What to do at Colon, Panama port?

[holdon216]

We will be on a Gatun Lock tour till 2pm this April.  We will then meet up with NCL Jade in Colon. The Jade will be leave Colon at 8pm. Is there anything to see near the port for a couple hours?

[BillB48]

Nothing for you in Colon whatsoever except the shopping area where the ship docks.  Nothing all that special there, just some of the regular things you would expect to find.

[missjulia1]

Stay near ship. Very dangerous to leave gated area!

[mjkStirling]

Just returned and would verify stay in the port, or, take a taxi from inside the port to somewhere identified on the tourist board where prices are all clearly stated. Small shopping area, restaurant, hotel etc. seasoned speaker on board advised no one to leave the port without an organised excursion. 

[42go]

Definitely do not leave the port area. My husband and I took a taxi to see the church and I feel lucky we made it back to the ship unharmed. After spending about five minutes near the church we realized the area was not safe. We were looking for a taxi to take us back to the ship and an elderly lady warned us not to walk down the street we were heading toward. She then very kindly flagged down a taxi for us. We have traveled extensively and this is the only place I have ever felt like we were in danger. Very scary.

[Brick427]

Wonder why in the world the cruise companies would chose to stop in this dangerous port ?

[Essiesmom]

Because ships that do a partial transit of the canal need a place to dock to pick up passengers from their excursions.  Otherwise, you would need to ask Pullmantur, TUI, Windstar, etc. why they choose this port as a stop, or a place to embark passengers.  EM

[cb at sea]

The ship will likely be there for hours before you're excursion gets back.  No worries.  There is a "flea market" type mall....all sorts of crap for sale!  That can take an hour if you look at all the stuff they sell!

[OCruisers]

On 1/16/2019 at 1:32 PM, missjulia1 said:

Stay near ship. Very dangerous to leave gated area!

 

It actually is not a good idea to leave the gated area.  

Nothing you'd enjoyed doing if you did anyway.  

[holdon216]

Back from our cruise and i agree there was nothing to see in the port area or beyond. Super poor area! We did enjoy the excursion we took through NCL, Eco Cruise & Gatun New Locks.

[ValerieJo]

On 4/17/2019 at 12:38 PM, holdon216 said:

Back from our cruise and i agree there was nothing to see in the port area or beyond. Super poor area! We did enjoy the excursion we took through NCL, Eco Cruise & Gatun New Locks.

We will be on Royal Caribbean and they offer the Eco Cruise on Gatun Lake.  Here is the description:   Cruise along the vast jungle area surrounding Gatun Lake and prepare yourself for a wildlife extravaganza. You will ride along the back channels, islands, and bays of this unique waterway to get an up close glimpse of the capuchin monkeys and other animals that inhabit this area. Have your camera ready to take advantage of the abundant photo opportunities, and listen along as your guide describes the culture, history, and ecology of this unspoiled region. CO62.  

Does this sound like the same excursion you did with NCL?  Did you go through some of the locks?  Thank you.

[holdon216]

15 minutes ago, ValerieJo said:

We will be on Royal Caribbean and they offer the Eco Cruise on Gatun Lake.  Here is the description:   Cruise along the vast jungle area surrounding Gatun Lake and prepare yourself for a wildlife extravaganza. You will ride along the back channels, islands, and bays of this unique waterway to get an up close glimpse of the capuchin monkeys and other animals that inhabit this area. Have your camera ready to take advantage of the abundant photo opportunities, and listen along as your guide describes the culture, history, and ecology of this unspoiled region. CO62.  

Does this sound like the same excursion you did with NCL?  Did you go through some of the locks?  Thank you.

Our NCL Jade went through the  two locks which brought us into Gatun Lake.Where we then tendered. We then took a very short tender ride to the area where we boarded a bus. We then went to the observation area of the new locks. I found this interesting and i'm not really into the blah blah blah tour type info. Back onto the bus we went to the canals. We did see sloths, monkeys, caiman aka gators, and a couple other animals.

 While we were on the excursion The Jade went back through the locks where we met it in Colon.