May 10, 2008 Ship of Thieves! Stealing the Magic..AGAIN!!! Panama Canal FL to CA!!! Part 2

[clynne]

We have friends that love the Candy Cane Inn. They could see the fireworks from their room.

http://www.candycaneinn.net/

We stayed there for our mini DISmeet with ibouncetoo and TiggersPal. It was a clean room and that's all we needed! You can walk to the front gate of DL, if you want, or they have a shuttle. (Just a note: Pool was a little small for the number of swimmers!)

Carolyn

 

[nskjerven]

We're going to Dland in a less than 2 weeks

DS is turning 7 on 2/24 and we always go for the kids bdays....(well not always, okay always for the last 4 years at least)

We are staying at the Grand for 3 nights 2/18, 19 & 20, home on the afternoon of the 21st to have all the parties begin at home....(school, playgroup, family too many)

Any of you So Calers wanna come over and play with us for a day/afternoon or whatever?

 

[disneylover5]

$367!!! How many DOD's is that?

When I first saw DOD used, Department of Defense came to mind. DH was a Helo pilot in the Marines for 20 years.

I live (and always have) in Wash DC. DOD is the Dept of Defense. What is it here?

 

[clynne]

I live (and always have) in Wash DC. DOD is the Dept of Defense. What is it here?

Drink of the Day

Carolyn

 

[clynne]

We're going to Dland in a less than 2 weeks

DS is turning 7 on 2/24 and we always go for the kids bdays....(well not always, okay always for the last 4 years at least)

We are staying at the Grand for 3 nights 2/18, 19 & 20, home on the afternoon of the 21st to have all the parties begin at home....(school, playgroup, family too many)

Any of you So Calers wanna come over and play with us for a day/afternoon or whatever?

What a fun weekend!! If DH can get free (I like FREE) tickets, we may head up there. It's a 5 day weekend for the kids here!

Carolyn

 

[mexican-mouseketeers]

that would be about 4 or 5 a.m.!!!!!!! The front of the ship was full of people on deck by 5 a.m. People slept out in chairs to get a spot. It was worse than saving the pool chairs. Of course, some lucky people had their own chair brigade the night before and chairs did not seem to be a problem.

Would that be Tony's wife Adrienne in that picture on the right side????

Oh no!!!! And here I am thinking I am so clever about waking up early on the Canal crossing day, and that maybe the captain would take pity of that lonely soul out there at 5:00 a.m. and invite me to watch from the bridge

At least now I know to bring a throw and camp the night before at the front of the ship to save my spot

Thank you for bringing me back to reality and telling me what to expect.

 

[disneylover5]

Drink of the Day

Carolyn

Well then it should be DOTD

I never like the DOTD. I am a amateur bartender and I just never like them. I think they are cheap (2 for 1) because they have less alcohol and less taste!!

Sorry to offend.....I never say much negitive......

 

[pahrumpgirl]

Tip recommendations haven't changed as far as I can tell. We used the tip calculator also:

Dining Room Server $3.68 per day ($55.20)
Assistant Server $2.68 per day ($40.20)
Head Server $.93 per day ($13.95)
Stateroom Host/Hostess $3.61 per day ($54.15)

So I would allow $163.50 per person for the 15 nights, plus any extra tipping you do. We always give extra to those who have exceeded our expectations, plus have tipped the Oceaneer's Club and Flounder's when we have had kids/grandkids with us and also CM's who went out of their way to take care of us and for those that use the spa and bar, tips for them also.

We also keep a stack of 1's in the room to tip room service as needed.

We prepaid our tips through DCL when we made our reservations and that is what they charged us. We first did this on the 11 night SC and it made things a lot easier. All we had to do is add a little extra to those envelopes that we wanted.

Carol

 

[LiserAnn]

Never heard lounge noise. We did hear some freaky engine noise a couple times, but not at night, so it wasn't a problem. DH was in the Navy for quite a while and he wasn't concerned, so I played along. LOVED the location! We're really hoping to get in that area on either side. (Our families will be easy marks for DIStag!)

This is really unusual February weather. Not complaining, but I'd like to see some RAIN!

Carolyn

I'm not complaining either but rain would be good!

Well, I'm glad to hear it's a good spot. We didn't hear much over at 2608 either, just some rolling above the first night and never again. I hope you guys get your request. Odds are when the dust settles you'll have luck getting over there. I like the location for the proximity to the elevators/stairs and the laundry room! (I've been dying to use that smilie).....

 

[LiserAnn]

We have friends that love the Candy Cane Inn. They could see the fireworks from their room.

http://www.candycaneinn.net/

Second that, we have friends that always stay there and they love it. They've stayed other places but said they always regret it and go back to the CCI.

 

[disneylover5]

I'm not complaining either but rain would be good!

Well, I'm glad to hear it's a good spot. We didn't hear much over at 2608 either, just some rolling above the first night and never again. I hope you guys get your request. Odds are when the dust settles you'll have luck getting over there. I like the location for the proximity to the elevators/stairs and the laundry room! (I've been dying to use that smilie).....

Lisa, I love that smilie too. I used it in my signature!

