The middle part of the trip across Panama is mostly take up by sailing through Lake Gatun and then the canal cut as it you pass thru the continental divide and then pull up the the first of the two lock systems, Pedro Miguel Locks, that lower the ship to the level of the Pacific Ocean.

One thing that Beci and I both found very cool was the reaction of the Panamanian people along the shore. The first picture here shows a marine fuel station, and all the people out to look at the Magic sail by. Remember, that these people see 40 ships every day, and every cruise ship that goes back and forth thru the locks, but the Magic is different, and they all came out to see the ship. Just a bit past the fuel station we passed the river that flows into the lake right where the canal starts. The constant flow of fresh water is the engine that fuels the canal. every ship takes a lot of water to raise it up to lake level, and a lot to let it back down to ocean level. None of that water is pumped, it’s all done by gravity feed from the lake. 40 times per day the lake is drained just a bit, and without the constant rains of Panama’s rain forest the canal would cease functioning.

All the way thru the cut, we were shepherded by a tug boat. In this shot you can see a pilot boat bringing us some of the workers who handle the lines as we go thru the locks.  Behind that is a ship, the Genco Warrior, moored safely out of our way. Nobody is allowed to pass a ship as large as the Magic while we’re in the cut.

As we pull up to the Pedro Miguel locks there is a lot of heavy construction off to our right. This will be the new channel for the new larger locks at this point. You can also see a large arrow in the second picture. This is used to tell the incoming ship which of the two chambers to use in the locks. With radio traffic, it’s just a backup now, but at one point it was main method of communication between the locks and incoming ships.

The final picture in this series shows one of the Mitsubishi traction engines with it’s cables attached to the ship.

The middle part of the trip across Panama is mostly take up by sailing through Lake Gatun and then the canal cut as it you pass thru the continental divide and then pull up the the first of the two lock systems, Pedro Miguel Locks, that lower the ship to the level of the Pacific Ocean. < more... >

The first part of the journey is to leave the saltwater on the Atlantic side of the canal. To do that we have to slide our 970+ foot x106 foot ship into a space 1000 feet by 110 feet. The Magic is a “Panamax” ship. It is the maximum length and width for any ship passing thru the canal. We had multiple tug boats escort us into and out of every lock.

Below we have one of our tug escorts, and shots from both port and starboard showing just how close we came to the sides of each lock. Note on the third picture the gigantic rubber bumper wheels at the corner of the lock entry. Several times we came into contact with those wheels.

To guide us thru the locks we had the further assistance of eight Mitsubishi electric traction engines with gigantic winches on the side. Each train, four on each side of the ship, controls two steel cables attached to the ship. The canal pilot instructs each of the eight train operators to adjust the 16 lines, keeping the ship centered in the lock. The train operators respond to each instruction by ringing their bell to let the pilot know that they have received the command. The ship powers itself into the lock, but the trains help to stop it when it gets in. Below you see one of the engines on a roundabout, followed by a shot of the Disney photographers who transited the canal on foot and in cars to get photos from outside of the ship, and another shot of the process from Deck 4, starboard.

As you can see below, the port side of deck 4 was almost empty, and even on the “crowded” starboard side it was easy to find a space. The White building behind Beci is the Gatun Locks control center.

We were the second ship thru the locks in the morning, behind the Nuclear Submarine. Behind us there was a long line of container ships waiting for their turn. About 40 ships make the crossing every day, at a cost of between $75,000 and $400,000. Cruise ships are at the expensive end of that scale, and we were right at the top – $400K – or in the range of $200 per person.

The first part of the journey is to leave the saltwater on the Atlantic side of the canal. To do that we have to slide our 970+ foot x106 foot ship into a space 1000 feet by 110 feet. The Magic is a “Panamax” ship. It is the maximum length and width for any ship passing thru the canal. < more... >

Let me take a moment to apologize for two things. First, the delay in getting this posted, which was caused by an Internet outage on the ship followed by some insane technical problems on my laptop. Second, the fact that some of the web cams were out during our transit. It seems that when a Los Angeles class nuclear submarine is the ship right in front of you odd things happen, like web cams getting turned off, and interned connections shut down. The technical problems were just my own fault.

