Panama Canal Cruises

[sgmburt]

Anyone have any good information on a Panama Canal cruise? Best ship, length of time and such as that. We went to Alaska in May and that sure started something! We just want to keep on cruisin' and Panama Canal sounds like one we would enjoy.

[Essiesmom]

With the Panama Canal, you have two choices: Full transit from one coast to the other (San Diego to FLL or reverse) or partial transit, where you go through the first set of locks, usually from the Caribbean side (Gatun Locks) and into Gatun Lake, then after some hours in the lake with possibilities for excursions, sail back out through the same locks. The first is usually 14 days, the latter is 10 days. Go for the full transit if you have the time and money, but partial is better than none. I did the full transit on Oosterdam, but she was on a repo, headed for the Med. and a dry dock last year. EM

[woodworker&knitter]

October 2009 we did the transit from San Diego to Ft. Lauderdale on the Statendam. We enjoyed it so much that we are thinking about repeating it in 2011.

[ammaoftheseas]

Anyone have any good information on a Panama Canal cruise? Best ship, length of time and such as that. We went to Alaska in May and that sure started something! We just want to keep on cruisin' and Panama Canal sounds like one we would enjoy.

We chose the Millennium on April 18, 2010 it goes all the way through and spends one whole day in Panama before going through the canal the next day.

[savannahgirl1]

We did a half transit on the Volendam and had the best time. Hope to get to do a full transit some day.

[rajkr74]

We did a 21 day reposition cruise thru the Panama canal last year on the Westerdam. Just like you we got hooked after a 7 day Alaska cruise in 2007.

It left Ft. Lauderdale, thru the canal then up to Seattle where the ship started the summer Alaska crusies. Some people did a 16 day cruise and got off in San Diego. For us it was easy since our daughter drove 5 hrs to Seattle and picked us up at the end of the cruise. We did the spring reposition cruise in early April and got off on the 10th of May.

The panama canal is something that everyone needs to experiance, very interesting.

Here's our website with pictures fom start to finish.

http://cid-07afc87cdf2f6dca.photos.live.com/browse.aspx/panama%20cruise%202009

 

Just click the "slide show" buton in the upper left porion of the page.

[AZNative2000]

Anyone have any good information on a Panama Canal cruise? Best ship, length of time and such as that. We went to Alaska in May and that sure started something! We just want to keep on cruisin' and Panama Canal sounds like one we would enjoy.

 

We went to Alaska in June and we, too, were hooked. We booked our Panama Canal cruise before we got off the ship. As we couldn't get enough time off to do the 19 day or longer full-transit, we will be doing the partial and taking the shore excursion the rest of the way. We chose Zuiderdam because we loved everything about the ship and are counting the days until we are back aboard.

[SwissMyst]

We also booked on the 14 day San Diego to Fort Lauderdale Panama Canal Statendam shortly we got back from a 7 day Alaska on the Zuiderdam.

 

As you are probably finding out, you get different stops depending on which route, which embarkation city, and which ship, so this might make a difference for what you will see besides just the experience of going through the canal. Best thing is to plot them all out the choices on a single piece of paper and decides which features matter most.

 

It was a toss-up between the different Statendam choices whether to start in Florida or San Diego, but the timing of the San Diego start trip worked best for us. And we liked stopping in Puerto Vallarta better than Cabo, but would have rather had Aruba over Cartegena.

 

Some you win, some you lose but the main thing is the canal and it may be more interesting in a smaller ship with more of a vista than the larger ones when it is actually in the locks, but I don't know this. Only speculating here.

 

We like the smaller HAL ships so it was easy for us to pick the Statendam, though we liked the Zuiderdam a lot as a larger ship. One thing on a trip like this is a smaller ship lets you get from side to side and up and down quicker depending on where you might find the best views at any given time.

 

One quirky thing for us which we did not get to take advantage of is choosing which port to begin or end at since we can drive to San Diego. It later dawned on me that we could buy more things if we started in Florida and then got off at our car in San Diego because we would not have to worry about airline baggage allowances and I swore I wanted to bring back a truck load of Talavera pottery that we saw at Galeria Indigena in Puerto Vallarta.

 

But since we are doing it just the opposite way facing the airline trip baggage limitations on the way home, any heavy pottery purchases will just have to wait until another Mexican Riviera trip for us.

