Overall, this was an excellent experience. Never in a million years did we expect to be cruising again so soon after our recent (January 2004) cruise to Tahiti. It seems impossible to believe that the experience on RSSC Paul Gauguin was surpassed by this one on the RSSC Mariner.
We were very fortunate to have made life long friends aboard the Paul Gauguin last year and planned this cruise to the Panama Canal with those new friends. When they called us only months after returning from Tahiti to tell us about the "2 for 1" deal to Panama, we just couldn't say no.
Given this most recent experience, we're dedicated cruisers (specifically, on RSSC) for life! In fact, we already began the process of booking our next cruise while on board the Mariner (more on that below).