twokey

Thank you all for your comments.

They help with our decision.

I'll keep you posted!

am planning a first River Cruise. I am thinking BALTIC, but am not dead-set. My question is: which is a better line as far as overall experience is concerned. I mean the passenger experience, not the crews' experience. They both claim to be better than the other. If you have been on both, I'd love to hear your comments.

We embarked from Colon last year in December. We used My Friend Mario to drive us from our Hotel in Panama City to Colon. We stopped at Gatun Locks. We had a very pleasant experience. Our driver was very informative and the Gatun Locks were fascinating.

I recommend My Friend highly.

By the way, we scheduled My Friend to pick us up in Colon on our return. The problem was, the cruise line got us there 4 hours early and there was no way to contact our driver. We had to wait in the hot, humid loading area - I blame the cruise line for that.

I have tried to find My Friend Mario Tours several times. The website, www.myfriendmario.com takes me to an ERROR page.

Am I doing something wrong? Or, is this a sign that I should take the Panatrain from Panama City to Colon, instead?

Thanks so much for your graphic descriptions and reviews of all that I may be encountering. My partner and I will be doing much the same thing when we arrive in Panama City on December 1. Because this will be my first big cruise, I have no real experiences to anticipate having again. I am very excited, though, at the prospect of this diverse itinerary. I was kind of knocked off balance when I learned that this might be an "immersion" cruise. But, now that I'm learning more, I am more excited than ever. I love experiencing nw stuff. But, I guess I just had anticipated the ship being the place to "be American" during the trip. I don't know much Spanish now, but I bet I'll know more when I get back.

Keep journaling and keep cruising!