 

Meanwhile, busy reading David McCullogh's Book on the canal to help make every inch of this trip memorable.

[Krazy Kruizers]

We have done several partial transits and quite a few full transit cruises.

 

We much prefer the full transits where you go from Ft Lauderdale to Seattle (or Vancouver) OR Seattle (or Vancouver) to Ft Lauderdale.

 

The full transits are offered in the spring and fall. There will be fewer of them as less ships are going to Alaska in 2011.

[luvs2travl]

We did the full transit repositioning cruise on the Oosterdam last Nov 3rd. It was a 19-day itinerary, and we had a fabulous, fabulous cruise on a beautiful ship. We had originally scheduled only a partial transit, (10-day round-trip out of FLL) but our great TA found that re-po cruise (19-day FLL - SD) for only about $1500 more (for both of us). It was a complete no-brainer as to which one we chose! :) Then, we got an upsell for $400pp to a Deluxe Verandah Suite - so it didn't get much better than that!!

 

We had great weather - not even one day of rain, and loved all the ports. You might want to check out a re-po cruise for the Canal - the price breaks on such cruises we have found to be quite enticing. ;):D

[catl331]

We did full transit Ft Laud to LA on the Amsterdam (my fav.). It is important to look at the other ports and pick those that interest you. (If you have been to many Mex. ports or would like to see more Costa Rican or Caribbean etc.) The time and the money are important also, of course! Each person's taste is different. We liked Cartagena but not Aruba and loved Curacao. We had not been to Mexico so enjoyed seeing the different ports but never will go back to Acapulco. We would like to do a half transit in the future. We found the locks very interesting but on this board you will find people that thought the canal was boring. Imagine that!!! If you want a nice, quiet, relaxing cruise go with HAL!:)

[SwissMyst]

....... We liked Cartagena but not Aruba and loved Curacao. .......

 

This is good to hear since this was the choice we got on our Statendam route Cartegena and not Aruba- I had heard Cartegena had gotten too crime riddled to be a good stop any longer. What was your experience and did you take any of the ship excursions or see it on your own? It looks like a lovely old colonial city from a travelogue we just saw on the Canal passage. Thanks

[3rdGenCunarder]

We did full transit Ft Laud to LA on the Amsterdam (my fav.). It is important to look at the other ports and pick those that interest you. (If you have been to many Mex. ports or would like to see more Costa Rican or Caribbean etc.) The time and the money are important also, of course! Each person's taste is different. We liked Cartagena but not Aruba and loved Curacao. We had not been to Mexico so enjoyed seeing the different ports but never will go back to Acapulco. We would like to do a half transit in the future. We found the locks very interesting but on this board you will find people that thought the canal was boring. Imagine that!!! If you want a nice, quiet, relaxing cruise go with HAL!:)

 

I agree completely. Too many people trying to sell you souvenirs, t-shirts, candy bars, etc in Acapulco. We've had two short stops in Curacao, both on canal cruises. It's a place we'd like to go back to and stay for several days.

 

We have done two complete transits, and time and money allowing, it's what I would recommend. I can't imagine finding the canal boring. We've been through all sorts of locks--canals in Europe, the Erie canal, the Soo locks, even the little locks on the San Antonio River. They may not be as huge as the Panama Canal, but we still find them interesting.

[Storylady]

This is good to hear since this was the choice we got on our Statendam route Cartegena and not Aruba- I had heard Cartegena had gotten too crime riddled to be a good stop any longer. What was your experience and did you take any of the ship excursions or see it on your own? It looks like a lovely old colonial city from a travelogue we just saw on the Canal passage. Thanks

 

We loved Cartagena. We took a shore excursion and I didn't feel unsafe anytime during our time ashore. I'm not sure about doing it on your own. There was a couple on the Statendam that just took a taxi to see the sights and they had a great time.

[Storylady]

You might consider planning your cruise from very late October to either February or March. Not sure about the April transition as to how hot it is, but I do know that it is very hot in September. My pastor and his wife did the Panama Canal on Princess in September---repositioning cruise. She was so hot in Cartagena that she absolutely hated it---when she looked at her pictures she changed her mind and said that they had a good time. Temperature was 103 when they were there in September. In November when we were there it was only 93---but still warm. We did a B2B on the Statendam October 09. Had one of the best CC groups.

