Celebrity Millennium April 21 - May 6, 2023 (Part 2)
Panama Canal - Full Transit Historic Locks
Ft. Lauderdale - Cartageña, Columbia; Colon, Panama; Puntarenas, Costa Rica; Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala; Puerto Vallarta, Mexico - Los Angeles, CA
Welcome back to part 2 of this 15 night cruise! Last we left our heroes, one of them was quarantining for 5 days. So he missed Colombia and Panama. On day 6 he was released. This happened to be a day at sea. So we spent his first day of freedom eating, swimming, playing trivia, and recording content for you all! Even with all of the excursions we had and his 5 day jail time, we still managed to get you all enough content to create ship and room tour videos, so go watch those!
Speaking of excursions, I wanted to touch on what to look for when booking them. Some shore excursions do have weight restrictions and different “energy level” requirements so we highly recommend researching that when booking. It was also very hot and very humid, and since I’m prone to heat exhaustion I didn’t want to risk passing out by doing a high level activity. There are many things to think about when booking. In the end, do what’s best for you and if that means splitting the party, then so be it!
Here is a recap of our excursions, all booked through the cruise line:
In Colombia, we did a hop on/hop off bus tour and got off at the San Felipe de Barajas Fort which is beautiful. Fun fact: the bus was late coming back so we ended up taking a taxi back to the port (Just for our own sanity). If you book an excursion through the cruise line, they have to wait for you if you’re late so don’t let that worry you! (Only if you book through the cruise line)
Cartagena, Colombia
These ruins are so cool!
In Panama, a few of us stayed at the port and walked around and ate Panamanian food there. A few of our party had an excursion further into the city but we were warned earlier that it’s not the safest city to explore so I opted to hang out at the port while hubby was stuck inside. It was still fun shopping and eating there!
Colon, Panama
I love these colorful signs!
In Costa Rica,hubby and I took an air conditioned bus to a cultural center and watched a really fun, sweet performance put on by children. I even got up and danced with them when they called for it, it was great! They provided fruit as a snack and there were vendors there where you could buy food and souvenirs. We definitely brought snacks back and had some Costa Rican food from the vendors. After that, the bus took us to a swamp where we boarded a small boat to go searching for alligators. Spoiler alert, we found one. It was terrifying. These guys are trained to come over when called, it’s wild. After that, they provided more fruit and drinks and let us roam and shop some more.
In Guatemala, we actually had an all day excursion we booked but because of the heat, we were worried about me. So we refunded those for onboard credit and instead, hubby and I stayed in port again. We walked around, shopped, and ate at the restaurant there. It was a lovely little jaunt around the port and the little jade museum there.
Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala
And finally, in Puerto Vallarta we booked an all inclusive resort for a few hours to relax before heading home. It included lunch and drinks and we had access to the beautiful pool or the beach. We started at the beach but every few minutes we would be approached by someone trying to sell something. We probably lasted 10 minutes before getting irritated and going to the pool area. It was much more peaceful and the perfect relaxing final excursion.
As I’m sure you’ve noticed, we selected things that weren’t overly active and that I would call “fluffy friendly”. Because everyone is different, I would say listen to your body. If you are an active person, book that hike! If you want to relax, an all inclusive resort is a great way to go. The last thing I’ll say about visiting other countries is, take your passport with you!! In almost every stop, we were able to get a stamp in our passport. It’s so cool.
2 days at sea and we were back in our home port of Los Angeles, CA. This cruise was the perfect mix of sea days and port days and sailing through the canal is amazing.
All in all, this was the trip of a lifetime. Most things were friendly to all body types and the Celebrity Millennium is a wonderful, accessible ship and I love her.
Thank you for coming with us on this journey!