So without further ado, the pictures from our transit morning:

We got up early and took a few snaps before we pulled up anchor. We have a shot of the refueling barge, a shot of our friendly Los Angeles Class nuclear buddy, and the city of Colon which guards the entry to the Canal.

I popped up on deck to see what it was like, and insane is a good description. I must say that while some people were very willing to let you jump into “their spot” for a moment an take a few snaps, others were very ill-disposed to help out their fellow humans. I found that deck 4 was much more hospitable than the semi vicious throng on 10 forward. Beci avoided all of the crowd problems by putting her feet up and relaxing on our veranda.

The Panamanians have recently restarted work that the United States began in the late 30’s and stopped because of the start of World War II. The first picture below is the entry to the new locks, which are under construction, and will eventually take a ship that is 50 feet wider, and 400 (or 600, can’t remember which) feet longer than the current locks. Cross your fingers for the next two Disney ships.

Let me take a moment to apologize for two things. First, the delay in getting this posted, which was caused by an Internet outage on the ship followed by some insane technical problems on my laptop. Second, the fact that some of the web cams were out during our transit. < more... >

3:00 our time, and we’re past the centennial bridge and thru the Pedro Miguel locks and now in the 1 mile long lake approaching Miraflores Locks. The URLs for these locks are:

http://www.pancanal.com/eng/photo/camera-java.html
http://seacruisechat .com/panamacanal/miraflores.htm

3:00 our time, and we’re past the centennial bridge and thru the Pedro Miguel locks and now in the 1 mile long lake approaching Miraflores Locks. The URLs for these locks are:

http://www.pancanal.com/eng/photo/camera-java.html
http://seacruisechat .com/panamacanal/miraflores.htm

We’ve been refueled, and the pilot has just come on board, unfortunately the Internet connection is down, so this won’t get posted until we get that back, but if we get internet back today we’ll try to post updates thru out the day.

Note: All times are for May 16^th – Central Time.

We’ve been refueled, and the pilot has just come on board, unfortunately the Internet connection is down, so this won’t get posted until we get that back, but if we get internet back today we’ll try to post updates thru out the day. < more... >

Some people have asked for a schedule of our passage thru the Canal…

This is our projected schedule thru the Panama Canal. It should be noted that our start time is guaranteed… to be within 4 hours of the scheduled time, and our projected transit completion time is guaranteed… to be within 72 hours of our start time. It is very likely that we will be quite close to the projected times. The ACP – the Association Canal de Panama (or something like that) – does a fair job of keeping the cruise ships right on schedule, but if there is a big ship coming the other way thru the cut then we’ll have to wait for it in Gatun Lake, as they don’t let “Panamax” ships pass in the cut.

For a detailed map of our transit, please check out the Google Map that I built prior to our departure, here: Chris’ Google Map.

So, without further ado: 

Note: All times are for May 16^th – Central Time.

We’ll also be passing under the Centennial Bridge at some pont between 11:00 am and 1:00 pm at a guess. It isn’t listed on our itinerary so I’m guessing based on it’s location. We’re on Deck 8 Aft (one below the pools, two below the sports deck), Port (left) side. If I remember we’ll mark our cabin with two red baseball caps attached to the rail of our balcony.

Some people have asked for a schedule of our passage thru the Canal…

This is our projected schedule thru the Panama Canal. < more... >

Today I have a “Photo Spectacular” of sorts. We’ll see how uploading over a Meg of pictures from the ship works out for me…

To start with today we have Mickey’s Island Jam in the Parrot Cay. This was easily the most boisterous and fun character breakfast I’ve experienced on board a Disney Ship, and perhaps off of a ship also. Mickey, Minnie, Chip, Dale, Lilo, Stitch, and Goofy – who I think had consumed a case of red-bull before the start of breakfast – Joined us for our breakfast. Goofy performed several high speed limbo runs at one point, and the restaurant staff encouraged everybody to join in, but at a more restrained speed.

There were also many hats made from the brightly colored napkins found in Parrot Cay. Our victim was Sandy, who found herself the unwitting hat model for our server, Orlan. Soon after her hat was finished, George found himself in possession of a small blue hat with some ears. The last picture in the series below is Cleopatra meets Goofy.

