So, let’s tell you about the ship that we are on. The Star Pride is one of the Windstar ships. As cruise ships go, it’s quite small. Only around 300 passengers, and its theme is relaxed and informal. No tedious formal dinners. Rock up for meals when you feel like it without a reservation – except at the fine dining restaurant. Coffee and donuts from early in the morning (yep, most passengers are American) and all day eats. Two sets of musicians for the bars, but no show production. An Open Bridge policy means that you are encouraged to pay the captain a visit if you so wish.
No surprise that we are down in the cheap seats, but the cabin is lovely. Recently renovated and super comfy. Meals are terrific.
Don’t know what the pay is like, but the crew are wonderful despite some of them being on 9 month contracts for 11 hours a day, 7 days a week.
This particular cruise is a turnaround special that only happens twice a year when the ship is moving from the southern hemisphere to the northern (in our case), or vice versa, at the end of the respective cruising season. To get where they need the ship for the coming season, they have to transit the Panama Canal and, as its going to cost them a couple of hundred thousand dollars to get through, they might as well sell tickets and make it a cruise.
After cruising very slowly all night in a westerly direction, we arrived at the small town of Bocas Del Toro near the Costa Rican border, and anchored off shore as the sun rose. I wandered on deck with a coffee and donut in hand (and I’m not American) before sunrise to stand in the warm breeze and watch the twinkling lights of the town disappear, and the sky turn orange before the sun appeared. No – I’m not making it up. It was picture postcard lovely.
The first day of on-shore excursions, so the breakfast areas were full by 7am, and so were the plates. Definitely the belt-loosening demographic on board. We were just going to walk around the town, so we breakfasted after the rush, and caught a later tender to the mainland. First order of business was to find some wifi to attend to parental administration. We had been tipped off by our canal guide boasting yesterday that one of the advantages in Panama due to the billions passing through the country was free internet for anybody at any government office, so we wandered down the town till we found one, sat outside and dealt with our mail.
Then it was a wander through the streets of the town. You couldn’t call the infrastructure anything but rundown. The streets were either dirt or gravel. Potholes, many filled with water, everywhere. Hardly a modern or clean building anywhere. However, it’s there mainly to serve tourists. Probably 100 cafes, restaurants and bars, and a plethora of tour kiosks and gear hiring shops. Young backpackers everywhere. I’m sure that it will be unrecognisable in 10 years time as the tourist dollars drive upgrades.
Had a coffee in one of the more modern cafes, wandered up and down the dusty streets, looked at the beach, and eventually caught the tender back to the ship for lunch. Restful afternoon, then dinner in the swank Verandah restaurant on the outside deck in the warm breeze before a surprise chocolate mousse cake for dessert.
Star Pride
Docking at sunrise
Bocas Del Toro
Make up your mind
Typical house