Best cruiseline/itinerary

[PBNJ620]

Which cruiseline and itinerary would you recommend for the best Panama Canal Cruise? We are booked on Legend November 30th, but may have to change. Would be willing to go to a different cruiseline if need be. Royal doesn't seem to have many voyages to Panama Canal.

[CruiserBruce]

You could ask 10 people what "best" is, get 10 answers, based on 10 different criteria, and none would be wrong. "Best" is totally subjective.

 

It is my understanding Holland America does the most Canal passages every year, so, if true, that would give you the most choices.

 

You will hear certain ships were "built for sailing the Canal" because the have a certain amount of open deck space, yet many ships have that open deck space. A key point might be who opens their bows (or can open them, considering space, logistical concerns, and safety).

 

A stop in Panama is considered important by some.

 

If you are enjoying RCI cruises, RCI will work just fine for you.

[paul929207]

We like Princess and will be doing b2b full transits starting Mar 2, 2014

[BillB48]

Judging by your screen name I guess you would prefer RCI! You are correct they don't have much of a Canal offering... last time I looked there was one Fl-CA-FL through the Canal in the Spring and another in the Fall, not much to choose from. The other mainstream lines such as HAL, Princess and Celebrity all have a number of full transit cruises over the Fall and Winter months to choose from. I believe any of them would do a decent job, it is just finding an itinerary that is to your liking. CruiserBruce pointed out that some like the idea of a stop in Panama in addition to the transit is a plus, you could put me in that group as I think it is a great idea. Some of the itineraries have minimal stops on the Pacific Coast (read more sea days), not a problem for me... but not so good for some. Probably the best thing would be to decide what you want in the way of an itinerary and then go from there. You can also cast your search a little wider and look at NCL and Carinval or Disney as they have an occasional Canal cruise.

 

A side note... I like the way Paul handles the situation... turns a one way cruise into a round trip! That's the way to do it:)!!

[CruiserBruce]

The next issue is who has experience on multiple lines to say which is better? Probably not many. We have transited the Canal on HAL(twice) and RCI once- coincidentally on the Legend of the Seas when it was less than a year old. We are HAL fans and prefer HAL over RCI. But that is just us.

[dr alaok]

We have cruised with both Princess and Holland America in the past. Will be cruising with Princess through the Canal next month. Enjoyed cruising with both companies but Princess will give veterans up to a $250 OBC. So if you are a veteran you might want to take into consideration the OBC, everything else being equal.

[CruiseGirlKS]

We like Princess and will be doing b2b full transits starting Mar 2, 2014

 

We liked Princess too when we did it. :)

[PCWalton1]

We did the transit on Legend of the Seas back in November and loved it. But I can't say if it is the best as I have never cruise any of the other lines. That is going to be a hard one to answer for anyone.