Panama Canal Transit – 2013

In 2013 I was lucky enough to be able to take a few weeks off and take a cruise from Miami to San Francisco via the Panama Canal. In order to chose which Cruise Line was right for me I did a lot of research online and decided that I would rather pay up front for everything, a smaller ship (the smaller the better) and the right itinerary. The Cruise Line I selected was Regent Seven Seas and the ship was the Seven Seas Navigator, the smallest in their fleet. With Regent they include:

• All meals onboard
• All drinks except premium wines and spirits
• Tours, especially as I would be by myself and did not think it would be cost effective to arrange my own in each port, plus I doubt I would have had the time to have done research for each port.

As Regent is an all inclusive Cruise Line and in the Luxury Cruise Category, it was not cheap, but after hearing the costs that other people on other lines ended up paying at the end of their cruises, the difference was not that much. The single supplement with Regent is fairly high, but most lines are the same when it comes to this. One of the great things about cruises is that you only have to unpack and pack ONCE!! Also, you have the same suite every day, travel with the same people and have the same crew looking after you, so they get to know you and you can make friends, which was a lot of fun. My posts over the next few days will be of the photos I took during the cruise. BTW, if you considering transiting the Panama Canal, stop procrastinating and just do it!! It is an amazing journey and the engineering associated with the canal is incredible, especially when you consider when and how the canal was built and the fact that all of the water used is gravity fed, there are no pumps, it is all fresh water (which is good) and each time a new ship / vessels enters and exit the canal 22,200,000 imp gal of water is emptied into the ocean. Enjoy