Is 10 days enough for Panamal Canal

[havaneselover]

Is it still worth it if you can only do the 10 day cruise instead of the 15 dayer. I see you stop in different ports will we be disappointed if we don't get to stop at their main ports?

 

 

Thanks for your help. Also is it worth it to spend an extra night in Fort Lauderdale?

[cb at sea]

A 10 nighter is a "partial" transit....I think it's worth it, if you want to arrive and leave from the same port.... You go through 3 sets of locks, and if you are THAT interested in the canal, there are excursions which will take you to the other locks. I thought 3 sets was ample to get a "feel" for the canal!

 

Of course, if you are REALLY into this sort of thing, you might want to do the entire transit, which, of course, starts on one coast of the US and ends on the other....so you will have a long flight at either the end or beginning of your cruise!

 

If you plan to stay in Ft. Laud an extra night PRIOR to your cruise, yes, it's worth it. After the cruise, not so much. You will be off the ship probably around 8am...plenty of time to catch a mid-morning flight home.

Edited June 7, 2016 by cb at sea

[Viesczy]

PLENTY of time.

 

Short version of going through locks during a canal transit...

 

"LOOK! A set of doors and walls that are tall. OMG the other set of doors closed. OMG water is filling up (or leaving) the space & we're floating higher (or lower)!"

 

If you are really into construction, or history, the Canal is interesting.

 

If you're not, the Canal is as much fun as being stuck in the worst traffic jam in the history of the Universe with an overbearing in-law who KNOWS their sole purpose to point out your every fault.

 

Easiest way to know how much (or little) will you like the Canal... have you ever been to Hoover Dam? Did you take the tour? How did you like the tour?

 

Just to clarify, I love that sorta stuff.

Edited June 7, 2016 by Viesczy

[OCruisers]

If you've never been, it's worth it! :)

[Happy2cruise]

10 days was fine for us:)

[partybarbie]

If you have the time, I prefer the 15-day cruise. I have done the 10-day though, and enjoyed that too. You could always the 10-day now and save the 15-day for another time. :)

[paul929207]

Yes, to see even part of the canal is worth it.

[Musky Ike]

One of my favorite cruises.

[Cobbins]

We have done 10 day full transit from Acapulco to Ft Laud. Great. 10 days enough for us

 

 

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[elliair]

I wouldn't do the 10-day transit. We've done the 15-day transit 3 times, just recently twice. We like the sea days, and the wildlife we saw this time around was the best we've ever seen. Also, we do the long flight there and the short flight home. If we did the 10-day we would have 2 long flights home.

[JF - retired RRT]

We did the full transit (17 days) twice (B2B). We didn't want to fly:D

So we did 34 days and saw the canal twice. It was interesting both times. Saw things on the 2nd one that we missed on the first one.

[diane.in.ny]

We have reservations to do the full transit a second time.

 

I read Path Between the Seas before going and it really enhanced the experience.

 

Yes, going through the locks is like watching paint dry but I loved it.

[Pam in CA]

I've done both the partial and full transit multiple times each. If you can't do the full transit, the partial transit is fine. You won't know what you're missing and in the future, you can do the full transit. For a tour, I'd take the ferry through the Canal. Don't do the train...it's overpriced and you don't see much due to the foliage on the banks.

[riclop]

10 days is enough.

[Treven]

I agree with previous posters, if 10-days is all you can do, re: time, $, or what/why ever, then that's all you can do. It's certainly going to be WAY BETTER than not doing it at all.😎

[tiessa]

If you want to go through all of the locks, do the 15 day. We did the partial and the excursion to go through the rest of the locks but we ended up going through them after dark so saw nothing. You run a risk with Princess. I would check with Celebrity or one of the other cruise lines.

 

 

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[kitkat343]

I read a million reviews before booking, since it was our first cruise with our two year old son, and I was quite worried. From the reviews, it honestly appeared that people either were fascinated by the canal, or they were let down by how uninteresting it was actually going through it. I had low expectations of the canal, so I found it mildly interesting; my husband was a bit disappointed. Honestly for me, this video

and other time lapse videos of the canal were more interesting for me than actually seeing it in person. But some people truly love the canal and they would appreciate the full transit much more than me.

 

The other really important factor is will you miss any of the other stops on the full transit. The 10 day stops were lovely. Cartagena is absolutely gorgeous, and I really loved exploring this beautiful city. Aruba was also quite lovely, and my son really enjoyed Jamaica and Costa Rica. So the 10 day partial transit was a great trip, which I highly recommend to others. My family could not have handled the flight back from CA easily, so that is another important factor to consider.

[BillB48]

When talking about cruises... more is always better:D! Seriously, if you can't swing the longer full transit then the 10 day partial is a great second choice. Mentioned earlier, do consider taking the shore excursion which essentially is a partial transit of the Pacific Locks and Gaillard Cut. This will allow to see a large part of the Canal while not having to take the time for a full transit. There is also one other distinct advantage in taking the partial transit and the shore excursion mentioned... It is great to see the operation of the locks from your large ship at Gatun and then to see it from the smaller boat on the Pacific side. The two experiences provide completely different perspectives of the Canal operation.

[golfb4cruzing]

I'll let you know in November when we get back. We are looking forward to the experience.

[cibaygirls]

I did the 10 day partial and enjoyed it. Based on Bill B48's advice, we did the excursion on the ferry through the additional locks and agree this was a GREAT way to get different perspective on the canal. I too read about the building of the canal before we went. I truly don't feel like I missed out on anything and would not hesitate to do the 10 day again.

[bigchid]

We've done the full transit twice, and enjoyed both. We had some different ports on each, and really did like seeing Panama City, but I agree, 10 days is much better than none:).

[TW6cruiser]

We did the partial almost two years ago as we were able to drive to Ft Lauderdale from our second home in FL and for us that was better than flying. If you are flying into FL I'd stay one night on the front end to be sure your flight does not cause you to miss the ship. We thought we got a good view of the canal even with the partial 10 day. At the time we saw the expansion center which was interesting also. Maybe one day I'd do the full transit to see the full canal but we definitely did not think we missed out by just doing the partial.

[geoherb]

We've had the time to just take the partial canal cruise. It was great. I loved the Island Princess. Aruba, Cartagena, and Costa Rica were nice ports. We stayed on the ship in Jamaica (and would do so again). When we're retired next year, we may have time to take the full transit. I can envision flying to California to visit my brother and his wife near San Francisco then taking the cruise. They live about 90 minutes east of the port, depending on traffic.

[ckl001]

I am doing the full transit in 2018 and can not wait. It does not matter what ports start or end for me as it is a long flight either way. (Australia).

I thought while there I might as well do a Caribbean cruise as well so am doing a 14 day Caribbean cruise first.

Might as well make the most of it!

 

Chez

[blue_water]

We stayed on the ship in Jamaica (and would do so again).

 

That's a shame - gorgeous island and wonderful people...