Celebrity Panama Canal Itinerary

[Host Jazzbeau]

Celebrity sent me an email featuring the 11-Night Panama Canal and Southern Caribbean itinerary on Edge, which is very interesting – but also confusing.  In addition to port stops at the ABC Islands and Cartagena, it also lists 'Panama Canal (Cruising) 6am–3pm' and on the same day 'Colon (Docked) 5pm–9pm'  There are no shore excursions for the Panama Canal 'stop' but several for the Colon. 

 

What does Celebrity do on these Panama Canal itineraries? 

[When we did a PC cruise on Princess they sailed through the Atlantic locks into Gatun Lake, where the shore excursions all departed, then the ship sailed back through those locks and docked at Colon.  This sounds like it must be similar – but in 2014 I'm pretty sure Celebrity wasn't paying to go through any locks, just docked at Colon all day.]

[Denny01]

I looked at that itinerary last year and it was cancelled, but at that time, it’s much as you saw with the Princess cruise of entering and returning through the Atlantic locks. There was no stop inside the Canal and the itineraries were our to Colon after pulling out. 

 

One interesting point. I don’t think the Edge can transit the old locks so it should be going through the new locks which would be Very Interesting! We saw how the new locks were when we did a full Panama Canal transit and did a tour of the new locks; that cruise did the normal old locks which is neat too, but the new ones would really be fun.

 

den

[jelayne]

We are booked on itinerary.  We were told that the ship goes through the Gatun locks and turns around in Gatun lake, so not a full transit.  We specifically asked and were told it was the old locks not the new locks which we hoped it would.  
 

The Edge was scheduled for that itinerary for 2022 and we were booked on thst cruise.  The ship was changed from the Edge  to the Silhouette and thePanama Canal was dropped from the itinerary. So now we are on the 2023 sailing

 

if I’m not mistaken the locks were expanded in 2016 to accommodate larger ships.

Edited May 24, 2021 by jelayne

[Denny01]

Sounds like you are right jelayne.  I always thought the reason the M-Class ships were the only ones that made the full Panama Canal transit was because the S-Class couldn’t ‘fit’. So much for that. 

 

Den

[Host Jazzbeau]

The old locks limitations led to a class of ships called Panamax, which includes the Coral [and Island] Princess – to my knowledge none of the newer Princess ships will fit, so neither S-class nor E-class should either.  Whoever said that Edge is going through the old locks may have been misinformed.

[jelayne]

We had hoped to go through the new locks but have been told by TA, Celebrity and friends that it is the old locks,

We went through the canal in 2015 and  were told the delay of the new locks created a need to expand the canal. So it sounds like the old locks can handle larger ships.

Here is some info:

https://www.google.com/search?q=expansion+of+the+old+panama+canal&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us&client=safari

[Denny01]

I’ve looked through Wikipedia and to the above site, but still don’t see any info that the Gatun Locks were widened. All I can see it those locks can handle a ship with a max width of 106ft. The Edge beam is 128ft. There are the new parallel locks, the Aqua Clara locks, which can handle it. So no idea what is being said when the Edge is using the Gatun Locks. 

 

Oh well. I guess Host Jazz can look over the side and let us know which lock is being used!

 

Den

[mahdnc]

1 hour ago, jelayne said:

We had hoped to go through the new locks but have been told by TA, Celebrity and friends that it is the old locks,

We went through the canal in 2015 and  were told the delay of the new locks created a need to expand the canal. So it sounds like the old locks can handle larger ships.

Here is some info:

https://www.google.com/search?q=expansion+of+the+old+panama+canal&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us&client=safari

 

I don't see where it says that the old locks were expanded.

 

I looked up the current Panamax standard and the ship's beam cannot exceed 106 feet which rules out S and E classes.

[mahdnc]

although this bad boy did get through with a 108 ft beam (USS Iowa in 2001):

[Host Jazzbeau]

20 minutes ago, mahdnc said:

although this bad boy did get through with a 108 ft beam (USS Iowa in 2001):

Coral Princess went in with pristine white sides and came out looking like a rust bucket, so I can just imagine what Iowa looked like after that transit!

[jelayne]

18 minutes ago, mahdnc said:

 

I don't see where it says that the old locks were expanded.

 

I looked up the current Panamax standard and the ship's beam cannot exceed 106 feet which rules out S and E classes.

You may be right,  but we were told on a tour of Miraflores  station that the original locks were being expanded.  Also told that the cruise would go thru the old locks, which were fascinating to do with the combo of manual labor and old fashion machinery keeping the ship in line. 
 

We are now looking forward to seeing the new locks but think the old may be the more interesting.

 

 

 

[mahdnc]

33 minutes ago, jelayne said:

You may be right,  but we were told on a tour of Miraflores  station that the original locks were being expanded.  Also told that the cruise would go thru the old locks, which were fascinating to do with the combo of manual labor and old fashion machinery keeping the ship in line. 
 

We are now looking forward to seeing the new locks but think the old may be the more interesting.

 

 

 

 

Well, either way I am envious that you will be going!

[mahdnc]

41 minutes ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Coral Princess went in with pristine white sides and came out looking like a rust bucket, so I can just imagine what Iowa looked like after that transit!

 

But that cannot be normal for a cruise ship, right?

[Host Jazzbeau]

20 minutes ago, mahdnc said:

 

But that cannot be normal for a cruise ship, right?

