It was an early morning on Christmas Eve when our honeymoon cruise ship (Island Princess) arrived in Panama. Around 6:00 AM we entered the Gatun Locks of the Panama Canal. It was almost 8:30 AM before the ship exited the last of the three locks and entered Gatun Lake. While the ship was in the lake, we rode a tender to the shore to catch a bus into Colon.
After arriving in Colon, we boarded the Panama Canal Railway and rode the train all the way across Panama: through the jungle, Soberania National Park, Camino de Cruces National Park, along the Panama Canal, across the Chagres River, and over the continental divide to Panama City.
In Panama City, we left the train and took a guided tour of the city which included the Amador Causeway, views of the Bridge of the Americas, shopping at Duty Free Amador, and views of downtown Panama City. We then took a bus back to Colon Sea Port.
Before re-boarding the ship, Benjamin had a monkey thrown onto his shoulders by someone in a crowd. He was not impressed, but it made for some good pictures. By 3:00 PM we were back aboard the ship and on our way to the next destination.