Vacation Story: Panama Canal

One of the biggest draws of our trip was traveling through the Panama Canal.  This marvel of human ingenuity took roughly the whole day.  While not necessarily overly exciting at every moment, the knowledge that you've passed through one of the greatest achievements of humanity.  The fact that the lochs still function essentially the same as they did in 1914 is just amazing.  Its also interesting to note that the Pacific side, the loch walls are thicker and doubled up due to the more violent tides.  I've got a few videos from the trip that I though caught some of the coolest sections of the Canal.  If you get a chance it is definitely a spot worth going through.  The first is a time lapse of us lowering in the canal to get an idea of how far down you travel.  The second is going through the canal near the control area, and the last is of the lochs emptying out.

Panama Rolls

One of the large cargo ships making the trip with us

Vacation Story: Costa Rica

Our next stop on vacation took us to Costa Rica.  The verdant place is just an amazing stop, for both its history and just how wonderful the forests are.  Here we traveled to the Else Kintzler Garden and the Sarchi Ox Cart factory.

The Gardens were a roughly hour and a half long drive from port, which was fine.  Our guide gave a brief overview of the country, and his time as a coffee picker in his youth.  It was not nearly as informative I thought as our guide in Nicaragua, but he was still an affable fellow.  One highlight of the bus ride had to be the discussions about cashews.  Its a popular crop in Costa Rica, but almost all of our group thought it was like a peanut.  Nope, it comes from a tree with a huge fruit attached.

After our long ride we arrived at the Botanical Gardens.  It was a pretty beautiful walk through, and we saw
some beautiful flowers and a little waterfall.  It was quiet and peaceful in the garden, a perfect spot for contemplation.  At the end, there was a chance to release some Butterflies which we took and amazed our daughter with.

 After the butterflies we traveled to Sarchi, a small mountain town where they still make Ox Carts the same way they have been for hundreds of years.  The carts were once the most common way to get the coffee from the mountains where it grows to the coats for sale.  The carts are still used by some people today,  but are mostly decorative.  They are hand painted and are an amazing site to see.

This was a pretty solid excursion, with the only downside being the long bus rides. 

Vaction Story: Guatemala and Nicuragua

Our next stop was Guatemala followed by Nicaragua.  There snot much to say about Guatemala, because we skipped an excursion there.  All of the choices involved an hour+ bus ride to Antigua at the very least, and we did not think our daughter could make it.  We did get off and visit the cruise port, but the Jade Museum there was more a shop than museum. 

 In Nicaragua we got a pretty awesome welcome in the form of a whole dance troupe showing up an performing as we disembarked for our adventure.  We were traveling to the Cortijo El Rosario Estate, where we got to see an equestrian show.  I am not really a fan of horses.  In fact, I'm actually unjustifiably terrified of them.  But, in a cruel twist of irony, my daughter loves them.  So, we embarked on our 25 minute ot so ride to the Estate.  Our guide for the day was very knowledgeable, and very helpful with both my daughter and grandmother, who has some mobility issues.  As we arrived we got some excellent guava juice, and could have a choice between plain and with a bit of rum.  Our bus arrived earlier than several others, so we milled about the area looking at the horses in the stalls and examining some of the art in front of the show grounds.  After a bit, everyone settled in and watched as the horses performed.  The best part was the dance between a woman and a horse, as it really showed just how well these animals can move.  Overall though, it was a little disappointing there weren't more jumps and tricks involved.  But my daughter loved it, so it was worth it.  

After the show, we visited the other part of the Estates that supports Equine therapy for children.  The family that owns the Estates supports quite a few children coming to the center for various physical and mental ailments that horse riding can help to alleviate.  They also have there every day a licensed chiropractor helping to give stretching and mobility work.  I really did appreciate that this place was not just a spot for people to train horses and become knowledgeable about them, but that it also seeks to serve the outside community.  

For lunch, there was a buffet line with a taco like dish, that had pork, beef and chicken.  It was pretty good, along with the spicy salsa  that had a great zing and some generic cookies and candies for dessert.  Following lunch we looked at a pair of sleeper train cars the original owners had brought from Italy, that had been abandoned during the Civil War in the early 1990s and now restored.  

