It was a welcome of a very different kind for participants of MICE tradeshow, MITM Americas, as first-time hosts Panama Tourism Authority took guests on a journey down the world-renowned Panama Canal.

Aboard the cruise, passengers were regaled with live music, limbo and dancing before cooling off with a selection of local beers and Panamanian favourite, Abuelo Anejo.

But the real highlight of the evening was the canal itself, whose famous system of locks – which lift a ship up, or in this case down, 85 feet (26 metres) to the elevation of the sea – kept those aboard glued to their spots, cameras in hand.  

Equally trigger happy, e-Travel Blackboard went along for the ride.