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Katz & Dawgs Unlimited

Cruising through the Canal and the Caribbean
(February 6 to February 20, 2004)

Panama Canal WebCam Live webcam Start the slide show by clicking here Photo from our trip

We   had so much fun during   our previous Canal transit that we decided to do it again -- this time from the Pacific to the Atlantic. We decided to try a new cruise line, Oceania, and their mid-sized ship, the Regatta (previously owned by the defunct Renaissance cruise line).

The following is the day-by-day itinerary of the trip:  pictures are available at the italicized areas.

  1. February 5: Flew in the evening from Newark, NJ, to St. Jose, Costa Rica. Stayed at the San Jose Marriott..

  2. February 6: Sleep late after a much-delayed flight, then take the motor coach to the Pacific coast of Costa Rica, and see our home for the next two weeks: the Regatta.

  3. February 7: At sea, cruising south in the Pacific Ocean. Our stateroom had a view looking forward.

  4. February 8: The big day! Transited the Panama Canal. (Took lots of pictures.)

  5. February 9: At sea. We were supposed to visit the San Blas Islands, but very rough weather forbade our stopping there.

  6. February 10: At sea. More rough weather.

  7. February 11: Finally, our first chance to step ashore. Took a walkabout and lots of shopping at Oranjestad, Aruba

  8. February 12: At sea.

  9. February 13: Castries, Santa Lucia. Lots of poverty. We looked around at the market, then in the afternoon took a bus tour of the island.

  10. February 14: St. Johns, Antigua. We took a taxi over to Jolly Harbour, and looked around the town we'd visited the year before (see last year's pictures).

  11. February 15: Gustavia, St. Barts. Our boat visited on Sunday, and many of the shops were closed. And those that were open didn't seem very interested in selling to cruiseship passengers — we arrived at noon at one apparently open shop, but the shopkeeper shut the door in our face because she wanted to go to lunch!

  12. February 16: Basseterre, St. Kitts, where we took the train to see the island. (Took lots of pictures!). We undocked from St. Kitts in midday, and relocated to the tiny sister island of Nevis for the afternoon. (Wonder why we didn't stay at St. Kitts, where we were tied up at the dock, rather than wasting several hours relocating to a harbor where we had to take the tenders to shore?)

  13. February 17: Roadtown, Tortola, British Virgin Islands. We've visited here twice before. This time, it was very disappointing to have to use tenders to go ashore here. The pier only had room for two cruise ships, and indeed there were two others in port when we arrived.

  14. February 18: At sea. Assembled some photos of the Regatta for your viewing pleasure.

  15. February 19: At sea. Packed and goofed off.

  16. February 20: Fly home from Miami to Newark. Collapse.

Would we sail on Regatta again?

Conclusion: Perhaps, if there were an itinerary we really wanted to do, but there are lots of rough edges that need to be smoothed out.

Other websites of possible interest:


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. . . as of February 20, 2004