Island Princess – Western Caribbean & Panama Canal – October 7 – 17, 2019

Why this cruise? We do not mark Princess as our favorite cruise line, but there were some aspects of this cruise that held an appeal. We had not visited any of the ports, and we liked the spacing of the cruise, with sea days between all stops. And Princess is not a bad cruise line; it just does not match our favorites – Crystal – Oceania – Viking – Celebrity. So we flew to Fort Lauderdale and embarked.

Embarkation. Boarding a ship in Florida when one lives in Arizona always involves a night in a hotel, and this was no exception. Our hotel provided an early shuttle to the pier, and there was immediate access to an embarkation clerk with no delay in checking in. Of course the cabins were not made up and we had to wait, on comfortable chairs in the cruise terminal building, for a while. We then proceeded on board and to the buffet. All in all it was an easy process. Read more