This will start just like every other blog post I’ve written lately: “I’d been wanting to go to X for a long time…”. The X in this case is Costa Rica or doing a Panama Canal cruise that hit Costa Rica. Antigua, Guatemala had also been on my short list for a while. Costa Rica just hadn’t edged out the other trips we’ve done, partly because I/we wanted to do other things more, and partly because of snakes. Yes, snakes. It was hard to go somewhere where I might encounter big, nasty snakes when I’m just trying to walk to dinner or back to my hotel. Not exactly relaxing for someone with a snake phobia. Enter a cruise where I can curate an excursion to minimize the snake-age.
A few years ago I wanted to do a cruise that hit all 4 of my missing Central America countries – Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Guatemala, and El Salvador. They’re rare to find and unfortunately no ships are visiting Nicaragua these days. I came pretty close to booking one that hit the other 3, but it sold out right when I decided to book it. So plan B emerged and after way too much hemming and hawing, I pulled the trigger on a Norwegian Cruise line 19 day cruise. I booked it on a Monday and left Friday. Almost every room was gone, but I was able to score a balcony room on the 9th deck. And funny enough, it was on the exact same ship I’d taken the Alaskan Cruise on a couple of years ago.
I’m not going to lie, I was pretty nervous. I’d never taken a cruise longer than 8-9 days, and I’ve never done a solo trip over a week. So I was afraid I’d get lonely, or bored, or I’d have body issues crop up as they normally do, and I’d be stuck.
Turns out the worry was for naught. I had the best time. It was just a great, great experience. Although overall the trip may have been a mistake since I want to do long, solo trips all over the world now!
Starting at the beginning, I left Friday for Miami where I got to sit next to a … tuba? the entire flight.
There was a Peruvian restaurant a block away from my hotel, so I went there for some more lomo saltado which I fell in love with in Peru. Yum!
The next day was Sailing Day!
After getting on board, I grabbed some lunch and happened to run into another solo traveler who told me about a meetup happening that afternoon. It turns out there were 150-200 solo travelers on board!
After settling in some more, it was time for the Sail Away party and watching as we left Miami.
That evening I went to the first of many solo meetups and they were not kidding about the number of solo travelers on board. I opted to eat dinner with about 12 of them and had a great time getting to know people from all over. I ended up going to the meetup and dinner again the next day and a few more times during the cruise. But even when I didn’t, I ended up at “shared tables” for many dinners and even some lunches so I swear I talked to half the ship. There were a couple of other meetups I attended as well so definitely did not need to worry about getting lonely!
Another worry is that I tend to get motion sick on cruises, but I did really well this time despite some semi rocky seas on day 2 and a few other times. We even got a crazy thunderstorm while out at sea that my shipmates posted pictures and videos of on the shared Facebook group. Despite this, the nausea stayed at bay, although it did cause me to not sleep as well. That also may have been because I was directly over a club that played music so loud till midnight every night. Oof. Then again, it was a free concert in my room every evening!
After 2 days at sea, we hit our first port: Cartagena, Colombia! I booked a 2-3 hour bus trip that took us first to Castillo San Felipe de Barajas which was built in the 1600s.
Then we drove into the walled in Old Town. It would’ve been nice to have time to get out to wander around, but I picked a mostly bus only trip as I didn’t know how my back or knee would hold up.
Next we stopped at a tourist shop. Of course. And then we drove around Cartagena some more before heading back to the ship.
Once back at the port, they had us walk thru a little “zoo” with all sorts of birds and animals. I was definitely not expecting to see an anteater, flamingos, macaws, and more! What a fun little surprise!
It was a very industrial port, but we did get a good view on the way out.
The next day was Panama Canal cruise day! What a treat! See my separate post for more.
I also had my first specialty dinner this night at Cagney’s steakhouse. Free filet? Yes please!
After an overnight and day in Panama City, we had another sea day before we arrived in Costa Rica. Finally, I made it to Costa Rica! You can read more about my excursion here.
Then we had yet another sea day, before arriving to Guatemala. This day did NOT go to plan, but I still got to Antigua and to see the countryside which I loved. You can read more about this (mis)adventure here.
I also hit a Teppenyaki restaurant and a French Restaurant. I’d eaten at the French Restaurant on the Alaskan cruise and really enjoyed it. This time didn’t disappoint either and I got a great sunset view with my meal as well.
We’re now about halfway into the cruise and have another sea day before hitting 3 stops in Mexico. I didn’t really care much about the 2nd half of the cruise as the first half was why I booked it.
