IRMO12HD

No, I'm quite serious. My motion sickness is so bad that I can't play, or watch someone playing, a first-person shooter game with lots of running around and rapid turning for more than two minutes without getting queasy. I can't ride in any car or bus without a clear window view (i.e., no sitting in the middle surrounded by strap hangers), and I can't watch a single movie that has been shot using hand-held cameras (e.g., The Hurt Locker, Blair Witch Project). And yes, I get sea sick if the motion in the ocean becomes really noticeable and I don't have a view out the window. My last trip on Anthem, for the second such trip in the row, the motion in the ocean on the last sea day was bad enough that I had a really hard time for a good chunk of the evening.
Motion sensitivity is a real thing, and I've had it pretty bad my entire life. I can't explain why, but but for me it's by far the worst with camera motion (real or simulated). I phrased my request as politely as I could, knowing it was going to sound weird no matter what. I truly enjoy watching vlogs like these, but I just can't do it if the end result is that I'm going to literally become physically ill within a few minutes.

@Matt Don't leave us Texans stranded. Group Cruise!!!!!

When the Panama Canal announced the project to expand the Panama Canal for larger ships it created a new trend in shipping.  The neo or Post-Panamax standard was developed for super sized ships that couldn't fit through the original Panama Canal.  The original Panama Canal can only handle ships built to the Panamax standard.
When the new Panama Canal expansion project was announced ports around the Northern hemisphere all realized they needed to expand and grow to accommodate the new super sized cargo, container and tanker ships that would be looking for ports to drop their goods.  This spawned a race among larger ports to be ready for the Post-Panamax vessels for if they didn't they would be forgotten and ignored by the shipping industry.
This includes the Port of Miami who had to deal with their relatively narrow and shallow channel and harbor that ships use to reach the port docks.
https://www.saj.usace.army.mil/Missions/Civil-Works/Navigation/Navigation-Projects/Miami-Harbor-Deepening/
The work to make the Port of Miami ready was completed in 2015 just nine months before the new Panama Canal locks opened for Post-Panamax vessel traffic.
Had the Port not deepend the channel and harbor Oasis class ships would not be able to visit or home port in the Port of Miami.    
And so it is not inaccurate to say that we can all enjoy Oasis class ships home porting in the Port of Miami and the beautiful new Crown of Miami terminal because of the Panama Canal and specifically the neo-Panamax shipping standard that spawned from its recent expansion.  

All the more reason to reduce image size.  I typically use no more than 700 pixels wide on here and keep files under 200 kB unless there is text like on menus, then a higher resolution makes it easier to read.   Typical smartphone images are 2-3 MB which take 10 times longer to upload over Voom.  
Being all Apple I use Airdrop to move files back and forth but there are many image transfer apps in the Play store that use wifi to move images.  

We always watch for good deals and book when we find them or reprice during good sales.  When we were on Allure in September, we were chatting with a couple who was Sky Class.  They were new to Royal and didn't know about Star, so when they saw our genie, they asked us about it and how much we paid.  Turns out they paid more for Sky Class than we did for Star. 

Thank you!  1AD, next duty station was actually going to be screaming eagles before I retired.  Thank you for your service as well.

?
That is the general consensus here on the message boards. YOLO Book It and we all enable each other. 

Sooooo good new is: WE TOOK 3rd PLACE AT THE 50’s DANCE PARTY!!
Bad news is: there were only 3 competitors ????

Thank you both for your service and kudos to Royal for honoring all veterans!

Also forgot to mention, they held a Veteran’s Day event on board in the Promenade. They sang the national anthem, and had one of the casts from Grease sing ‘Hallelujah’ with lyrics changed to honor our servicemen and women. The moment of silence was deafening. Both my husband and I are veterans, and found it to be very touching and moving. (Also on board was a 92 yo WWII vet!). Thanks to RCI for taking the time to honor our vets!

DAY 2: Perfect day at Cocoa Cay
 
DRINK COUNT
Specialty Coffee
Frozen mojito
Bahama Mama x4
Shot of rum
3 glasses of champagne with dinner
Disarono on the rocks 
1 terrible drink from the mechanical bar (it must have ran out of limes and couldn’t muddle ??)
 12 drinks total
 
THRILL PARK
got off ship about 0900, waited about 15 minutes to ride Devil’s Peak
No big wait on any other of the rides in the tower
Headed over to Slingshot and waited about 15 minutes
The rest of the slides wasn’t much of a wait. 
Great day! Nearly “perfect”
 
UNLIMITED DINING PLAN
this is the only not so perfect thing about Cocoa Cay. So apparently Captain Jacks on Cocoa Cay IS NOT included with the UDP! I ordered some chicken wings for the brusband thinking it would certainly be covered and well within the food credit... but alas no ? Seems a little weird to have a charge for something like that. 
 
