Sorry for being so vague and I will be more specific. We are not at all opposed to a cruise. We would fly from LAX to Fort Lauderdale to board the ship and see the Canal that way. We found the shortest cruise to be ten days which may be too long and too expensive. Also, cruises are very seasonal. We were told by a family member we could skip the cruise, get to Panama and view the Canal from observation decks from the Miraflores Visitor Center. The whole point of this trip is to get the full experience of the Canal. Hope this help.