 

I would think that December and January would be the best as you are no longer in the rainy season. We had beautiful day in the Panama during the SD to Ft Lauderdale portion of our cruise (Oct 30 to Nov 13th), but it rained during our Ft Lauderdale back SD part of the cruise (Nov 13 - Nov 27th).

[navybankerteacher]

Ziuiderdam's half transit from Fort Lauderdale was great - Half Moon Cay, plus Aruba and Curacao made it a good combination. I did not think going ashore in Panama and Costa Rica (dismal commercial ports) was worth the effort, but to each his own.

[Padraic]

We have taken three full transits through canal - one from Atlantic to Pacific and two from Pacific to Atlantic - and love them. The last two were following visits to two of our daughters and their families in California. (We live in south Florida.) I have told folks that we had enough frequent flier points to fly first class from Miami to Los Angeles but not enough to get back. As a result we had to take a cruise to get back home!

[deserttraveler]

I loved the canal transit (on Celebrity Infinity), hated the hot weather in April. I would only consider doing the canal again in winter. The tour at Cartagena with Dora was excellent and felt completely safe, ditto the one with Okey Dokey in Puntarenas.

[luvs2travl]

We had a great tour in Panama which included an up-close visit with a 1-hour stop at the Miraflores locks, a tour of the former American military base, a city tour (with a shopping stop at the end for those who wished), a 1-hour boat ride to view the Miraflores locks from the canal itself and also see some of the construction on the new, wider canal being built, and a great Panamanian lunch. We were all day on the tour and had a blast!

 

In Puntarenas, Costa Rica, we had another great tour which, after a scenic drive, took us out to a lush garden and rainforest where we were able to tour the gardens, take a 1-hour canopy ride high above the rainforest and enjoy a Costa Rican buffet lunch.

 

We thoroughly enjoyed both tours very much, felt completely safe and would recommend both places for some beautiful sights and very friendly people.

[fann1sh]

Two things...

 

1. Weather was mentioned by StoryLady and deserttraveler - but wanted to underline their posts. Rainy season: May to November. Dry season: December to April. It's *always* hot (only 10 degrees from the Equator) but dry is better than wet, and as StoryLady points out, December may be the most pleasant month to travel. Google "Panama climate" and get details for the month you plan on travelling before booking.

 

Which is more important to you? A full transit, or the best possible weather? How well do you do in heat/humidity?

 

2. If you can't find a full transit cruise that works for you, consider a part transit + shore excursion, "The Canal Experience". It takes you by ferry from Gatun Lake all the way through the locks to the Pacific, then back to the ship by bus. Although the ferry has some air conditioning, it can be a long hot day. It's not a substitute for a full transit. But, if you can only manage a part transit, it's a way to not feel cheated.

 

Also, the Panama Embera Indian village shore excursion gets high marks from people on part transits. There isn't time to do both that and the Canal Experience - either/or.

[AlanAllyn]

Two things...

 

1. Weather was mentioned by StoryLady and deserttraveler - but wanted to underline their posts. Rainy season: May to November. Dry season: December to April. It's *always* hot (only 10 degrees from the Equator) but dry is better than wet, and as StoryLady points out, December may be the most pleasant month to travel. Google "Panama climate" and get details for the month you plan on travelling before booking.

 

Which is more important to you? A full transit, or the best possible weather? How well do you do in heat/humidity?

 

2. If you can't find a full transit cruise that works for you, consider a part transit + shore excursion, "The Canal Experience". It takes you by ferry from Gatun Lake all the way through the locks to the Pacific, then back to the ship by bus. Although the ferry has some air conditioning, it can be a long hot day. It's not a substitute for a full transit. But, if you can only manage a part transit, it's a way to not feel cheated.

 

Also, the Panama Embera Indian village shore excursion gets high marks from people on part transits. There isn't time to do both that and the Canal Experience - either/or.

First, Panama is always hot.

 

We did the partial twice (from Florida) and took the ferry to the Pacific once. The ferry gives you an entirely different perspective than the large cruise ship. Although it is hot, I would recommend that.

[judy4cee]

We did a 21-night cruise on the Amsterdam (which we love) last December. Round trip Long Beach with many stops in Mexico, of course, and Nigarogua, Guatamala, Costa Rica. Everything was great. No complaints. Well, one. The Amsterdam was returning from a "world cruise" and it took a long time for DEbarkation, so a long time for us to get on the ship. We'd do it again. judy4cee