Mega-cruise ship traverses canal

In 1967, Princess Cruises (800/774-6237, www.princess.com) was the first cruise company to send a ship through the Panama Canal. On Oct. 26, 50 years later, the line’s Caribbean Princess became the first neo-panamax cruise ship (holding more than 3,000 passengers) to go through the new, expanded locks of the canal. 

Opened in June 2016, the canal expansion enables larger ships to pass through the locks, allowing an increase in the maximum length of ships from 294 to 366 meters and an increase in width from 32 to 49 meters. Ships built to the former largest dimensions were known as “panamax,” with ships of the new dimensions now called “neo-panamax.”