Panama Canal options

[tawcat]

just an echo in support of previous posts. the ferry tour is by far well worth it. especially if you never plan to do a complete transit. this way you get to see the entire canal and a very close up look of the canal operations. also there is a narrator on the ferry which on our january cruise was very informative.

 

ArkCruiser, can i assume you are from Arkansas? where?

[packedandready]

Reading about the crowd on deck for entering the Gatun locks........If you have a balcony is the view the same, better, worse or what?????

 

Highly considering the Galaxy for Panama and usually just have an inside stateroom. But was planning on a balcony for this one for a better view of the canal. Should we spring for a balcony or just save our money?

If we need a balcony...which side of the ship? Thanks

[trcori]

We usually book window cabins but we're going inside on Galaxy Panama Canal 4/1/06 because it doesn't seem like there's enough to see while sailing through mostly open Caribbean waters to justify the extra cost. There are no balcony cabins listed on our sailing or some others I checked, but for one that does have balconies left, it looks like the cost is about double an inside cabin! If you're really just concerned about Panama Canal day, unless money is absolutely no object, I would note that the C-class ships (we've been on Galaxy's twin, Mercury, as well as its older and slightly smaller "sister" Century) have lots of great open space for viewing sights like this -- besides the top/front decks, there's open space on the rear of each deck from 7 upward, as well as the sides of decks 6 and 7 - TR

[canderson]

Reading about the crowd on deck for entering the Gatun locks........If you have a balcony is the view the same, better, worse or what?????

 

Highly considering the Galaxy for Panama and usually just have an inside stateroom. But was planning on a balcony for this one for a better view of the canal. Should we spring for a balcony or just save our money?

If we need a balcony...which side of the ship? Thanks

None of the Galaxy's cabins are as good as being outside during the Canal. And you never know whether they'll be entering from the right or left side, so there's no way to pick a "best" in advance. I'd take whatever type of cabin suits you for the rest of the cruise, and join the mob scene out front when the time comes. Good standing room starts to fill up early, but don't forget that you'll probably get access a couple of decks below for the event as well.