After breakfast we went to the Walt Disney Theater for an educational talk by former Panama Canal Pilot, Captain Ken Puckett. Captain Puckett retired from piloting when the US returned control of the canal zone to Panama in 2000. Ken started with the interesting tidbit that because the Atlantic entry to the canal is 22 miles West of Pacific entry to the Canal, the sun rises in Pacific, and sets in the Atlantic. If that seems confusing, just check out the map below and you’ll see what he means. Captain Puckett had a ton of great stories and examples of how the canal works. As the Magic goes thru the locks, she will have two feet on each side of her. Four massive Mitsubishi electric locomotives will be attached to the ship by several steel cables each. The Canal Pilot will direct the drivers of the locomotives to increase or decrease their cable tension in order to keep the ship centered in the locks. 

On the way out of the Canal Transit talk we stopped by the Captains Signing at Treasure Ketch. We didn’t line up to get anything signed, as the line went out the door, down the hall, around the corner, and around to the walkway in front of the DVC desk.

I’ve got nothing for this picture of a display outside of Treasure Ketch, I just wanted to include it.

Beci was also able to pick up here pins and do a bit of pin trading today, but I believe she’s going to go into more detail on that tomorrow, so I’ll just say that it’s been a successful cruise for her.

Tonight, dinner was at Parrot Cay (we’re on the LAP rotation) and it was pointed out by somebody that we weren’t taking any photos of our food, so here’s Beci’s dinner. Moo.

And now, it’s early to bed for an early morning for the crossing.

Today I have a “Photo Spectacular” of sorts. We’ll see how uploading over a Meg of pictures from the ship works out for me…

To start with today we have Mickey’s Island Jam in the Parrot Cay. < more... >

LAND HO!!! We wake up to see land within sight as we pull into the Port of Aruba.  We are docking at this relatively small island at 19.6 miles long and  just 6 miles wide. Its located just 20 miles off the coast of Venezuela and will be the southern most point in the Caribbean on our journey.

Chris and I enjoyed a quick breakfast at Goofy’s Galley and reminisced about our last trip to Aruba. We have always said if we were to spend a week on a Caribbean Island, Aruba would be one of our first choices. With the beautiful white sand, blue water, Caribbean pastel buildings and general lack of street vendors waiting like vultures for tourists to disembark, its one of the most relaxed islands with a vibrant night life.

Here is the view off the ship….

Enjoy!… because thats all we saw of Aruba!

Chris and I had spend hours looking over the shore excursion offerings and the ones we saw that were appealing were the ones we had done before. We were lucky enough to visit the island to see the natural bridge in all its glory before its unfortunate demise a few years ago,  so a tour going up there to view what’s left wasn’t high on our list. The 90 degree heat and blasting humidity made us look sat each other and say… hmm…  empty ship!  Lets enjoy it!

We spent sometime roaming the ship and enjoying the art on board including the Special Disney Panama Canal poster going up for the silent auction.

and the reminder to get those postcards filled out and stamped to ensure they are postmarked from the Panama Canal! We bought a few to send to family and others that asked for the souvenir for their scrapbooks so we cant miss the drop deadline.

I decided this might be the perfect day to enjoy the infamous Rainforest room, so after a workout in the gym, I changed into swim wear and had almost 2 hours of the steam and warm chairs all to myself. Not having anyone to talk to gave me time to ponder the spa menu and of course they had all kinds of appointment times available.  Aruba day turned into “Beci’s personal spa day”.  Wow… I love my vacation.

Later that afternoon I returned to the cabin and got ready for the evenings festivities. Its ‘Taste of the Caribbean’ night and your best Tropical attire is required.

We were scheduled for Animators tonight and the servers are all decked out in their Caribbean flair.  Tonight is also Limbo tribute night and we all had to take part.  There was no saying no when the guy you rely on to bring you food tells you you must limbo for food. Here are some pics of the gang and some of the limbo happenings.  Deb made the round a couple of times, and I joined her on the second pass. There is one pic of me, but Chris wasn’t exactly at the right angle, so the only identifying mark is my hair… but I figured you would want proof,  so here goes:

After dinner, we headed up on deck for the buffet – yes… more food.. We decided to pass on dessert in the dining room and take part in the fun on deck 9!