 

[mom_of_2_princesses]

We're going to Dland in a less than 2 weeks

DS is turning 7 on 2/24 and we always go for the kids bdays....(well not always, okay always for the last 4 years at least)

We are staying at the Grand for 3 nights 2/18, 19 & 20, home on the afternoon of the 21st to have all the parties begin at home....(school, playgroup, family too many)

Any of you So Calers wanna come over and play with us for a day/afternoon or whatever?

I will be there from 2/28-3/01 and then to Sea World what a bummer.

 

[lillygator]

anyone into American Idol....besides me?

 

[LiserAnn]

We're going to Dland in a less than 2 weeks

DS is turning 7 on 2/24 and we always go for the kids bdays....(well not always, okay always for the last 4 years at least)

We are staying at the Grand for 3 nights 2/18, 19 & 20, home on the afternoon of the 21st to have all the parties begin at home....(school, playgroup, family too many)

Any of you So Calers wanna come over and play with us for a day/afternoon or whatever?

Our Kids have a 4 day weekend and we were thinking of going away....not sure if we can make it.

 

[lillygator]

and when can we start packing already?

 

[gouodux]

I'm not complaining either but rain would be good!

Well, I'm glad to hear it's a good spot. We didn't hear much over at 2608 either, just some rolling above the first night and never again. I hope you guys get your request. Odds are when the dust settles you'll have luck getting over there. I like the location for the proximity to the elevators/stairs and the laundry room! (I've been dying to use that smilie).....

Hey, we have 2608 for this cruise!

We were on the other side for the 11 day SC in 2106 and really liked being close to the laundry (for ironing purposes)!

2108 was initially available while booking but by the time I finished booking it was gone. 2608 is just fine, at least we are on the boat.

 

[LiserAnn]

anyone into American Idol....besides me?

DH and I both love it. DH's big comment when he watches the tryouts is: "Don't these people have friends?" [that would tell them they're AWFUL and spare them the embarrassment?!?!] It's just great comedy!!!

 

[gydell]

American Idol is Great!

 

[disneylover5]

anyone into American Idol....besides me?

The only TV show I watch. It is on in the other room right now

 

[aphoenix]

Cool, thank you! I don't think I'd need to get up that early...DH might, though.

Carolyn

I was up that early, and I have to say, it was a really neat experience. So, I dug out my travel diary, and here are my observations from that morning. (It goes on for several pages, but this will give you an idea about that morning).

This morning started early, and well before bright. I got up at 4 am, and was out the door at 4:20, heading to the very front of Deck 10. There I staked out spots next to Chet & Fern right at the rail, and pulled up a couple of chairs.

It was still very dark out – with only the lights of the harbor visible. As we moved towards the breakwater, the lights got progressively closer, until we realized that many of the lights we were seeing were in fact ships at anchor, awaiting clearance to proceed through the canal. Some will have to wait for up to a few days for permission to pass.

We cleared the breakwater at almost exactly 5am. The pilot boat was there waiting for us, and they quickly brought the pilot on board. Off in the distance, we could see what almost looked like stairs of lights climbing the hillside. That was the canal we were heading for. Red and Green buoys marked the approach channel – almost like a runway. Unfortunately, it took over an hour after I got up there for the cameras to defog enough to let me start taking photos. Someone on the deck knew the frequencies being used, so we were able to listen in to the approach process on the Handheld Transceivers. (We have Ham Radio licenses and brought them along with us)

Adrienne joined me at 5:45 and we settled in to watch the process. We were guided up to the Gatun locks, where we watched as a container ship took the right side lock. The neon arrow directed us to the left, and we pulled up carefully and slowly. The rowboat crews rowed out to help connect the guide ropes between the ship and the mule engines. Amazing that over 90 years later, they are still using two guys in rowboats to get the tow ropes into place.

The Disney Magic was assigned a new identifier for the transit: S8Z. The S signifies that we were a southbound ship. Eight indicates our position in the convoy – southbound are even numbered, so we were the fourth ship to transit that day. Zulu indicates a priority transit; it is generally reserved for passenger ships, US and Panamanian military vessels, etc. On the fore staff flew the DCL flag, while the mainmast added the S8Z flags, a yellow quarantine flag (meaning we were not to be approached or allowed to disembark anyone without clearing customs and immigration), the Bahamian flag, and the courtesy Panamanian flag.

We moved into the first lock under our own power at about 6:30am, the mules providing braking power as needed, as well as keeping us centered in the locks. It was a very tight fit, with only about 12-18 inches separating the ship from the wall. The pilots called out adjustments on the radio, with the mules acknowledging the instructions with lights on top of the engine and with bells.

We were amazed at how fast the actual raising of the ship was. You could visibly watch the ship rise – amazing if you consider the size of the ship. Most of the time was spent in the process of carefully moving us from lock to lock. Centering a ship that weighs so many tons without running into the wall is not an easy task.

It took nearly two hours to transit the three locks at Gatun, but after about two hours, we reached Gatun Lake – Eighty-four feet above sea level. On the lake, we headed to a holding anchorage to the left of the locks, where we parked with three other ships, waiting for clearance to move through the canal.

They move ships through the canal in convoys, to try and manage when and how ships pass through the Culebra/Galliard cut – especially since only one PanaMax ship can be in the cut at a time – they can't pass each other. So, by using convoy system, they can ensure that there are no conflicts between ships heading opposite directions.