Why Panama Canal?

[boboraji]

As far as doing this cruise for the canal itself, would one be short-changing himself by only doing a 10-day vs the full transit, or would you get enough exposure and history of the canal on a partial?

[Pam in CA]

As far as doing this cruise for the canal itself, would one be short-changing himself by only doing a 10-day vs the full transit, or would you get enough exposure and history of the canal on a partial?

The full transit is a better experience and you'll see and experience more, but if all you have time or money for is the 10-day, go for it.

[cat-tav]

We did the partial transit last year and loved it! The canal is fascinating and we enjoyed the port stops too. Costa Rica is absolutely beautiful and we really enjoyed the excursion we took to the rain forest. We tendered off the ship in Gatun Lake and took a small boat tour to see monkeys that live on islands in the lake. Fabulous! I do agree with others about Jamaica--too many solicitations for drugs and prostitutes to make the day pleasant.

[katisdale]

The canal was on my "bucket list" for travel as my dad was stationed there with the navy during WWII. I read "The Path Between the Seas" by David McCullough which added immensely to the experience. This canal was built circa 1910. That just amazes me. Think what World War II would have been like if the US could not have moved their ships from the Atlantic to the Pacific and back. I'm glad I went and I would like to go back. In the meantime I think I will ready McCullough's book again.

[mrsalexb]

Thanks for the input. Sounds interesting...I am sure my husband would love it. I was wondering if the other ports were more spectacular than what I was able to find via google. Even though my husband would probably love it...I think I will stick to the eastern/southern since I dream about perfect small little islands and only get to go on one vacation a year.

 

Thanks again!

[wallygator]

Another thing to think about is this. They are currently undergoing construction of additional locks to handle more/larger ships to see a piece of this in my opinion is history. You won’t see much but you will witness something very special. Just my three cents.

 

Sorry I did not see this post before posting

 

 

As others have said, the canal is the reason for the cruise. I would also highly recommend "Panama Canal By Cruise Ship" by Anne Vipond. The canal was the first major use of concrete and is still functioning like the day it was built almost 100 years after completion.

 

There is beauty to the design of the canal. The surrounding rain forest is the driver for the canal. Rain water is collected behind the Gatun Dam and generates the electricity to power the locks. The water also fills the locks and no pumping of water is required to raise ships in the locks.

 

This will change with the new, larger locks under construction. More water will be required than flows from the rain forest and they will need to start pumping water for operation of the new locks. The operation will no longer as simple and elegant but still amazing.

 

[DeepWaterMariner]

As far as doing this cruise for the canal itself, would one be short-changing himself by only doing a 10-day vs the full transit, or would you get enough exposure and history of the canal on a partial?

 

We've done both full transits and the 10 day. They are both good, with the full transit certainly giving the complete look at the canal. The 10 day seems to offer more tours than you get on the full transit which gives you a chance to see more of Panama besides the canal.

[GoBlueCruiser]

I think most cruisers eventually want to do a Panama Canal cruise but that probably comes after their interest in island cruising wears thin and they look for new places to sail.

 

We are sailing to the Panama Canal for the first time on the Island Princess in 9 days. Previously we had always chosen a Caribbean itinerary but after over 20 voyages to the Caribbean islands it was time for a change. We are excited to visit the rain forests of Costa Rica and, of course, seeing the Canal.

 

Another reason I have never selected this cruise is that I am a regular Red Cross blood donor. Since both Costa Rica and Panama are considered malaria areas by the Red Cross, I will be deferred as a donor for one year. After over 30 years and 13 gallons donated, it will be difficult to give this up and I hope the Canal lives up to our expectations.

 

Mike

[Rosebery]

We will be 'doing' a full transit next year, for our first cruise. The canal is a big draw for us because we spend at least 6 weeks a year on the English Canals, and we seek out canals on our holidays - the huge disused canal basin in the middle of Milan and the canal town of Suzhou being recent visits we have made. In the UK boating on the inland waterways is quite a popular holiday activity and more and more people own boats or shares in boats. The canal system is extensive. So for us the canal is definitely the draw, we are used to locks which just manage to fit a 70ft x 7ft narrowboat, where you operate the paddles yourself with a windlass so ship locks are fascinating. We went through the new five stage ship lock on the Yangtze a couple of years ago. The canal itself is an important historic construction and its construction and use has influenced many areas of life in the region and across the world. We can't wait.

[satxdiver]

The Panama Canal is a world engineering wonder. My father served in WWII (the big one!) and spent his entire time other than initial training defending the canal. He used to tell stories all the time about his almost 3 years in Panama so it has meaning to me to see where he served. As a professional engineer I definitely have to see the canal and what we did in building it. That is why we are going in a little over a week.

 

BTW Roatan, Honduras is also on the Red Cross list of places a blood donor cannot have been recently.

[Infi]

We were on the partial transit cruise last month with Infi. We had a great time. The only change I'd suggest to the itinerary would be to skip Jamaica. If possible, add Princess Cays. If not, I'd rather have another day at sea than to go to Jamaica. (We stayed on the ship that day.)

 

I agree with you, Neal. Jamaica is a waste of a day for us as well. It was nice to stay onboard and enjoy the empty ship, but we'd prefer skipping it altogether.

 

Princess has gotten rid of Jamaica on their Western itineraries before, so why not do the same on the Canal itinerary? A stop in Princess Cays - or anywhere else - would be a nice change. I wrote this several times on the survey at the end of the cruise, so it would be nice if Princess hears enough comments like this and decides to change the itinerary.

[satxdiver]

The previous comment about Jamaica was interesting. I too agree that Jamaica should be replaced with something else. The one time we were on a ship that stopped at MoBay we had decided to stay on the ship. We have done this before in other ports where we had been a number of times before so we were expecting the usual empty ship with no lines in the buffet, no chair hogs, etc. Were we surprised this time! The ship was somewhat crowded with lines in the buffet, etc. That night sitting at a table for four couples we found out that none of us had gone ashore. That certainly explains the large number that stayed on board. We certainly enjoyed our time in MoBay on the ship but found the large number who stayed aboard interesting. In 8 days we are boarding the Island and unfortunately it stops in Jamaica where we will once again stay on the ship. This time though we will be expecting more of our fellow pax to do the same.

[Solara]

We did the partial transit in April & we loved it so much that we are doing the 15 day full transit this year!

[dfields1814]

I just got the word last night from DW. I am to plan a second full transit cruise through the Panama Canal in 2012. It is my wife's favorite cruise.