I had been impressed with the speed of the Jade. For the first two days at sea we had been clipping along at a very fast rate – probably around 24 knots. But when we rose for breakfast we had slowed to a crawl. I had also noticed, from a look at the cruise map, that we had turned from southeast to due south. That puzzled me. But not for long. At breakfast the captain made an announcement that the ship was experiencing engine problems that were preventing it from maintaining the speed needed to keep to the itinerary. And so, he declared, it was necessary to skip Cartagena and head straight to Colon, Panama, where repairs could be made.
Ah, shades of our Carnival Vista (CV2) cruise which also skipped ports due to engine problems. This itinerary change was relatively minor as the only reason I had for visiting Colombia was to be able to claim that I had set foot in South America. A disappointment, but not a major one. But I am concerned what will happen if the engine problem is not fixed in Panama.