HAL and Panama Canal

[greatam]

We are now down to the Panama Canal on our "wish list" of cruises.

 

We like to dress up, we enjoy either suites or LARGE balcony cabins preferably aft. We have cruised Cunard, Seaborne, Celebrity, Princess.

 

Not into drunken partying, don't enjoy the kids running wild. Absolutely HATE rampant cell phone or walkie talkie use. Would like wifi internet access, but not essential. Totally enjoy great trivia games.

 

HAL looks to be a great fit, but wanted some first hand information on the Panama Canal portion. And any other things you can happen to think of.

 

HAL suite cost is approx. what Seaborne is on a per day basis. But with HAL, we can fly either way (embark/disembark) in Florida, NOT Costa Rica. Leaning towards HAL, as all the aft balconies on Celebrity are booked for the forseeable future. And we ABSOLUTELY will not cruise Princess again.

 

Thanks in advance

[sweet sheep]

Hi, Read your message and agree with the non partying and etc. stuff. My friend and i are at home travel agents and have just reserved 16 cabins and or suites to go through the canal on October 30th of this year. We are setting it up like a group but most people want to do their own thing so that will be just fine. This cruise leaves from Ft. Lauderdale and returns to Ft. Lauderdale. It is 10 days in total. You can look into one of Holland Americas catalogs about the canal and see it is the Sunfarer cruise. This is on theAmsterdam (HAL's flag ship)

I do not know if you have sailed HAL before or not but they are #1 in my book, and Celebrity comes next. The food is great and the abiance on the ship is great.

I truly love cruising myself and have been all over the caribbean. I have never sailed through the canal but have been onland at the locks and watched how it all works. Extremely interesting to say the least.

Have a good day and i hope you can find what you would like.

 

[kakalina]

Hi greatam, We have traveled through the canal with HAL twice, most recently in October '05. Both times was an incredible journey! In the first sailing on the Veendam we had ports in Nicaragua, Panama City, Cartagena, etc. It was exciting, the poverty level was about what we expected and so we weren't too shocked by the dirt and poverty.

The second time was also on the Veendam and there were no ports near the Canal as we were on our way to the Amazon River.

It is amazing to me that the Canal still works the way it was meant to after so many years of usage. On the most recent trip the Centennial bridge was completed and we greatly enjoyed cruising underneath it.

I am sure you will have a marvelous time.

DH and I don't drink and do not like the party aspects of some other cruiselines you won't find this on a HAL ship on a cruise of more than 7 days.

You will find HAL's suites a bit larger than on other lines. I think you will enjoy HAL.

[zaandam_2]

I did the 'sunfarer' cruise last november. it was nice, however you only get a small taste of the canal itself. a tease, really. this ship does go through the gatun locks, which is a triple level lock that raises the ship 85 feet above sea level. after the traversing lock passengers are unloaded for excursions and the ship anchors in lake gatun for a few hours. you really don't get to see the most scenic portions of the canal.

 

next time i want to do a full transit of the canal.

 

here's a link to some webcams of the locks:

 

http://www.pancanal.com/eng/photo/camera-java.html

[Krazy Kruizers]

If you are looking at a cruise where you embark and disembark in Florida, then you are not really going through the entire Panama Canal. You get to go through Gatum Locks. HAL has changed the next portion - if you take a tour, then you get off the ship (tender) once you are through the locks, go on your tour and meet the ship back at Limon.

 

To really enjoy the canal you need to take a full transit cruise. We have done that several times. The other way is okay.

[Pudgesmom]

If you take this cruise, I agree, you will miss some of the most interesting parts of the canal.

 

The Culebra (Gaillard) cut approaching the Pacific side locks was the most difficult part of the Canal to build. The new Centennial Bridge is beautiful, but the Bridge of the Americas, (right before the Pacific Ocean) was the highlight of my entire cruise. We passed under a night and it was completely lit up.

 

A partial transit would miss all three of these. Just out of curiousity, why would you not want to fly to Costa Rica? Its probably a much shorter flight from Arizona than to Fort Lauderdale, and you would have fewer sea days.

 

 

Having said all that, if the partial transit is the best for you, I would take it and enjoy!

 

Beth

 

 

Beth

[Ine]

In spring and fall there are HAL cruiseships to/from Ft. Lauderdale sailing to/from LA or San Francisco. Those ships are on their way (or coming from) Alaska.

