Gatun Lake-Excursion vs stay on ship

[oratheeexplorer]

Hi.  We are going on our first Panama Canal partial transit cruise next week.  Wondering if we should just stay on the ship while turning around in Gatun Lake.  Or if we should do a Princess excursion.  Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Heidi13]

You'll probably get lots of opinions, but personally having completed 20 + full transits, in my experience you see lots from the ship, in the locks, lake and Cut. Without knowing your interests, or what tours are offered, my preference would be to stay on the ship, even if only completing a partial transit.

[BillB48]

If you are taking this cruise to see the Canal, being a partial transit you are only going see 8 miles of the Canal.  That leaves a lot of Canal left to see.  Taking the shore excursion that takes you through the Gaillard Cut, the Pacific Locks and into the Pacific gives you a much better feel for the Canal.  One of the added benefits is passing through the locks on a smaller vessel, it gives a totally different perspective than passing through the locks on a Panamax ship.  Gaillard Cut and the Pacific Locks are more interesting visually with two large bridges to pass beneath and a great view of the Panama City skyline.

[cb at sea]

Once the excursion folks leave in Lake Gatun, the ship is a great place to be!  You will have several hours of NO crowds...and a/c when you need it  (and you will...it's HOT!)...and on the trip OUT of the lake, you'll have your pick of viewing spots that were packed and jammed for the trip INTO the lake.

 

We stayed on the ship...and it was a great day!

[holdon216]

I see this is an older post and you would have already sailed. But we are just back for our 11 day Panama NCL cruise. We took a NCL Eco Cruise and Gatun New Locks tour. It was just 4 hours and we enjoyed the information we received at the New Locks observatory and the canal cruise where we saw Sloths, Cayman, Birds, etc.

[icystorms]

I was wondering the same. I'm going on a partial transit on HAL this Nov.  I saw many reviewers say they got a good view of locks while on the ship, but I was wondering whether there will be discussion/explanation about what we'll see and what's happening at the canal and locks on the cruise ship during the transit.  Also, is the cruise ship close enough to land while in Lake Gatun to likely see wildlife?  Any info would be appreciated. 

[BillB48]

Welcome to Cruise Critic.  There is normally someone onboard to provide a narration of your passage up to and through Gatun Locks covering some history and the operation of the Locks.  After you clear Gatun Locks the ship will position itself in the anchorage to begin tendering operations for the passengers that are going on shore excursions, this normally is sometime after nine AM.  Once tendering is complete the ship will be waiting for the transit back through Gatun Locks and the short sail to Colon, which can be almost immediate or a few hours wait.  During all this time you will be rather close to the shore, but the chance of seeing any significant wildlife is slight.  About the only thing I have seen once in awhile is some salt water crocodiles on the bank either approaching or leaving Gatun Locks... seen them more often in the afternoon,

[icystorms]

thanks, BillB48!