Fuerte Amador- still a tender port by Oct 2021

[Banditswife]

Reading some of these threads on Panama Canal, I read something about a dock being built there, but is it complete yet?  

[BillB48]

Whether or not it is officially open I can't confirm, the completion has had several delays to include the suspension of cruising.  The last I read was it "should" be open by October.  The facility looks largely completed if you look at the satellite view on Google Maps.  No way of knowing when that view was recorded.

[Essiesmom]

The date on Google Earth is 2/12/2021.  It looks like the pier is pretty much done, but a lot to do yet on the dock.  EM

 

[Banditswife]

Thanks

[BillB48]

Just got a text back from my contact at the Canal and the word is for an October opening.  Let's hope so!

[BillB48]

While it isn't October any longer, the Viking Star has become the first cruise ship to use the new cruise terminal at Ft. Amador on the 16th of November.  The ship disembarked a little under 700 passengers and embarked a little more than 500.  The Viking Star was on a 10 day cruise from Ft. Lauderdale terminating in Panama City.  The following voyage is returning to Ft. Lauderdale.

 

The Maritime authorities listed the Star's visit as a test and did not indicate the facility was officially opened.

[Essiesmom]

Well, NCL Sun has been docked there since Viking Star left.  Royal Clipper is currently in transit, expecting to dock there tonight to turn around her cruise tomorrow.  EM

[Essiesmom]

NCL Sun still docked,...with bridge cam on.  Not sure it is really 'finished'.  Looks like there might still be some polishing to do...

 

[BillB48]

After I posted earlier about the October opening I read I news blurb from some source in Panama that said they had delays in "hardware" for the facility.  Not sure what that meant... furnishings, check-in terminals or what and that would not be in position until early in the new year.  Guess it is a soft opening??  My contact did not have any further info.

 

https://amp.gob.pa/notas-de-prensa/realizan-primer-atraque-de-prueba-en-la-terminal-de-cruceros-de-panama/

 

Found the above from the Authoridad Maritima Panama, the article is in Spanish but if you scroll down to very end of the article there is a link for English.  Also a few pictures of the Star tied up at the new pier.

[khuselid]

We just docked in the Viking Orion today at the new terminal. We can’t walk out from the terminal so Viking will bring in shuttles to take folks downtown. We don’t want to go downtown and are trying to find out if taxis will be allowed into, and out of, the new terminal. Viking won’t know until tomorrow morning. 🤨 anybody know?

[njhorseman]

2 hours ago, khuselid said:

We just docked in the Viking Orion today at the new terminal. We can’t walk out from the terminal so Viking will bring in shuttles to take folks downtown. We don’t want to go downtown and are trying to find out if taxis will be allowed into, and out of, the new terminal. Viking won’t know until tomorrow morning. 🤨 anybody know?

When it was a tender port there were taxis at the building where the tender docked . There's a marina, restaurants and stores there. I have believe there will still be taxis available.

Edited November 24, 2021 by njhorseman

[khuselid]

1 hour ago, njhorseman said:

When it was a tender port there were taxis at the building where the tender docked . There's a marina, restaurants and stores there. I have believe there will still be taxis available.

Problem is we can’t walk out of the area because of construction and don’t know if they will allow taxis in. They are allowing tour busses in though……guess we’ll have to wait until tomorrow.

 

[njhorseman]

24 minutes ago, khuselid said:

Problem is we can’t walk out of the area because of construction and don’t know if they will allow taxis in. They are allowing tour busses in though……guess we’ll have to wait until tomorrow.

 

So you're saying the shuttles are only going into Panama City and they're not providing any transportation to the Fuerte Amador marina and shopping area itself?  If I were a restaurant or shop owner there I wouldn't be happy with that.

[Heidi13]

19 hours ago, khuselid said:

We just docked in the Viking Orion today at the new terminal. We can’t walk out from the terminal so Viking will bring in shuttles to take folks downtown. We don’t want to go downtown and are trying to find out if taxis will be allowed into, and out of, the new terminal. Viking won’t know until tomorrow morning. 🤨 anybody know?

 

If they don't permit taxis onto the port area, the Viking buses will normally drop you at the dock gates. They may even make a stop at the marina.

[khuselid]

3 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

 

If they don't permit taxis onto the port area, the Viking buses will normally drop you at the dock gates. They may even make a stop at the marina.

All’s well that ends well. They did decide they needed a stop at the marina for those who didn’t want to go downtown. Quite a bumpy ride as the road isn’t finished yet! It should be a beautiful area when completed.

[njhorseman]

1 hour ago, khuselid said:

All’s well that ends well. They did decide they needed a stop at the marina for those who didn’t want to go downtown. Quite a bumpy ride as the road isn’t finished yet! It should be a beautiful area when completed.

Glad to hear they came to their senses.

[BillB48]

Attached a short video in Spanish on the Ft. Amador cruise terminal.  What I was able to glean from it was the facility is 83% complete and a formal opening will take place around September/October 2022.  The current operations were "tests" for the operation and logistics of the facility.  There will be have two gangways on each side of the pier to allow passengers to board the ship at the main deck level.  These gangways appear to me to be among the items that are awaiting completion.  The terminal will be able to handle a little over a 1000' of ships on both sides of the pier.

