BillB48

This might be going a little to deep into the weeds for some, but I will throw it out there any way. I was watching the two pax ship while they were in Pedro Miguel and I wondered what was taking so long, mainly why it was taking what seemed to be a longer period to get the HAL ship into the east chamber. Then it dawned on me, they held the spilling of the east chamber down to Miraflores Lake level, instead using it to fill the west chamber where the Radiance is positioned (first picture). You can see where the water in the east chamber is dropping. Where the water would normally go is into Miraflores Lake, however what they are doing is cross spilling through the center wall and filling the west chamber to raise the Radiance up to Gatun Lake level. Now this method will only fill the chamber half way up, so half of the total fill will still come from Gatun Lake. In the end the lockage will only cost half as much water as it would normally be required. In the next picture they have spilled the remaining water from the east chamber to Miraflores Lake and let the HAL ship enter and filled the west chamber the rest of the way with water from Gatun Lake. All this just to save a half a chamber, but it does show to what extent they are going to conserve water. The rain situation is not looking particularly good at this point as this should be some of the rainier times of the season.

Looks like a beautiful day for a transit even though Canal authorities would rather be dealing with a record breaking deluge.

Many moons ago I saved this from a post by Cruise Critic member Hoopster95 when he was on one of the inaugural sailings of the Quantum out of NY. I believe he took the pic while visiting the Engine Control Room. Appears they can retract the funnels to get down the Canal's max air draft on a case by case basis. I am not sure what the minimum clearance is, what I do know is to have unrestricted passage under the Bridge air draft must not be higher than 190'. Above that the height of the tide is considered. I have believed they could squeeze a Voyager/Freedom class under the BoA at low water. Although the 20+' tides are not an everyday occurrence, most days of the month would provide sufficient tidal swing to clear 207'. By comparison the Radiance class ships clear the Sunshine Skyway in Tampa by 5'. If there is a minimum clearance involved at the Canal, it seems like it would be a self imposed standard that may have some flexibility. Where the Voyager/Freedom class may run amuck IMO is the sponson that runs around the MDR on deck 4. For the new locks any protrusion beyond the hull (besides anchors) must be 55' above the waterline. I am not sure there is 55' to the water. I even took a 60' weighted line on one trip to measure it. While in port I dropped the line down, but the wind was strong enough to put a big bow in the line, so the measurement was not accurate. On the bow at one of locks on a Radiance class, a great spot.

Guess everyone gets a turn at the best seat in the house! Didn't even see the bird in the PM pic until I really looked closely.

Practically speaking only the Radiance and Vision class ships are about the only vessels RCI has that can pass through the Canal. The Voyage/Freedom class and Oasis class have air draft issues with the Bridge of Americas. The Quantum class technically can transit, but they have yet to do so.

Canal just seems like it can't catch a break. Rainy Season brings fog season, the fog is there but the rains have been scarce.

Right now the only ships scheduled are Radiance, Serenade and Brilliance. The Serenade has a MIA-LA-MIA this November while the other ships are basically just before or after the Alaska season.

Celebrity will have the identical tour that takes you through Gaillard Cut and the original Pacific Locks, they may have a slightly different name and number for it. The stop at Gatun Lake in the Canal, as Bruce pointed out, only ship's excursions are available. The reason for exclusive ship tours is when you are tendered ashore the cruise line knows positively there is a tour waiting for you. The area around the Gatun Yacht Club is in the middle of nowhere, no town, no commercial area with no commercial transportation. And I am sure being the only game in town the shore excursion department doesn't mind the extra business! It is a great opportunity to experience both the new and original locks.

Your partial transit cruise on the Emerald gives you an excellent opportunity to experience both the new locks and the original locks when you take the Panama Canal and Locks Transit by Boat excursion. The bus ride to and from the excursion also provides a look at some of the country side as well as a great view of the Panama City skyline. The only down side to a partial transit cruise is that you may be tempted to book a full canal cruise. If you do, I would recommend booking a cruise that uses the original locks.

Maybe he heard they taste like chicken? Great screen shot!

Here is a clip of a screen shot for the Nov. 24 partial transit cruise on the Emerald. As I noted above if you try to book it online and are unable to, get to the excursion desk ASAP after boarding and try to reserve it.

Staying onboard is enjoyable, but please consider this, you have come a long way and expended many $$$ to get to see the Canal. Then why not see more of it? Staying on the ship and locking down the same locks and sailing back to Colon is all ground you have covered already. Why not go see more of the Canal? That would be a partial transit of the Pacific Locks and a passage through Gaillard Cut. That would give you almost a complete transit of the Canal. If you are on a partial transit using the new locks this would give you an excellent chance to experience both the new and the old.. Yes the shore excursions are a tad pricey, but you will experience a lot of what the Canal has to offer.

That is a hard question to answer at this point with the cruise terminal not having been completed, so there may be some bottlenecks in the process. If and that is a very big IF, you could be actually traveling to the airport shortly after 6, 10AM would be doable. However with the unknowns you probably be a lot safer with a departure after noon.

