spleenstomper Posted May 20, 2018 #1 Share Posted May 20, 2018 what is a partial transit? Has anyone done it? Is it worth the time? Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruiseAdict218 Posted May 20, 2018 #2 Share Posted May 20, 2018 what is a partial transit? Has anyone done it? Is it worth the time? Thanks! A partial transit is where you go through the the first set of locks on the Atlantic side and the ship turns around in Gatun Lake and goes back through the same locks, you don’t go all the way through the canal. Partial transit is usually cheaper and shorter (10 Days v. 14/15 Days.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OceansOfTravels Posted May 20, 2018 #3 Share Posted May 20, 2018 I have not done it, but like stated above, you go through the first set of locks, and then turn around in Gatun Lake and go back out into the Gulf of Mexico. You can usually save time and money by going on a partial transit cruise because they're shorter and depart and arrive to the same place, saving money on expensive one way flights. It is certainly worth it, I went on a land trip to Panama in November and I was pleasantly surprised, I absolutely loved it. The canal is such a cool thing to see! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firefly333 Posted May 20, 2018 #4 Share Posted May 20, 2018 Im watching the 14 day partial out of Galveston. Last year they took off the solo supplement but I was already booked with a conflicting cruise, darn it. So, this time I will leave those 2 weeks free. Ive read on here you dont have that $350 excurstion to go see the locks up close that Ive read years past you get, just the ship goes near them. bring your binoculars imo. Im watching the oct 27, 14 day partial panama cruise. Asking around to see if someone wants to go with me but everyone says too broke to go to 6 ports. the port fees and taxes run $450 ish or a bit over, less than $500, but expect double a 2 week cruise. Nice ports many I sure would love to go to like Colon and Costa Rica. Im up for it, anyone need a roomie? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cb at sea Posted May 20, 2018 #5 Share Posted May 20, 2018 The partial is an excursion unto itself...unless you feel a need to see ALL the locks! I found that going thru the 3 sets into Lake Gatun was plenty! If you roam about the ship, all sides and deck levels, you can get pretty 'up close and personal" with the locks. And, during the turn around in the lake, lots of folks leave the ship on all-day excursions, so the trip out in the afternoon is lovely and uncrowded! All the stuff you missed (because of crowding on the decks) is totally open with more than 1/2 of the passengers gone! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lottacruises Posted May 20, 2018 #6 Share Posted May 20, 2018 Im watching the 14 day partial out of Galveston. Last year they took off the solo supplement but I was already booked with a conflicting cruise, darn it. So, this time I will leave those 2 weeks free. Ive read on here you dont have that $350 excurstion to go see the locks up close that Ive read years past you get, just the ship goes near them. bring your binoculars imo. Im watching the oct 27, 14 day partial panama cruise. Asking around to see if someone wants to go with me but everyone says too broke to go to 6 ports. the port fees and taxes run $450 ish or a bit over, less than $500, but expect double a 2 week cruise. Nice ports many I sure would love to go to like Colon and Costa Rica. Im up for it, anyone need a roomie? We did this cruise on the freedom last October, there were no excursions offered on the day we went through the locks. It was, however, a great cruise! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joepeka Posted May 20, 2018 #7 Share Posted May 20, 2018 The partial is an excursion unto itself...unless you feel a need to see ALL the locks! I found that going thru the 3 sets into Lake Gatun was plenty! If you roam about the ship, all sides and deck levels, you can get pretty 'up close and personal" with the locks. And, during the turn around in the lake, lots of folks leave the ship on all-day excursions, so the trip out in the afternoon is lovely and uncrowded! All the stuff you missed (because of crowding on the decks) is totally open with more than 1/2 of the passengers gone! I was not aware that Carnival did any excursions while in the lake - I know HAL (and possibly Princess) do that but I did not think Carnival offered them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WPTNGirl Posted May 20, 2018 #8 Share Posted May 20, 2018 We are going on the 8-day partial transit out of Tampa in Sept and there are no excursions offered on the transit day. We will stop in Colon and Grand Cayman. I liked it because it was just 8 day cruise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Missileer Posted May 20, 2018 #9 Share Posted May 20, 2018 Some years ago we did the partial transit on the Coral Princess. The canal is amazing and we took a train ride to the Pacific side. We loved the entire experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firefly333 Posted May 20, 2018 #10 Share Posted May 20, 2018 We did this cruise on the freedom last October, there were no excursions offered on the day we went through the locks. It was, however, a great cruise! Yes, thats what i said in my post, there are no $350 excursions offered to see the locks up close. thats why i mention:halo:ed it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruiser_family Posted May 20, 2018 #11 Share Posted May 20, 2018 The partial is an excursion unto itself...unless you feel a need to see ALL the locks! I found that going thru the 3 sets into Lake Gatun was plenty! If you roam about the ship, all sides and deck levels, you can get pretty 'up close and personal" with the locks. And, during the turn around in the lake, lots of folks leave the ship on all-day excursions, so the trip out in the afternoon is lovely and uncrowded! All the stuff you missed (because of crowding on the decks) is totally open with more than 1/2 of the passengers gone! Thanks for your response. I've wanted to do this as well, but wasn't sure if the Partial Transit would be "worth" doing. Your description sounds great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spleenstomper Posted May 20, 2018 Author #12 Share Posted May 20, 2018 Thanks! I was watching the 9 day out of Galveston, but there is only one date out for it. Firefly, I might catch up with you one day but 14 days is too long for me at the moment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare jimbo5544 Posted May 20, 2018 #13 Share Posted May 20, 2018 I was not aware that Carnival did any excursions while in the lake - I know HAL (and possibly Princess) do that but I did not think Carnival offered them. They used to offer one for ships that