Also, surprisingly Wonderland was rather a miss for us. They waiter recommended we let them pick some of the favorites for appetizers and we pick the mains. We really liked only 3 of the 7 appetizers served. They weren’t bad, just not delicious. Perhaps if we had just chosen which ones we would have preferred based on tastes, this would have been a better experience. The brusband got the pork belly and I the beef short rib. Both were good. 
 
The view and the experience in the venue was worth it since I don’t think there is another view like that on the ship. But the food was hit or miss for us. Perhaps if you’re bringing young’s ones who are picky eaters, this may not be worth your money if they don’t like it. 
 
The other thing with dinner, they came out to sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to my Colombian, and forgot his name ?? And not in a casual... mumble mumble something close kinda way... but as in they still tried to sing it with no clue. (They literally may have said the words mumble mumble... I’m still not sure) Lol It was no big deal... but the waiter seemed so embarrassed for clearly not knowing his name (in spite of just confirming with us both right before), that he FORGOT to pour whatever hot sauce goes on top of the chocolate dome ? By the time we got his attention, the sauce had cooled. He still tried pouring it, and what came next was a sad awkward moment coupled with fear and false hope. He poured ALL of the contents over the dessert and when nothing really happened... he pleaded with it. Then he tried covering up for the poor performance by saying.., I’m sure any minute now it will start melting. We were left with a half melted, Frankenstein of a dessert ?? No big deal; it was still rather delicious.

First day travel—
We booked a room on Cocoa Beach in the Courtyard by Marriott. Arriving a day earlier, I had the preference of staying in Orlando (more bang for your buck IMO)... but the Colombian side of my husband was wanting to stay closer to the port... and I’ve learned just to not argue with that side (sorta like disagreeing with Pablo Escobar...). 
 
No problems with our flight. I usually make fun of my little Colombian when he books travel because he loves to book our flights with a few hours layover so we can relax in the lounge and eat/drink... the analytical and practical side of me just wants to get to where I’m going ? If we have a layover it’s nice to use a lounge, but I won’t go out of my way to add time onto a travel day. With me booking, I gave us about a 50 minute layover (which in hindsight ALSO wasn’t the best). But we were still able to pop into the Delta lounge and grab some drinks and a hot meal. 


Arrived in Orlando airport and dang... I always forget how big and weird this airport is! We made our way to grab our bags and hopped into the USO for a bottle of water and to see if they had any recommendations for shuttles to Cocoa Beach. (My plan was just to book the Uber, but no harm in asking) For our vets out there... if you need a moment to relax at MCO... I DEFINITELY recommend stopping by! This is probably one of the nicest USO’s I have ever been in. 
 
All of the shuttles they recommended (Go Port was one) had already had their last shuttle out. (We arrived MCO at 7pm). Back to square one booking an Uber... but at least we were able to get some waters/soda/snacks for the road!
 
Here’s my first tidbit: don’t let the Uber driver convince you to cancel your ride. Booked the Uber, we were waiting outside the rideshare pickup area, and we get a message from the driver. He messaged that he was “unable” to pickup at the airport due to “not having a permit”, and we would need to cancel the ride. (He most likely just saw the distance and didn’t want to make the long drive). Knowing we would likely get hit with a charge if we did, and confirming with the airport security the no permit was necessary, I knew the guy was either just scamming, or at a minimum being dishonest. We simply told him he didn’t need the permit, and if he didn’t want to perform the ride, he needed to cancel. He eventually did. We got another one shortly after (within about 10 minutes). 
 
The ride to Cocoa Beach wasn’t bad. We were both tired after a long day of traveling. The hotel is ok, but not worth the price tag IMO. (We had an AMEX travel credit of $200 which is the only reason I agreed to the $300 price tag of staying here vs. Orlando). Ultimately we thought my gut was right, hotel room is a little dingy. But they did have a beautiful pool area, the bar had good food, and I even caught a glimpse of a fire pit where people were enjoying drinks and community. 
 
If you have the time to just shuttle to the port the next morning, and cost is a factor, I would say just stay in Orlando. There were plenty of nice hotels right next to the Airport that were really affordable. 
 
That’s it for day 1 travel day! I’ll let y’all know how embarkation day was when it’s over!

