Monday, October 8th, all at sea

Today we are at sea on our way to the Panama Canal. This morning we were lucky enough to get invited to a Backstage tour private cruise event for Select and Elite members even though we won't be a Captain's Club Select member until our next cruise with Celebrity.



The tour started out with us seated in the Celebrity theater where they served everyone champagne. Randy and I did take a pass on the champagne since it was 11am and we had a wine and food tasting to go to in a few hours. After an introduction and question/answer period by some of the cast of the Celebrity singers/dancers and backstage crew, we were split in to three groups and taken one group at a time onto the stage where they demonstrated how they spin the cast around on part of the stage that moves, and then took us backstage to see the costume and changing area. After that we were placed on part of the stage that descends to see that lower area and then they turned us around so when we came back up to the theater level we could wave at our audience which was of course another group waiting for their turn at the tour.



As Randy and I were exiting the theater I spoke to Tanushka, the Captain's Club Hostess and thanked her for the opportunity to take the tour. I asked if there was to be a tour of the Infinity's kitchen this cruise and she answered yes, but it was only for the select/elite members and wouldn't be in the daily program. I explained that this cruise qualified me as select but wouldn't go into effect until our next cruise which I expected to be the inaugural voyage of the Solstice on December 14th, 2008 and I sort of doubted they would be doing that type of tour on a maiden voyage. Tanushka agreed with me that it would be unlikely and then was sweet enough to check and see if she could make room for Randy and me on the tour and lucky us she did. The kitchen tour was not to be until Friday, the 12th our last formal night so I'll cover that later.




Later that afternoon we joined Angus and Joyce at a wine and food pairing tasting at the Trellis restaurant. It was a lot of fun tasting the wines with cheese, chicken, chocolate, olives and cherry tomatoes. All the wines were California wines and two of them were from Wente winery in Livermore where Randy and I have enjoyed a couple dinners with concerts by Heart and Styx.


After the Wine tasting the four of us participated in a trivia and spelling contest. The movie below shows a tiny part of the spelling contest. Our team didn't win, but considering we weren't as large or experienced at the contests as the other teams we did good.

Costa Rico, they don't call it a rainforest for nothing.

Infinity docked at 7am at Puntarenas. We had a Ziplining 7 hour tour with Charlie Soto of Okeydokey tours schedulee in Costa Rico. Others on our CC roll call had tours with Charlie too. Bonnie, Rich, Merce a few others from our Cruise Critic roll call had booked a 4 and 1/2 hour tour with Charlie to do the Mangrove Crocodile Tour, while Stephanie and Gary booked him for a suspension bridge tour over the rain forest.

Bonnie's group was expecting Charlie to be their personal tour guide but he ended up setting them up with one of his other tour guides and while initially disappointed not to have Charlie they ended up having a great tour. Randy and I were about the last two to find Charlie where he had parked outside the port and while our name was on the van with Stephanie, Gary and a couple others there wasn't any room for us in the van! Charlie ended up putting us with a friend of his who was also a licensed tour guide and we followed his other van but unfortunately this meant we didn't get to hear Charlie's talk about his country and the refreshments were also in the van and not our vehicle. On the plus side we did have a nice enough car with a driver/guide and assistant and while not very entertaining, he did speak excellent English.



Our first stop was to feed the white face monkeys and was also our wake up call to slap on that insect repellent! After the monkeys it was off to the Villa Lapas hotel where some of us would do the 9 platform zip lining, and Stephanie and Gary would walk the large suspension bridge over part of the rain forest there to see birds and other wildlife.



There were five in our group of brave canopy tour adventurer's and after getting fully equipped we set off on our 15 minute trek through the rain forest and over 2 small suspension bridges to get to our first platform for take off.


