Our final couple of days in Vegas were full as we tried to cram everything in one last time before leaving. We walked up and down the Strip enjoying it in the early morning light, the midday heat and the razzle dazzle of night. We viewed the free shows put on outside the different hotels - the erupting volcano, the pirate battles, the musical fountains, the indoor thunderstorms and the moving statues. We gaped at the exteriors and interiors always discovering mor...

JFK Airport is sad and shabby and dull. We flew out from it and landed in Vegas. Las Vegas Airport is happy and zappy and lively. Why, it even has slot machines right next to the luggage carousal so you can play while you wait for your luggage to come off the plane. Who would have thought? Our hotel, Hurrah's, is on the Strip and is as big and flashy as most of the others. Driving from the airport to it at night was an eye-opening feast of razzle dazzle light in...

Our ship sailed into Miami early Friday morning and it was rather sad disembarking after 15 glorious days of being pampered. I heard some crazy people saying they were ready to get off. I don't know, call me strange, but for some reason I like not cooking or cleaning or washing or ironing or having to make decisions other than what to choose off the menu. Well, they dragged me off kicking and screaming and put me on a plane to New York. If I can't be on a cruise...

Cartagena, founded in 1533, was one of Spain's most prized ports in the New World. Today its history is preserved as another United Nations World Heritage Site. The city is considered an island of peace in a country plagued by civil war and drug violence, but we were still warned to be extra vigilant with our belongings and safety. Sailing into the harbour was quite lovely, but we could tell it was going to be another hot and steamy day as the sun beat down and ...

Since opening in 1914 the Panama Canal has meant the journey between the world's two greatest oceans, the Pacific and the Atlantic, has been shortened by thousands of kilometres to an eight hour journey of slow steaming through a hilly tropical jungle. This modern wonder of the world is an amazing feat of engineering that carries about 40 vessels a day and now I am lucky enough to have sailed through it upon one such vessel. We rose early, even before the sun, ...