We just returned from our trip on the Coral Princess to the Panama Canal. The boarding was seamless as usual, of course we are Platinum members and do get to go to the head of the lines but the lines were short and moved quickly anyway for boarding. We bring along our own 12 pack of soft drinks and two bottles of wine to save a bundle over their prices on board. We still buy a few drinks on board but only take advantage of the two for one’s that are offered in the Wheel House in the afternoon and the Explorer’s lounge after 10PM. We don’t use the specialty dinner venues, I am an old time cruiser and just can’t figure why we would want to encourage the cruise lines to charge extra for food. I am not too above the food they serve that’s included in the cruise price and from the looks of the restaurants on this cruise I am not alone in this thinking. They offer a couple of specialty lunches also along the way where lunch is free if you buy your drinks. Think about it, a small walk to a different part of the ship gets you a free lunch period with your drink and service too. If we keep paying for services that were always included they will have you sliding your card at the buffet one day very soon, their frame of mind is whatever the consumer will bear.

The trip itself is a very relaxing one, two days at sea heading toward Aruba. After a few hours there you are off to Cartagena which is only a short hop away and you basically float there for a day and a half. I don’t know but seeing that Curacao is right next door a stop there would be a passenger pleaser I would think but a slow float is quite a bit more profitable for the ship and that’s the route that’s taken. A very short stay in Cartagena and you’re out of there on the way to the canal. Probably your best and cheapest choice of this stop is to hire a taxi ($50 a day) and the driver will drop you anyplace you want and wait for you. You can see it all this way at your pace and save a pile of money. The canal is always a pleaser; I’ve been there 4 times now and never get sick of it. The stop in Colon to pick up the on tour passengers would be wisely avoided by those who didn’t get on a tour. They at one time stopped in Cristobel and the stop there was great with the Indian craft booths that were there, this stop now is what I would call dangerous and useless.

On to Limon, Costa Rica is a great place with many great tours. Again I would think though that with a little pre-planning from home one could set one of the same tours at half the ships price. After Limon it’s off to either Jamaica or Grand Cayman, our trip went to Cayman. We have been there so many times from any other Caribbean cruise that we chose not to even get off the ship. I personally would have rather stopped in Cozumel but I wasn’t driving. After Cayman it’s a day and a half ride back to Ft. Lauderdale and back to reality. Read more