On the way there we got to see a parade of leaf cutter ants carrying their leaves to their hole in the ground. Right after that the rain started, and the ground started to get really slippery as we gained the first metal platform. BOOM! Yep, thunder and lightning started as our guides yelled to get off the metal platform as quickly as possible to avoid electrocution! Normally it rains more in the afternoon but today it was to rain most of the day, though the thunder and lightning tapered off after we made the 15 minute trek back to the hotel amidst a forest path that had become a stream of water with slippery muck beneath our feet. By the time we made it to the hotel all of us were soaked. I had fortunately packed my sandals, a extra hat and shirt in my bag that I had left back in our car, but the rest had to go to the gift shop and change into clothes they bought. Randy did get a nice white shirt though which we both like and went together nicely with the hat he had bought in Acapulco. Stephanie and Gary were also soaked but did get to enjoy their walk on the bridge and viewing the wild life. As we were leaving, the Celebrity Tour buses arrived and it looks like this is also the place the ship tour does the suspension bridge tour, except they charge a bit more for it then Charlie's tour does!



After that the group went to lunch and it was a nice local restaurant with a view of the water. Randy, Stephanie and Gary got the chicken rice dish which they all liked but the winner for the day was my fresh fish plate, with beans, fruit salad, and rice.

On the way back to the port, we stopped to look at the crocodiles. Laying around the water they pretty much looked like the alligators I'm used to in Florida, though I'm sure they are more aggressive if attacking. Our last stop was at a local market where we bought Costa Rican coffee and vanilla. We did end up missing the macaws and a couple other things that were on the schedule which Charlie said couldn't be done because of the rain. I'm not sure why we ended up not doing the stop to taste the Costa Rican fruit. It was not the best private tour I have been on. A lot of that wasn't Charlie's fault of course as if it hadn't rained I could see how we would have considered it the best tour of the cruise.



I later learned the two ship tours (coffee plantation or volcano park) that I had considered doing before deciding to go private ended up being terrific. The volcano park which I had decided against due to clouds usually hiding the volcano had a very rare day where the tour group could actually see the volcano. Angus and Joyce did the coffee plantation tour and said the lunch was terrific, the coffee tasting informative, the folk show interesting and the 2 hour bus ride was also good due to a entertaining guide and the Costa Rican scenery. So if you are taking a Panama Cruise in the future and are faced with the decision to go private or by ship's tour, the coffee plantation tour is a good choice if you have any interest in it.

We had a lovely evening spent celebrating Angus's birthday which started out at the Martini Bar where Angus ordered a bottle of my favorite champagne (though he didn't know that when he ordered it), Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin. The four of us managed to finish that bottle off just in time for dinner that evening at the Trellis restaurant. Thomas and Annette were celebrating his birthday tonight at the SS United States so it was just the four of us at the table. Angus didn't want them to sing happy birthday so we didn't have anything special done for his birthday at the table. Later we went upstairs to the pool area where they were having a tropical buffet and dancing. Joyce and I briefly joined the group for one of the line dances. The crew were selling Coca Loco's in coconut shells so we bought one for Joyce and Angus and they said it was a delicious drink. The buffet looked very pretty but since we had late seating dinner, we were way too full to try anything on it. We played a bit in the casino that night but while we weren't lucky we ran into Thomas who had hit a nice birthday jackpot on the slots.

Saturday, October 6th, at Sea

Today was a sea day and it's also our second formal night. Our days were a whirlwind of activities but I should have kept better notes, because all I can remember today was running into Angus and Joyce at the Cova Cafe while a fellow passenger was performing a funny song about the President George Bush Sr and his dislike of broccoli. I have this and part of another song he did on film but unfortunately it's coming out blurry even though here at home it's clear. Enjoy though what you can see of it and at least the sound is decent. Angus in the background on the other side of the piano and I tried to capture him on camera a few times.


The second formal night found us at a table for five because Annette was not feeling well, so she is missing from our photo that evening.


After a lovely dinner served by Schubert and lively conversation, Thomas went back to his stateroom to spend the evening with Annette and Angus and Joyce joined us at the second show of the Celebrity singers and dancers. All three main production shows this trip were terrific. Costumes were lavish and the singers and dancers were very talented artists. We were also in the habit of joining Angus and Joyce either for a pre-dinner drink or a after dinner drink at one of the lounges after seeing a show. After our drinks A&J would be off to get some sleep and Randy and I would head to the Casino to lose some more money. This trip was terribly unlucky for us at the slots and it wasn't because the ship slots were tight as Thomas ended up $4,000 ahead for the trip at the slots he was playing and Russ, a retired broadway-off broadway actor we met on the cruise was up over $18,000!

