Seeking advice on first cruise: Florida--Panama Canal

Holland America has a nice cruise from Ft Lauderdale into canal -stops
in Guatum Lake for day and returns to Caribbean - NO you will not miss
any canal infact you will go thru the locks twice

OLD TO SOON SMART TO LATE

You might also want to checkout the Coral Princess.

wrote in message
.. .

We are putting together our first cruise, and decided that it would be
great to spend New Years Eve, and perhaps Christmas no board. We are a
couple in our late 40's, enjoy gambling, snorkeling, digital
photography, good food and Vegas style entertainment. (We enjoyed last
year's New Years Eve in Vegas and a prior one in Hawaii.) No kids and
don't really care for them so a more "adult" focused cruise would be
better for us. We may have a girlfriend with us but 3 people seems to
not
fit with the the pricing plans very well.
We live in Atlanta, but expect to depart out of Florida (Tampa would be
perfect) and think that it would be great to see the Panama Canal on
this
trip (in case we never do it again. G) Probably want a 7-10 day
cruise.

Questions we have:
1. Anyone know of the perfect trip that matches our desires above?

2. What's the best way to deal with a group of 3 as far a quarters are
concerned?

3. I've been reading the discussions about Balconies. Seems nice, but
with
three of us it might get expensive and we are somewhat budget minded (but
not typically no-frills travelers.)

4. If we take a cruise that enters the Canal and then comes back out on
the
same side, will we miss much of the "canal" experience?

5. If we use Birth Certificate and Drivers licenses, now much more
difficuly is it that if we had a Passports?

Thanks for any help,
F&R

You might also want to checkout the Coral Princess.

wrote in message
.. .

We are putting together our first cruise, and decided that it would be
great to spend New Years Eve, and perhaps Christmas no board. We are a
couple in our late 40's, enjoy gambling, snorkeling, digital
photography, good food and Vegas style entertainment. (We enjoyed last
year's New Years Eve in Vegas and a prior one in Hawaii.) No kids and
don't really care for them so a more "adult" focused cruise would be
better for us. We may have a girlfriend with us but 3 people seems to
not
fit with the the pricing plans very well.
We live in Atlanta, but expect to depart out of Florida (Tampa would be
perfect) and think that it would be great to see the Panama Canal on
this
trip (in case we never do it again. G) Probably want a 7-10 day
cruise.

Questions we have:
1. Anyone know of the perfect trip that matches our desires above?

2. What's the best way to deal with a group of 3 as far a quarters are
concerned?

3. I've been reading the discussions about Balconies. Seems nice, but
with
three of us it might get expensive and we are somewhat budget minded (but
not typically no-frills travelers.)

4. If we take a cruise that enters the Canal and then comes back out on
the
same side, will we miss much of the "canal" experience?

5. If we use Birth Certificate and Drivers licenses, now much more
difficuly is it that if we had a Passports?

Thanks for any help,
F&R