Panama Canal (Partial Transit) ?'s

[HawkIVette]

Does the ship actually go through the locks or is it a smaller excursion boat that you have to pay extra for?

 

I see several Panama Canal cruises and most say partial transit (which I assume is the ship going part way through and turning around and going back to Colon) with no extra cost for an excursion.

 

Some cruises say Colon with (Panama Canal). I assume the ship ports in Colon and you may or may not take an excursion through the locks.

 

Anybody make this clearer for me?

[joepeka]

You pretty much nailed the "partial transit" definition - you enter the locks on the Caribbean side, sail through to Lake Gatun then turn around and go back out the locks to the Caribbean in the same day. Some cruise lines (I don't think Carnival is among them) do offer excursions while you're in the lake. As to the second scenario you mention, I can't help there as we've never done it. :(

[mishka422]

We just did the partial transit last week. We went through the first set of locks on the Caribbean side, anchored in Gatun lake and came back out. No excursions while in the lake. We only had two hours to anchor so not enough time.

 

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[lgdick54]

Did a partial transit on Princess, once we got through the locks those that wanted to were tendered to the port for either a train or boat ride to the pacific side lock. They were then put on a bus to meet the ship back in Colon. There were a few options, but that was the basic scenario. Pacific side is supposed to be more impressive, but we stayed on the ship.

 

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[HawkIVette]

Thank you for the answers. In 2010, we did a Cruise that went to Colon. We paid for an excursion by bus to Panama City, where we boarded a smaller excursion boat and went through locks to the Lake, then reboarded the bus back to the ship.

The extra cost for the excursion was worth it, but if the ship goes through the locks with cost included, that would make a big difference in cost.

 

Did they have anybody on board explaining the lock system while transit was in progress, kind of like the Alaska cruises?

Edited April 24, 2018 by HawkIVette

[HawkIVette]

Did a partial transit on Princess, once we got through the locks those that wanted to were tendered to the port for either a train or boat ride to the pacific side lock. They were then put on a bus to meet the ship back in Colon. There were a few options, but that was the basic scenario. Pacific side is supposed to be more impressive, but we stayed on the ship.

 

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Yes, I agree. Panama City was an impressive modern city, where Colon was more like a poverty stricken, industrial port. The one thing I remember was the old school buses that end up there for their transportation system. Very Colorful.

[Lottacruises]

They did have someone on board narrating, even played in cabins. They brought people on board also to sell stuff

[apatchetear]

We just did the partial transit last week. We went through the first set of locks on the Caribbean side, anchored in Gatun lake and came back out. No excursions while in the lake. We only had two hours to anchor so not enough time.

 

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We are about to go on the Miracle for a partial. It says it takes from 7:30 am to 7 pm. Does it really take this long?

[coevan]

no, the full transit is about 10-12 hours

[apatchetear]

no, the full transit is about 10-12 hours

 

 

 

Ok. We are surely only going on a partial. Any idea how long that takes?

[molole]

Ok. We are surely only going on a partial. Any idea how long that takes?

 

The partial one my friends did had actual transit time from 5am to 2pm and then they cruised to Colon and docked at Colon for 3 hours from 5 pm to 8pm and they could get off the ship and walk around a bit. But the main reason for the Colon stop was to wait for those ship excursion cruisers who would arrive at Colon by land and rejoin the ship from there.

 

And then off you leave Colon.