Huatulco which is pronounced Wa-tule-co

We docked at Huatulco at 8am on Friday, October 5th and we were thankful this was the only port I didn't schedule a tour for so we slept in to about 9am and then ran up to deck 10 to the buffet so Randy could grab some waffles, sausage and other goodies. I went straight for those wonderful chocolate croissants, hey it's a cruise, what's a few pounds here and there, (sigh).

Huatulco covers 18 miles of coastline and has 9 bays with dozens of secluded coves and beaches. The dock for ships was only built a couple years ago so this is a relatively new stop for most cruises but the government is spending 200 million on development in this area and when completed in about 30 years they expect the tourism industry to surpass that of Cancun in both size and total visitors. In the meantime this is a lovely port and really doesn't need a tour, just step off the ship and enjoy the beach and numerous water sports that will surround you, not to mention cute little shops and restaurants.

This was the port that Randy and I rented a JetSki at and had a blast going around the bay, dodging the ship, rocks, other JetSki's, Panga's, and numerous other boats in the area. It really was fun and Randy was a great driver even if he did have a tendency to want to spin around in circles to throw up spray to cool off his feet! While we couldn't take movies or photos of us on the jetski I did get some good film of others on the Jetskis. Again for some reason someone neglected to take any photos here, though I did get the port on film.



Late afternoon I glanced down at the Penthouse deck and got a nice photo of Bonnie, Rich and Merce on their deck with the head of housekeeping.



That evening we once again ate dinner in the wine cellar at the SS United States restaurant with Bonnie, Merce and Rich. The food, service and company was terrific. The photos unfortunately are dark but at least we have a photo. We didn't opt for the menu exceptional with wine pairings this time, however Randy almost repeated the meal he had last time but substituted Grand Mariner Souffle for the chocolate one of the previous dinner. I selected Salad of Diced vegetables with lobster which is in the photo of Rich and me, tenderloin steak Diane which was prepared tableside and was the best steak Diane I have ever eaten and I also finished with the Grand Mariner Souffle.

If it's Thursday this must be Acapulco.

Drat, thought we only had to tender in Cabo San Lucas but it turned out the NCL ship the Pearl was docked in Acapulco for the morning so those of us with early morning tours had to tender in before the Infinity would dock later at noon. Beautiful weather starting out, thought we might get lucky and not swelter, but as the day went on it did get hot, though not as bad as Cabo.



Today we had a private tour that I had planned online with a group of 8 (Al, Marilyn, Linda, Tom, Peggy and Mike) from our roll call. Rosie(who always dresses in pink) was the guide and she came highly recommended from other cruise critic members who had previously used her services. We didn't have to wait long for a tender since all of us had VIP priority passes for that, though Randy's and mine came courtesy of the Penthouse Butler George who gave us a couple during last night's dinner there. We found Rosie quickly and had our own private air-conditioned van for the 8 of us. My original plans called for us to be completely on our own with Rosie, but for most of the day we ended up being with two other groups of 8 or 9 each in their own vans run by Rosie's husband Arturo and another guide. Since Rosie and I had exchanged a lot of emails about us not wanting to be with a larger group then our 8 in order to see and hear things better, this was annoying to me at first. We liked the people in the other two vans but it did mean we were crowded into a group of about 24 in our first stop at the Fort of San Diego while Arturo lectured and led us around the exhibits.




As we took in the view at the top of the Fort, I did something very stupid and put down my movie camera while taking a photo of some others in our group with their camera. After taking their photo I thought I saw Randy put the Sony in his bag not realizing it was not the movie but the digital photo camera he was putting away.



After leaving the Fort we had a brief walk to the Mask Museum that I had requested be included on our tour.



It was here that I discovered that I had left the movie camera behind at the Fort. Rosie had stayed behind with the Vans and a lady from one of the other groups who couldn't walk much, so Randy and I left the group and ran back and told Rosie about the problem. Rosie came through as a hero as she led us back to the Fort where about 300 local school children were taking the tour and almost all of them spoke up and pointed out one woman's family as the ones who had picked up my camera. The lady's husband had gone off to get food for them, taking my camera with him for some reason, but after a few cell phone calls from Rosie and about 20 minutes later he returned the camera without accepting the reward I offered. In the meantime everyone but our group went on to the next stop and I was feeling very bad that the others in my tour were delayed by my mistake. Then we learned that the other groups had gone shopping and Rosie had forgotten that I had told her that none of us wanted to shop, so we didn't actually miss seeing anything and instead went on to the Cathedral of El Zocalo stop that the other two groups missed seeing due to their shopping.

