advance.

We bit the bullet and just went ahead and checked in in advance. Just to find more "additional hidden fees" that made us facepalm.
Anyway we went to our room, which had a very nice view.
The place was def incredible.
Best part is that the resort itself is like a nature park by itself. It has a TRAM ride, might safari like ride, bike park, many nature trails, boat tours, it also has all amenities of a 5 star resort, bar, restaurant, gym, meeting center, room service, etc..)

After a good shower and a good nap we decided to take the tram ride first...

Ironically.. we did not see any animal on our ride up. WE HEARD monkeys and many animals, but nothing on sight. Until we reached the tower..
Where there was bird galore..
And gorgeous view of from one side.. the Changres river and on the other.. the Panama Canal...
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Will continue tomorrow..
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Great report so far, that view of the river from the hotel is very pretty.
 
ajrwdwgirl

ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
We are in a winter weather watch with rain/snow mix and then snow on Thursday. I have a dentist appointment tomorrow, so I'm hoping I can still go, my husband says he will drive me (I'm a wimpy bad weather driver, I can do it but prefer not to). One of our science teachers at school has a degree in meteorology says we will have school tomorrow, he always gets it wrong (I think he was right once) so now all the students are convinced there is no school tomorrow because Mr. H says we will not have a snow day!
 

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