We traveled on the Island Princess over the New Year's holiday, completing a "bucket list" item of seeing the Panama Canal.

The Island Princess departed on Sunday, the 30th, along with five other cruise ships. Port Everglades was mobbed. We dropped our rental car off at the Avis located in the Port, and there were about 50 other customers waiting to board their shuttle bus that holds about 12 people. We found a cab, but with the traffic and security checks, it still took about 30 minutes to go about three miles. When we arrived at our terminal, it was a very crowded as we expected at 12:30, which was the initial boarding time. It took about an hour to go through check in and security and board the ship. HINT: If you do not want to stand in line, arrive at the ship after 2 PM for a 4 PM departure. There was no line in sight at that time. We were about an hour late departing the Port and it appeared that the five cruise ships in Port had the same departure time. Therefore, the "sail-away" party was concluded before we left the dock.

Our itinerary called for two sea days before arriving in Aruba. The seas and wind were very rough. In fact, our cruise director, Richard Joseph, said it was the roughest he has seen it in two years. We were luckier than other passengers, and spared illness. Princess did a nice job with the New Year's Eve celebrations, which was a formal night. There were many choices...we experienced the Atrium and the Lido deck. The Atrium had a balloon drop and more classic entertainment. We stayed there until 11:30 and headed for the Lido deck, outdoor party. For just raining and being windy, there was a good, generally younger crowd. The cover band ICON was quite good throughout the cruise and DJ Mikey kept the crowd going. Streamers were handed out and thrown over string that was stretched over the upper deck. We danced until 1:30 AM, when the crowd started to retire. There was also a beautiful buffet on the Lido Deck. Read more