Panam Canal Experience Tour, have you done it?

[Ashryn]

Can you please give me your thoughts on the Panama Canal Experience Tour. I know no-one can tell me if I will enjoy it but I would like to know what you thought if you have done it. Did you enjoy it and did you think it was worth doing. Knowing what it was like, would you still do it?

[AZNative2000]

Can you please give me your thoughts on the Panama Canal Experience Tour. I know no-one can tell me if I will enjoy it but I would like to know what you thought if you have done it. Did you enjoy it and did you think it was worth doing. Knowing what it was like, would you still do it?

Hello to Ashryn, "Down Under",

 

If you are asking about "The Canal Experience to Colon" it was the highlight of our

Panama Canal cruise and I recommend it highly! If I'd known what it was going to be like,

YES, I would have done it ... however ... I would have brought a HAL beach towel and light wrap.

When you get on to the air conditioned bus after hours on the Canal,

it is a bit chilly.

 

This tour offers a completely different point of view on the workings of the Canal, something you can't

get anywhere else. You are close enough that you can touch the walls of the locks.(See photos below.)

 

The boat is open-air, covered, and has bathrooms. The lunch was OK. And at the end of the day,

you will have traversed Panama twice (on the boat ... then ... on the bus)

something that took the planners of the Canal months when they first arrived.

 

For great insight into the Canal creation, I recommend the book

"Path Between the Seas".

 

The first photo is the view from above the canal (on the ship).

The others are from the Canal Experience "ferry-sized" boat.

 

From the back of Zuiderdam.

Touching the wall in smaller boat.

Smaller boat down inside the lock.

[AZNative2000]

More information here:

 

http://reviews.hollandamerica.com/9041/5437/the-canal-experience-to-colon-reviews/reviews.htm

 

Cheers!

[Linda&Vern]

DH and I "ditto-ditto-ditto" everything AZNative said :). In fact, I think we were on the cruise after theirs. I did not want to do this excursion, but DH did. I am so glad I decided to go along. I am very, very happy I didn't miss out on this! The Ferry Boat ride is "up close and personal" ... completely different than the view on the Ship.

[sapper1]

Hello to Ashryn, "Down Under",

 

If you are asking about "The Canal Experience to Colon" it was the highlight of our

Panama Canal cruise and I recommend it highly! If I'd known what it was going to be like,

YES, I would have done it ... however ... I would have brought a HAL beach towel and light wrap.

When you get on to the air conditioned bus after hours on the Canal,

it is a bit chilly.

 

This tour offers a completely different point of view on the workings of the Canal, something you can't

get anywhere else. You are close enough that you can touch the walls of the locks.(See photos below.)

 

The boat is open-air, covered, and has bathrooms. The lunch was OK. And at the end of the day,

you will have traversed Panama twice (on the boat ... then ... on the bus)

something that took the planners of the Canal months when they first arrived.

 

For great insight into the Canal creation, I recommend the book

"Path Between the Seas".

 

The first photo is the view from above the canal (on the ship).

The others are from the Canal Experience "ferry-sized" boat.

 

From the back of Zuiderdam.

Touching the wall in smaller boat.

Smaller boat down inside the lock.

 

Another enthusiastic YES. it. Ranks right up there in the top 5 best excursions I have ever taken. Number 2 really.

[amster65]

Agree also, its a bit of long day, the DW was pooped, but it is well worth it. :)

[molly2kit]

Another YES vote.

 

This was literally the best excursion we have ever been on. We even had a small catamaran tie up to us to go through one of the the locks and got to visit with them.

 

It was a wonderful day.

[sapper1]

Just be sure to duck into the air conditioned compartment from time to time or you will pay big time the next day. I had a major migraine because I didn't get out of the heat.

[Ashryn]

Thanks for the replies. Sounds like it's an excursion worth doing!

[Krazy Kruizers]

AZNative2000

Those are great pictures. I know that it is a long day -- that is why we have never signed up for that tour. It would be too much for us.

[kyriecat]

That one is definitely in my list of top excursions. I think I would rather have the experience of seeing the canal from both the ship deck and the smaller boat than do a full transit on the ship. Both my husband and I loved our trip, although it was a long day. I think many people napped on the bus ride back to Colon from Panama City.