Panama canal ?

[bonezzz]

Has anyone taken a cruise to the panama canal? If so how was it, what ship do you reccomand and what time of year did you go? Plan on going in 2012.We love carnival.We are going to Alaska in may on priness. We thought about the princess coral or island but my dh loves the casino and I heard the coral and the island has very old slot machines plus we can get a suite on carnival for about the same price as a balcony on princess.

[Essiesmom]

Panama Canal transits are only done during the winter. The first and last are usually the repositioning cruises to get ships from the Caribbean to Alaska. Carnival does not do Panama Canal transits except when repositioning ships, such as the Paradise/Inspiration swap this Nov./Dec.

http://www.carnival.com/BookingEngine/SailingSearch/?dest=T

I did the Panama Canal on Oosterdam. Some lines have ships that do a partial transit, usually from the caribbean side, entering the Gatun Locks and turning around in Gatun Lake. It's better than not going at all. EM

[firefly333]

Freedom 8 day goes close enough you can do excursions for panama canal.

[dundalkspur]

Freedom 8 day goes close enough you can do excursions for panama canal.

 

 

We did this last year on the Island Princess ,from SF to FL .This ship was designed for the PANAMA canal due to the width of the canal.

There were many cruisers on board who do this yearly on this ship so!:D

[golfadj]

We have done this on freedom and miracle and you get off the ship for tours. Would recommend myfriendmario.

 

Go to port of call pages for more info on tours.

[Ken076]

Carnival Freedom 8-Day Western docks at Colon, Panama and has Panama Canal Tour that busses you across Panama to the West Coast, then you go thru the Canal to Gatun Locks in a "Ferry". You get to see the Canal from a low (ferry) vantage point versus from a high (cruise ship) vntage point. The downside is that the tour is popular (in FEB ours was soldout before first nite dinner - 740 cruisers), everyone gathers in the showroom at 7:00AM and takes 45-60 minutes to board busses, sometimes a lengthy wait to enter the canal. Apparently some of the ferrys are nicer than others - ours was nice, plenty of space and plenty of buffet food - the one ahead of us didn't look nearly as nice (some posters complained of crowding and not enough food on their ferry). There's really not much at the Colon Port and I personally wouldn't venture past the gates. ken

[lindan1020]

We also did a cruise that stops in Colon and did the excursion through the canal. Even though we loved the cruise and the canal excursion was good I think I would rather have done a cruise where the ship goes through the canal. The excursion got a bit boring after awhile and the food wasn't that good--if we had been on the ship going through, the food would have been great and we could have roamed a round the ship and I think it would have been better.

[Ken076]

We also did a cruise that stops in Colon and did the excursion through the canal. Even though we loved the cruise and the canal excursion was good I think I would rather have done a cruise where the ship goes through the canal. The excursion got a bit boring after awhile and the food wasn't that good--if we had been on the ship going through, the food would have been great and we could have roamed a round the ship and I think it would have been better.

 

We agree. The excursion was lengthy, assembling 700+ passengers in the showroom was irritating with line-cutters and such, and it all made for a long day. In our case, the trade-off was avoiding the added cost and effort flying cross country to West Coast from Tampa (or reverse) for a more expensive 10, 12 or 16 day transit cruise. In our case it only cost $489pp for the 8 day cruise (plus pre-cruise nite in Ft Lauderdale and post-cruise 2 nites in Key West).

 

ken

[JaniceB]

Thanks for asking the question, I have wanted to do a cruise through the Panama canal and have thought about the 8 day cruise. The excursion with 700 people sounds a little daunting. I think I might wait for a repositioning cruise after reading this thread.

[realtrip]

Freedom 8 day goes close enough you can do excursions for panama canal.

 

We did this one first week of March two years ago. Awesome. Took a tour that went to the canal. Very informative. Saw a Princess ship go through the locks.

Weather for the whole cruise was incredible. Only had three ports of call. Costa Rica was fabulous. Cozumel was very nice. Loved having so many sea days. Very relaxing!

[Ken076]

Thanks for asking the question, I have wanted to do a cruise through the Panama canal and have thought about the 8 day cruise. The excursion with 700 people sounds a little daunting. I think I might wait for a repositioning cruise after reading this thread.

 

Another alternative is to take the Princess 10-day round-trip out of Ft Lauderdale - the ship goes partway into the canal from the Caribbean side, then reverses path. In retrospect, this is the alternative we'd probably have chosen, albeit a bit more expensive than the Carnival Freedom 8-Day cruise. ken

[PROCRUISE]

As noted you have many choices but a complete transit of the Panama Canal is only possible, at present, on certain ships. We did the 17 day Ft. Lauderdale to Los Angeles on NCL Star. Outstanding itinerary and trip we'll never forget but would not recommend this vessel.

[Donray]

The only way to go is a full transit.....................

[bonezzz]

Thanks for all the info,I think the full transit would be best for us.