We chose this cruise because we wanted to see first hand the progress made on the new canal. Although the excursion to the site of the new locks was all we had hoped for, the cruise itself was a major disappointment.

The biggest problem was the number of maintenance projects that were being performed throughout the cruise. There were several days when the paint fumes seeping into our stateroom were so intense we tried propping open the door to the balcony to clear the air. Since I have asthma, this was a major problem. We contacted the front desk, but there was really not much they could do. There were days when our stateroom was spared the fumes, but other areas on the ship were not so lucky. We even had to leave the casino one afternoon because of the fumes.

Even worse was the day they closed off an area in the buffet while half a dozen workers fiddled with the ceiling, scraped off the paneling on a half wall and proceeded to glue on replacement paneling. The smell of the glue was terrible. I was so amazed that they would actually performed this work (all the workers were wearing face masks) while passengers were eating, that I took pictures with my cell phone. Other projects included denying access to various floors from the mid-ship elevators while they installed new carpet and grinding/welding on the deck. Clearly this ship belonged in dry dock, not cruising filled with passengers. Read more