Hello, Panama Canal Bound

[candybars]

First time here but cruised many times. Always met members of Cruise Critic. Glad to be one of you. This January booked on the Statendam to Panama Canal. Too late now, *but has someone have comments.

[maxout]

Welcome to Cruise Critic! :D

 

The best place to post about a specific cruise is in the Roll Call Forum, which for the Statendam can be found at this link: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=320

 

No one has started one for your sailing as of yet but you could certainly do so.

 

The instructions are in the "Stickies Posts" at the top.

[califgary]

We did this itinerary - San Diego - Ft Lauderdale over the Christmas and NY Holidays last year on Statendam. The ship is kept very clean and was in good shape last year. The crew was awesome! We had such a good time, we are doing this cruise again this Christmas too. The crew in Pinnacle were fabulous - the Maitre D' worked us in when the restaurant was booked -

[Krazy Kruizers]

Welcome to Cruise Critic.

Panama Canal -- fantastic!! -- especially the full transits.

I don't care what ship people sail on to go through the canal -- the experience is wonderful!!

[0bnxshs]

Am quite sure you'll love it! We did the Panama Canal on X in Dec 2011. Our pictures are available by clicking the link in my signature.

 

Welcome to Cruise Critic!

[Typhoon1]

Welcome to Cruise Critic. You will find a wealth of information here from some of the veteran HAL cruisers.

[kazu]

Welcome to cruise critic - glad to have you 'onboard' so to speak.

 

Definitely go to the roll calls board - if there is no roll call (and it has been checked) just click on the new thread button and in the title make sure you identify the date.

 

I'm betting dollars to donuts someone is sitting there waiting for someone else to start the thread.;)

 

Loved the panama - have a great cruise:)

[Krazy Kruizers]

And remember to have a couple Panama Buns -- they are only available during breakfast hours the day you go through the canal.

[bcd2010]

If you'd like, you can check out my blog linked to in my signature - we did the PC in March on the Statendam.

[catl331]

Glad to have you. I think Capt Albert may be on that cruise. He writes a blog of the journey.

 

Full transit of the canal is so interesting. They will have a commentator aboard to give you the history and the facts. We would like to do it again!

[LaCat3]

I have done both full and partial transit and enjoyed both immensely. I think a big "decider" is whether you want to get off your ship or not. I personally loved going all the way through the canal but also enjoyed tendering off in the Gatun Lake (during the partial) and taking a train from coast to coast and seeing how the locks work from the shore.

 

I don't think that you can make a wrong decision as long as you see the Canal.

[luvcruisn']

I did a similar cruise on the Maasdam through the canal in 2008. Loved the cruise, and going through the canal was awesome. I went through the canal again this past April on a cruise from South America to New York. This time we got to stop in Fuerte Amador and I saw a bit of Panama City, and I also went out to the locks to see the transit from the land side. If you ever go again, try and do a shore excursion in Panama.

[candybars]

Thanks everyone... need some practice with this site. Will head over to Roll Call and post our date.