It was a very warm night and the ice sculptures swayed a bit as chunks fell off now and then.  Chris sat for a while waiting to see if he could catch the potential catastrophe on video, but alas…  the carvings out lasted the dessert trays.

Tonight we turn our clocks back an hour so we get an extra hour of sleep, or partying, or blogging.  Whatever floats your boat!

LAND HO!!! We wake up to see land within sight as we pull into the Port of Aruba.  We are docking at this relatively small island at 19.6 miles long and  just 6 miles wide. Its located just 20 miles off the coast of Venezuela and will be the southern most point in the Caribbean on our journey. < more... >

First I will tell you that yes..  as predicted…  I do have a solid dislike for Mathew. But that means he did his job very well. I worked on a new leg torture device that managed to find muscles I didn’t realize I had and they were making sure I didn’t forget as I crawled out of bed this morning.

Of course, being a gluten for punishment I figured the best way to combat a tired muscle is to wake it up again,  so off to the treadmill I went.  (I think it was Vickie who was asking in the comments on a previous post for proof that I was actually spending large amounts of sea time doing something besides sleep…) Here ya go! and with a not-so hidden Mickey to boot!

While I have been on 40 plus cruises, this is the longest voyage to date. To be honest I wasn’t sure how I would do with so many sea days on this journey, but there are plenty of things to do during the day that appeal to everyone.

Some of the items of the agenda includes a presentation from Imagineer Jeff Kurtti on the design of the The Walt Disney Museum opening next year, wine tasting events, and daily specialty talks like photography tips and the art of entertaining series.

We even had the pleasure of listening to Ken Pucket, a senior pilot serving 16 years ushering ships thru the Panama Canal. He did a presentation on the history and construction of the canal.  In a couple of days he will do another talk on what we can expect on our crossing.

Tomorrow.. the port of Aruba!

First I will tell you that yes..  as predicted…  I do have a solid dislike for Mathew. But that means he did his job very well. I worked on a new leg torture device that managed to find muscles I didn’t realize I had and they were making sure I didn’t forget as I crawled out of bed this morning. < more... >

I am really enjoying this itinerary and its only day 3! Its the first sea day with lots of activities and items on the agenda, including such strenuous to-dos as; should I have breakfast in or go up to the buffet? Should I take a nap in the cabin or take my glass of asti out on the balcony? decisions, decisions….

Todays agenda started with an invite from Deb to join her along, with Ann & George another couple from out group, at the Concierge Reception at 10:30 am. We met in the lobby and made our way towards Sessions where cocktails and a nice spread of fruit, breads and other yummies were available for consumption. We spent a while chatting and enjoying the company of friends and halfway through the visiting ritual, a special guest arrived.

Cinderella spent about a half an hour taking photos and chatting with the guests. 

After our encounter with royalty, naturally we went shopping!  We had to check out all the Panama canal specialty items that are on sale to help plan the souvenir budget over the next few days.

Sorry to have to break the news…  but no matter what they say, Disney’s food does indeed have calories.  and the constant offerings of buffets, dinner seatings and yes… the infamous chocolate souflee can take a toll on anyones routine. So I decided I would test my self control and challenge myself to exercise everyday.

To help me on this quest, I decided to sign up for a personal trainer as soon as there was a spot available.  At 3:15 pm I was in work out gear and ready to meet Mathew.  A very fit 20–something with a great personality and a ton of energy. We started on cardio and we though a circuit of machines so I would have a good starting point for the next 2 weeks.  And I have a feeling I will wake up hating him tomorrow. 

Tonight was formal night for dinner, and of you know anything about my vacation habits, that means ‘Beci’s Room Service’ night. I stayed in and enjoyed my dinner watching the latest news and catching up on my email.

I am really enjoying this itinerary and its only day 3! Its the first sea day with lots of activities and items on the agenda, including such strenuous to-dos as; should I have breakfast in or go up to the buffet? Should I take a nap in the cabin or take my glass of asti out on the balcony? decisions, decisions…. < more... >