On our way to Cartagena

Wednesday, October 10th was a sea day as we sped toward Cartagena, Columbia. I remember we played our only game of bingo this trip in the afternoon. Hey, you got to play bingo once on a cruise! We had a lovely massage at the Aqua Spa. When you tour the Aqua Spa you will notice that the treatment rooms have great views of the sea or port if you are docked, but since your head is usually in no position to see the view I'm not sure why they are designed that way.



Tonight it was an informal evening at the Trellis dining room and at the end of the dinner our server Schubert entertained our table by making a men's jacket and Bermuda shorts ensemble out of napkins. Afterwards he did a couple magic tricks which we also enjoyed.

We went to the show at the Celebrity theater that night with Joyce and Angus and then later had a drink with them at the Constellation Club. That evening before the chocolate buffet started they had the "Not So Newlywed Show" which was hilarious mainly due to a older couple that participated. The film clip below shows one round of answers to a funny question during the "Not So Newlywed Show".



This was also the night of the chocolate buffet. Earlier in the cruise they also had a tropical buffet though we only went to look at it. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera that evening so no movies or photos of that buffet or the dance that Joyce and I got up and did when they had some group dancing out by the pool.

Infinity Classic Grand Cru Dinner

Earlier on the cruise during one of the evenings we dined at the SS United States with our friends Bonnie, Merce and Rich, Angel the States Maitre'D invited us to participate in their first Classic Grand Cru Dinner which was the night of the Panama Canal Transit. Bonnie, Rich and Merce had already been invited and we were lucky enough to get invited I suspect because Angel saw how well we all got along and enjoyed eating at the specialty restaurant together. The Grand Cru dinner is something Celebrity is thinking of doing for future cruises and we were a trial run and as far as Randy and I are concerned it was a great success! It's my understanding that this dinner will always be by invitation only, however, it's not a free dinner even though it's by invitation. The price was $125.00 per person which I'm sure some passengers would think was too much, but we thought it was a bargain if only because of the quality of the wines they poured non-stop.



The Classic Grand Cru Dinner started at 8:00pm and there were 9 of us passengers invited with 3 ship officers and Rick Garced the CEO of the United States Sommelier Association and his wife. The ship officers were Hotel Director Leonie Henry, Food and Beverage Manager of all 4 Millennium Ships Donald Beard and his boss Wolfgang who is Food and Beverage Manager for all the Celebrity ships, including the Azamara and upcoming Solstice line.



After introductions we entered the wine cellar where we were served Mumm's Cordon Rouge Champagne and a selection of hors d'oeuvres. We were then seated at a large table in the center of the main room. I was in the center seated next to Donald with Rick and his wife across from me, while Randy was next to me. Bonnie, Rich and Merce were at one end with Leonie, and at the head of the table were Wolfgang, a couple from Boca Raton and across from them a couple from Manhattan.



In the future I believe one will select a dish from each course, but since this was the first time for this dinner we were served every course and instead of being tasting servings they were full size! Unfortunately this meant I could only eat a third or half of everything even though it was incredibly delicious. The pours of wine were also generous and if you emptied your glass, they were quick to pour more unless you stopped them.



We started with an amuse that was 3 baked and fried savories with sauces. They were very tasty but definitely the largest amuse portion I have ever had. The first starter was Lobster and Truffles Souffle. As we started eating this Rick commented that the chef had been very generous with the Truffles and he certainly had been, it was fantastic. Initially I was a bit worried about how Randy would like this dinner because he doesn't like mushrooms or anything related to them, nor does he normally care for Foie Gras or enjoy Sweetbread garnishes, however he loved this dinner and is still raving about the Lobster and Truffles Souffle, a recipe that the chef said he was going to copyright. The Lobster souffle was served with Pouilly-Fume "Baron de L" Domaine de Ladoucette, 2000.



The second starter was Crispy Foie Gras on a bed of fresh Mache served with Riesling "Les Ecaillers" Leon Beyer, 2001. Like Randy, Foie Gras is something I don't usually care for, but we both tasted this and enjoyed it and if it wasn't for all the additional food I knew was coming, I could have eaten all of it. During the dinner especially after the first couple glasses of wine everyone was loosening up and sharing stories. Normally on cruises I really don't get a chance to talk that much to any of the ship officers so I especially enjoyed this opportunity to get to know a couple of them. It was during this course that the Sommelier brought out a wine that wasn't on the menu to do a taste comparison with the Riesling and unfortunately other then it was a Spatlese I don't recall what wine it was. Then before our first entree we had a wonderful little palate cleanser of passion fruit and rum sorbet.


Our first entree was Pave of Sea Bass with Vanilla-scented Olive Oil. It was served with the crispy skin on top which I had removed and it made a Sea Bass fan of me that evening. The Vanilla oil was very subtle and not something that I normally would have thought to add to seafood, but it was wonderful and went well with the Chassagne Montrachet Domaine Colin Deleger, 2001.



