RCCL and the Panama Canal

[Alaskan Joe]

So it appears the RCCL does not go to or shall I say through the Panama Canal. Does anybody out there know for sure.

[138east]

I was on their last Canal cruise in Oct 2015. Currently there is nothing scheduled and there have been no rumors of future cruises.

[boscobeans]

They really should try to schedule what Holland America does with its Panama Canal Sunfarer cruises which do a partial transit of the Canal as well as ports like Aruba and Curacao.

 

bosco

[Ourusualbeach]

Michael Bayley has stated publicly that Royal is currently not looking at Panama Canal cruises.

[Tony O]

DW and I are doing a Los Angeles to Miami cruise with a full transit of the canal on NCL.

[teddybear231]

Michael Bayley has stated publicly that Royal is currently not looking at Panama Canal cruises.

 

I wonder why? Were they not selling good?

[Motorman23]

I wonder why? Were they not selling good?

 

Logistics, they only did the canal trips to move ships to and from Alaska and only certain size ships fit. The Alaska ships now go to Hawaii and Asia so no reason to move them through the canal. Celebrity still moves from Alaska to the Caribbean and vice versa so you can try them.

 

Mike

 

 

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Edited January 29, 2017 by Motorman23

[EMBFlyer]

I wonder why? Were they not selling good?

 

This question was asked at Captain's Corner on Anthem. Captain Srecko said the cost to transit the canal is quite expensive. He said they have to raise prices on those voyages significantly to cover the cost of the transit. Doing that causes the bookings to be very low and just aren't financially viable for the company.

 

He also said that with the new locks, the ships now come alongside and tie up. The Oasis Class has lifeboats that hang over the side, prohibiting that and the Quantum class has areas along Deck 5 that jut out over the side, also prohibiting that.

[Merion_Mom]

Royal Caribbean has made a business decision that its ships are currently more profitable elsewhere. If that changes, they will return to the Panama Canal.

 

:)

[BillB48]

This question was asked at Captain's Corner on Anthem. Captain Srecko said the cost to transit the canal is quite expensive. He said they have to raise prices on those voyages significantly to cover the cost of the transit. Doing that causes the bookings to be very low and just aren't financially viable for the company.

 

He also said that with the new locks, the ships now come alongside and tie up. The Oasis Class has lifeboats that hang over the side, prohibiting that and the Quantum class has areas along Deck 5 that jut out over the side, also prohibiting that.

 

While Captain Felix is correct about transiting the Canal is expensive I don't think that is the reason Royal is not cruising the Canal. Posts 7 and 9 best describe Royal's absence. The cost of the cruise is not impacted by the Canal's tolls, except to you. The price of the cruise is established for each class of cabin and then the taxes and government fees are added in separately. Take for example on X, a 14 day cruise to the Caribbean the taxes and fees portion of the fare is right around $120pp. Meanwhile a 15 day transit on the Infinity taxes and fees are over $300pp. Bottom line is X allows around $180 from the taxes and fees to cover the cost of the transit... the Canal only charges X $138! I think it is safe to say Celebrity does not have to carve out the tolls from the price of the cruise.:)

 

Transiting the new locks does have a different procedure from the old locks as the ships are not held in the center of the chamber by the mules, but instead moored to the lock wall. The overhang of the lifeboats is not an issue unless they are under 30' off the water. The lifeboats on all of new larger ships will clear that figure easily.

 

Here is a picture of Princess' first large ship with her overhanging lifeboats. The Caribbean Princess is scheduled for a partial transit in October 2017. The lifeboats hang over enough to cast a shadow!

 

[vacationlover_mn]

Bummer- I'd really like to try this cruise on RCI

 

 

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[joepeka]

They really should try to schedule what Holland America does with its Panama Canal Sunfarer cruises which do a partial transit of the Canal as well as ports like Aruba and Curacao.

 

bosco

This thread is a little bit old but I agree with this post. Currently Princess, HAL and NCL are the lines that do partial Canal cruises with stops in other Caribbean ports and for us, those itins are kind of a sweet spot in terms of cruise length, ports and cost. Of those other three lines I mention, RCI would be our first choice but..... they don't go there! :(

[Snit13]

This thread is a little bit old but I agree with this post. Currently Princess, HAL and NCL are the lines that do partial Canal cruises with stops in other Caribbean ports and for us, those itins are kind of a sweet spot in terms of cruise length, ports and cost. Of those other three lines I mention, RCI would be our first choice but..... they don't go there! :(

 

 

Celebrity Infinity used to do rount trip from Ft. L to Calif. I don't belive they do that anymore. We have been looking for full transit for some years now and I have called other cruise lines but they said they only do partial tranist. I did that on a tour boat in 1970 Panama City to Colon and then took train back.

[SbbquilterUT]

Vision is doing a westbound Panama Canal transit from Miami, departing 13 Nov. We are so excited about our booking.

[gkbiiii]

My Panama Canal cruise, with my father, on the Disney Wonder; was one of the high points of my time cruising!

[Merion_Mom]

Vision is doing a westbound Panama Canal transit from Miami, departing 13 Nov. We are so excited about our booking.

 

 

 

It's TWO Panama Canal cruises in a row. Miami to LA. LA to NOLA.

 

 

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[MSCruiseFan]

Celebrity Infinity used to do rount trip from Ft. L to Calif. I don't belive they do that anymore. We have been looking for full transit for some years now and I have called other cruise lines but they said they only do partial tranist. I did that on a tour boat in 1970 Panama City to Colon and then took train back.

 

Celebrity still cruises Panama Canal full transits. A 15 day Los Angeles to Fort Lauderdale cruise leaves on Oct. 9. We are booked on the return (Fort Lauderdale to San Diego) leaving on Oct. 24. They also show 5 full transits during 2018.

[Johnamac123]

So it appears the RCCL does not go to or shall I say through the Panama Canal. Does anybody out there know for sure.

I've done the Princess partial transit which included Aruba and Cartegena ports. By far my fav cruise. We had a prof from NYU on board to lecture on the Panama Canal construction history.If you get the chance, take it.

[suncruiser]

So it appears the RCCL does not go to or shall I say through the Panama Canal. Does anybody out there know for sure.

 

We ended up cruising on Princess in 2015 (although we were RCCL Emerald) to do the 10 day partial transit through the Panama Canal. It is the only Princess cruise that I have taken, but they do a great job. We wanted to do that itinerary, so we went to a cruise line that provided that itinerary. We could have been Diamond much sooner had we been able to do this 10 day cruise on RCCL.

[BillB48]

I've done the Princess partial transit which included Aruba and Cartegena ports. By far my fav cruise. We had a prof from NYU on board to lecture on the Panama Canal construction history.If you get the chance, take it.

 

I don't think you will find a Canal lecturer more knowledgeable than the NY prof. Last Canal "season" he sailed almost exclusively with Celebrity, but he did do one trip with Princess.