Panama Canal Cruise Recap: Day Seven

We might be headed towards the warmest spots on the planet, but today was the first of two “Frozen” days onboard Disney Wonder.

We began our day with a fun character breakfast featuring Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and Pluto. Following breakfast it was time for another very interesting lecture from Captain Ken Puckett, a retired Panama Canal pilot with over 1400 transits. Today he told us about the building of the new locks, which opened last year. The Disney Wonder was the first cruise ship to use the new locks when she transited the Canal earlier this year on the way to Alaska. We’re very excited to get to be part of the return trip.

Since this is my ninth Disney Cruise Line voyage, I was invited to a special reception for Gold and Platinum Castaway Club loyalty members. All of the ship’s officers were there to toast us and thank us for our patronage. On each voyage, Disney Cruise Line offers some special party and benefit to returning guests. On this cruise, it was a behind the scenes look at the Walt Disney Theatre where each evening’s live performances take place. Several of the technical staff spoke to us about how they put on the amazing shows seen there each night. As they were speaking, we were seeing them doing some technical setups for tonight’s show, which I’ll discuss in a moment. It was a neat look inside the operations and amazing to think they have 27 theatre technicians onboard to make all the shows throughout the ship run smoothly.

Following the reception I visited the onboard vacation planning desk to check some pricing for future Disney cruises. I always recommend that my clients book their next cruise while on the ship – you usually get a nice discount, sometimes some onboard credits or other perks and the reservation will automatically default back to Premier Custom Travel as long as you booked the current cruise with us. On this voyage, Disney is offering a 10% discount on your next cruise plus a reduced deposit and onboard credits. A good deal and I may very well book my next cruise while here.

At the conclusion of my chat with the vacation planner, we all headed to Animator’s Palate for another cooking/food demonstration. Today, it was oils and vinegars. We tasted several samples as the restaurant crew gave us a brief history of each and how they are made. These little 30 minute seminars are fun, free and very interesting. We’ve attended several already and there are a few more to come during the second half of our cruise.

Lunch was next and as we have done most days, we opted to do the seated lunch in Triton’s. This ship offers breakfast, lunch, and dinner daily in Cabanas, the buffet restaurant on the lido deck. But it also has breakfast and lunch in one of the main dining rooms on most sea days. One of the many nice features is that the menu changes daily (much like the dinner menu) so lunch each day has some repeat offerings but also something new each day. This is especially important on a 14-night voyage as you certainly don’t want to get bored with the food choices.

After lunch, we all decided to have a relaxing day with naps, time by the pool or simply sitting on deck in a quiet spot reading about the Panama Canal. We gathered later for tonight’s featured entertainment – Absolute Journey – a tribute band to the legendary rock group. Here’s the set list from the Toronto-based band:

1. Be Good to Yourself
2. Any Way You Want It
3. Who’s Crying Now
4. Lights
5. Wheel in the Sky
6. Lovin’, Touchin’, Squeezin’
7. Open Arms
8. Faithfully
9. Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)

Encore:
10. Don’t Stop Believing

After getting our Journey fix, it was time to head up to the lido deck and the “Frozen Deck Party.” Anna, Elsa, Hans, Sven and Olaf were all in attendance for this fun Frozen-themed dance party that ended with us all singing a chorus of “Let It Go” while it snowed (yes, really) on deck. It was Disney magic at its finest. Immediately after the show it was time for dinner and naturally it was a Frozen menu featuring lots of Norwegian-inspired cuisine.

Tomorrow, we have one more pre-Panama Canal lecture from Captain Ken, an Indian-inspired cooking demo, and much more. Plus, tomorrow evening we’ll anchor and take on more fuel as we sit near the mouth of the Panama Canal and await our turn coming early on Saturday morning. I should have our approximate schedule for tomorrow’s update. Until then, good night from the Pacific and the Disney Wonder.