Overall this was a pretty good excursion.  A good lunch, a great guide, and some good Horses.  I would definitely recommend this trip for anyone visiting. 

Vacation Story: San Diego and Mexico

Our trip started in San Diego.  There have been a lot of horror stories I've read recently about AirBnBs, but ours was fantastic.  Well stocked, right near a cove kind of beach.  Just immaculate.  It was also nearby the Birch Aquarium, which we visited the following morning.  This is a place that is worth the admission, because the fish are amazing.  My daughter loved every second of it, as we walked from exhibit to exhibit with her shouting "Fishy! Fishy!"  Of particular note was a large sea turtle that continuously made its way near the glass.  The food truck that is parked outside didn't offer half bad fries and snacks either.

 

Some folks might wonder why we didnt end up doing the San Diego Zoo, or any of the other places in Balboa park.  Its largely came down to timing and pricing.  Our daughter needs a nap still most days, and to pay the $100+ for a zoo trip that might last just an hour or two was just too much.  The aquarium and some solid beach time was just what we needed.

The next day we got ready to head to our boat, we first spent some time at the USS Midway.  The Midway served for 47 years, accommodating over 200,000 service personnel.  Its a sight to behold, to see the number of aircraft aboard.  Almost every station has some narration from someone who served, and the stories range from fun, to tense, to heartbreaking.  It was also nice that the museum has around people who served to answer questions.  Another fantastic stop that was worth the admission price.

After boarding and spending a day at sea, our first port of call was Cabo. It is of course everything you would imagine Cabo to be with a significant spring break presence. The dock was super busy with two other ships sending in tenders and a variety of personal yachts moored.  One was a super sleek black and silver affair, that at one point had another smaller boat leave it.  With a toddler in tow we opted to do a whale watching excursion. Our large boat was a two decked catamaran that ambled out to the ocean in search of Humpbacks that have come South for mating season. The ships crew was friendly, serving some tasty fresh made salsa with chips and getting drink orders for people.

After about 40 minutes we caught a group of whales. It was an awesome sight to catch these beauties surfacing for just a moment and giving a tail slap. But after a few times this started to get a bit old. The whales we were told do not really do much of the acrobatics they tend to do up north here because they don't eating during mating season, and so they conserve their energy.

Not much of a whale tail

This last for about another half hour before we headed back.  On the way into port we did catch a napping sea lion and a seal that hopped right onto the small boat in front of us. For the price, this excursion was ok. It was a nice easy trip, and the whales were there.  It did sting a little bit that when we got back to the ship, we saw a whale doing the impressive breach from our dinner spot though. 

We sailed on the to Puerto Chiapas, where we visited a small town where they do a traditional chocolate making demonstration.  Before the demonstration we visited a small Chapel in the town, where a fresco was made with buttons, and walked through a typical street market with all manner of fruits and meat for sale.  It was nice until towards the end, where the fish began to smell like they had been out for too long, and some children started asking for money.  Dancers performed before the demonstration of how chocolate had been made in the region for hundreds of years.  There was a tasting at each stage of the process; from the roasting of the cocoa bean to the finishing of the chocolate being pounded into a paste.  It was mixed with some cinnamon and other spices, for that distinctive Mexican chocolate flavor. As with any cruise excursion, there was then a chance to purchase some chocolate, which had been pressed into hard round bricks.  It was a pretty good deal for some tasty chocolate.

Following the chocolate was a tour of a Mayan ruins site.  This was a little bit of a let down, because there was not much to the site, and there were no formal guides or real informative plaques.  Our guide did her best, but you could tell this was not her specialty.  It was interesting to see what we could, but a bit more information would have made this a much better end.

Overall our experiences in Mexico were fun, and it was a good introduction for our daughter to how we would be spending the next several days on ship and in port. 