stopped in Colon, we did it, very interesting. They bussed us over to the pacific side and then we boarded a much smaller vessel that piggy backed along a bigger ship to the lake, dropped us off and turned around. Def worth it. Sent from my iPad using Forums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arubacabo Posted May 21, 2018 #14 Share Posted May 21, 2018 We are going on the 8-day partial transit out of Tampa in Sept and there are no excursions offered on the transit day. We will stop in Colon and Grand Cayman. I liked it because it was just 8 day cruise.We just did the 8 day cruise on the Miracle out of Tampa on April 14th. There were no excursions planned earlier for us either. During muster drill he heard other guests talking about added excursions. We went to the shore excursion desk to inquire. They were offering 4 different excursions that were not posted earlier. We signed up for an 8 hour excursion that would have picked us up from the ship to a smaller boat and cruised thru the locks and would have visited some of the villages. Two days later we had a note in our cabin that all of those excursions would be cancelled. There was too much traffic going thru the canal that day to make it work. This possibility was mentioned to us when we signed up for it. It was disappointing, but we knew it might happen. We did enjoy watching it from different parts of the ship throughout the day. Sent from my SM-G930T using Forums mobile app Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WPTNGirl Posted May 21, 2018 #15 Share Posted May 21, 2018 Thanks arubacabo. We will check at the Excursions Desk to see if they will be offering any extra excursions. Did you do any excursions in Colon? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spleenstomper Posted May 21, 2018 Author #16 Share Posted May 21, 2018 If you had to choose between this one and Alaska, which would you do first? And the next about 3 years later? Thanks for opinions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pspercy Posted May 21, 2018 #17 Share Posted May 21, 2018 If you had to choose between this one and Alaska, which would you do first? And the next about 3 years later? Thanks for opinions. Alaska, no contest ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firefly333 Posted May 21, 2018 #18 Share Posted May 21, 2018 They used to offer one for ships that stopped in Colon, we did it, very interesting. They bussed us over to the pacific side and then we boarded a much smaller vessel that piggy backed along a bigger ship to the lake, dropped us off and turned around. Def worth it. Sent from my iPad using Forums The 14 day freedom does stop in Colon as i remember. Oct 27 partial transit. and costa rica which i want to visit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firefly333 Posted May 21, 2018 #19 Share Posted May 21, 2018 We just did the 8 day cruise on the Miracle out of Tampa on April 14th. There were no excursions planned earlier for us either. During muster drill he heard other guests talking about added excursions. We went to the shore excursion desk to inquire. They were offering 4 different excursions that were not posted earlier. We signed up for an 8 hour excursion that would have picked us up from the ship to a smaller boat and cruised thru the locks and would have visited some of the villages. Two days later we had a note in our cabin that all of those excursions would be cancelled. There was too much traffic going thru the canal that day to make it work. This possibility was mentioned to us when we signed up for it. It was disappointing, but we knew it might happen. We did enjoy watching it from different parts of the ship throughout the day. Sent from my SM-G930T using Forums mobile app good info, very interesting. maybe explains why some say yes and some say no about excursions to gt up and close. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare jimbo5544 Posted May 21, 2018 #20 Share Posted May 21, 2018 The 14 day freedom does stop in Colon as i remember. Oct 27 partial transit. and costa rica which i want to visit. Costa Rica was impressive as well. We did a zip line that was spectacular (better than any others we had done). Sent from my iPad using Forums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jgilbert813 Posted May 21, 2018 #21 Share Posted May 21, 2018 We did the 14 day partial panama canal Journey's cruise out of Galveston last fall. It was the most wonderful vacation I've ever had. Such a nice mix of sea days for relaxation, with ports for adventure and exploration. A couple of interesting tid-bits though.... We (wife and I are both early 40's) were pretty much the youngest ones on the ship. This didn't bother us, because it made for a more relaxing cruise. Cartagena was the biggest surprise - a really beautiful city with nice people. 14 days went by really, really quick. All in all, it was amazing and has led us to book another Journey's - this time to Hawaii Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mosaic_mom Posted May 21, 2018 #22 Share Posted May 21, 2018 We did the 8-day partial transit on the Miracle out of Tampa in April. It was awesome. We went through the Atlantic side if the locks and into Gatun lake where we sat for a while and then went back through the same locks. They had a narrator onboard to describe what we were seeing. It was a fantastic cruise. There was a mostly older crowd onboard (including us). We enjoyed the cruise a lot. We had an aft cabin so we were on a deck up top while going through the first time and sat on our balcony when going through the second time. This cruise took us through the canal early in the morning so get up on deck like at 6 am if you want a good viewing spot at the front of the ship. Sent from my iPhone using Forums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spleenstomper Posted May 21, 2018 Author #23 Share Posted May 21, 2018 Alaska, no contest ! Thanks! The problem is my kids want Alaska too. Lol, so that would be 5 people, 2 cabins plus air. Panama Canal would be just DH and me with no air. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pspercy Posted May 21, 2018 #24 Share Posted May 21, 2018 Thanks! The problem is my kids want Alaska too. Lol, so that would be 5 people, 2 cabins plus air. Panama Canal would be just DH and me with no air. Oh well, in that case I'd go for PC, likely be cheaper too:) Sent from my Lenovo TAB 2 A8-50F using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bevv Posted May 21, 2018 #25 Share Posted May 21, 2018 Thanks! The problem is my kids want Alaska too. Lol, so that would be 5 people, 2 cabins plus air. Panama Canal would be just DH and me with no air. I would go with the kids included trip first.. make memories for the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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