PANAMA CITY, July 30 (Reuters) - Panama and Royal Caribbean cruises Ltd. agreed on Monday to make the Central American country the starting point for some of its tour operations in a bid to boost the cruise operator’s presence in the region. The agreement could attract Central American and European tourists hoping to avoid tight U.S. visa requirements necessary for Miami, from where many popular Caribbean-bound cruises depart. Adam Goldstein, Royal Caribbean’s president, told Reuters that in the first year of operation, the Panama deal would represent around one percent of annual sales. Royal Caribbean, the world’s second-largest cruise operator after Carnival Corp. reported second-quarter revenue of $1.5 billion last week. In its first season, which the company plans to kick off in late 2008, Royal Caribbean will operate 17, one-week cruises from Colon, Panama’s main Caribbean port. (more)
The mega-class cruise liner “Enchantment of the Seas” will leave Colon, calling at ports in Colombia, Aruba and Curacao. Panama’s vice-president Ruben Arosamena, who is responsible for maritime affairs, said the deal marked the beginning of a new industry for Panama. Royal Caribbean operates 35 ships in Europe, North America, South America, but the bulk of the firm’s business comes from the Caribbean. Panama’s economy grew a healthy 8.1 percent in 2006, lifted by increased trade, a construction boom, banking and shipping.
SOURCE: Don Winner @ Panama-guide.com
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Source: VIP Panama
Posted by admin | Under Panama Canal Cruise
Call it an expedition cruise. An eco-cruise. An un-cruise. It’s hard to pigeon-hole Cruise West’s new Costa Rica and Panama Canal itinerary aboard the Pacific Explorer. But by any measure, it’s a departure from the ordinary.
Contrast the freedom to go to the dining room in a T-shirt and bare feet with the fashion parades on large cruise liners, and you get an idea of what it’s all about. Passengers on this voyage have enough dressing up in their everyday work lives, and too much structure. Casinos and glittery shows are old hat. What they crave is an escape from corporate America and crowds, to kick back and live the sublime lifestyle of a summer cottage. Yet just sitting around is not enough. Activity–physical and intellectual–is called for. On these voyages, those wishes are splendidly fulfilled.
The purpose-built Pacific Explorer, a 100-passenger, shallow-draft vessel designed for slipping into remote pockets of paradise out of reach of the average traveler, offers up nine- and 12-day voyages of relaxation, hiking, bird-watching, kayaking, snorkeling, water-skiing, education, and terrific food. Passengers walk through old-growth rain forest, spot exotic birds and wildlife, snorkel some of the most pristine reefs in the Americas, explore jungle rivers, and learn, thanks to the experienced naturalists onboard, about the natural environment. This is all topped off with a transit of the Panama Canal. Seldom have I found such a happy balance in a vacation.
The ship itself is a pleasant surprise, 200-gross-register-tons of homey, casual living. Fifty outside cabins of 121-square feet–some with twin beds and some double–are compact but adequately comfortable with ensuite bathrooms that are almost identical to those found on large ships–but there are no TV sets. Four 147-square foot “suites” are available.
The Cacatua Lounge spans the front of the ship above the bow. It features large picture-windows on three sides and comfy chairs and sofas that people tend to fall asleep in. On the bottom deck at the stern, the large Tucan Lounge is used for talks and seminars. There’s a big-screen satellite TV here, a device ignored by one and all.
Just opposite is the Quetzal Dining Room, named for the most beautiful bird in Costa Rica. Here food of astonishing quality and variety is served–sometimes buffet-style, and at other times with sit-down service. There was always a good selection of vegetarian dishes, plus local fish, chicken, duck, roast pork, and delectable cuts of Costa Rica beef, which melts in your mouth. The room boasts huge picture-windows on either side of the ship, and table or banquette seating in arrangements of six. (There is talk of reconfiguring the dining room with round tables of four and six.)
Weather permitting, meals are often served al fresco on the sun deck as well, atop the ship. The Tortuga Bar there, with its handsome mahogany bar that looks as if it were lifted from an English pub, plus mahogany tables and chairs, is the favorite hangout. Half the deck is protected from the sun and half exposed, so both sun-bathers and the sun-sensitive are accommodated.
On the same deck you’ll find access to the bridge, which is open to all passengers at all times except during the Panama Canal transit (because of canal pilots onboard). The Costa Rican master, Captain Heman Lara, is young and personable and always welcomes visitors with a smile. The crew are all English-speaking Costa Ricans, and a nicer group of people you couldn’t find anywhere.
On the ship’s stem is a specially built landing platform that makes it easy to board and alight from the Zodiacs that shuttle passengers to shore. Since the Pacific Explorer does her best to avoid civilization, all landings are wet ones. She carries a host of water toys that are also launched from the special stem.
