Partial: Princess or HAL with young grands?

[Been There, Planning That]

HAL has just posted their 10 day partial canal for March 2014. The other one being considered is the Princess 11 day one with similar dates. Both are round trip from Fort Lauderdale.

From my observations of the destinations, HAL seems to focus on the actual canal, entering on one day and making final exit on 5th. It calls at Half Moon Cay, Orangestad, Curacao, Colon and Puerto Limon.

Princess appears to just spend two days in the canal. It stops at these ports of call: Aruba, Cartagena, Colon, Limon, and Ocho Rios.

It's to be a family celebration with 8 children who will range in age from five to seventeen.

Some questions for you generous and Panama Canal experienced cruisers.

· Do I understand correctly the time spent in the canal?

· With younger children might less canal time be better, though the purpose of the cruise is to allow them to experience the canal.

· Our only other family cruise was on the Zuiderdam to Alaska which is the ship doing this cruise. Princess would be a new line for everyone. Choosing a line is less important than choosing a sea route, ports of call and experiencing the canal. There's not a significant difference in pricing, just in the additional day on Princess.

We'd sure appreciate some expert advice.

Thank you in advance,

Ruth

[Kamloops50]

HAL has just posted their 10 day partial canal for March 2014. The other one being considered is the Princess 11 day one with similar dates. Both are round trip from Fort Lauderdale. Both Princess and HAL spend one day in the canal. They enter Gatun Lake cruise for a bit. Then they exit the canal and go to Colon Panama.

 

From my observations of the destinations, HAL seems to focus on the actual canal, entering on one day and making final exit on 5th. It calls at Half Moon Cay, Orangestad, Curacao, Colon and Puerto Limon.

 

Princess appears to just spend two days in the canal. It stops at these ports of call: Aruba, Cartagena, Colon, Limon, and Ocho Rios.

 

It's to be a family celebration with 8 children who will range in age from five to seventeen.

 

Some questions for you generous and Panama Canal experienced cruisers.

 

· Do I understand correctly the time spent in the canal?

· With younger children might less canal time be better, though the purpose of the cruise is to allow them to experience the canal.

· Our only other family cruise was on the Zuiderdam to Alaska which is the ship doing this cruise. Princess would be a new line for everyone. Choosing a line is less important than choosing a sea route, ports of call and experiencing the canal. There's not a significant difference in pricing, just in the additional day on Princess.

 

We'd sure appreciate some expert advice.

 

Thank you in advance,

 

Ruth

 

Both ships only enter the Gatun lake long enough to disembark tours . Then exit and sail to Colon Panama where the tours later return to.

 

I would chose Princess over HAL because Princess usually has a younger age group on board.

[BillB48]

[quote name=

Princess appears to just spend two days in the canal. It stops at these ports of call: Aruba, Cartagena, Colon, Limon, and Ocho Rios.

 

 

 

Some questions for you generous and Panama Canal experienced cruisers.

 

· Do I understand correctly the time spent in the canal?

· With younger children might less canal time be better, though the purpose of the cruise is to allow them to experience the canal.

· Our only other family cruise was on the Zuiderdam to Alaska which is the ship doing this cruise. Princess would be a new line for everyone. Choosing a line is less important than choosing a sea route, ports of call and experiencing the canal. There's not a significant difference in pricing, just in the additional day on Princess.

 

We'd sure appreciate some expert advice.

 

Thank you in advance,

 

Ruth

 

Ruth, I don't know if this is the exact schedule you looked at for the two ships. It is for March 2014 in any event. I believe the way they have the itinerary listed might be causing the misunderstanding. Both ships operate the same way when it comes to your Canal day activities. The ship will arrive at the Atlantic entrance to the Canal around 5ish in the morning and proceed towards Gatun Locks. Arriving at Gatun Locks somewhere between 6-7AM, the lockage through Gatun can take somewhere around 2 hours. You will arrive in Gatun Lake around 9AM where the ship will proceed to the nearby Gatun Lake Anchorage. While the ship is at anchor passengers who have tours will tender off the ship. The ship will wait for its' scheduled return lockage down through Gatun Locks, this could happen anytime, could be as late as 2PM. The ship will clear Gatun Locks and travel to Colon where it docks and picks up the touring passengers. Later that evening the ship will sail from Colon to the next port.

 

The partial transit and port stop in Panama (Colon) all happen the same day. Looking at the schedules I posted below, Princess has two entries for Day 7, one for the Canal and another for Colon. Meanwhile HAL being more verbose has six entries all for the same day. Bottom line is the Canal and stop in Panama all take place within one 24 hour period on both ships.

 

Now you can go back to deciding which one would be the best one for you:)!

 

 

 

[Been There, Planning That]

Obviously I didn't read the HAL log intelligently. Thank you Bill B48 for the detailed explanation and Kamloops 50, as well.

 

With the canal clarified, I'll check out the different ports.

 

Ruth

[Richard in Panama]

I've worked both cruise lines and done the Canal on both - it's really a matter of your preference. Both will have great activities and put on enough kid's staff depending on the number of kids and young people booked. Really I don't think you could go wrong either way. I do feel Princess has a somewhat younger demographic. I've worked ZUIDERDAM, fantastic ship, but on a Canal run possibly more "senior" than Princess. ZUIDERDAM does let you go out onto the front foredeck of the ship when you are in the Canal which is nice and at least while I was doing the Canal turn-around seemed to make more of a "big deal" out of the Canal day, but of course I was doing a lot of the lead up. Either way, you'll have a great time. The more you and your older grandkids know about the Canal and it's history, the more you will enjoy the experience.