I was impressed with how nice the old city is and how pleasant it was to walk around.

Colombia is open to many religions but the Catholic church played a distinct and primary role in the religious history of the nation.  

This is the Sanctuary of Saint Peter Claver that we saw from the fortress.


Admission is included in our tour.






Quite breathtaking inside.

I love how they have integrated shops And other facilities (bathrooms !) into the old fortress “ruins”.  It is so practical.  They would never allow this in the US. They have done similar integrations in Curaçao, which is one aspect that has endeared me to that island.

Like all good fortresses built nearly 500 years ago it has a series of internal passages and access corridors.



These were also used by soldiers as sleeping quarters.

You had better remembered the days password because in the dark corridors they couldn't recognize friend or foe so failing to respond with the correct password when challenged meant a knife.


They've updated the fortress with modern restrooms accessed through an old corridor.  It was kind of bizarre walking down an old passageway, turning the corner and walking into a modern, nicely appointed, well lit restroom.  

That's one I read to prepare.  There are also some videos out there.
The first one deals with the transition of the canal from the U.S. to Panama:



https://www.pbs.org/video/panama-canal-prized-possession-angekx/
This next one deals with the widening of the canal before it was completed



Post-Panamax construction:


 
 

I've wondered that myself as I've read this blog!  He does such an amazingly detailed job with his live blogs.  One of the best out there!

Thanks so much, @twangster!!  I'm in the process of reading Path Between the Seas, in preparation for our cruise on NCL Bliss through the Canal in April 2020.  I've been taking copious notes as I read your account.  How do you keep your notes aligned with your pictures?  It's amazing!

What a perfect ship on which to do the crossing.  The wrap-around Promenade deck is my favorite part of that class of ship, and your photos just reinforced how much I love them.  Thanks so much for always sharing fabulous photos and information about your amazing cruises.

From what you described of the informational session given on board, and the live feedback you got during the actual transition, it seems like you kind of got that excursion anyway. From an informational standpoint at least. I don't blame you for taking the refund and just recovering from an exhausting prior day.

On both sides of the canal there have been ships at anchor waiting to transit the canal.  This leads to the question how long do they have to wait?  
Bill Benny offered that the typical wait time without a reservation can be up to ~ 36 hours.  Timing varies based on demand and how many ships have reservations.    Typical volume is forty ships per day.  
The new locks don't have locomotives.  Each ship is allocated two tugs, one forward, one aft.  They do all the control, forward or aft or lateral movements that the locomotives do in the original canal.
The entire Panama Canal system uses gravity.  There are no pumps.  Water flows from Gatun Lake into upper lock chambers then to the next lock chamber down to the ocean.  This area of the Americas receives a lot of rain, it always has.  The Chagres River which was dammed to create Gatun Lake flowed into the ocean.  The man made Gatun Lake is a reservoir that flows water into the locks as they operate replacing the natural draining of the Chagres River into the sea.  
Too much rain isn't a serious issue as spillways can dissipate excess water.  If nature changed rainfall amounts downwards there are concerns about a lack of rain impacting canal operations.  If there was a major change in weather patterns that denied the region the rain it normally receives it is conceivable the canal would reduce operations compared to how it operates today.  
Gatun Lake is freshwater.  It also supplies drinking water to millions of people.  Gatun Lake has Crocodiles and Caiman.  
The canal generates around 3 billion USD in revenue annually.  Roughly half of this goes to the Panamanian treasury and half is consumed by the canal for operational use and development.
 

Looking back towards the locks in the distance you can see the new locks to the left and the original locks to the right.

New locks:

Original locks:

Bill Benny our guest commentator had suggested we keep an eye out on the port side after leaving the Gatun locks.  This small inlet to the left was the area to look out for.

This small canal that forks to the right is the only visibly remaining sign of the French effort of late 1800's.  

That was the original width they were planning to make the canal.  It's become overgrown a little and in their defense he pointed out that ships were not that big back at the time.  He doubts anyone involved with the design or building of the original canal would have any idea how big the ships that use the canal today have become.

With that we've been lowered from 85 feet above sea level and we are now in Caribbean Sea at the level of the Atlantic ocean.  The gates close behind us and get ready to do it all again for another ship.




From the aft looking towards the left you can see the new canal locks through the trees.

Yet another tanker was locking opposite us as we moved forward.




Finally back at sea level as we prepare to let go the cables from the locomotives another tanker is approaching heading South.  They were pumping the Southbound ships through at this point.