Cruising the Canals Part 1

Adventurers Navigation Co.’s resident cruising expert went on a once in a lifetime trip to South America this past March.  Colleen shared with us her trip overview for this amazing cruise on Princess Cruise lines, aboard the Island Princess. Departing from Fort Lauderdale, Florida the cruise made port in Colombia, Panama,Costa Rica and Jamaica.  Of all those ports Colleen said she was most looking forward to seeing the Panama Canals.

Just as we always love hearing about those “Top Moments” and experiences from our client adventurers, Colleen had much to share as well!​

​Check out Colleen's Drive Gallery of photos from this cruise here!

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• What was your favorite City? "My favorite city was Cartagena, Colombia. We did a tour of the old city and toured a bird sanctuary. The colors were beautiful and the history is so preserved."
• What was your favorite Meal? "We didn’t eat off the ship so I would say the Pastas on board. They are all made from scratch and are amazing...oh and the creme brûlée of course."
• What was the scariest moment? "I was hesitant to go into Colombia, as I was unsure of what to expect, but was pleasantly surprised." 
• What was the most surprising thing you saw or did? "The most surprising thing was seeing sloths!! I saw a cute little baby one, and two in their natural environments. They are my new favorite animals."
• What was the best part of your trip? "One of my favorite pictures would be of the group I won trivia with on the last day. We had gotten to know both couples well and we had done trivia together for the majority of the trip so we were very excited to finally win. It’s my favorite picture because it is symbolizes what I love best about cruising/traveling, meeting new people and sharing amazing experiences with them."

Post trip, I asked Colleen to consider what was different from what she had expected.  She shared that because she had never been to any of the countries she visited, she was going off what others had to told her to expect.  I was warned it would be very hot, but it wasn't as bad, was more comfortable than expected."
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Colleen shared advice for those considering this cruise.  Special packing considerations she mentioned was bug spray as the canal is known to be very buggy. “We only had a few bugs so we got very lucky,” Colleen said, but it’s better to prepare as it’s never certain. Colleen says that everyone should experience the canals at some point in their lives. “The history and engineering behind them is breathtakingly amazing.”

Watch for the next installment of Colleen’s 10 partial transit of the canals, where she shares with us her excursion experiences!  

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