Vacation Story: The Overview

Two years ago I was lucky enough to be able to go on a cruise with basically my entire immediate family.  My parents had been planning to take a trip themselves, but decided to extend an invitation to myself, my then newly married wife, and my sister and her fiancee.  It was a blast.  When my sister finally tied the knot this past year, my folks again asked us all to take a cruise with them that started in San Diego and traveled along the Pacific side of Central America, cut through the Panama Canal and then ended up in Ft. Lauderdale.  I had a few reservations about how our now nearly 2 year old daughter would fare, but the opportunity was of course too good to pass up.

I'm going to break up talking about each place we visited a bit, so I can get all the details.  But I thought a TL;DR overview and a bit about the cruise ship we were on was due first.  Overall this was an amazing trip.  We visited Cabo, Mayan ruins, beaches, wonderful cities and verdant forests.  The excursions we booked all through Holland America, and it was a good experience.  Some long bus rides awaited us, but overall each place was worth the travel time.

For this cruise we were on Holland America Line.  This was the same line we traveled with the last time, and it was fantastic then as it was this trip.  We were aboard the MS Volendam, one of company's older boats proudly now serving her 20th year.  This did mean there were a few things we could wish for, like more than 2 outlets in the room, and a smart TV instead of the small one with a DVD player that it had.  These though are minor complaints, because the stewards had power strips available and a large collections of movies to choose from. The rest of the ship was still awesome, with an elegant formal dining room and a large Lido pool area and buffet line. No part of the ship felt in disrepair or in real need of modernization, apart from the outlets.

The staff aboard the ship was wonderful.  By the end of Day 2 aboard almost everyone knew our daughter.  It would be tough to miss a toddler who runs around screaming in delight at riding an elevator or ascending a large stair case over and over again.  But the staff went out of their way to say hello to her and in many cases help keep an eye on her as she took off for the next bit of excitement.  And this was not always an easy environment to be friendly, as we went through time change after time change and some choppy seas during our trip.  I cannot say enough good things about the staff on the ship. 

If you love to eat, a cruise is one of the best places to do it. The Holland America line provides some of the best tasting food I've had on our trips.  This year was even better because there was an America's Test Kitchen chef aboard to do demonstrations for some good recipes to try at home as well. The Lido featured good buffet options each day, as well as fresh sushi.  Breakfasts there included Eggs Benedict with a great Hollandaise, and Congee as well as made to order omelettes and waffles. Also present was the Dive In grill, a burger and dog grill near the pool that offered some of the best fries I've had with their Dive In sauce. I easily had a plate of sushi and some fries for lunch half the trip. For dinners we made our way to the main Dining room each night. The chefs prepare exquisite options, and I definitely found myself ordering something extra almost every night. 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by James (@draco1986_) on Mar 27, 2019 at 10:23am PDT

There was only one thing that really detracted from our enjoyment on the ship. This would be the Club HAL staff and Holland America's age policy thereof. Club HAL is the children's area of the ship. Holland America essentially offers a babysitting service for children 3-17, as a service for guests. It also can be much more entertaining to play and climb than attend a lecture on the history of rum for someone that can barely sit through an episode of the Wiggles. Our daughter though is just a bit shy of 2 years old though. After learning that there were only four children aboard though, we hoped that the staff would work with us a bit and maybe allow her to play in the room if my wife or I were present, and would leave if any of the other children were to come to use the facility.  I hate asking for special treatment, but with so few children aboard the facility was going to go unused. We were told no, it was against Holland America policy. 

Disappointed, we left but did lodge a criticism via the onboard feedback option on the ships online feedback form.  The cruise director contacted us shortly thereafter to say they were going to contact the corporate offices and see if there could be something arranged to let our daughter visit the Club HAL facilities.  However, that was the last we heard form the cruise director.  The next thing we got was from the Service Desk staff asking if we wanted to waive the daily Hotel Fee for Blake.  This fee is essentially the tip given to the crew, and we felt like this was not the way to address our concerns.  The staff was wonderful at every step, and deserved this fee.  This was the wrong way to handle the situation by the Cruise Director, and seems a bit cowardly instead of coming and speaking to us directly.