Panama Canal partial and tour options

[bobk57]

My wife and I will be on the Caribbean princess in a couple weeks. We are trying to decide if we should stay on the ship while we go through the locks or take a Princess tour in Panama. Any thoughts or opinions?

This is our first visit to Panama.

[frugaltravel]

I think your only options on the partial transits are the Princess excursions (i.e. not independent). If it were me, I would take an excursion (though I much preferred the full transit and the extra day in Fuerte Amador for excursions).

[BillB48]

While staying on the ship can be enjoyable, you will see a total of around 8 miles of a Canal in Panama... and you will see it twice!;) There is a lot to see in Panama, whether it is centered around the Canal or some other cultural/historical tour. You have come along way... go see as much as you can!:D

[satxdiver]

When doing a partial of the canal, you will have to take a Princess excursion. After the ship goes through the Gatun Locks it will immediately stop in Gatun Lake and pax will be taken off the ship by tender for excursions. Those remaining will go back through the locks. When we did this cruise several years ago, we took the train excursion over to the Pacific side and Panama City. Among other sites we were able to view the locks on the Pacific side. The train excursion sold out weeks before we sailed. Some pax at our table had taken the small boat excursion through the canal and were late returning to the ship because they had become stuck behind a very slow freighter. Since they were on a Princess excursion the ship had to wait for them to return. My advice is to get off the ship and take a Princess excursion and reserve one long before the cruise.

[satxdiver]

When we went through the locks on the partial, the ship photographers left the ship before we entered the locks and were standing on the side of the 3 locks taking pictures of the ship going through the locks. One thing they did was take pictures of decorated balconies so you may want to bring something to do it. We used my university flag suspended from our balcony. The ship had a sign decorating party the days before we entered the locks to create a poster for your stateroom balcony. We have the picture framed and hanging on our wall at home now.

 

We loved the canal and decided right then that a full canal cruise was in our future. That cruise was accomplished a few years later.

[skynight]

I have done the P.C. 4 times. I recommend a tour for your first time. Be prepared for a long day. The ship enters the channel an into the first lock around 6am.

[cb at sea]

If you are REALLY into all things Panama Canal, then a tour is for you. If going thru 3 sets of locks (twice) will do it for you....you can stay on the ship while a good majority of folks leave, and the trip back out of the locks will be free of the masses! It really depends on you and how much you need/want to see. All excursions from Lake Gatun are long and hot.

[jefa]

satxdiver says:- My advice is to get off the ship and take a Princess excursion and reserve one long before the cruise

 

 

I'm doing a partial transit next April and have already booked my princess excursion to go through the other locks. Does this excursion take you actually into the Pacific Ocean?

[IECalCruiser]

My wife and I will be on the Caribbean princess in a couple weeks. We are trying to decide if we should stay on the ship while we go through the locks or take a Princess tour in Panama. Any thoughts or opinions?

 

This is our first visit to Panama.

You are doing a partial transit. All passengers will be on board when you pass through the three Gatun locks traveling from the Caribbean to Gatun Lake. Your decision is to remain on the ship and go back through the same locks in the opposite direction with nothing new to see or taking a Princess tour from Gatun Lake. Two options to see the rest of the Canal are by small boat or by train. The small boat excursion lets you see the entire Canal from the water. I believe that one way is by bus. The train lets you see the countryside and much of the Panama Canal including a stop at the Miraflores locks where you have a chance to view ships going through those two locks. That tour is billed as one way by train and one way by bus but in 2010 we were on the train both ways. Another option is to visit an Indian village. As others have posted, if you don't take an excursion you miss much of the Canal.

 

 

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[satxdiver]

satxdiver says:- My advice is to get off the ship and take a Princess excursion and reserve one long before the cruise

 

 

I'm doing a partial transit next April and have already booked my princess excursion to go through the other locks. Does this excursion take you actually into the Pacific Ocean?

 

Only if you consider the entrance to the locks to be the Pacific.

[WatchHill]

Last October we did the partial transit while on the Coral. Wish we had the time to do a full transit via ship, but we opted for the Princess tour on a small ferry to the Pacific side. While the transit was interesting, the shore-side tour coordinator left much to be desired. After leaving the ship, we were herded onto motor coaches for a rather lengthy ride to board the ferry. First stop, there was a massive tanker blocking our passage, so we waited for almost a hour, no A/C and one washroom at a security house for 5 bus loads of passengers! Finally we went to a secondary dock where we got onto the old, not too comfortable [plastic chairs], ferry where the crew spent more time selling t-shirts, alcoholic beverages and assorted junk than focusing on the transit. Lunch was marginal at best - yes, food is subjective, but being in a hot, humid environment and looking at what was offered at the buffet, left me dining on slices of pineapple.