 

Regards, Richard

[Been There, Planning That]

Thanks Richard for experienced advice. I've purchased your book in anticipation of this big trip, for our family, and found it to be a great resource.

 

Nothing like advance planning to whet one's appetite.

 

Thanks,

 

Ruth

[GradUT]

Ruth, we did the Island Princess partial transit cruise and it was fabulous. We were in our mid-50's at the time and definitely were among the youngest on the cruise. We were not cruising during Spring Break and there were hardly any kids at all on this cruise. If you are cruising during Spring Break, there might be more but I'm sure you are aware that your grandkids may not have many "playmates".

 

Here is my view on the various port from which you have to choose:

 

HAL Only: Half Moon Cay--We visited this private island just a couple months ago on a Carnival cruise. (Carnival and HAL both visit here.) This private island is wonderful! There will be something for everyone in the family to enjoy. Great beach, great water, fun kids area, good snorkeling off the beach, nice BBQ lunch. My daughter did the Stingray Adventure and loved it.

 

HAL and Princess:

 

Orangastad, Aruba--Your daylight hours here are limited with HAL, so to make the most of it, I'd recommend a ship's tour. We did a "snorkel and sail" tour on our Island Princess visit and it was great fun! We spent a week on Aruba a few years ago, so if you don't want to do a ship's tour, you can take a cab to the beach and hang out there. The beaches are very nice. (Eagle Beach is the one closest to the port and it's a good place to go.) If you are on the Princess cruise, you have more time here, so could do more. But I still recommend a snorkeling trip of some sort.

 

Cartegena--This was absolutely my favorite port of all on the Panama Canal cruise. Do not take the ship's tour (too many people!). Rather, arrange for a small private tour. There are several reputable companies mentioned on the "Columbia" forum in the "Ports of Call". It's a fascinating city.

 

Panama Canal--In order to see the rest of the canal, I strongly recommend doing a ship's excursion through the rest of the canal from Gatun Lake to Panama City. You will be on a ferry boat so you'll get a completely different perspective of the canal. The boat is small and seating is outside, so I do not recommend this for anyone under the age of 10 - 12 years. They will be hot, tired and bored.

 

Colon--Nothing to do here. Just a place for those taking excurisons to meet the ship again.

 

Puerto Limon--We chose to stay on the ship this day, so I don't know about it. None of the excursions were close to the ship and after a long day on the ferry, we were not up to a long day in a bus.

 

Princess Only: Ocho Rios--Lots of folks have negative things to say about Jamaica, but we had a wonderful time with a private tour guide, Peat Taylor. There are lots of fun, family activities that you can do with Peat and the other guides recommended on the "Jamaica" fourm of the "Ports of Call". I would recommend going to Dunn River Falls (except for kids under 6 years of age) and the White River Tubing trip (which is good for all ages). There are aa lot of other fun things you can find to do with the family.

[Been There, Planning That]

Yes, I am shouting my thanks. What an incredibly generous reply. I've started a cut and paste file for this trip.

 

Bob and I have used up our three score and ten years and on the family Alaskan cruise there were few kids but since it was an opportunity for the cousins to gather from three cities, all were content. I imagine though the two teens for this trip would like others. It will be a spring break cruise on either ship.

 

I've filed your port advice which will be used I'm sure closer to the time to organize tours.

 

Once again thank you,

 

Ruth

[Been There, Planning That]

Yes, I am shouting my thanks with those capital letters.

 

What an incredibly generous and exhaustive reply.

 

I'm keeping cut and paste files of all suggestions, so needless to say your specific port advice will be of great value.

 

Once again, shouted thanks,

 

Ruth

[Been There, Planning That]

When trying to edit the spelling error in the first post of thanks, I appeared to have lost everything, but obviously didn't.

 

Ruth

[GradUT]

My pleasure, Ruth. I really enjoyed reminiscing about that fabulous cruise. I'm sure your family will enjoy the Panama Canal and the various ports of call.

[Richard in Panama]

Thanks Richard for experienced advice. I've purchased your book in anticipation of this big trip, for our family, and found it to be a great resource.

 

Thanks Ruth! Glad you liked the book.

 

"Puerto Limon" means "lemon port" . . . a name that came about not because they exported a lot of lemons but because at one time, downtown, there was a big lemon tree. But IMHO the port itself is indeed a "lemon"! HOWEVER, it is the jumping off point for some wonderful tours that I'm sure your entire family would enjoy! But it is a port where you really have to do something since there is nothing in town or around the ship of interest.

 

Regards, Richard

[Been There, Planning That]

We'd booked on Princess for their 11 day Partial Panama but were awaiting HAL postings which have finally come out.

 

I suspect that Princess would have been a 'more fun' choice for the eight grandchildren, but the 10 day HAL cruise, of course worked out cheaper. At this early date we were unable to get two lots of inside connecting cabins all on the same deck for the March 2014 sailing. But one of the families will manage as their children are a bit older and our TA will watch to see if the other pair come available. I thought I was the only compulsive early booker out there.

 

Thanks for early advice and I'll sure be back as we plan excursions.

 

Ruth