Panamax ships only leave 18 inches on each side, so despite 8 'mules' guiding the ship she did scrape both sides going through.  The crews are painting various parts of the ship every day throughout the cruise – this just forced them to focus on that part extra hard.

[TeeRick]

10 hours ago, Denny01 said:

I’ve looked through Wikipedia and to the above site, but still don’t see any info that the Gatun Locks were widened. All I can see it those locks can handle a ship with a max width of 106ft. The Edge beam is 128ft. There are the new parallel locks, the Aqua Clara locks, which can handle it. So no idea what is being said when the Edge is using the Gatun Locks. 

 

Oh well. I guess Host Jazz can look over the side and let us know which lock is being used!

 

Den

Den,

It is not the old vs new locks.  The issue is the Bridge of the Americas on the Pacific side.  Built in the 1950's. M-Class ships can pass under this bridge.  We did on Infinity a few years back.  S-Class ships are too tall but at least one (Solstice?) has a funnel the folds down.  The Edge would also be too tall.

 

http://madaboutpanama.com/panama-sights/panama-city/bridge-of-the-americas/

[mahdnc]

4 minutes ago, TeeRick said:

Den,

It is not the old vs new locks.  The issue is the Bridge of the Americas on the Pacific side.  Built in the 1950's. M-Class ships can pass under this bridge.  We did on Infinity a few years back.  S-Class ships are too tall but at least one (Solstice?) has a funnel the folds down.  The Edge would also be too tall.

 

http://madaboutpanama.com/panama-sights/panama-city/bridge-of-the-americas/

 

I think you are referring to Solstice whose mast was modified  in order to pass under the Lions Gate Bridge in Vancouver for her first Alaska season.

Edited May 25, 2021 by mahdnc

[TeeRick]

2 minutes ago, mahdnc said:

 

I think you are referring to Solstice whose mast was modified  in order to pass under the Lions Gate Bridge in Vancouver for her first Alaska season.

Yes that is correct.  Thank you.

[mahdnc]

1 minute ago, TeeRick said:

Yes that is correct.  Thank you.

 

The Bridge of Americas height restriction would not prevent a partial transit from the Atlantic side, right (reviving the old vs new locks debate)?

[TeeRick]

2 minutes ago, mahdnc said:

 

The Bridge of Americas height restriction would not prevent a partial transit from the Atlantic side, right (reviving the old vs new locks debate)?

Yes that is right.  Many ships do stops in Colon before the Gatun (Atlantic) locks.  Others sail through old or new locks into Gatun Lake and turn around.  The bridge is the real issue with full transit of many newer cruise ships.  

 

We did Infinity through the old locks in a full transit.  It gave us a real sense of history.  Loved it.  The new locks would not give that same experience IMO.

[wrk2cruise]

10 hours ago, mahdnc said:

 

But that cannot be normal for a cruise ship, right?

 

After our transit on Infinity we had a full length racing stripe.  The ship shuttered noticeably when rubbing the side of the locks.  The crew were out there painting the next day at dock!

 

 

[jelayne]

The Edge itinerary is go through from Atlantic turn around in Gatun lake and stop at Colin after 

[mahdnc]

12 minutes ago, TeeRick said:

Yes that is right.  Many ships do stops in Colon before the Gatun (Atlantic) locks.  Others sail through old or new locks into Gatun Lake and turn around.  The bridge is the real issue with full transit of many newer cruise ships.  

 

We did Infinity through the old locks in a full transit.  It gave us a real sense of history.  Loved it.  The new locks would not give that same experience IMO.

 

I hope to do a cruise ship full transit some day.

[mahdnc]

2 minutes ago, wrk2cruise said:

 

After our transit on Infinity we had a full length racing stripe.  The ship shuttered noticeably when rubbing the side of the locks.  The crew were out there painting the next day at dock!

 

 

 

Would make for an interesting photo in Celebrity's Panama Canal brochure.....

[sptrout]

I cannot provide any specific comments to the OP's question, but only an observation. IMO (and experience) the cruise lines go to great lengths not to accurately describe partial Canal transits. For example, they use every trick in the book to not give an accurate description of partial transit cruises. The only way to make sure that you are getting what you think that you are paying for is to embark a cruise somewhere on the Pacific side, and then disembark somewhere in east of Panama (or the other way around).

 

For people not familiar with Panama there is a good chance that they will be totally confused about what the cruise line is describing for any Canal cruise. I have been lucky in that our first Canal visit required a full transit so I have been able to translate poorly worded descriptions of our other 4 visits with no surprises. IMO, the cruise lines can be very deceptive for Panama cruises.

[TeeRick]

4 minutes ago, sptrout said:

I cannot provide any specific comments to the OP's question, but only an observation. IMO (and experience) the cruise lines go to great lengths not to accurately describe partial Canal transits. For example, they use every trick in the book to not give an accurate description of partial transit cruises. The only way to make sure that you are getting what you think that you are paying for is to embark a cruise somewhere on the Pacific side, and then disembark somewhere in east of Panama (or the other way around).

 

For people not familiar with Panama there is a good chance that they will be totally confused about what the cruise line is describing for any Canal cruise. I have been lucky in that our first Canal visit required a full transit so I have been able to translate poorly worded descriptions of our other 4 visits with no surprises. IMO, the cruise lines can be very deceptive for Panama cruises.

People just need to look at the itinerary and know a little geography.  Most full transits are inclusive of ports in both the Atlantic and Pacific.  Our Infinity transit went from Miami to San Diego. Maybe too much to ask? 😀