Where to watch the Panama Canal transit from?

[Denis54]

What the best places to go to watch the transit through the locks.

[Balloon Man]

Assuming you are on the ship rather than ashore anywhere, but at the side if you want to see the engines working. Contrary to common belief they don't pull the ship through the locks - it uses it's own power - but they keep it centralised. You will have lots of time to change your position. It's quite a ballet.

Edited January 16, 2014 by Balloon Man

[Gunner22aa]

Unless it is a torrential rain storm you will find most passengers gravitate to the upper open decks. If you want a good viewing spot go early because it can get busy. We have had a true aft balcony for our transits and seen it all nicely from there. Its hard to watch the entire transit as it takes close to 12 hours on most trips. A long time to stand. The busiest time up top will be as you actually go through the locks at the start and finish of the transit.

[jg21]

I would have to say from the "secret decks" at the front of the Baja or Caribe decks. No blue partitions to look through.

[D&N LUV 2 TRAVEL]

Ditto. You need to get there early as you will be standing 2 or 3 deep if you wait too long. We started at the front but it is also nice to move around and get a view from different parts of the ship[

 

quote=jg21;41318172]I would have to say from the "secret decks" at the front of the Baja or Caribe decks. No blue partitions to look through.

[4x4bob]

Start early on the "Secret Decks" then move up top side to see different angles. Since you saw the locks going in, then move aft to get photos of the locks going away.

 

If you stay in one spot, you will miss a lot.

 

Bob

[Jasperdo]

The single best place to watch the Panama Canal would be through the "secret door" on Baja and Caribe decks forward. You get an excellent view going into the Canal. But other areas of the ship are good too, especially Promenade Deck as the ship is being lowered in the chamber. Here are a few photos from the observation deck outside the "secret door":

 

Panama Canal: Gatun Locks by Jasperdo, on Flickr

 

Panama Canal: Gatun Locks by Jasperdo, on Flickr

 

Panama Canal: Gatun Locks by Jasperdo, on Flickr

[geoherb]

We enjoyed watching the early morning transit through the locks from the Promenade Deck. When the ship was leaving the canal through the locks later that afternoon, we went to one of the upper decks.

[lynwar]

Hi

Thank you for the photos. Alas, my husband has no interest in the Panama Canal itinerary so this gave me the opportunity to see what I will be missing. We have a friend who is on this trip on another line, who has cleared the locks and is enjoying his last port of call before arriving in Ft. Lauderdale. He flew to LA from Mass, and is enjoying the full two week transit. I now know what he experienced.

Thanks, again.

 

Lynne

[hpeabody]

I was on the Coral. I ended up viewing our canal transit wedged (squished by many many other people) into the window of the Horizon court (bow) watching through the torrential rain. We could barely see anything actually. It was extremely uncomfortable standing kind of twisted and squished for what was maybe a couple hours. All tours were cancelled for the day and we just spent the day floating on the lake. As it turns out it was a record breaking rain storm and the little village closest to the locks had major flooding. The photographers who were supposed to join the ship to go out on the ship excursions were stuck in the little village. They actually took pictures of the horrible flooding in the village and transmitted them to the ship. The photo gallery printed them and put them on display for us to see what happened. A very disappointing canal transit for me:(

 

To answer the OPs post... IMO being on the bow was actually a great location. You may want to move around and get the the experience from several vantage points. You can always go back and forth to your cabin and balcony.

 

This photo was about as good as it got

[eandj]

You'll want to move around outdoors to really see as much as you can. Don't stay on your balcony if you have one. Definitely a limited view. Once thru a lock on your balcony, if interested, is enough. Get out there and enjoy the 360 degree views.;)

[katisdale]

There are two guys who come out in a row boat just as you enter the first lock to get ropes that are then connected to the electric mules. The only place to see them is at the front of the ship. That was amazing to me. Then go down to the promenade deck and watch as your ship rises up to the next level. We were astounded how close we were to the side of the canal. Finally you must go aft at one of the locks to see the lock close behind you.

[Mom33]

This is the view from the stern on Dolphin deck on the Coral as she went back through the locks. I did not see the name of the ship you're on, but if it is the Coral or the Island, the aft decks are great for viewing.

