Some cruises can exceed expectations

Ruins of original Panama City founded in 1519 and destroyed by pirate Henry Morgan in 1671 Florida cruises — Part II

All cruise ships — like vacation resorts — are not created equal. And cruise ships, essentially, are floating vacation resorts. During the past couple of years, I've experienced the differences: One, on a cruise to the Panama Canal and another, to the eastern Caribbean.

This article is about the cruise on the more-than-equal ship, the Coral Princess (which in a recent poll was named one of the best ships cruising out of Florida), to the Panama Canal, sailing from Fort Lauderdale with ports of call at Aruba, Cartagena in Colombia, Ocho Rios in Jamaica, and Grand Cayman Island, none of which I had visited before. The ship's amenities exceeded my expectations. There was excellent and varied food in the dining rooms and at the buffet, with at least one dining area available any time, day or night. A creative chef offered differing ethnic menus each day — one day Latin American, another day Italian, a third day Asian, and other variations throughout the entire trip. Even the breakfast buffet, in addition to the standard variety of everything you can find on a menu in a good restaurant, offered changing ethnic dishes.

Aboard ship there were activities to please virtually any and every taste: swimming pools and jacuzzis, basketball, wall-climbing, shuffleboard, movies in a theatre and on stateroom television sets, musicians at bars and in other venues, dancing, shows featuring mini-musicals, comedians, acts reminiscent of TV variety shows and even vaudeville, such as acrobats and magicians, and workshops, lectures, and classes on a variety of subjects, including computers, photography, video editing, pottery making, golf, ice carving, ceramic painting, psychology, humor, ballroom dancing, line dancing, bridge, trivia games, origami, mahjong, and even wine-tasting and martini-making. I opted for napkin folding (ever wondered how in some hotels and restaurants, napkins were folded into animal shapes and into remarkable abstract entities?) and a class in magic, amusing my grandson with my newfound card tricks and rubber-band illusions when I returned.

For those seeking more introspective activity, there is a ship's chapel and library and meeting times and places for specified groups, including the Masons and the "Friends of Bill W" (if you don't know what the latter means, you wouldn't likely attend their meetings, anyway).

The captain, officers and crew reached out to passengers with special courtesy and friendliness, the captain interspersing his frequent public address system messages with humor that prompted more than one passenger to suggest that he ought to be a standup comedian.

The first evening and the following two days, after leaving Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, were spent at sea. One needs at least a day to become acquainted with where everything is on the ship and the procedures for getting the most out of the available amenities. On the third day, passengers gathered on the starboard (left) side of the ship as we sailed past Cuba. Bring binoculars as well as a camera with you. The next morning, we arrived at our first port of call, the town of Oranjestad, Aruba, in the Dutch Antilles islands. As with all ports of call and all ships, shore excursions are available and can be reserved prior to sailing and, if space is still available, on board ship. Prices for can range from $30 or $40 to several hundred dollars and are specified in the pre-cruise material you receive from your ship.

For Aruba, excursion choices ranged from a glass-bottomed boat ride to snorkeling to scuba diving to horseback riding to seeing an ostrich farm to a walking tour of the town. Generally, I don't go on tours. I prefer the flexibility of stopping when and where I want for as long or short a time as I wish, and not be bound by the interests of the rest of the group or the tour guide. But that's not true for most travelers and some excursions sell out quickly.

Because of my interest in exploring the culture, customs and history of an area and meeting and talking with as many of its inhabitants as possible, I disembarked for the seven hours ashore in Aruba on my own. As usual, I sought out the city hall, police station or library for information, in addition to having read about the destination in travel guides.

If you've not cruised to port cities recently, you may be annoyed that the first row of blocks beyond the pier, and frequently several streets beyond, are principally shops for tourists, from upscale jewelry, art and clothing to cheap souvenirs, when you expected the quaint picturesque waterfront of travel brochures. This tourist commerce, however, provides a principal economic base for most of these towns and the basic livelihood of its citizens. In Aruba, a few blocks beyond the tourist shops, I found a small museum that told the fascinating history of Aruba and its settlers, including intrigue, scandal and even murder, belying the usual picture of Aruba as only an exotic resort.

In Cartagena, Colombia, I took a taxi from the pier to the city center and found a Museum of the Inquisition. Cartegena was one of the focal points of the Catholic Church's inquisition and the museum includes rooms with instruments used for torture, some of which I hadn't seen or read about before. In Ocho Rios, walking beyond the rows of shops, I stumbled upon a small museum, next to historic buildings, with period furnishings. Most other passengers at our stops preferred the water and countryside tours and activities.

At the Panama Canal, however, I did go on an excursion. The Coral Princess went through the first Gatun Lake lock at 7:30 a.m., from the east and reached the lake two hours later, providing a full, extended look at the process of navigating the Canal. Before returning to the east, rather than going through the other locks, the ship disembarked passengers going on excursions. I wanted to know more about Panama and had a choice of a Panama Railway ride, a rain forest aerial tram, an authentic native village, a wildlife hike, a cruise on Gatun Lake, golfing, a tour through the other locks, and among others, a tour of old Panama City. I chose the latter and, with a guide on a bus across the Isthmus of Panama, I got a view of the country and its villages. In Panama City, the guide took us walking through the oldest inhabited part of town with its magnificent Spanish and French architecture, the buildings bordered by the Pacific Ocean on one side and by old winding streets on the other. With the tour ending in a visit to the ruins of the original Panama City settlement, the excursion was quite worthwhile.

Don't be concerned about missing out on buying appropriate gifts for relatives and friends back home. At every port, including the last one you will visit, there are ample opportunities. In most ports, there are outdoor markets with stalls offering everything you may wish to buy except the upscale items found principally in the tourist shops. Similar markets are usually close to or on the dock where your ship is anchored. And, if you've forgotten a gift for someone, there are always the ship's boutiques.

When going ashore, don't forget to take your ID card, which opens your cabin door and is required to get you off the ship and, most important, on again.

If you go

Check the Web sites and procedures noted in Part I of this series, in the Feb. 11-18 edition of The Florida Weekly. Alternatively, Google "Cruises/ Florida" and select your preferred destination, cruise line, and travel dates.

Next - Part III: optimum cruise lengths and what you may find on not-so-equal ships.