Two Days in the Panama Canal?

[FlCatLover]

Are there any cruises that have longer in the Panama Canal so there can be excursions to see Panama? I wouldn't want to be on an excursion while the ship was going through the canal and am hoping there may be some with stops.

[FirstCruiseBeth]

We are taking a one way transit Princess cruise from Los Angeles to Fort Lauderdale which stops at Fuerte Amador the day before we transit the canal. There are excursions from Fuerte Amador to Panama Old City as well as to the rainforest and various options to see more of the canal and its locks.

[BillB48]

The short answer is yes, there are cruises that offer an additional day in Panama either before or after the transit. Celebrity and Royal Caribbean normally offer this on their Canal transits. The bad news here is Celebrity has a lot fewer Canal transits this season and I think Royal only has one cruise during the upcoming Canal season. Princess has what they call a 2 day Canal Experience, however they don't offer that on a lot of their transits. One of the first cruise lines to offer a stop in Panama in addition to the transit is HAL, I checked on several different dates and the additional stop in Panama was not offered. Of course Carnival, NCL offer occasional full transit Canal cruises as well as some other up scale and boutique, small ship lines, perhaps some of them will offer a stop in Panama.

 

I don't understand why the additional stop is not offered on more cruises, there is a lot in Panama to take in.

Edited August 13, 2015 by BillB48

[FlCatLover]

Thank you. Now I know the vocabulary . . . I just didn't know where to look. We are thinking about it for winter/spring of 2017 so there's some time.

I'd really like to see Panama City.

[MJC]

Our Windstar cruise also has a stop in Fuerte Amador. They offer an excursion that visits the locks and the old town, and a hike on the Pipeline Road.

 

I would like to know if it is convenient to arrange a private tour from Fuerte Amador. We generally like to be independent.

[BillB48]

There are generally cabs around that you would be able to hire for a tour when a cruise ship makes a call. You could also prearrange an excursion through a local tour operator.

Edited August 14, 2015 by BillB48

[Richard in Panama]

Take a look at Pearl Seas PEARL MIST which starting in Jan 2016 will have a very neat itinerary 10 or 11 days between Puntarenas, Costa Rica and Cartagena, Colombia. It spends a day in Panama City, then TWO days in the Canal overnight in Gatun Lake, also includes the Pearl Islands, Coiba Island, and the San Blas Islands. Small ship only 200 people. Regards, Richard

[rockdoctor]

We took a ferry through the canal, with a bus return to the ship. The ship did the canal transit the next day. Didn't see a whole lot of wildlife on Lake Gatun. The smaller vessel gave a much different perspective of the locks.

[Ginger's Mom]

Island Princess has a sailing February 3, 2017 from Los Angeles to Ft. Lauderdale with two days in Panama (Panama City then Canal Transit) for 15 days. The cruise is called the "Two Day Canal Experience"

[firststeps]

MJ Cruiser.... we are also going on Windstar. Any info you can share on private tours that you have found would be appreciated. We prefer to do things on our own.

[warm47]

Are there any cruises that have longer in the Panama Canal so there can be excursions to see Panama? I wouldn't want to be on an excursion while the ship was going through the canal and am hoping there may be some with stops.

 

You do not need two days although we will have two this time in October on Jewel of the Seas. We have been there two other times from the Caribbean side. We cruised through the canal, disembarked in the lake, went on excursions and were taken to meet the ship in the afternoon at Colon. Those who stayed on the ship did go back through the same locks cruising them twice, but once was enough for us. The second time we took an excursion to and toured Panama City on foot. There was plenty of time.

[MJC]

MJ Cruiser.... we are also going on Windstar. Any info you can share on private tours that you have found would be appreciated. We prefer to do things on our own.

 

We haven't gotten serious yet about tours, but we will likely arrange private ones for Panama City. When I've gathered information I will share on our roll call:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2241342 I include there a brief discussion of our previous pre-cruise stay in CR.

 

 

The rest of the itinerary, except for Quepos, will be difficult to do independently because of the locations. I think Golfo Dulce is pretty sleepy, and the rest I believe will be anchor ports tendered in on the zodiacs.

 

Corcovado requires advance purchase park permits:

 

http://www.corcovadoguide.com/permitting.htm

 

and so does Isla de Coiba:

 

http://www.coibanationalpark.com/

 

Apologies to everyone for the brief digression.

Edited September 11, 2015 by MJC

[firststeps]

After tons of reading and sending emails I have found several options for private experiences in each location. I talked to Windstar and they said there was no reason why someone could not set up their own tour. So, for those of you out there wanting to do this, it is possible.

[MJC]

That is good to know. We had a totally different itinerary on our last CR cruise and did a lot of independent things. I am struggling with Golfito so would love to hear what you found there.

[MJC]

It turns out it is not Golfito but Puerto Jimenez where we will go ashore in Golfo Dulce.

Edited September 13, 2015 by MJC

[rockdoctor]

Are there any cruises that have longer in the Panama Canal so there can be excursions to see Panama? I wouldn't want to be on an excursion while the ship was going through the canal and am hoping there may be some with stops.

 

Don't worry. I have never seen a ship that stops at both ends of the Panama Canal, so they have to pick up passengers either before or after the Canal Transit.

 

We did the canal transit on the Celebrity Infinity and were told by the ferry excursion guide that there are usually fewer people on the ferry when ship takes the complete transit - like 50 people on a 200 person ferry. It was a nice experience, no crowds and all the food you could eat. The ferry gives a more small scale experience, you can touch the canal walls and see the scars from ships bumping them. IMHO don't think of the two transits as either or.