 

[cruiseryyc]

Have done a full transit twice and both times spent 95% of the day on our own balconey. We did venture out onto the public decks both times, but the pushing and shoving going on sent us back to the delights of our private balconey. Both times we have ordered the champagne breakfast and mid-afternoon, either the shrimp on ice or guacamole (washed down by some nice wine of course)

[Jasperdo]

There are two guys who come out in a row boat just as you enter the first lock to get ropes that are then connected to the electric mules. The only place to see them is at the front of the ship. That was amazing to me.

This is the way the Mules have been attached to the ship since the Canal first opened. From what I understand, they've tried different methods, but doing it by rowboat is still the best. It really is amazing to watch:

 

Panama Canal: Gatun Locks by Jasperdo, on Flickr

 

Panama Canal: Miraflores Locks by Jasperdo, on Flickr

Edited January 17, 2014 by Jasperdo

[IggleDoer]

... Would be to go to the lowest deck which has a porthole to look outside. You can see the granite that was carved to make the canal.

 

Can't watch it all day but for a few minutes, it would be very interesting.

[sashas_mom]

We got up at 5 am and went to the Horizon Court. It was a wonderful spot where we could sit and watch the ship in front of us go through the locks. Then, once we got half way through we went to the secret spot and watched for sme time, then back to our balcony. It was an incredible sight.

[JimAOk1945]

This is wonderful information. We are booked on the Island Princess in December. After seeing the pictures and reading about the best observation points, I'm even more excited.

[trbarton]

The single best place to watch the Panama Canal would be through the "secret door" on Baja and Caribe decks forward. You get an excellent view going into the Canal. But other areas of the ship are good too, especially Promenade Deck as the ship is being lowered in the chamber. Here are a few photos from the observation deck outside the "secret door":

 

Panama Canal: Gatun Locks by Jasperdo, on Flickr

 

Panama Canal: Gatun Locks by Jasperdo, on Flickr

 

Panama Canal: Gatun Locks by Jasperdo, on Flickr

 

I've uploaded photos to flicker. How do you copy and past the photos?

 

Thanks!

 

Tom:)

[Jasperdo]

I've uploaded photos to flicker. How do you copy and past the photos?

 

Thanks!

 

Tom:)

Go to the photo page on Flickr. (Not the Beta page, it's missing so many features.) Below the photo on the right you'll see a rectangle with an arrow coming out of it. Click on that and go to "Grab the HTML/BBCode". Then tick off the BBCode tab. Pick the size you want. I like Medium 640. Copy the code you see and paste it into the Cruise Critic comment field. It sounds complicated, but once you get used to it, it's really quite simple.

[sandyoftheseas]

When we did the transit we started at about 5am through the "secret door" and moved around throughout the day. We also paid for the Sanctuary so we enjoyed a lot of time there. Well worth the price. We also went down to the lowest open deck to touch the wall of the canal.

[swedish weave]

... Would be to go to the lowest deck which has a porthole to look outside. You can see the granite that was carved to make the canal.

 

Can't watch it all day but for a few minutes, it would be very interesting.

 

In order to keep the information accurate, the walls are concrete. They aren't carved granite.

[bhopal21]

We got up at 5 am and went to the Horizon Court. It was a wonderful spot where we could sit and watch the ship in front of us go through the locks.

 

Please don't do this as it makes it extremely hard for folks wanting to eat to find a place to sit.

 

When we did the full transit on the Island there were so many people crowded into Horizon court that we had to get our food and basically stand to eat it.

 

Find an outside observation deck from which to view the canal.

 

Mike:)

[Colo Cruiser]

Please don't do this as it makes it extremely hard for folks wanting to eat to find a place to sit.

 

When we did the full transit on the Island there were so many people crowded into Horizon court that we had to get our food and basically stand to eat it.

 

Find an outside observation deck from which to view the canal.

 

Mike:)

 

I concur.

[Ethel5]

Please don't do this as it makes it extremely hard for folks wanting to eat to find a place to sit.

 

When we did the full transit on the Island there were so many people crowded into Horizon court that we had to get our food and basically stand to eat it.

 

Find an outside observation deck from which to view the canal.

 

Mike:)

 

I agree. they actually took the chairs away from the tables and moved them to the windows. Those of us wanting to eat had no place to sit. I call that just plain rude.