Panama Canal cruise questions

[babyclaytonmom]

Seasoned cruiser (30+ mostly on Carnival) but have never done the Panama Canal. Is a partial transit that much less of an experience? What is the difference just less time in the canal? How special or different is this cruise? Also what are the highlights in Limon? Thank you!

[Cruise Suzy]

Because DH does not like to be away from home more than absolutely necessary and hates to fly, we will book a cruise that does just a partial canal transit from Ft. Lauderdale/Port Everglades. However, we will book the excursion that goes by "ferry" through the locks on the Pacific side of Gatun Lake and returns us by bus to the ship in Colon. That way we can experience most of what those doing a full transit do. We will not traverse the whole of Gatun Lake - the ferry begins in Gamboa and we get there by bus after tendering from the ship after it clears the Atlantic side locks.

 

With engineering backgrounds this is one cruise neither of us wants to miss.

[CruiserBruce]

A full transit will always be better...you flat out get to see more of this amazing wonder.

 

For all the Costa Rica info you will ever need:

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/120-costa-rica/

[BillB48]

The partial transit cruise is a great cruise and you can get a good feel for the Canal if you include the shore excursion that takes you on a partial transit that goes through the Pacific Locks and Gaillard Cut.  However, a full transit cruise is truly the best way to experience the Canal.  If you decide on a partial transit cruise with Carnival,  ensure that the ship will offer shore excursions once the ship reaches Gatun Lake.  Most cruise lines do offer shore excursions upon reaching Gatun Lake, however in the past I am aware of some Carnival partial transit cruises that have not offered the shore excursions.  The ship will just lock up at Gatun Locks and then lock back down Gatun Locks as soon as is convenient.  The reason I mention this is the partial transit cruises I looked at offered by Carnival make no mention of a port call at Colon.  Passengers on shore excursions at the Canal disembark once the ship reaches Gatun Lake and rejoin the ship when it docks in Colon.

[babyclaytonmom]

On 7/2/2021 at 4:59 PM, BillB48 said:

The partial transit cruise is a great cruise and you can get a good feel for the Canal if you include the shore excursion that takes you on a partial transit that goes through the Pacific Locks and Gaillard Cut.  However, a full transit cruise is truly the best way to experience the Canal.  If you decide on a partial transit cruise with Carnival,  ensure that the ship will offer shore excursions once the ship reaches Gatun Lake.  Most cruise lines do offer shore excursions upon reaching Gatun Lake, however in the past I am aware of some Carnival partial transit cruises that have not offered the shore excursions.  The ship will just lock up at Gatun Locks and then lock back down Gatun Locks as soon as is convenient.  The reason I mention this is the partial transit cruises I looked at offered by Carnival make no mention of a port call at Colon.  Passengers on shore excursions at the Canal disembark once the ship reaches Gatun Lake and rejoin the ship when it docks in Colon.

Great info- the one I'm looking at doesnt mention Colon. Thanks!

[Essiesmom]

The partial transits offered by Carnival do not offer any shore excursions.  You simply lock up into Gatun Lake, loiter for a couple of hours, lock back down to the Caribbean and continue on your way.  EM

[Hikingryan]

We are sailing on Princess, leaving Ft. Lauderdale on November 29, doing a partial transit.  We are a bit confused with excursions.  If we take a full-day excursion, it says that we will be dropped off in Cristobal.  Does that mean that we will miss going back through the locks on the ship?  Thank you.

[njhorseman]

2 hours ago, Hikingryan said:

We are sailing on Princess, leaving Ft. Lauderdale on November 29, doing a partial transit.  We are a bit confused with excursions.  If we take a full-day excursion, it says that we will be dropped off in Cristobal.  Does that mean that we will miss going back through the locks on the ship?  Thank you.

Yes, you'll miss going back through the locks on the ship.

[BillB48]

Hikingryan... True you will miss the return trip through the locks and the short sail to Cristobal, which is the exact reverse of your route earlier in the day.  You will only see about 5 miles of a 50 mile canal.  If you haven't transited before or been to Panama consider one of the shore excursion offered.  The one that takes you through Gaillard Cut and the Pacific Locks would allow you to see the original locks and a lot more of the Canal as well.  Either way, enjoy.

Edited October 11, 2021 by BillB48

[CruiserBruce]

1 hour ago, twoparsecs said:

I'm going to add on to this topic, if you don't mind. (Also if you do.)

 

Will I know at the time I book a Panama Canal passage whether I am going through the old or the new canal? Is it based solely on the type of ship and/or the size of the ship?

Based primarily on the size of the ship. If it fits in the old locks, it will almost always go in the old locks. Obviously,  if it's too big for the old locks, it can only go in the new locks. 

[BillB48]

Once in awhile the cruise lines will specifically mention in their description of the Canal transit which locks they will be using.  Beyond that the only way for you to determine which locks will be used is to look up the ship's length and beam.  Maximum length is 965' and 106' beam for the old locks.  When you look for those figures it is often easy to find the beam of the ship expressed with the extreme width which could include things like the bridge wings which may exceed the 106' measurement.  As long as that measurement doesn't exceed 106 at the waterline, the ship would use the old locks.  Sometimes finding that figure can be a bit illusive. 

 

As Bruce noted if it fits the old locks it will almost always go in the old locks.  While there have been a number of exceptions for cargo ships that could use the old locks being assigned to transit the new locks because of Canal convenience, there has only been one instance where this occurred to a cruise ship.  That happened at the outbreak of Covid,  HAL's Zaandam and Rotterdam were temporarily barred from transiting the Canal because of Covid cases onboard.  Ships using the old locks require a number of Canal employees to come on board, this would include the pilots and Canal seamen who handle bringing the locomotive cables onboard.  While trying to minimize exposure, this had all the trappings of becoming a public relations nightmare for Canal officials, a decision was made to take both ships through the new locks during the overnight hours.  There were no passengers on deck and the manner they were taken through the new locks was quite different from how ships are normally handled.  Normally a tug on the bow and a tug on the stern help guide the ship into the lock where it is made fast to the lock wall while the water is admitted or spilled from the chamber.  While a tug on the bow and stern were used, the ship was held in the center of the chamber during filling and spilling, no lines and no other contact with the locks.  Also this size ship normally requires two pilots, however for this transit only one pilot for each ship was used.  After the pilots left the ship it was a two week quarantine for them.

 

Hopefully that is all in the review mirror.

[Paradiso34]

We went on a Princess partial transit cruise at the beginning of 2020 before COVID and it was very interesting.  They had a Canal expert on board talking over the loudspeakers explaining what was happening at each stage along with some history.

 

We are doing a full transit westbound in 2023 and looking forward to it.