After that it was the Hotel Flamingo made famous because it was owned by a group of Hollywood movie stars let by John Wayne and Johnny Weissmuller (5 Olympic swimming gold medals and famous for being Tarzan). At this hotel you can rent the Tarzan round house, Johnny's old residence when he stayed there. The hotel has a lovely view, beautiful pool, and there are numerous photos of various movie stars scattered around. Here's a short clip of Rosie explaining the early days of the Hotel Flamingo



We then went to the House of Artist Diego Rivera to see his mural on the outside wall and to Mirador of Puerto Marques (look out point) before heading to see the famous Divers (Clavadistas) of Acapulco.

We entered a large air-conditioned shop after Randy bought a straw hat from a outside vendor, to wait while Rosie bought the three groups tickets to the divers.



During our wait for our tickets to the divers, Stephanie and Gary who were with one of the other Rosie tours had Arturo tell them they would have to join one of the other vans and guides because he had to clear up a problem with one of their guides. During the drive to the divers one van had gotten stopped by the local police and they had found a problem with his guide paperwork. While Stephanie and Gary were disappointed to lose Arturo who was a wonderful guide they had a great attitude and took the change in stride, much better then I would have if Rosie had been the one instead to decide to leave us to deal with the problem. Rosie came back then with the tickets which included your choice of beer or soft drink, so off we went to collect our drinks and take up our positions on the terraces of the small cliff across from La Quebrada where the Clavadistas dive 130 feet into the water below. The divers first scale the cliff face, then pray at a small shrine before leaping over the edge. We saw about 8 I think dive into the waters. The youngest start from halfway up the cliff, while their more experienced peers start from still higher. Finally, the last 3 divers leap together from the very highest edge of the cliff. It was very impressive and I'm glad we got to view it.



After that it was time for the long drive to Senor Frog's for lunch. The film clip above shows you what the restaurant is like. Senor Frog's is a small chain of fun restaurants that had been recommended to me. While the restaurant was not air-conditioned the bathrooms were, and no I didn't eat lunch in the bathroom, (grin). Fortunately the restaurant had a beautiful view of Acapulco bay and was open to the air so it was quite enjoyable for lunch. During our lunch of grilled shrimp and tacos, a man came around and took photos. We ended up buying ours which he then put on a bottle of Corona Beer!



It was during lunch we became glad that Rosie had the other group with us, one group had gone back to the ship for lunch. Four of my party wanted to return to the ship before the end of our tour and Rosie was able to bring 5 from the other group into our van while taking the 4 from ours and joining them with a couple others that also wanted to return to the ship. Stephanie and Gary were part of the group that joined us and it made them the only couple to have traveled in all 3 vans that day!

The final stop before the end of our tour was the Chapel of Las Brisas and the Cross of Peace. Las Brisas is not only the name of a famous pink hotel in Acapulco but a gated community of very expensive homes. Our van took us to the top of this community where the Chapel of Las Brisas and Cross of Peace is located. It was built by a wealthy family that had lost their 2 sons to a plane crash and the parents also died shortly after they started building this lovely Chapel in memory of their sons. The film clip below is us walking to the Chapel. In the background you will see a sculpture of two clasped hands, symbolizing the brothers.



We didn't have time as originally planned to finish our tour at Rosie's family home but we had a nice time in Acapulco and were able to see a lot more on our tour then if we had taken one of the ship's tours.

Todos Santos, Cabo & Sea Day

Monday was a sea day and we enjoyed various activities such as a massage at the Aqua Spa, the food and company of Angus, Joyce, Thomas and Annette, The Sailsmen and other entertainment on board and of course the casino.

Tuesday was a busy day for us with a tour of Todos Santos, from our port of Cabo San Lucas and that night dinner in the USS United States, the ship's specialty restaurant.

Discover Todos Santos was the only ship tour we did this cruise, all others were with small private groups. The drive was about 90 minutes each way in a air-conditioned bus. Todos Santos was an interesting town of artists, church and the Hotel California, which the tour guy announced was made famous by the Eagles song of the same name, but according to other more reputable sources really isn't the place referred to in the song.

