We chose the Amsterdam 15 day Panama Cruise from, Los Angeles to Fort Lauderdale, for two reasons -- we love the Amsterdam and always enjoy the Panama Canal -- this trip being our second full transit.

We flew into LAX the day before and settled in to the Long Beach Hilton. We met friends for dinner on the Queen Mary Hotel where the next day, the Amsterdam would be docked next door to her..

Embarkation at the Long Beach Terminal was far smoother than a previous time on a Carnival ship. We arrived shortly after 11AM and were in our cabin within half an hour, the only bottleneck being the photographer's area which we slunk around. At Long Beach there is quite a long walk to the ship. We had a Deluxe Suite on the port side. Our cabin stewards were the same two we had had on our Alaskan voyage the previous June, Our stateroom was perfect at all times. Our stewards knew us and our peculiarities. Our luggage arrived the earliest it has ever arrived so we were totally unpacked prior to the Safety drill. Read more