MODERN SHIPS HAVE ALL THE CONVENIENCES OF HOME.

Byline: Craig Mailloux Staff Writer

COLON, Panama - Most of us probably have a romantic notion of what the bridge of a ship is like: the big wheel, the captain yelling down the old-fashioned tube to the engine room.

Alas, on a Princess Cruises trip through the Panama Canal, we learned that it's not that way anymore.

On a modern cruise ship like the Sun Princess, the bridge looked more like a spacious computer room, with windows and a spectacular view. You can't visit the bridge while the journey is underway, but there is a tour of the bridge while in port.

Also, while entering or leaving port, you can go topside and look down to the bridge wing where the captain directs the action, and observe him interacting with the pilot and the ship's senior officers.

It was fascinating to watch Capt. Pietro Raiola of Italy inch the 77,000-ton ship up to the wharf and stop the 856-foot behemoth gently against the dock. Going through the Panama Canal, meanwhile, he had just 2 feet of clearance on each side of the ship.

Moving the Sun Princess across the sea at up to 22.5 knots were four diesel-electric generators powering two main propulsion engines that were incredibly quiet and smooth. We were never really aware of the motors when they were running - they were nearly silent.

The weather was mild for our April excursion from Puerto Rico through the Caribbean, through the canal, and up the west coast of Mexico to Acapulco. We rarely felt that we were in motion, perhaps because two retractable stabilizer fins located amidships neutralized the effects of the ocean swells.

Our mini city on the ocean had to feed, house and entertain some 1,900 passengers and try to keep us all content, and there were some 830 crew members on board for the task.

Dining aboard ship is one of the pleasures of sailing, so we seized the opportunity to take a tour of one of the ship's two galleys. The ship seemed to have cornered the world's stainless-steel market - there seemed to be miles of shiny metal counters, ovens, sinks, etc.

Just as we all make shopping lists at home, so, too, does executive chef Claude Palloure, but his list is huge, requiring some 80 to 85 tons of food for the average cruise.