My wife and I finally were able to complete our long awaited Panama Canal cruise which had been postponed twice due to covid. We typically cruise NCL (me - Sapphire, wife - Platinum) and love the Jewel class ships. After staying two nights in the Panama Hilton (wonderful!) on the NCL pre-cruise package we were off to meet the ship in Colon. We opted out of NCL's transportation as my wife doesn't care for long bus rides. On the way to Colon, our driver (Byron from BM Transport) explained the countryside while noting that Colon isn't a safe city. This was evidenced by a man standing the median of the toll booth with a pistol grip shotgun as we entered the city portion of Colon.

Embarkation in Colon was hectic to say the least. Once we finally made it to the building where the check in was taking place it was more orderly. After arriving at the port around 10am, finding the right person to point out to where to go to drop bags and getting to the check in building we were on the Jewel around 11:30am.

Lunch in Cagneys was very relaxing which we needed after the mess getting on the ship in Colon. Rooms were ready around 2pm, in person muster drill at 4pm. Read more