 

The narrative was interesting, and looking up at the locks while they fill with water was amazing. We were wedged between two huge ships during the transit, with inches to spare! Once on the Pacific side, it was a quick dash to the coaches and a rush to get back to the ship. Our driver nearly caused a few accidents along the route, speeding on the motorway, and then jumped the curb when entering the port. We all wanted off the bus ASAP, it was 11:PM and our tour guide said we were required to remain on the bus until "the supervisor" said we could get off....she and the driver had their hands out. When shorex opened the following morning, the line of unhappy passengers wrapped across the Atrium. Eventually, we got a few $$ credit once the fiasco was validated.

 

I'm sure if the shore side tour coordinator was communicating with someone in authority and we were on schedule, it would have been a better tour. Nevertheless, be prepared for very hot, humid weather, pack extra water and sun block.

 

Darcy

[golfb4cruzing]

We did the partial canal cruise last year and on canal day we did the Gatun lake cruise and then Canal Observation. The Lake boat ride, to me, was a total waste of time and money. Boat on water !! However the observation platform, I could have sat and watched all day. Just fascinating to watch the varied ships come through. We are talking about during this trip again and on canal day maybe doing the entire canal boat tour. But most important is to be up and ready when approaching the canal.

[cmdchiefthom]

My wife and I have done the partial transit three or four times on other cruise lines, and have enjoyed the itinerary immensely. I'm sure Princess offers a dugout canoe excursion down the Chagres River to an Embera Indian village. It was one of the most memorable excursions we've ever done in 30+ cruises. I'd check it out and see what you think.;)

[OCruisers]

Since we'd already taken two Full Transits, we decided to stay on the ship for our partial.

BAD IDEA! :eek:

It's was rather boring waiting around in Gatun Lake for several hours before going back through the locks.

[Micahs Grandad]

We have done this on three separate occasions and always got off the ship and did a tour.

 

Always with myfriendmario who did a great job for us.

[part-timer]

We will be doing a partial transit next week for the first time (getting very excited now) and have booked the excursion to the Indian village.

 

 

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[loupana]

DW and I will be on Caribbean Princess on Nov. 30th, 2017. We choose to take a tour to Panama City and then to the Miraflores Locks and Observation Center. I'm looking forward to traversing the new locks, visiting Panama, then a visit to the original locks in a day. Ideally it would be great to do the full transit, but we'll see how we enjoy this then maybe plan for the full transit in the future...

[Loonbeam]

Definitely get off the ship. We did the small ship cruise to the pacific and while it was neat to say we did the whole canal and seeing the process up close was pretty incredible, in retrospect I probably would have done the Embera excursion.

[hillslife]

We are doing a partial transit on the island princess December 21. We go to Gatun Lake, spend the night and then go back throughlocks the next day. Looks like no excursions are offered for this transit.

 

Has anyone done this before? Did they offer sure excursions once we are at the lake? Or do you just stay on the ship?

[twotennesseans]

Has anyone done the Embera Indian Village excursion and if so likes or dislikes on it. Can you do it if you have a bad knee?

 

 

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[Micahs Grandad]

Has anyone done the Embera Indian Village excursion and if so likes or dislikes on it. Can you do it if you have a bad knee?

 

 

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We did it on a private excursion which might be different from Princess one.

 

Had to cross a very large lake to get there and they took us across on a motorized Indian war canoe holding about a dozen people.

 

The tribe greeted us when we came ashore and we walked to their village. As I recall to get to their seating areas had to climb a ladder about 10 ft or so.

 

Very interesting and fascinating day but not sure how bad your leg is so no idea if this is suitable for you.

[twotennesseans]

We did it on a private excursion which might be different from Princess one.

 

 

 

Had to cross a very large lake to get there and they took us across on a motorized Indian war canoe holding about a dozen people.

 

 

 

The tribe greeted us when we came ashore and we walked to their village. As I recall to get to their seating areas had to climb a ladder about 10 ft or so.

 

 

 

Very interesting and fascinating day but not sure how bad your leg is so no idea if this is suitable for you.

 

 

 

Thank you for your review. I’ve had knee replacement so the knee gets a little stiff and I don’t have the balance I used to have. Always good to hear what others thought of the excursion. I love excursion reviews :-)

 

 

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[IECalCruiser]

We are doing a partial transit on the island princess December 21. We go to Gatun Lake, spend the night and then go back throughlocks the next day. Looks like no excursions are offered for this transit.

 

 

 

Has anyone done this before? Did they offer sure excursions once we are at the lake? Or do you just stay on the ship?

The partial transit from LA is quite different than the partial transit from FLL and is not offered very often. A full transit can take 8-10 hours and it will probably take at least 5-7 hours or more to get from the Pacific side to Gatun Lake. Although an excursion would be possible, they would need to drop you off or pick you up at Fuerte Amador but you do not stop there so no tours would be available. Other than the Indian village, most of the tours on the FLL partial transits allow you to see the bulk of the canal from Gatun Lake to the Pacific. Since you are sailing that on the Island, those tours would be redundant.

 

 

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[hillslife]

Thanks For your explanation . No excursions are listed on the panama site but just wondered if there would be something coming later.

 

No problem relaxing on the ship.. we have done full transits 3 Times before.. never a partial.. but avoided a holiday flight this time 😜😍