Time Flies as We Transit Canal, Race to End of Grand World Cruise

Days 128-132, 2026 Grand World Voyage

Monday to Friday, May 11-15, 2026; Panama Canal and Cartagena, Colombia.

Just as we seem to be racing across the Caribbean at 18 knots toward Fort Lauderdale, the time is racing by as we come to the end of this 133-day cruise (plus the 14 days I tagged on to the beginning over the holidays).

I’m never eager to disembark, but I do sense that all of us are redirecting our attention away from ship life to home, summer plans and family (and pets) we’ve missed.

On Monday afternoon we docked at the Fuerte Amador pier in Panama City, arriving two hours earlier than originally planned as the crew needed to replace a link on the anchor chain. Many passengers went to dinner in the city or at one of the nearby marina restaurants, but we stayed on board.

Concert pianist Hyperion Knight had flown in to entertain us that night. A favorite cruise entertainer who is just as popular in concert halls worldwide as at sea, he energetically plays everything from Rachmaninoff to Gershwin to Queen. I last saw him on the 2023 world cruise.

Tuesday morning, we embarked on our Panama Canal transit, my first going west to east. (My luggage beat me to it in 2020 on a cargo ship when we had to leave bags behind in Australia due to the pandemic.)

The great thing about going through the canal is that it takes most of the day. At each end are two or three locks, raising and then lowering the ship.

In the middle, we sail through the Calebra Cut, an eight-mile gorge through the Continental Divide, and across Gatun Lake for a few hours. Iced towels help to fight the heat and humidity.

Sadly, we only had a half-day in our last port, Cartagena, Colombia, as we had to leave at 1 p.m. to make it to Fort Lauderdale on Sunday. We had planned to get a taxi to the walled old city, but couldn’t negotiate a reasonable price with the taxi drivers. I should have ordered an Uber.

But if you’re going to be stuck at a port terminal, this is a good one. It encompasses the Port Oasis Ecopark, a conservation center in a small forest. Paths weave through open-air enclosures, passing by wading flamingos and other water birds. Monkeys scurry through high treetops and occasionally come down to feed on fresh papaya.

I even saw a couple of anteaters, lots of turtles and five-foot-long iguanas. Showy peacocks (and the less showy peahens) wandered throughout the grounds.

Despite the heat and humidity, I managed to sketch the flamingos, but I won’t paint them for weeks, as I’ve already packed away my art supplies. In fact, I’ve spent part of our sea days organizing in preparation for packing. After a long cruise, it becomes a multi-step process.

I am making it perhaps more complicated, as I decided to drive to Arkansas rather than fly, and I’d like to have everything I’ll need for the drive in one suitcase. I’ll visit friends in the Sarasota and Tampa areas, and then stop in New Orleans. It doesn’t take much of an excuse for me to visit one of my favorite American cities.

These days aren’t just spent on packing. There are so many passengers receiving Medallion awards for 100, 300, 500 and 700 sailing days that there are ceremonies on three days, each followed by lunch in the dining room. Elaine received her platinum medallion for 700 sea days.

Thursday night we were fortunate to be invited with a few other friends to dinner with Capt. Frank and his wife Alexandra. It was even more surprising as in March we had dinner with Capt. Rens and his wife Sandra before he left. This was our final formal night, with dinner followed by a Farewell Ball.

Earlier, my sister Elaine put together a fun dinner party of five sister pairs on the ship. Once we all sat down around the table (no sisters could sit together), we realized that the baby sisters were all on one side and the older ones on the other. We laughed throughout the dinner.

As to my plans: I’m spending the next four months on land. I’ll spend July and August in Chicago (Logan Square area), attending an Urban Sketching symposium and catching up with friends from my summers there in 2017-2019. Fortunately for me, my nephew Colton is moving within the city, and I’ve snagged his old apartment before the lease ends.

Otherwise, I’ll split my time between sister Eloise’s house in Fort Smith, Ark., and my former hometown of Dallas, where I’ll see friends, doctors, dentist, hairdresser, etc. Those pesky doctors. Every few years they want to do more tests than I can squeeze into my more common two-week break between cruises.

Then in September it’s back to sea for my longest stretch ever on one ship. I’ll rejoin the Volendam in Montreal, Canada, with my sisters to cruise to New York City followed by a 45-day Ultimate Mediterranean roundtrip cruise. They will leave me then, as I continue for a 30-day Legendary Voyage up the Amazon to Manaus, Brazil, followed by two holiday weeks in the Caribbean before leaving in early January on the 129-day 2027 Grand World Voyage.

Stay tuned!