Cruising Panama’s Canal: Savoring 5,000 Nautical Miles and 500,000 Decadent Calories

Armchair travel is fun and cost very little. Reading Cruising Panama’s Canal gives you exactly that—a nice, slow, leisurely, luxurious armchair cruise from San Francisco to Fort Lauderdale in seventeen days. Authors Al and Sunny Lockwood undertook this wonderful and satisfying cruise while, apparently, writing a detailed daily diary of their trip from beginning to end and eventually enlarging it into this travel book. Although their cruise was designed for older travelers, their descriptions apply to most cruises. And their descriptions are painstakingly detailed, so much so that, at times, you’ll be tempted to skip a few pages as it seems the authors are writing to preserve the memories.

Sunny Lockwood, the predominant author, is a professional writer, giving armchair travelers the pleasure of good reading. Al Lockwood adds his thoughts here and there, and his focus is often mostly on food, particularly the sweet offerings. This aspect is a little overdone in the book and the word glutton instead of gourmet comes to mind. Everything is described during this pampered, luxury cruise: food, entertainment, their cabin, artwork on board, classes they took, and their memories. Photographs inserted in front of each chapter are nice additions.