Panama Canal & Central America Cruise Reviews

As our TA kept reminding us, my wife and I were among the first Belgians to book a cruise on Explora, almost as soon as this Panama sailing was announced. We thought that we knew enough about MSC's vision in terms of luxury, having sailed in their Yacht Club often enough and having reached the uppermost level in their loyal program. From the first images the ships looked great, but the info was ...

This was may 55th cruise but first time as Elite on Celebrity, We booked a C1 although I had no use for the concierge we booked late. The ship is huge and has many neat areas such as the garden, Eden, and the atrium. There is a lot of whimsical art. I had trouble navigating the layout and found signage to be inadequate. The buffet was almost always crowded although the selections were very good. ...

My very first cruise ever was in 2007 on Carnival that included an excursion of partial transfer of Panama Canal. Always wanted to do total crossing and Windstar had a reduced single supplement so figured March 2 would be a good time as I had trips scheduled for December, January, and February so March was booked. I could find very little information on this cruise so even though this was last ...

We chose this cruise for three reasons. The first was a lifelong desire to see the Panama Canal. The second was how much we enjoyed our Alaska Cruise Tour with Princess before COVID. The third was - COVID was no longer a concern to us! First of all, don't get me wrong - we LOVED the cruise. The staff and crew were amazing, cheerful and helpful (especially our cabin attendant Czar). The food was ...

We got on board on Feb 19th 2024 Upside: -Very nice staff and room attendants. -Buffet and restaurants served great food -Lots of activities, shows, Jazz music and acrobatics were prepared for guests. -Nice gym, swimming pools and jogging track. Downside: -Cayman island got canceled, early morning Captain Kate informed passengers it was due to weather and wind which the ...

This was our 4th Princess cruise and we really wanted to see the Panama Canal. The Ruby was a good choice, not too big. We know that it will always be a struggle to get a pool deck lounge chair or a table on the pool deck. The deck above the pool usually had lounge chairs available. The Panama Canal passengers were mostly over 50, many with walkers or scooters. This time we chose a mini-suite ...

I did two connected cruises, first a Panama Canal Transit and second a full ship charter with Bare Necessities Tour and Travel to the Western Caribbean. The Pride has been refurbished, mainly public area's. Fitness centre is very good, light and modern now. I love the size of the ship. It can hold approx 2000 guests and that is just OK for me. Big enough for the entertainment and small enough for ...

The good to great-staff and food in Moderna and Cagney’s for Exclusive breakfast/lunch! Our cabin steward and butler were amazing as we had a Club Penthouse Cabin. Our concierge was amazing! The Panama Canal Lock viewing was fantastic from our forward balcony. The rockiness of a forward facing balcony however, on the first night was a bit terrifying and sea rockiness does not usually bother me. ...

Easiest embarking ever. We were on board by 11:30 am sitting at the Lido having lunch. Disembark was super quick and easy thanks to the face scanning technology at the Ft Lauderdale cruise port. This was our 7th cruise on an HAL ship, out of 57 total cruises ( other lines mostly Celebrity, RCL, Oceania). Food varied from being poor to fair in the Lido, Deck 9, to very good in the Main ...

Sitting in airport now reflecting on my 11 day cruise on the Beyond with my wife. Overall the experience was extremely positive. The ship was state of the art and beautiful. Our indoor stateroom was larger than average and our stateroom attendant Wayne was freindly and exceptional. We enjoyed all of the food and never had a bad meal. We had breakfast in the dining room every breakfast and dinner ...