First up was Acapulco, then we had a sea day, then stopped in Puerto Vallarta. I opted to stay on the boat to enjoy it while it was emptier. Also, due to the back and legs acting up, I splurged on an (amazing) massage! Unfortunately the back continued to be bad so I was barely mobile for a couple of days. I also finally caught the cold that it seemed 1/2 the boat had – seriously you could hear deep, wet coughs all over the ship. Luckily I only got a mild cold for a couple of days. But this also meant I stayed in my cabin just chilling during this part of the trip. This is when it was really nice to have a balcony as well!
Acapulco:
Luckily my last specialty restaurant reservation, Italian at Onda by Scarpetta, was before I was sick too. I very much enjoyed my meal! And the dessert was spectacular.
Next up was Cabo. I was really looking forward to snorkeling in Cabo, but I had to cancel that for a simple boat trip as my back was still pretty bad at this point. I did not expect Cabo to be so scenic!
Cabo sits at the southern tip of Mexico’s Baja Peninsula and is where the Pacific Ocean meets the Sea of Cortez.
We took tenders to shore then headed onto our boat.
We cruised out of the harbor, past Lover’s Beach, and to the famous Arch of Cabo San Lucas and “Land’s End”. It was absolutely gorgeous and a picture perfect morning. We even got to see some sea lions and got some great views of our ship along the way.
Then we rounded “Land’s End” and headed out to the Pacific for a brief tour along the coast. And then, Whales! More specifically, humpbacks. A mama and her calf. It was realllllly late in the season, so we got extremely lucky seeing them.
Once back on board, I spent a lot of time on my balcony just enjoying the view. I even got some visits from the seabirds.
After Cabo, we had 2 more sea days before arriving in San Francisco. I hadn’t really thought about this stop much until I heard someone ask the crew what time we’d sail under the Golden Gate Bridge. What?!? It hadn’t even occurred to me that we’d sail under that or near Alcatraz.
They said we’d cross under the bridge around 7am, so I woke up early to this:
It took over an hour to approach the bridge and it was just incredible. Gorgeous morning too. I was way more excited than I expected!
Then we crossed under!
Then we sailed past Alcatraz and docked right down from Fisherman’s Wharf.
And that’s where the fun ended and the disastrous immigration ordeal began.
We were told that US Immigration needed to do a “Zero-passenger check” since this was our first stop back in the US. What this meant is that EVERY passenger had to get off the boat, do a face to face interview with immigration, and no one could get back onboard until every passenger had been cleared. All nearly 4000 of us. Plus the crew although they had a different procedure.
The process started around 9:30am and it was a disaster from the start. They cleared by deck starting at deck 15 and very quickly stopped the line as the immigration building was overwhelmed. Some of those passengers stood in line for 2.5 hours without even making it off the ship. Finally maybe 3 hours later, they called for Deck 14. At this rate, my deck, Deck 9, would be called around 1am. I was sooooo grateful I was at a lower deck and could chill on the ship and get lunch, but you also had no idea when your group might get called so you couldn’t really do much. Luckily things sped up and my group was called around 4pm. The line was 2/3 the length of the ship inside, however my group got moved outside where we stood for 45 minutes without moving.
Once inside, the immigration process was relatively quick, and then off we went. There were only a few seats in the building, which were full, so you basically had to leave to the building and find somewhere to go as you couldn’t get back on till everyone was off. So I walked to Fisherman’s Wharf.
I got back in line around 5:30pm and we heard there were 50 passengers left that I guess were refusing to get off the ship. Eventually they got them off and we were able to get back onboard! I had lined up at the perfect time so was one of the first few hundred back at about 6pm. I was so glad that for me it was only about a 2 hour ordeal, but felt so bad for those that started at 9am and had a 10 hour ordeal. It was such a mess that we made the local news and the next day there was a 2nd news segment talking about it some more.
Not the best last day to an otherwise great trip, but it was OK as I was still riding the high from the morning arrival into the city and then enjoying my last day on the ship!
So that covers the basic itinerary. So what else did I do for 19 days? Well eat, drink, eat some more, wander around, hit a lot of game shows, went to talks about the ports before most port stops, chilled on the pool deck, went to the shows, listened to live music, and just sat and watched the world go by. Oh and napped. Glorious afternoon naps! I also wandered all over the ship and think I hit every public space except the family deck.
Food:
Some of the cocktails:
Ship activities:
And some pictures around the ship:
And the best part – ocean as far as the eye can see:
Oh and did I mention stargazing? Love me some stars:
Then on Day 19, it was time to disembark and say goodbye to the Encore. Sniff.
This was really such a great trip. And I’m not kidding that this makes me want to do more and more and more cruises.
Till we meet again…
