Outhaul

13 hours ago, bjahil47 said:

We just got off the Beyond 11 day Panama Canal Cruise.  We went to new locks.  They start at about 6 am and go through 3 locks to Gatun Lake.  Takes about 2 1/2 hours.  In Gatun lake they anchor and bring down a few tenders.  They tender people in to a pier there.  You can only get off if you have a ship sponsored tour.  The ship stays awhile and then about 2 pm started to go back through the locks.  Took us same amount of time.  We then headed to Colon where they docked at about 6 pm and stayed until about 9:30 pm.  Nothing to do at port so we stayed on board.  It was a great day!  Just remember for this cruise you need a passport!  

13 hours ago, dreamer321 said:

This video by Captain Kate might interest you.Captain Kate -Panama Canal

Thanks so much!

During the pandemic and my early days on TikTok, I followed Captain Kate as she navigated the entire pandemic crises.  As much as anything it taught me a whole lot about the "non hotel" part of a cruise ship.  How much fun to catch up with her.  If she's still driving the Beyond this coming January, I'll put on my best fan boy face and deliver a salute.

This is perfect!  Thanks. How great to learn from someone who has done the same thing our captain will be doing.  It makes total sense and sounds like a great day.  We'll need to see if one of the tours provides a worthwhile dockside experience. I can't imagine we'll ever have the opportunity to do a canal transit, so we want to take as mush as possible away with us.

5 hours ago, leaveitallbehind said:

If Beyond is doing a partial transit, just be aware that she is too wide (130') and too long (1071') of a ship to fit in the old locks (106' W x 965' L) and therefore would do a partial transit utilizing the new locks.  JMO but the greater interest and historic charm of a partial transit is to do so through the old locks. 

Thanks for managing expectations.  As we are on the Beyond, it is what it is.  We may book a shore excursion to see if we can a little more close up and personal with the older locks.

5 hours ago, prmssk said:

It sounds like this is a partial transit.

 

Assuming that is the case, you will go through the Atlantic side locks just after sunrise.  The process takes a couple hours.  Then the ship will drop anchor in Gatun Lake (which is in between the Atlantic and Pacific locks).  Anyone on excursions takes a tender from Gatun Lake.  Then in the afternoon, the ship will return back through the Atlantic side locks and then dock in Colon to pick up passengers who took an excursion and there may or may not be time for passengers who didn't take an excursion to get off.

Thanks so much. Perfect information, which makes sense.  Definitely a partial transit, based of bookending stops at Cartagena and Aruba. It sounds like excursioners get to experience the Aqua Clara(?) lock transit into Gatun, but miss the return trip.

Question for anyone who has done the ONE-DAY PANAMA/COLON DESTINATION with Celebrity:

We are BOOKED ON Celebrity Beyond's 11-day in January 2025.The description of what happens during Panama's Day 5 is very sketchy. The itinerary only mentions that the canal is a marvel of engineering and that the ship will be docked in Colon for 4 hours for great shopping.

We cannot find an indication where the ship is located or doing when not docked in Colon.  Also, there are excursions offered which run as long as 8 hours.  This implies passengers are taken off the ship while it is not docked.  It also may imply that we would miss some shipboard experiences or sights while on an excursion.

Grateful for any information to unscramble our brains. Any sorry for the lengthy screed.

Wondering about availability and breadth of cellphone and broadband service from any cruisers with recent Alaska experience.

We're planning our first CruiseTour for next summer.

Verizonwireless (our provider) states it has 4G LTE coverage in Anchorage, Fairbanks, and Juneau (which we would sort of expect). But it also claims coverage along the entire "Denali" corridor from Fairbanks through Anchorage and on to Whittier, along with Skagway, and Ketchikan, where the cruise portion docks.

Relatives and friends are already on our case about "reachability".  We're wondering whether we can depend on our phones to send/receive texts and voicemail; or if we need to sign up for onboard WiFi with whichever carrier we end up using.

Any thoughts or comments gratefully received.

19 hours ago, Dani24 said:

 

I don't disagree at all. If Carnival/Princess doesn't appropriately address this it absolutely is something that would compel me to spend my vacation dollars elsewhere. That doesn't change the fact that I still have money currently tied up with them for a vacation in 3 months. I can be both concerned about losing out on nearly $10k/losing out on our vacation AND the long term ramifications of Carnival/Princess's actions outside of our trip. The two aren't mutually exclusive.

Dani24:  I agree with your disagreement.  This is more than an incident in Glacier Bay.  It is the ongoing falsification of records and willful illegal dumping of oil, gray water, plastics, etc. WHILE UNDER PROBATION as part of a $40 million settlement for prior violations of maritime environmental regulations. he company, of course, states that environmental regulations are, and continue to be, its highest priority.  This is an old trope;  every company always states that whatever it was supposed to do that it was caught not doing is its highest priority. 

21 hours ago, LauraS said:

We agree, which is why we left a permanent link on the Princess forum.   I'm copying this over to the Princess forum as well.

Appreciate your vigilance.  As a newbee to Cruise Critic (and cruising), did you also sticky link this to Holland America Lines.  I am not sure where sticky links show up; but if it's there, I am not smart eough to find the link.  Thanks.  

20 hours ago, msears101 said:

 

Read the fine print.  Many do not  cover ongoing litigation.  Just read, and make sure.

Good point on the litigation insurance coverage.  We have a December trip pending.  Many of the travel insurance companies have a premium class of coverage, which allows (usually 75%) reimbursement "for any reason" cancellation.  I am checking this out with the two travel insurance firms (C&F and Nationwide) we are considering.

22 hours ago, msears101 said:

It is bad that this not listed in each of the cruise lines affected.  I am not sure why it is stripped away.  Yes this cruise news, but you allow threads like the Viking sky to stay in its forum.   People who are on Princess, Carnival, Cunard, Seabourn, (and more) should be able to discuss the impact to the cruise line.

Also interesting that the Cruise News section somehow fails to mention this story.  I appreciate that Cruise Critic is funded by cruise line adverts.  But still....