25 Hours in Panama

Hats.  The Panama Canal.  Noriega.  The third track from Van Halen's 1984.  I didn't know a lot about Panama.  But flying from Los Angeles to Santiago with my 6-year-old son Henry, our best Star Alliance option was to fly Copa Airlines via Panama City.  We could have a 1-hour layover in Panama, or a 25-hour layover.  It seemed like it would be fun to stop for day and see the canal.

Based on TripAdvisor reviews, I booked a room at the Hotel Deville.  We got there around 4pm, checked in and walked around for a couple hours.  Once we navigated past the banks and skyscrapers, and took multiple risks crossing streets at crosswalks that were only casually honored by the rush-hour drivers, and figured out which streets with no names (or at least no signs) led to the shore, we reached said shore.  There were some good views of Panama City and the ocean, but after the long travel day and journey from the hotel, it was a definite let-down.  We walked along the seaside path for a while (but apparently not far enough to get to the restaurant area, we would find out the next day) before turning around, re-tracing our steps, risking our lives stepping off curbs once again, and eating a mediocre meal at a large American chain restaurant close to the hotel.  Day one was kind of a failure. 

 

The next day was much better.  We booked a half-day tour through Panama Roadrunner.  Lorna, a heavily-tattooed, very friendly Reiki expert and British expat, picked us up 6:30am and we drove about 20km out of the city to the Gamboa Rainforest Resort.  We planned to get on the 7:30am boat to Monkey Island, a place that had definitely piqued the interest of my son when he heard about it.  We got there in time but learned that the booking hadn't completed for the 7:30 trip, and in fact there was no 7:30 trip that day.  But there would be a boat at 8:45, so we booked it.  This actually worked out really well - it gave us a chance to eat breakfast at the hotel and walk around a little.  The resort had hammocks on all balconies, a nice pool and birds everywhere.  Given our negative experience in Panama City, Henry and I were both wishing that we had spent the previous night at Gamboa and skipped Panama City. 

After a quick ride in a safari-like vehicle, we arrived at the marina and got on a small boat with three other Americans, a guide and a driver.  The boat took us out onto Lake Gatun, where we saw large cargo ships transiting the canal.  Pretty cool to see.  We then continued to Monkey Island, where we were not disappointed.  Howler monkeys swung from the trees, sloths hung around, turtles crawled on the shore, iguanas relaxed on thin branches and baby crocodiles scurried on rocks.  I had the wrong lens and wrong timing to capture any great wildlife photos, but it was a fun experience, especially when the boat driver stopped and pulled out some mango, luring monkeys to the boat.

From the resort we headed back towards the city and stopped at Miraflores Locks, one of three sets of locks on the Panama Canal.  It’s the 100^th anniversary of the canal opening, so there was a little bit of a festive atmosphere with signs everywhere stating 1914-2014.  The four-story museum is very well-done – there are a lot of exhibits on the building of the canal and on the wildlife of Panama, and a lot of interactive areas for kids (and adults), where you can get the idea of what it’s like to operate locks, pilot ships through the canal, and direct ships through the canal from shore.  Henry really liked the models of the various ships that helped to create and maintain the canal.  The 20-minute film about the canal was similarly well-done.  And the gift store was pretty good, although the snow globes were out of place.  Rain Globes, you really need to create a Panama Canal version and sell through the store! 

We then had an extra hour before our flight so we drove to the Casco Viejo (old town) area of Panama City.  This was a highlight – much more interesting than the area around our hotel.  I had been warned about staying in that area of town, since apparently there are some sketchy areas, but I regretted not looking into it.  We really enjoyed walking around the markets and historical buildings.  If I was going to do another one-day layover in Panama with a kid or multiple kids, I would go out to Gamboa for the night.  If I was going to do a layover with a friend, my wife or solo, I would stay in Casco Viejo. 

After Casco Viejo the drive to the airport was nerve-wracking, with the dashboard clock slowly approaching our flight time but Saturday traffic being alternately stopped or diverted due to political rallies.  Luckily the airport is small and check-in fast, so we were still fine and got to the gate with time to spare.  Overall a worthwhile stop for a day.  Next time I’ll just plan the hotel better.  

Summary Information

Kid Friendly: Moderate
Level of Difficulty: Easy

Specifics

Airline/Routing: Copa Airlines direct to Panama City from Los Angeles
Hotel: Deville Hotel
Tour Company for Day Trip: Panama Roadrunner
Trip Length: 1 Day
Days of School Missed: 1 Day
Cost Factors:  The layover in Panama didn't increase the cost of our plane tickets, and there were no visa or other transfer fees.  Total expenses in Panama for 25 hours were a little under $500, including hotel, transportation/tour, Monkey Island boat tickets, Panama Canal museum/film entrance and food.  We could have brought that down by renting a car instead of hiring Panama Roadrunner to take us around, but after having seen the roads, traffic and street closures, I'm glad we didn't attempt that.  

An Open Letter to the Mauna Lani Bay Hotel and Bungalows

Dear Mauna Lani,

We love you.  Really, we do.  My wife used to visit the hotel every year with her family.  Then we got married here ten years ago, and we’ve come back at least once a year since then.  Some years we come twice.  We know the staff.  Edwin is like family.  We got hugged by virtually all of the restaurant staff when we went to the Bay Terrace for the first time this week. 

