New Year’s Eve means a lot of different things for different people, to some a new year means new beginnings, a clean slate, promises of a better year, healing, traveling many things but there is one thing we can all agree on A New Year should be celebrated. Growing up my parents looked for any excuse to get us all in the car together and travel somewhere new. Required time off from school and work was the perfect excuse. As a family we used to travel almost exclusively during the Holiday season, which meant we were always on the road for New Year’s Eve. The best part about this is that we always celebrated the New Year in a new place. I’ve celebrated everywhere from a Motel 6 in Massachusetts to Times Square to watch the ball drop. I had never however, experienced New Year’s Eve on a cruise. As a travel agency this is always our busiest time and the most popular requests. We have clients booking their New Year’s cruises a year in advance. I never understood the hype until I experienced it for myself.

This year I had 80 clients on the MSC Divina sailing out on December 27th – January 11th doing the Panama Canal itinerary. For those not familiar with that itinerary it’s not one that is done all of the time, so it was something new for everyone. The ship sailed out of Miami and it stopped in Ocho Rios, Jamaica; Cartagena, Colombia; Colon, Panama; Puerto Limon, Costa Rica; Costa Maya, Mexico; and MSC’s new private island Ocean Cay in the Bahamas. I had the opportunity to be a guest on this sailing to escort my clients and deal with any issues that might occur on board also, it gave me a reason to check out what the fuss was with New Year Eve sailings and let me tell you it was definitely worth the hype.

Now I know it’s not just me that loves how everything is decorated for the holidays and everyone is a little extra nice everywhere you go. Except if you’re in the hospitality industry now if you’re in the same industry as I am then you don’t mean to not be extra festive, you’re just so stressed out and overworked you’re exhausted. Lol. The cruise ship has holiday decorations all over the place. Everywhere you look there’s an extra Christmas tree, or Christmas pillows strategically place. Even in the dining room they put ornament balls hanging from the lamps to make the dining room a bit more festive. There’s nothing like coming out of room and having everything tastefully decorated to get you in the Christmas spirit. Every crew member is constantly wishing you a Happy New Year and is constantly in a good mood, so it ends up rubbing off on you regardless if you want it to or not.

Now to talk about what really matters, how do the cruise handle the countdown? And the parties? Now if you’ve been on a cruise before you know they find any excuse to throw a party, literally there’s a party every other night regardless of the occasion. Now it being a holiday cruise there was a special event and several parties every night. For New Year’s Eve they had the big event up on the 14th floor where the pool is located. This particular party was the “white” party. Everyone dressed in all white, if they choose to of course I stuck to my sparkly gold outfit I had pre-planned, there were 2 bars set up besides the main bar in the center and there were also several members of the wait staff prepared to take your drink order or your chair order. Speaking of, chairs were a scarcity however they had waiters that would specifically get a chair for those in need seeing how seating was on a first come first serve basis.

Cruise ships have so many little details that you don’t necessarily think of but at the end of the day those are what make your experiences memorable. After dinner in both dining rooms and after each seating there was a table set up with boxes and boxes full of colorful accessories, such as noise makes, hats, glasses, streamers, you name it they had it! As you were walking out of the dining room you passed by the table to pick out your desired accessories.

The countdown was aligned with the east coast since we had just arrived in Cartagena, being at sea and visiting so many different countries in different time zones sure does get confusing. The party was huge, it was bigger than any other white party that they have had because everyone was anxious to celebrate the coming year. The party was attended by guests and crew alike, this is the one night of the year when everyone remembers at the core, we’re all human and we all want the same thing. Tomorrow everything changes and it’s back to business as usual, but everyone enjoys celebrating the New Year in style.

This has been a post that’s been a long time in the making. For some reason, I’ve always wanted to go to Panama. The Panama Canal always intrigued me. Learning about the intricacies got me excited for me to see it one day in person. Fast forward 20 years later to 2018, I finally got the opportunity through my business, to lead a group on a cruise through the Caribbean and parts of Central and South America. One of our stops was in San Cristobal, part of Colon, Panama, which was roughly 45 minutes from one of the locks in the canal.

Our plan was to rent a car and have them take us to the Canal, unfortunately that was not the case. According to our cruise line at that time the port in Colon was very dangerous and there was a bus that took us to the Duty-Free shopping center and back. There weren’t any taxis to take us to the canal. Essentially, that trip taught me that if there’s something you really want to do you need to pay for an excursion. The area of San Cristobal is one of the poorest areas in the entire country. Driving through and seeing the buildings covered in black mold was depressing. I had never seen such destruction, such poverty. Before coming to Panama, I had done my research and everyone talks about how advanced and modern the city is, or how beautiful the islands are but no one touches on the locals. I always said I would keep it real and even talk about the not so pretty picture worthy moments that’s why it’s worth mentioning. As much as I try to be positive about everywhere, I’ve been there are just some places that aren’t.

Fast forward to 2 years later, I’m on the same cruise ship with another group of clients for New Year’s Eve. This time around I wasn’t as excited about our port stops because I had been to them all already, I was more concerned about my clients on the trip, making sure everything went accordingly. I had warned several of my clients that if they wanted to go see the Canal, they would have to buy the excursion.

I, along with the majority of my clients, booked the excursion to visit the canal. This time around we stopped in Colon, where it wasn’t as dangerous. As soon as we stepped off the ship there were our tour buses and literally across the street there was a shopping center, with restaurants, pharmacies and a casino. This time the excursion took us through San Cristobal again, however they explained to us that they were in the process of demolishing all of the buildings and building affordable housing for them in the city. Which I was very pleased with because those buildings should have been condemned years ago.

The tour then took us through the rainforest where we saw some wild monkeys, then we headed to the Canal expansion. We were in the Agua Clara locks, where they had it set up with as a visitor center with a concession stand, a souvenir shop, restaurants, information center and a large viewpoint. We were able to sit and watch as the different ships waited their turn for the lock. We were even lucky enough to watch as 1 of the ships go through the locks. Now it was very interesting to watch and as always, I am very glad I was fortunate enough to witness it however, it was one of the most underwhelming things I have ever seen. The entire process took about 90 minutes and it was throughout a torrential downpour. However, it was still the most underwhelming thing I had ever experienced. After, about 30 minutes I was ready to go.

From what I was able to gather, the weather was common for Panama. I have also asked several friends that have been to the Canal and the expressed the same feelings. If Panama is a place on your list you should go and make your own opinion, however I gave it 2 chances, and this was mine. Chances are I won’t be doing this itinerary on a cruise again. As fun as it sounds since everyone gets tired of the constantly doing the Caribbean this itinerary isn’t worth it for me to repeat.