Panama Canal cruise, October 25, 2011 to November 8, 2011.

Let me start out by saying, my husband and I are not seasoned travelers. We save for several years to take a special vacation. The Panama cruise was our 5th cruise in about 20 years time. Our group turned out to be 5 couples, all in our later 50's to mid 60's. We were on a Princess ship back in 2002, so were prepared for the small bathroom ( especially the shower ), and the limited drawer and shelf space. Our room had a balcony, located mid ship. We were next to 2 other couples, so we opened our balconies up to enjoy the bigger space. We printed the sign provided by Cruise Critic with our internet name and taped it to our door. This turned out to be a great sign for knowing if you were headed for the stern or bow.

All and all this was a wonderful vacation. Embarking went very smooth and once on the ship, we were able to graze on the lido deck and found our luggage, within a few hours, in our room. As mentioned above we were a party of 10. We had late traditional seating, and were able to be together at a large table. Read more