I agree the total crossing of the Panamcanal is by far the best.

[RedmondCruiser]

Have done the canal three times previous and will be doing a 21 day PC in April. My suggestion would be to do the repositioning cruises in either April or September. They are longer and offer several opportunities to dress up ( 5 formal nights & 3 to 4 semi formal nights.). The passengers tend to be older and very well traveled. It makes for a very nice itinery and a longer cruise. I think you will be very pleased with HAL. Rooms are larger and the service is first rate. I agree with the previous contributors that a trans canal trip is by far the best option.

[gizmo]

Hal is for you. Which ships are you looking at ?

[HeatherInFlorida]

Greatam, I highly recommend full transit of the Canal. Many years ago we did the half way cruise into Gatun Lake and it didn't come close to our experience on the Summit this past October. We did the cruise from Long Beach to FLL. It was, without question, one of the best cruises we have ever taken. If you're interested in my review of our cruise on the Summit it's here on CC and is linked in my signature.

 

I'm sure the same cruise on HAL would be equally amazing. You really can't go wrong on either line. As everyone knows, I always give the edge to Celebrity, but I have so few problems with HAL that we're booked again this November.

 

But do try to do the 14-day full transit. You won't be disappointed. It's absolutely amazing.

[greatam]

Thanks for the info. I did not make myself clear when I posted Fl embark/disembark. We live in far western Arizona, so would drive to LA to embark or rent a car to get home if we embarked in Fl. We only will do a full transit.

[Krazy Kruizers]

You did have a couple of confused.

 

And you will love the full transit!!!

[caltnl]

Dear Greatam.

 

Noting your heading of Arizona/Missouri makes me think of my sister. Born & raised in Yuma then marring a guy from KC. So now with Grandchildren she spends most of their time in MO.

 

We whet our appetite for Panama with my sisters 50 year reunion cruise for 5 days out of San Pedro.

 

My Wife and I are booked on the Westerdam sailing from Ft. Lauderdale on the 16th of April. We are really looking forward to the trip.

 

Hope that you find the proper trip.

 

Bon voyage

[Krazy Kruizers]

And I forgot to mention that on the full transits, HAL has narrators on the ship for about 6 - 7 hours explaining everything.

 

And don't forget the Panama buns served everyhere in the morning - even on the open decks.

[greatam]

Which ship? What cabin? Which deck? Know absolutely nothing about HAL except they are a more formal line, which is the MAIN reason I am investigating HAL. Thanks

[HeatherInFlorida]

Greatam, HAL is no more formal than Celebrity.

 

I hope this link works to the various HAL ships that do this itinerary. It depends a lot of when you want to go: Itineraries - Holland America Line Inc. It's working now, but it may not continue to work.

 

When you research, you'll see that many HAL ships do the itinerary at different times of the year.

 

The Volendam does a 14-day from San Diego to FLL and she's supposed to be a wonderful ship with fewer passengers. Fall is a good time for this cruise because it can be a bit cooler.

 

If you want a larger ship, the Westerdam does it in October. You should bear in mind that our hurricane season here in Florida runs to the end of November. Wilma hit last year October 24th. So that can be an issue.

 

As to deck, you said you are planning a suite so it doesn't matter. There's no bad side or deck when going through the canal. We chose port side so we could see the Baja as we travelled south from Long Beach. Through the Canal, it makes no difference.

[Krazy Kruizers]

We prefer to do the FULL itineraries - which may start either in Seattle or Ft Lauderdale. Or if you go the other way - Ft Lauderdale to either Seattle or Vancouver. Have done both.

 

You ask which ship - you really have to look over the itineraries and decide which PORTS are important to you. Each ship's itinerary will have a couple of different ports.

 

As to cabins - well, we only do suites. We love to sit out on our verandah as we go through the canal - so any cabin with a verandah would be good.

 

Going from east to west - port side is good. Going from west to east - starboard is good. But just remember that you are actually going north and south & vice versa. Most of the time we have a cabin on the port side and a couple of times going west to east we were still able to watch the mules work.

[garydm]

We have done HAL, Silversea, Crystal, Residensea, etc. and the cruise thru the Panama Canal on HAL Statendam is my favorite. We had an S Suite with the big balcony which was great to view the locks, etc., but not crucial. If you can find one that stops at San Andres Island that would be good.

 

Gary