Panama Canal Transit, Worth the Trip!

Embarkation was fantastic, didn't have to wait hardly at all. 

Buffet was very crowded, thankfully a Princess employee told us to find a seat before getting our food.  We had second seating in the Provence dining room and the service was good.  Portions are getting smaller and smaller though and we are a little shy about asking for a second entree.  We had a reservation on my husbands birthday for the Bayou Cafe and it was the best meal we had.  We both had Filet Mignon with a lobster tail and we were both shocked at the quality and size of both.  Their dessert was out of sight if you love peanut butter and chocolate.  We purchased a bottled water package before cruising and a coffee card.  We then enjoyed bottled water and lattes the entire time, very nice!

I like to play slots at the casino when we cruise and this being my 14th cruise I have seen some casinos.  This was, without a doubt, the smallest, worst casino for slots I have seen.  Old machines, half the amount I expected and one section of the casino was so hot that no one would sit long...therefore cutting the amount of machines even further.  I figured I'd save myself some money and normally would have been there everynight, but only went there 3 nights. 

The cruise director was so so.  You would see him in the Atrium and doing his morning show (which he taped the night before), but he hardly ever made any announcements, didn't say anything to us via announcement on our disembarkation.  All in all very lackluster. 

As far as the itinerary is concerned, the transit through the canal was the Best!  Worth the whole trip.  Started our day very early (about 6AM) on Deck 11 (the same deck our cabin was on) as we had access to the front of the ship from there.  We stayed there the whole time through the canal to the lake.  The other ports of call were fine, albeit a little short on time in Aruba, and Ocho Rios was lousy, but we had never been to Cartagena and Costa Rica and now we can say we have, however, the purpose of our trip was to see the transit and it was definitely enjoyable.