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Partial Transit from FFL - Actual timing through the canal (locks)


jus10cruise
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Hi,

 

I've searched the forums and I wasn't able to find the specific timing of how long a ship spends actually going through the lock to Gatun Lake. On a 10 day partial transit from FFL on the Coral in April.

 

The Princess cruise site says the ship arrives at 6am and departs and 3:30pm.

 

Can anyone give me a better idea of what to expect in terms of timing? I realize the entry time is just an estimate, but from the time we enter the canal how long does it take to actually make it through a partial transit.

 

If I have an excursion planned, roughly what time do you think we'll leave the ship?

 

I'd appreciate everyone's experience so I can plan appropriately.

 

Thanks,

Justin

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Hi,

 

I've searched the forums and I wasn't able to find the specific timing of how long a ship spends actually going through the lock to Gatun Lake. On a 10 day partial transit from FFL on the Coral in April.

 

The Princess cruise site says the ship arrives at 6am and departs and 3:30pm.

 

Can anyone give me a better idea of what to expect in terms of timing? I realize the entry time is just an estimate, but from the time we enter the canal how long does it take to actually make it through a partial transit.

 

If I have an excursion planned, roughly what time do you think we'll leave the ship?

 

I'd appreciate everyone's experience so I can plan appropriately.

 

Thanks,

Justin

 

Actually the entry time is not an estimate. The cruise lines pay extra (added into the cost of your booking ;p) to enter the canal at a specific time. If they list 6 am you will most likely start the transit at 6 am. I have just been on the full transit not the partial but they have probably paid for a time to head back out that coincides with a 3:30 pm completion.

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The actual transit into Gatun Lake will take about an hour. You will then sail over to one side of the lake, and tender ashore pax who are doing ship excursions. At some point after that, you will then go back through the locks, and dock in Colon, picking up the pax dropped off while in Gatun Lake. I am not sure how precisely timed the return lockage is...more about just fitting the ship into a slot.

 

Yes, the cruise lines pay extra money to select a time, but nothing is etched in stone. Just went through the Canal on November 1...we started into the locks on the Pacific side about an hour late.

 

FYI- "FFL" is Fairfield, Iowa. I doubt you are sailing from there. You actually mean FLL.

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Actually those times are not really to far off the mark, keeping in mind they could easily slip an hour or two at any particular point during the partial transit. I can fine tune the times a bit to at least give you an idea where the ship will be at a particular time...

 

The beginning of the transit actually begins when the ship enters the breakwater, normally this will occur by 6AM, even a wee bit earlier would not be that unusual.

 

From the time you enter the breakwater arrival at Gatun Locks is about an hour away, so that would be 7AMish.

 

It takes about one and a half hours to two hours to locks through Gatun Locks. Once you clear Gatun Locks you will proceed a short distance to the Gatun Lake Anchorage, this is where passengers will tender ashore for the shore excursions. Normally tendering will take place somewhere in between 9 and 10.

 

The time the ship will lock back through Gatun is a lot more flexible but you could look for this to sometime around 1 or so. The ship will sail back to the breakwater where you started the transit. The ship will exit the breakwater, sailing briefly in the Caribbean to line up with another entrance through the breakwater for the pier in Colon. The arrival at the pier in Colon is harder to nail down, but it more than likely won't be significantly earlier than 4.

 

Giving a real accurate estimate to what time things will happen is really more of a best guess as everything is so dependent on what actual time you start the transit and the subsequent times you hit all the other milestones. So there is always ample opportunity for times to slip as the day wears on.

 

Hope this helps.

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I read a thread where that on the Caribbean Princess last month cruise, the ship stated they would be arriving to wait to go thru the canal at 5am. Apparently quite a few people complained that they got up at 5:30 and some a 6am and found the ship was already starting to enter the locks.

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I read a thread where that on the Caribbean Princess last month cruise, the ship stated they would be arriving to wait to go thru the canal at 5am. Apparently quite a few people complained that they got up at 5:30 and some a 6am and found the ship was already starting to enter the locks.

 

The Caribbean Princess is doing the partial transit today, looks like she entered the breakwater within the last half hour (it's 6:50am now) and I would estimate another 45min to an hour before arriving at Agua Clara Locks... 7:30ish. Just underscores how much the time estimates are just a guesstimate. At this point I would not think the folks who are tendering off the ship will start their tours until somewhere around 11AM.

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