Do a full transit from Florida to California. Celebrity, HAL, Priceness etc all do full transit cruise. Pick the ports that you like best (other stops outside of the canal zone) on the itinary and go from there.

If you can affrod it, go with a balcony for most relaxed sight seeing while transit through the canal. If not, get to the open deck. Front of the ship is best for viewing the approach into the first lock. Be fore warned that it would be very early (like 6 am) and you need to be there even earlier to get a good spot.

Always prepared for rain in the canal zone. And buy a "real" Panama Hat, and the cheap ones. They are not the same.

You can save $ by your cabin choice. It's less for an inside cabin or a window vs. a balcony. Besides that the highlight of course is the canal itself.

All cruises lines will have a historian on board so you should attend the lectures to learn about this amazing feat.

I would say get your best deal for a full transit voyage echoing what Eschew said. Go all the way thru and go to fore and aft while you are in the various locks as its pretty cool to see them that way.

We were there in Feb. of 2010 and saw the new canal being built. It's due for completion in 2014 so I'll bet a lot has been done since then.

Have fun. Larry

Yes. Our first cruise was Oct/Nov 2010 with HAL. We sailed two weeks Florida through the canal to California and two weeks back through canal to Florida. There were numerous ports throughout Mexico (the one duplicate port was our favorite the first time through) We also stopped in Jamaica, Costa Rica, Panama, Guatemala and Cartegena. The ports, people, history and experiences are well worth repeating either, or both legs of this journey.

2 weeks is just right for full transition. And they will give you certificates that you can frame and display at home!