Panama Shopping: Duty Free?

[daddowdall]

We are traveling on Coral Princess on a partial Canal transit with some friends who have traveled extensively in Central and So. America, so we tend to defer to them on issues relating to these areas. But they are insisting that there is a duty free zone that they keep referring to as the "Canal Zone.' I said that when we gave the canal back to the country of Panama, the "Canal Zone" became a thing of the past, hence, no duty free zone. I'd like to think I'm wrong, since our friends are planning to shop for some expensive jewelry for an anniversaty gift. Is there duty free shopping at the pier in Cristobal, or elsewhere in Panama?

[cruiseamigo]

Coral Princess will be docking at Cristobal port in the afternoon. Some of the shops are duty free and some are not. We found out this because we bought some emeralds in a jewelry store, and they asked for our ship id to make a copy. They explained they have to show this copy to customs in order to be able to sell without sale & import duty taxes.

 

The small shops are not duty free at all.

[ChattTenn]

Hi,

 

The Colon 2000 is not too far from the ship but it is not a walking distance (cab ride).

 

Coral Princess only stops at the Cristobal for about 2 to 3 hours which will not give you enough time to go to Colon.

 

There are shops around the pier but I believe their stuffs are more expensive.

 

Couple years back, due the conflict schedule with HAL Rotterdam, they took some of us (Princess' passangers) to the Colon 2000 to do some shopping there while waiting for the train. It was a treat.

 

Happy cruising.