 

 

[BillB48]

A nice video showing the new Cruise Terminal at Ft. Amador as well as the Ft. Amador Causeway that links the four islands to the mainland.  To put some history to the "causeway", it was originally created from the spoils removed during construction of the Canal.  At that time the "causeway" was known as the Naos Island Breakwater as the purpose of the breakwater was to disrupt currents in the bay that fostered silting up of the main channel.  The other and often overlooked use of the causeway was to support the Coastal Defense Installation that was built on those islands for the protection of the Canal.  Among the armaments were a 16" rifle on a disappearing carriage along with several 14" rifles on disappearing carriages as well.  Two 14" railway rifles could also be positioned there via a railroad spur.

 

Fortunately, a shot was never fired in anger and we now have the results of a more peaceful pursuit.  For the record, the Causeway has been enlarged a great deal to support the four lane road, traffic circles and turnouts from the original railway spur and narrow road.

 

Enjoy... 

 

Edited December 19, 2021 by BillB48

[Turtles06]

@BillB48 Happy New Year to you and everyone else reading this.  Thanks for the videos and for keeping us up to date on the new cruise terminal at Fuerte Amador.  If all goes as we hope, a year from now we'll be there for an overnight and a day on a B2B Canal cruise.   

 

Haven't started any planning yet, but I'm wondering about how long it takes to get to Panama City itself from Fuerte Amador.    

 

Thanks in advance for an estimate! 

[BillB48]

A very Happy New Year to you as well, filled with lots of cruises, hopefully!  The metropolitan Panama City is in plain view of where the ships will dock at the new Amador cruise terminal.  One of the more popular destinations in the City is the Casco Antiguo which is about 3 miles away, but that is as the shark swims!  A more traditional method of getting there would take you about 15 to 20 minutes, that of course depending on traffic.  Panama can have some world class gridlock at certain times of the day or on certain days that are their traditional holidays.

[Turtles06]

Thanks @BillB48! 

 

Any other suggestions for our day docked at Amador from you or anyone else are also most welcome!  (Because we are on a B2B and that's the ending and starting port, I doubt there will be any ship's tours, so we are looking for something we can safely do on our own, or a private tour.   I'll probably post a separate thread on this soon.)

[BillB48]

6 hours ago, Turtles06 said:

Any other suggestions for our day docked at Amador

 

As far as tours on the turnaround day, I have been on back to backs where they were offered, but many times they were cancelled because of lack of interest.  So, you are probably wise to plan your own day independently.  Don't know if you are looking to take in more of the Canal or not.  If that is the case Miraflores is where the visitor's center is for the Pacific side.  You can watch the operation of the locks and they have many displays that include the old GE mules and the Mitsubishi replacements.  In the last couple of years they have added an IMAX theater that runs a 45 minute documentary narrated by Morgan Freeman that is certainly worth a look.

 

The visitor's center for the new locks is on the Atlantic side near the Gatun Locks.  The drive across the Isthmus is a little over an hour each way.

 

If you are looking for non Canal points of interests right near by in Amador is the Biomuseo, the building was designed by Frank Gehry.  You can't miss it the building, something akin to a tornado deposited a pile of twisted colored sheet metal!  Things to see in Panama City proper would be the Casco Antiguo and perhaps the ruins of Old Panama (Panama Viejo), the original city.  A couple of notable things to see in the Casco would be the Church of the Golden Atlar and the Church of the Flat Arch.  The Golden Altar is in the Church of San Jose, parts of the altar were taken apart and submerged in the bay while the larger portions were tarred to prevent Henry Morgan from appropriating it.  The ruins of the Church of Santo Domingo is where you will find the Flat Arch.  The Arch was used as an example for Panama' geological stability.  Spoiler alert... the Arch collapsed in 2003 after a massive fireworks demonstration for Panama's 100th Independence celebration.  It has since been reassembled.

 

Getting to these places, not really a problem as you can always hire a cab to take you.  There is nothing inherently dangerous about grabbing a cab to see the sights.  The big negative is sometimes you may get a highly creative version of history which may or may not have any similarity to actual events.  Used to be able to do a search on this board and find a number of tour guides that came with a decent recommendation, but Covid has taken its toll there as well.  Don't if know if Trip Advisor would be any help or not.  If you decide on jumping in a cab just agree on what you are going to do and a price beforehand and make sure your driver is good enough in English.  You won't have any problems finding people who speak good English, but for some reason many cabbies didn't get the memo.

[Turtles06]

@BillB48 Thanks so much for the excellent suggestions and all that info!

[njhorseman]

1 hour ago, Turtles06 said:

@BillB48 Thanks so much for the excellent suggestions and all that info!

@BillB48, thanks from me too, as I'll be on the same cruises as @Turtles06.

[njhorseman]

4 hours ago, Turtles06 said:

@BillB48 Thanks so much for the excellent suggestions and all that info!

Judith, we did a port call there a couple of years ago when we were on an Oceania ship . Took a cruise line excursion which included a visit to the Miraflores visitor's center, plus a long bus ride to somewhere...don't recall exactly, where we boarded a small boat (20 passengers perhaps) that took us on a wildlife spotting expedition. It was very strange...in fact a bit scary...to be on this small boat just feet from the huge ships doing canal transits.

We enjoyed the day, but it was very tiring.

I want to visit Panama City this time and since Ellie and I are doing consecutive canal B2Bs we hope to have enough time to see both the old city and the modern city.