The scenery along the drive was pretty but did get repetitive after about 30 minutes of it. This was a hot weather record breaking day for Cabo and the surrounding areas and unfortunately nothing in Todos was air-conditioned. The restaurant at the Hotel California where we ate did have a good breeze so eating there was fine, but the food that the tour gave us which was originally suppose to be a buffet turned out to be a plate of the cheapest food they could provide and not very good in my opinion. We were also limited to one drink so the tour company did make a good profit that day from all of us. It was really too hot to enjoy the small museum or various artists studios none of which had any air-conditioning. The small church there was very pretty. The film clip below is our guide talking about the statues of the Saints on the outside of the buildings.



What we ended up enjoying most about this tour was the two gentlemen from Germany we sat with at lunch and talked with during the tour. Gunther works for Pacific Cathay airlines and had many interesting stories to relate about his business travels for them.

That evening we ate at the wine cellar room in the USS States restaurant and joined Bonnie, Rich, Merce, John and Len for dinner. These were all friends we had met on our trip's roll call on cruisecritic.com and we had planned this dinner online before we left on the cruise. Bonnie, Rich and Merce from New Jersey, were celebrating Rich's recent retirement and had taken one of two Penthouse suites the Infinity has. Our FV cabin was just above their Penthouse and a running joke was about Randy and me tying our sheets together to enjoy their deck and other amenities. Fortunately for us we never had to do that since they were very generous in inviting us at various times to share their luxurious stateroom and deck! John and Len are from one of our favorite vacation spots, Victoria B.C. Len was originally from Australia and shared some very entertaining stories with us.



All of us had agreed to do the Menu Exceptionnel with wine pairings. I was very surprised that instead of small pours of the various wines with each course, they gave very generous pours. If we hadn't taken over 3 to 4 hours for this dinner and future ones later in the cruise I would have been under the table at the end of the meal! I forget what the amuse was, other then I liked it, but the rest of my dinner this evening was the Tomato, Red Pepper and Fresh Mozzarella soup, the Goat Cheese Souffle, the Filet Mignon, selection of cheese and fruit, Coconut Cream Brulee and of course the Petits Fours they serve at the end. Randy had Lobster Bisque, Chilled Asparagus with Sauce Gribiche, Scallops and Lobster with pasta and for dessert he finished with Chocolate Souffle.



While all this fantastic wonderful food and wine was being presented with wonderful flair and table side presentation by Angel, Sammy and their wonderful serving staff and delightful harp music was playing in the main room, we were just having the most entertaining time with our dinner companions and this was to continue throughout the cruise!

Wednesday was another sea day and other then it being a social whirl with the wonderful group of people we had met on our cruise, I can't remember most of the exact details, but I do know we weren't getting much sleep or reading done because there was just too much going on! According to the dates on my photos this was also the evening we were first invited to the Penthouse and enjoyed eating dinner there with Bonnie, Rich and Merce.


George their Butler was terrific and spoiled us by serving a great dinner to us course by course. We really enjoyed our tour of the Penthouse which is complete with indoor jacuzzi, Grand Piano, outdoor hot tub and wet bar, among many other features! Ending the day with their wonderful company was just perfect.

Infinity 9/29/07 Panama Canal Cruise from San Francisco.

Please remember to click on photos to enlarge them when they are hard to view!

This was a great cruise, our best yet! As you start reading you might doubt that, but don't worry even though we had a few glitches, especially at the beginning of the cruise, it ended up being fantastic and in no small part due to meeting wonderful people like Bonnie, Rich, Merce, Angus, Joyce, Annette, Thomas, John, Len, Stephanie, and Gary. In fact there are so many more of you I can't continue to name everyone, but if you met us and chatted with us more then an minute, then believe me you helped make our cruise special, so many thanks!

Leaving our home in Cupertino, California, we arrived at Fisherman's Wharf, Pier 35 Terminal around 11:00am. Passengers from the previous cruise were blocking the Terminal entrance as they waited for taxi's. Boarding started around 11:30am but our express pass was anything but quick since we were unlucky enough to get a woman who didn't know how to use the scanner for the passports, credit cards or how to find anything on her computer. After about 15 minutes someone helped her process us but later during the cruise we encountered others who also had a long wait with her and all of us received letters from the customer service desk the next day that they needed our credit card once again.