The second entree served was Pan-seared Tourmedo with Veal Sweetbread and Wild Mushrooms Ragout and I just hated not to finish this lovely tender filet. I've always thought I hated sweetbreads but as presented in the ragout, I enjoyed them immensely. This was served with the wine of the night, Chateau Beycheveel, 4 Cru Classe, 2003. During this time we had a demonstration between a Riedel wine glass and a regular one and what the Riedel does to open up wine. While I know some wine experts scoff at the theory of Riedel glasses and which type of Riedel you use making a difference in the taste of the wine, during our taste test that night both Randy and I thought using the correct Riedel glass did change the taste of the wine for the better, though it also tasted good in a regular wine glass.



Finally we come to my personal favorite, Raspberry Champagne Souffle served with Sauterne Barton & Guestier, 2002.


At the end of the dinner we met the French Chef and the rest of his staff. Our dinner ended up being four hours, but the time just flew by thanks to the wonderful company, delicious food and fantastic wines. The Grand Cru Dinner was definitely one of the highlights of this cruise for us, and would have been THE highlight if not for something that we experienced during our last night of the cruise.

Cristobal Pier, Panama

We docked at Cristobal, Panama around 6:30pm and they let us off the ship around 7pm for shopping at the pier, while the passengers who had been on shore excursions returned to the Infinity. This was the shopping port I had been looking forward to with lots of native crafts but I ended up doing speed shopping in 20 minutes so we could have time to be back on board to dress for a special dinner that was planned for tonight.



I was able to buy the above Panama Mola (fabric art), a cat puzzle box and three carved Tagua nuts before we rushed back. I would have bought more but we had neglected to get change and the Indian's wouldn't accept large bills.








I didn't bother to haggle when I bought anything because the natives are poor enough and the man who I bought the carved Tagua nuts from had the smallest table at the pier and was crippled.

The short movie clip shows a bit of native entertainment they had at the pier. At the very end when the camera sweeps to the end of the table, the small table next to it with the man and young boy was where I bought the above carved Tagua nuts.

Panama Canal Transit Penthouse Style

Tuesday, October 9th and it's the day we transit the Panama Canal. Lucky us, Bonnie, Rich and Merce invited us to breakfast and to view the morning transit from their Penthouse stateroom. While some passengers got up at 5:30am or even earlier as we approached the Canal, Randy and I didn't make it out of bed until 7am.



The movie below is a very tiny excerpt of our wonderful morning.


We were warmly welcomed by Bonnie, Rich and Merce with a glass of fine rose sparkling wine. We immediately went out on the deck since it was a beautiful morning. Some of the photos make the weather look like it was foggy, but it was a clear day with blue skies for the whole transit. Unfortunately we have a tendency to forget to wipe the camera lens periodically which means it fogs up now and then from the humidity.



Since the breakfast menu for the suites are upgraded over family view cabins like ours, I was finally able to order my Yogurt granola parfait (2 different flavors of yogurt layered with granola and fresh berries) that I love, and an egg Fritata. While I don't recall what everyone else had, I do remember waffles, chocolate croissants and plenty of other goodies on the table, all of which was laid out and served by George their butler.



We couldn't have asked for a better day for going through the Canal or better company to spend it with. Bonnie had really studied up on the Canal before the trip so whenever we missed what the announcer was saying, she was able to fill in the blanks.



A couple more photos of Randy roughing it (grin) on the Penthouse deck.



The morning with Bonnie, Merce and Rich just flew by, it was so interesting and comfortable. When it became hotter as the day went on we could duck into the Penthouse living room to cool off and watch the canal from their huge panoramic ceiling to floor windows.



We left the penthouse around 1pm and went to get a bite of lunch upstairs on deck 10. We then returned to our stateroom to view the final part of the transit from our own balcony.

Early afternoon the passengers that had shore excursions at the Panama Canal left the ship. Since it was our first time experiencing the transit of the Panama Canal we stayed aboard.





As we were going through one section of the Gatun Locks we looked across to shore and passengers who had taken one of the ship shore tours were at a observation area and waving at the Infinity as she passed. While Randy and I held on to our hats (earlier the wind had already blown mine downstairs to the Penthouse deck where Rich grabbed it before it went overboard) I told him that it looked like one group was trying to get our attention over all the other people on the aft of the ship and sure enough it was John, Stephanie and Gary, friends from our Cruise Critic roll call.

The film clip below is the ship exiting one of the locks in the late afternoon.

Around 6:30pm the Infinity reached Cristobal, Panama where we docked at the pier to pick up the passengers that had taken the shore excursions and also for some shopping.While I was looking forward to the shopping at Cristobal Pier where the Captain had been gracious enough to schedule an extra hour, we had a special dinner to attend that evening that would cut short my shopping adventure.

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!