For all the activities, the passengers as a group were not as young as I’d expected–the median age was, in fact, 68. And they broke the stereotypes about age–adventurous, inquisitive, active, they were here to learn and explore. I was impressed with one couple from Toronto, in their 60s, who paddled a kayak more than a mile from shore to the ship. Then, ditching the kayak, they lept into the warm Pacific for a swim. Not everyone was in such fine condition, but everyone was active. None of the nature walks on the trip were physically very difficult.
I’d never kayaked before, and was pleased to find it so easy. One of my best memories comes from our stop at Drake Bay, on Costa Rica’s remote Osa Peninsula, where I paddled up a lazy river, then drifted down. I lay on my back and watched the jungle canopy slip past above me, the air rent with tropical birdsong.
There were many such moments. Such as the afternoon we sailed from Costa Rican to Panamanian waters, and dozens of spotted dolphins burst from the sea, keeping perfect time with the ship for 20 minutes or so, jumping in unison. One of the naturalists informed us that sometimes more than 1,000 dolphins are sighted there. On nature hikes, we spotted toucans, squirrel monkeys, white-faced cappucin monkeys, two-toed as well as three-toed sloths, coatimundis (a raccoon relative), and other exotic animals.
In Panama, our special little ship with its shallow draft sidled up to tiny offshore islands that land-based travelers simply cannot reach. Near the isle of Coiba, a large island that is both a national park and prison for Panama’s worst criminals, is a tiny speck of sand and rock called Grano de Oro, or grain of gold. An apt name, for the waters around it are rich in tropical fish. This stop was specifically for snorkeling (the ship carries equipment for everyone), and few passengers passed on the opportunity. It was dazzling, with a high concentration of exotic species.
Farther south, in the Pearl Islands, we visited Pachequita Island, a bird sanctuary that made me feel I was in the Galapogos, thickly populated as it was with magnificent frigate birds, blue-footed boobies, great white herons, pelicans, cormorants, American oyster catchers, and a plethora of others. Many avid birders had joined the cruise and were gleefully checking species off their lists.
Then we left natural wonders behind for a man-made one. Our daylight Panama Canal transit took 12 hours and was fascinating from beginning to end. A guide came onboard and delivered an articulate commentary throughout, dropping a steady stream of interesting facts. We had learned by this point that, due to a twist in the isthmus, the canal runs north-south, not east-west as so many people assume, and I was surprised to discover that the canal is actually farther east than Florida. We passed under the great span of the Bridge of the Americas, the only link between North and South America. The bridge is part of the Pan American highway, a road that would connect Alaska with Patagonia but for the Darien Gap, a patch of impenetrable Panamanian swamp and jungle.
We entered the first of the locks, at Miraflores, and watched the great gates close behind us. Weighing 80 tons each, the gates can be moved with just a 40-horsepower motor, testament to the ingenious engineering of the canal’s American builders. We learned how the jungle watershed on the hills around the Chagres River provides a continual supply of water to flood the locks. Only this freshwater is used, not seawater, to prevent salt corrosion. Three locks raised our little vessel 88 feet, and we sailed through the narrow Gaillard Cut, passing big freighters that looked like steel cliffs, almost within spitting distance. After crossing the massive, manmade Gatun Lake, three more locks took us down again, to sea level in the Caribbean.
Winds were high on this side of the continental divide, and our overnight voyage to the San Bias and Hollandaise islands provided our only bouncy crossing, yet it was worth it, as these islands, Panama’s dollops of paradise in the Caribbean, are worth the whole trip. After a short stop in San Blas to buy molas, colorful fabrics made by the Cuna Indians there, we slipped off to the remote Hollandaise archipelago.
Here lie everyone’s ideal of tropical islands. Most were uninhabited, just slim sandy isles sporting palm trees, surrounded by coral reefs. The water was so clean you could see 50 feet to the bottom. The coral reefs were thriving–untouched and unspoiled. They say it takes a brain coral 1,000 years to grow to the size of a human head, and I swam over brain coral the size of a kitchen table. I saw huge purple fan coral undulating like sheets in the wind, and a whole different eco-system of fish.
This is not only a new itinerary for Cruise West, but also a new ship for the line. Costa Rican owned and previously marketed as the Temptress Explorer for Temptress Adventure Cruises, the special vessel is now gaining wider awareness in America as part of the Cruise West family. One of cruising’s best kept secrets is out.
The Pacific Explorer sails the natural wonders of Central America on three different itineraries along the coasts of Costa Rica and Panama. Nearly 30 departures are planned for 2003 during January through April, July through August, and November through December. Per-person/double-occupancy fares for a nine-day itinerary start at $1,995; $2,445 for a 12-day. Air fare is not included. A variety of pre- and post-cruise options are offered.
For more information contact your travel agent or Cruise West (Cruise Travel Magazine), 2401 Fourth Ave., Seattle, WA 98121; or log on to www.cruisewest.com.
COPYRIGHT 2002 World Publishing, Co. (Illinois)
COPYRIGHT 2002 Gale Group
Copyright (c) 2006
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Source: VIP Panama
Posted by admin | Under Panama Canal Cruise