Cruising Panama Canal

[Chorts]

When is the best time of year to cruise the Panama Canal? Are there cruises through the canal during the summer?

[Silvery Seas Cruiser]

Many ships do not go to the Panama Canal in summer because it is so rainy, hot and other parts of the itinerary can be struck by hurricanes. It might be hard to get a cruise to Panama after May or before October.

 

This is a personal preference of mine, but I don't enjoy "hot" cruises. I prefer to cruise at milder times of the year, especially mid-November to late April. That is when most ships do go to the Panama Canal. We visited Panama last year in April and it was already steamy.

[wwinfl91]

There aren't many cruises during the summer that actually do a full passage. Most of the ones that go then are partial transits that go through one set of locks get into Gatun lake and then come back out the same set of locks the same day. If you can book a cruise that does the full transit which are usually done in the spring, when ships are going to the west coast to do Alaska, and then again in the fall when they are heading from the west coast to Florida to spend the winter doing Caribbean cruises.

 

Have a great next cruise.

[Chorts]

thanks so much for your replies. Guess I'll be waiting until Sept or Oct to do a Panama Canal transit :)

[mii]

Chorts I know of no transit through the canal in the summer. For example on Princess the Coral does partial transit in the winter from Oct. to end of April. Then she does the full transit from FLL to S.F. and then is in Alaska for the summer. We are taking the full transit this coming May through to S.F. Then there is a 5 day cruise from S.F. to Vancouver. I think it is too hot for any ships to go through the canal in the summer. We did the partial transit on the Coral in Feb. 0-4 and then it was hot and humid. Hope this helps some.

 

Marilyn

[halos]

thanks so much for your replies. Guess I'll be waiting until Sept or Oct to do a Panama Canal transit :)

 

It's still rainy season (hot & very humid) then; you might want to wait until the Nov/Dec time frame ;) Things will cool down/dry up a little but since the rainy season will just be over, everything will still be 'lush'

[SailAways]

thanks so much for your replies. Guess I'll be waiting until Sept or Oct to do a Panama Canal transit :)

 

The Sun Princess is doing a full transit 19 April 2007 - we are booked on this one. This is a 17 day cruise out of Ft. Lauderdale, returning to Seattle.

 

The Coral Princess does the Canal September through May.

There are other ships in the Princess fleet who do the canal, as well as many other Cruise Lines could also offer a canal itinerary.

[newmexicoNita]

Cruising the canal is normally done from oct to about April. By November the weather is cooling off. Many of the cruises through the canal are repos from Alaska back to the Caribbean. We are doing a 10 dayer late in the year and I have clients that are doing the repo from Ft Lauderdale to LA in late March. NMnita

[wanda1101]

thanks so much for your replies. Guess I'll be waiting until Sept or Oct to do a Panama Canal transit :)

 

October is the peak of rainy season in Panama........ You can go a week or more without seeing the sun. I lived the almost 20 years.