Through the Panama Canal
Day 16:
Another sea day between Cartagena and Colon, Panama. Yet, during our excursion in Cartagena, we were reminded of something peculiar about MSC cruise ships. There are no 17s on-board. There are no 17th decks (the MSC Poesia doesn’t have a 17th deck primarily because it isn’t that big). There are no cabin numbers ending with a 17. There are no excursion group #17s. Why?
The reason is that MSC is an Italian cruise line. In Italy, the number 17 is like the number 13 in the United States or the number 4 in Korea. It is unlucky.
The reason for this goes back to the Roman Empire and the use of Roman numerals. In Roman numerals, one would write XVII. However, this can be an anagram (you can rearrange the letters to form a new word) for VIXI which means “I have lived.” In other words, it means you are dead.
We reach Colon, Panama tomorrow!
Day 17: (Yes, we still had a day 17)
After a pretty “bumpy” night at sea, we arrived at Colon, Panama, which is the Atlantic/Caribbean entrance to the Panama Canal. We hired a cab driver who took us to several of the canal locks and to Lake Gatun.
In the evening, our ship left the docks of Colon and staged near the entrance of the Panama Canal. This is done to the que the MSC Poesia for its transit the next morning as we are scheduled to start our transit of the Panama Canal tomorrow morning at 6:00 am. Already being at anchor near the entrance ensures that our ship is ready. There can be over 100 ships staged at the mouth of the Panama Canal ready to make their transit from one ocean to another.
Day 18:
Have you ever had a full day excursion without ever leaving a cruise ship? That’s what we experienced today as we sailed from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean through the Panama Canal.
We woke up well before dawn and the beginning of the MSC Poesia’s transit which began at 6 am when we moved into position at the Gatun Locks. The locks are an amazing piece of engineering as three successive chambers fill with water to lift us up 85 feet to level of Lake Gatun. Once the last chamber of the Gatun Locks open, we sail out into Lake Gatun and towards to other sets of locks on the Pacific side. Those locks are the Pedro Miguel and Miraflores locks. Along the way we cross under the Bridge of Americas (Atlantic side) and the Centennial Bridge (Pacific Side) which are the the only two permanent bridges spanning the canal.
Just 12 hours after we began our transit, our cruise ship sailed into the Pacific Ocean as we began to sail north along the coast to Costa Rica.