But (and here’s the tough love part) you’re not family-friendly anymore.  Not even a little bit.  Which is funny because a LOT of your guests have children.  We’ve made requests over the years to different managers that were never acted on.  I know other guests have as well, because we talk to them by the pool.  So in the interest of continuing our love affair with you and maybe, just maybe, improving the relationship, here are eleven suggestions.  Most cost a little money.  Some cost a little more.  But when we go on vacation, if the kids aren’t happy, we aren’t happy.  It’s time for you to invest a little bit in the kids staying at your hotel.

Suggestion 1: New toys at the pool and beach.  Have you ever bought beach toys?  The kids love the play area by the beach cabanas.  But all of the toys seem to be from guests who have left them behind, and many are cracking, creating a potential hazard.  Could you run to Costco or the ABC Store and pick up some fun new sand toys?  And the noodles at the pool are practically disintegrating.  We were excited to see a basketball hoop on the side of the pool when we arrived, and the kids played with it for over an hour…up until the owner came to retrieve it. 

Suggestion 2: Bring back the toy wagon.  At check-in for many years you would let kids pick out a toy.  They were always stuffed dolphins or beach balls or other appropriate thematic toys, and the kids loved it. 

Suggestion 3: Bring back the in-room sand pails and snacks.  Every year for maybe four years, when we arrived there would be a Mauna Lani pail in the room for each kid filled with snacks.  We have them at home in all the baths.  We take them to the beach in California.  The kids always had fun getting the pails and snacks.  But then they disappeared.

Suggestion 4: Bring back anything at check-in.  For a couple of years after we got married there would be a note and a bottle of Champagne waiting in the room for us.  Then it changed to a note and a fruit plate.  Then we had kids and it was a note, the sand pails/snacks, and a fruit plate.  The kids always ate the fruit immediately – a perfect snack coming off a 5-hour flight.  This time, for the first time, there was…nothing.  Not a note.  Not a fruit plate.  Not anything for the kids.  And we had even let you know that we were coming back for our ten-year anniversary. 

Suggestion 5: Implement a family rate – a real family rate.  For years you had an Ohana rate, whereby a second room would be half off - a nice idea, since in our case having one extra kid doubles our room costs.  The problem was that the Ohana rate never made sense, since it was based on your most expensive rack rates and didn’t apply to any specials.  Every year we would be told that the Ohana rate would work out to, for example, $500 + $250 = $750 for two rooms, where a special rate including breakfast would be $320 + $320 = $640 for two rooms.  Could you bring back the Ohana rate, but make it an actual deal?  It doesn’t have to be 50%.  Maybe let someone book any package and then give them the second room for 20% less than that.  Would make it a much better feeling to book every year, given that we’re always going to need that second room.

Suggestion 6: Open up the gym earlier.  It’s nice for one of us to work out early, especially slightly let-lagged, before the kids are awake and wanting to head to breakfast.  A 5:30 opening time worked perfectly, and my wife especially always took advantage of it.  The new 6:00 time doesn't work as well.  And on the workout theme, could you reduce the minimum amount of rental time for the stand-up paddle boards and kayaks?  It's fun for young kids to try something new, but they usually don't want to do it for an hour.  A half-hour option would be welcome.  

Suggestion 7: A kids’ club open to kids anytime without paying $80/day.  We’re not interested in using a kids’ club for an entire day.  But during the hottest part of the day, it’s great to be able to duck in and let the kids do crafts for half an hour.  At least that’s what we’ve done often at other hotels.  It’s unfortunately never been an option at the Mauna Lani.   

Suggestion 8: A playground.  There’s a great grassy area on the way to the condos, past the Bay Terrace, that’s perfect for a playground.  Again, it would be a place for kids to go after spending a morning at the pool and beach, to get out of the sun for a little while.  It’s largely a one-time expense that would quickly become a kids’ hub.  Put in a few milo trees and additional coconut palms for natural shade and you’re set.  This would especially come in handy this week when it’s so windy that no one wants to be at the beach, getting sand-blasted. 

Suggestion 9: Put in a little more shade at the pool.  Do you ever notice in the afternoons that the chairs under the umbrellas or shaded by palms are all occupied?  This continues the theme above: please give us more options to get out of the sun with the kids, short of heading up to the room early.  We didn’t come to Hawaii to sit in the room.

Suggestion 10: Bring back the kids’ activities.  We’re happy that you still do the fish-feeding, but we loved the s’more fire pit in the evenings, and we were looking forward to the scavenger hunts when the kids got a little older.  Then those both disappeared. 

Suggestion 11:  Bring back the nightly torch lighting.  Continuing on the theme in suggestion 10, we've noticed a lot of things disappear over the years.  Some things aren’t a big deal – we never used the shoe horns or the in-room ice anyway, and we didn’t need evening turn-down every night.  Some we definitely miss: the free morning coffee; the Honu Bar sushi, drinks and pupus when watching the hula/music in the evenings; the Ocean Bar restaurant; free parking; free internet; all of the kid things previously mentioned.  But one of the kids’ favorite things is to run along with the torch lighter every night at 6:00 as he goes around the hotel.  We took it for granted that that was one tradition that wouldn't disappear...until this time.  According to the weekly schedule, he’s now down to four nights a week.  No!  Bring him back every night.  Please! 

So that’s it – a lot of little things and a big thing (a playground) that would make us fall in love with you all over again and make the kids (and us) truly excited to return every year. Now is a great time to reverse your cutback trend, and do it by starting with the kids.  Remember, they’re the ones who are going to be excited to return with their own kids someday – if you make it fun for them again. 

Sincerely,

Travel Babbo