Not necessarily, since the new terminal has not been used for embarkation and disembarkation as yet, only the pier has been in operation. The authorities may not have personnel available to handle the customs and immigration formalities on the first day. My concern is you could get to the airport and not have "officially" entered the country. In the past you had to clear emigration officials on leaving. Best of luck and yes, it is the same facility.

In that case I would recommend the Panama Canal Experience over the Two Oceans by RR. Transiting the original Pacific Locks would be my preference as compared to a shore side visit.

First a question... is the following link the Panama Canal Experience you are referring to? https://www.ncl.com/shore-excursions/PCT_01/Panama-Canal-Experience The next question is, are you on a full transit cruise of the Canal or just a partial? Maybe the last question, will you be transiting using the new locks or the original locks? While I have not been on NCL's version of those shore excursions, most of the tours are conducted largely in the same manner for all the cruise lines. In general I feel the train excursion is better for the person who is a railroad buff and would like to experience the trip since the Panama Railroad has quite a history not only in being the first transcontinental railroad but its importance in building the Canal. Recommending the PC Experience would depend a lot on your answers to the above questions.

Have not had any word back from my contact, but he is not in operations... he is in the training wing. If anyone was a dollar short it will be the ship! The Canal is brutal when it comes to what they call an aborted transit. If for any reason the vessel has to cancel the transit after it starts it gets hit with that additional fee. Don't know what the actual fee is, (depends on size etc.) but it is in the thousands.

Sent my contact a note, maybe he can dredge something up. Probably the most likely reason was mechanical issues.

Sounds like the Ruby Princess is doing a partial transit. Selecting this tour is a good idea since the Ruby will lock through the new locks on the Atlantic side and the tour will take you through two of the original locks on the Pacific side. In addition you will also pass through the Gaillard Cut, so all in all you will have seen a large part of the Canal by combining your cruise and this particular shore excursion. I would recommend booking as early as practical, however the cruise line normally hold back some reservations to be sold onboard. Early reservations are better if you can.

Yes, it is possible to visit the Canal from land. Visitors are welcomed at Miraflores Locks (original) on the Pacific side and Agua Clara Locks (new) on the Atlantic side. If your ship calls on Panama and does not transit the Canal, quite often one of the excursions offered is a partial transit of the Canal which includes Gaillard Cut and the two original locks on the Pacific side.

That is the excursion that will do a partial transit of the Canal which locks through the two original Pacific Locks and the Gaillard Cut, shore ex NC2-615. While the tour does "start" in Gatun Lake, that really is only the tendering off the ship to board ground transportation to the Pacific side to board the "ferry". Also be aware that the tour can operate in reverse order from the description, from Panama City to Gamboa in other words. Absolutely no difference either direction is equally rewarding

Not sure if I can suggest anything, I'm not quite sure on what you mean by Gatun Lake excursion. All the Rotterdam's excursions will begin in Gatun Lake, some will actually involve the Lake as in the Monkey excursion or kayaking. However once leaving Gatun Lake, there are a number of other excursions that involve going to the locks, tours of Panama City or a trip to see the Embera Indians. Being honest, not sure how much interests these tours will be to kids with that age span, but there should be elements of any tour that would be of interest.

If you think you would want to have a little more in depth look at the original locks as you will be using the new locks for your transit, then there are 2 tours that would work. The first is a visit to Miraflores Locks along with an IMAX presentation narrated by Morgan Freeman. The other Locks excursion variant would include Miraflores and a trip across the Isthmus to see the new Locks at Agua Clara. Nice chance to see some of the countryside. The shore excursion that takes you to Panama Viejo to see the ruins of the first city which was founded in 1519, then on to Casco Antiguo where the city was located after Henry Morgan completed some urban renewal, is popular. Usually part of this tour involves a little walking in the Casco.

I don't think that any of the Rhapsody's transits that were cancelled were partials. I looked at a B2B leaving Ft. Amador sailing to two ports in Costa Rica and ending in Colon, that would be a full transit.. From Colon a few stops and then ending in Ft. Lauderdale. I really think the demand for the Canal transits were soft and so they went to the chopping block. As you can see in my previous post, just the cost of reservations is not for the feint of heart. Probably for the reason mentioned, the cost was steep and bookings low. To IndianaRN, I don't believe there is any danger your cruise on NCL is in any danger because of any issues at the Canal. Go and enjoy!

Cruise ships have a reservation for a day certain and usually a time frame (daylight transit), which they pay extra. A ship such as the Radiance would have an extra $50K added for the day certain and an Extra $30K for the daylight transit. They will not be impacted by the backlog, it is only ships that arrive without reservations that go in the queue. If you happen to be in that category you can bring extra $$$ and buy your way to the head of the line. One of the most recent figures was $2.4million for an LNG tanker and that was in addition to the regular toll.