Once aboard Celebrity's Infinity, champagne glass in hand we went to our corner FV stateroom 7199 and dropped off our carry on luggage.

We then went and checked out the pool area and bar and it was onward to the buffet for our first lunch.



This was our third cruise on an M Class Celebrity ship and the second on the Infinity. Our first cruise on the Infinity was July 2001. At 91,000 tons it is considered a mid-size ship and at capacity can carry around 2,000 passengers and 1,000 crew. The M class ships never feel crowded to me and while there was some wear and tear, it's a lovely ship and I would be happy to sail on her at anytime.

After the obligatory life boat drill and a very funny one it was as Captain Dimitrios Kafetzis has a great sense of humor, we were back in our stateroom.




What we loved about the corner FV cabin was the private hallway, perfect for extra luggage storage, the extra closet and storage space. The fact there is both a love seat and a full size sofa in a separate living room area from the bedroom was a terrific plus since Randy likes to read for a bit after I have gone to sleep. The FV's also have two televisions, though we really didn't have time to watch them much. On the M class ships the aft balconies are all huge and the corner FV balconies are even larger and also get a great cross wind on the side which was a blessing on a cruise like this one with hot and humid weather. The one negative for us is we love the CC class, room service breakfast menu and the FV cabins only get the regular menu which we found not to be very good in comparison to the CC menu on our Baltic cruise in June of 2006 on the Constellation.

Our stateroom balcony had a great view of Alcatraz.



Even though we went to our stateroom the minute they opened it up around 1pm, there was no sign of our cabin steward or his assistant. After two hours I called him because we wanted ice for the champagne we had brought on board and Robert finally came and introduced himself. Robert and Aaron his assistant were polite enough but without a doubt were the worse cabin steward's we have ever had. If it had been our first cruise we might not have known they weren't as good as they could be, but for someone who is used to first class service on the Celebrity ships, they were definitely lacking.

Once the champagne was iced we lost little time in enjoying it and our balcony in anticipation of a 5pm sail away.


That anticipation of a sail away went on for more then two hours and one bottle of champagne! Turned out one of the crew on shore leave never returned to the ship and there were certain procedures that the Captain had to follow before we could depart. We then made the mistake of going to the first show and during it the ship set sail and we missed going under the Golden Gate Bridge.

Back to our stateroom all luggage had arrived and we had time to unpack before going off to our late seating dinner in the Infinity's main dining room. We had requested a table for six and had somehow ended up at a table with 12 place settings! We were the first ones there so we quickly made our way to the assistant Maitre D and let him know we didn't mind eating that night in our stateroom as we were tired but would like a table for 6 or at least no more then 8 for the rest of the cruise. He wouldn't hear of us eating in the stateroom but insisted on finding us a table for six immediately and we ended up on the lower level of the Trellis dining room near the large 2 story windows and a few tables away from the Captain's table. Everything turned rosy quickly as we developed a friendship with Joyce and Angus from Manchester, England, and Annette and Thomas from Vacaville, CA. Strangely enough Randy, Angus and Thomas were all engineers and Angus and Thomas were born on the same day and celebrated their birthdays on the ship while Randy's was a couple days after the cruise ended.


Day two, had us up early in the morning to attend the Cruise Critic meet and greet in Michael's Club. WWW.cruisecritic.com is a great website with a wealth of information about various cruise ships, lines, ports, etc...thanks to the informative group of people who post there. We had a wonderful roll call for this cruise and most of us (about 40) did show up for the Cruise Critic party we signed up for before the cruise. There's a short clip below with Ian and our Cruise Critic attendees.

Remember to click on the photo above to really be able to see everyone.

Later in the day we went to the Cova Cafe and had them pack up tea sandwiches and dessert to take back to our balcony to enjoy.




This was also our first formal night. We ate 10 dinners in the Trellis dining room and our waiter was Schubert and he was one of the best servers I have ever had on a cruise. The other five dinners were either at Bonnie, Rich and Merce's penthouse stateroom or the SS United States specialty restaurant (more about them to follow).