How to experience the Panama Canal

[kaymoz]

We wanted to do a cruise to someplace warm in February, and are thinking about the Panama Canal, so seek some advice.   The Panama Canal has been "on our list" for many years, and while we had originally intended to visit South America this winter, we are now thinking that this is the year for Panama instead!  We are mid-60s &  retired so can take our time,  and typically stay over at one or both ends of a cruise for additional exploration.  We live in the mid-Atlantic area so would be flying to and from any embarkation/disembarkation ports.

 

In our desired timeframe, there are several ocean-to-ocean voyages that do the "full transit" of the canal, running about two weeks between Florida and California, largely with HAL.  Most don't include any portstops in Panama, which seems odd to me.  Then, there is the Windstar transit,  a 7 day cruise between Costa Rica and Panama, affording ample opportunity to explore either or both of those countries.  And who knows, there may be other options I didn't find in my cruise searching!

 

Any feedback on how we can best experience this engineering marvel is welcome !

[BillB48]

I think you have already discovered one of the faults of many of the cruise lines that offer Canal transits, which is the lack of port stops in Panama in conjunction with a transit.  HAL and Princess are probably have the most Canal transits available during the "Canal season" and they don't offer Panama stops on a lot of their Canal cruises.  Doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason for the lack of port stops that I can identify.  Other cruise lines like NCL and Carnival seem only to have occasional Canal offerings and not many with stops.  Celebrity and RCI usually include a port stop along with the transit, but they too don't offer that many cruises during the season.  

 

So, sorry not much help... just confirmation what you have already found in your search. 

[kaymoz]

Now you have me wondering if maybe we should try Windstar for this trip! 

Depending on the vessel, with Windstar the size would be 148-310 passengers!  Now I know that transiting the canal on a small ship like these would be a very different compared to the larger ones with HAL, Princess, etc., at 1400 passengers and up.  But I just can't imagine what and how.  Any thoughts?  Or should I post this on the Windstar board?

 

Edited November 30, 2019 by kaymoz

[BillB48]

Actually I think transiting on a smaller ship is somewhat a better experience, particularly in the locks.  On the larger ships passing through the locks can seem a bit removed from the process.  Most people view the process from the higher decks and while the view is great the height provides some isolation of the process.  Other than that, the passage through the Gaillard/Culebra Cut and Gatun Lake will not be different.  I think any cruise that affords you the opportunity to see some of Panama in addition to the Canal is a real bonus.  Canal aficionados will probably use the time to see more of the Canal, (the locks) from a landside point of view.  Of course there will be a number of tours that will take in other aspects of Panama.  No bad choices here.

[O2B@Cagain]

kaymoz: You should definitely check the Windstar board. There are several posters who are going over the next two months, including me. If you don't need Broadway productions, 24 hour trough, and rock climbing walls, you might be a Windstar passenger...Have you read "The Path Between the Seas"? 😊

[kaymoz]

Ha, it's actually good for me if there is no 24 hour trough!  I think we are going to do Windstar but probably not the one that goes through the canal this time.

 

[O2B@Cagain]

Okay. If you try Windstar and like it, you'll be back...😉

[kaymoz]

We just booked today!  It's a 17 day cruise on the Windsurf that begins in Aruba and ends in Cozumel, including 3 portstops in Panama:  Lake Gatun, Colon, and Bocas del Toro.  Now the fun begins, figuring out which stops should simply be spontaneous explorations and which should be planned in advance (and what).

[kaymoz]

Actually it turns out the ship will stop TWICE at Bocas del Toro, on two non-consecutive days.  I hope we'll find lots to do there!

 

[cruise-n-Pa-couple]

On 11/29/2019 at 9:01 PM, BillB48 said:

Actually I think transiting on a smaller ship is somewhat a better experience, particularly in the locks.  On the larger ships passing through the locks can seem a bit removed from the process.  Most people view the process from the higher decks and while the view is great the height provides some isolation of the process.  Other than that, the passage through the Gaillard/Culebra Cut and Gatun Lake will not be different.  I think any cruise that affords you the opportunity to see some of Panama in addition to the Canal is a real bonus.  Canal aficionados will probably use the time to see more of the Canal, (the locks) from a landside point of view.  Of course there will be a number of tours that will take in other aspects of Panama.  No bad choices here.

Hi Bill.  I hope it is OK to reach out to you this way.  My wife and I will be doing a full transit of the Panama Canal, on the Celebrity Summit in Oct of 2020.  I'm trying to find reviews/info on an excursion that Celebrity is offering.  It's title is "Expansion Of The Panama Canal "The Present & The Future" .  I was in the U.S. Navy and stationed at Coco Solo Panama in 1969.  We are hopeing to find an excursion that will show us the new locks and perhaps the old.  Thanks in advance.

[BillB48]

It's fine to reach out here... I can't give you a review of the excursion you are referring to, but from reading the description on X's web site that looks like the one to select.  As described the excursion will take you to the new locks at Agua Clara on the Atlantic side and then over to the Pacific side to view the Miraflores Locks which are the original ones.

 

Usually Celebrity offers a stop in Colon in addition to the transit, just across the harbor where the ship is docked is a rather large container port.  That container port is where Coco Solo once stood, there is only one building left from the original Coco Solo, I believe it is the former headquarters building.  Gone are all the four family housing, the commissary building and theater... not much of memory lane to walk down, quite a change.  Some things haven't changed... Colon is still pretty much the pits😉! 

[cruise-n-Pa-couple]

3 minutes ago, BillB48 said:

It's fine to reach out here... I can't give you a review of the excursion you are referring to, but from reading the description on X's web site that looks like the one to select.  As described the excursion will take you to the new locks at Agua Clara on the Atlantic side and then over to the Pacific side to view the Miraflores Locks which are the original ones.

 

Usually Celebrity offers a stop in Colon in addition to the transit, just across the harbor where the ship is docked is a rather large container port.  That container port is where Coco Solo once stood, there is only one building left from the original Coco Solo, I believe it is the former headquarters building.  Gone are all the four family housing, the commissary building and theater... not much of memory lane to walk down, quite a change.  Some things haven't changed... Colon is still pretty much the pits😉! 

Thanks very much for your reply.  Yes, after reading their description of the excursion, I thought also that it would be the one for us.   We do have a stop in Colon.  I think we're there for 8 - 10 hours.  I have read elsewhere that Coco Solo as we knew it was pretty much gone.  Yeah, Colon was pretty much the pits in 1969, and I don't think much has changed.  Thanks again for the info.