Panama Canal Cruises

[Turtles06]

On 10/30/2022 at 7:11 AM, WheresWalter said:

Here's a few images. The bridge is the end of the canal and the entrance to the Pacific Ocean. We went under the bridge and the tour ended shortly beyond that. 

 

 

 

We've done two full transits of the Canal, and I very much appreciate your description and photos of the small-boat excursion through the Pacific locks that you took on your partial transit.  Thanks for sharing them.  (If we ever do a partial transit, I'd love to do that excursion.)

 

One small correction for others who may be reading: the bridge in your photo is the Centennial Bridge, which is not at the Pacific end of the Canal, it's the bridge that crosses the Culebra Cut/Continental Divide.  The bridge at the Pacific entrance to the Canal is the Bridge of the Americas, pictured below.  (Three bridges span the Canal, easy to be confused, especially in the heat!  🙂 ) 

 

 

(photo by turtles06)

[Turtles06]

2 hours ago, carolina_yankee said:

Hmm. While the excursion through to the Pacific sounds good and theory, it sounds risking in practice based on weather and numbers. I suspect a full transit till indeed be in order if the Pacific locks are more impressive!

 

The concept of the a lock itself isn’t that impressive to me - I’ve been through plenty on river cruises. It’s the scope and history and of the Panama Canal locks that impress me, plus any local scenery.

 

I would not describe the Pacific locks as "more impressive." It's all the same impressive (and historic!) technology.  What is truly impressive is to do a full transit where you really appreciate the full "scope" (to use your word) of the Canal and the extraordinary engineering that was required to build the Canal, and is still required to keep it operating.  (For example, the continued dredging needed.)  In particular, doing the full transit (or, at least, a partial including the small-boat excursion through the Pacific locks) allows you to sail through the Continental Divide -- imagine what it took to cut through those mountains and keep the earth from tumbling back in.

 

I encourage you to read "The Path Between the Seas"  if you haven't done so already.  I think you'd really enjoy it.  And it's certainly imho a "must read" before any first transit of the Canal.

[Northern Aurora]

As a comment from someone who has done six full transits -- I find the Pacific side much more interesting than Gatun Lake.  On the Pacific side you really will get a sense of the amount of blasting which had to be done to create the canal.  And as already mentioned you will see the efforts and maintenance to keep it going (ie, the dredging machinery).

[t18c97]

On 10/24/2022 at 4:15 PM, prmssk said:

I think it depends how much of a bucket list cruise the Panama Canal is and your interest in the canal.  With a partial transit, you still get to go through a set of locks (twice) and see Lake Gatun.  And you still get a chance to do excursions about the locks.  

 

Personally, I think it is more important that your ship is small enough to use the old locks.  The old locks have a lot more history and are quite a bit more interesting (although the tugboats were fun to watch going through the new locks).  The Celebrity Millennium uses the old locks.  I'm pretty sure the S class and E class ships are all too big for the old locks so will use the new locks.

I agree with trying to find a ship that can do the original locks. We did a cruise on Disney 3 years ago and the Wonder was updated with a duck tale so it no longer qualified for the original. If you're interested here's a video that Disney put together about the transit, 

 

[Turtles06]

On 10/31/2022 at 10:45 PM, t18c97 said:

I agree with trying to find a ship that can do the original locks. We did a cruise on Disney 3 years ago and the Wonder was updated with a duck tale so it no longer qualified for the original. If you're interested here's a video that Disney put together about the transit, 

 

Thanks very much for sharing that Disney video, it was interesting to see a transit through the new locks.   

 

A technical note: at the very beginning of the video, when the ship is starting her transit from the Atlantic entrance, the video identifies the bridge she is going under as the "Puente Centenario"  -- the Centennial Bridge.  That's not correct.  The Centennial Bridge (as I noted in an earlier comment) spans the Continental Divide.   The bridge at the Atlantic entrance to the Canal is the new Atlantic Bridge.   (Disney video! 😂)