Panama Canal excursions

[lbfluffy]

We will be going on the ruby princess through the panama canal next March. We have been to the panama canal once, we went to the Indian village in Panama, the safari in Costa Rica and tour of Columbia by bus. This time we are thinking about doing the boat tour through the canal. It is pricey, but has great reviews. I know I need to book this one before it sells  out. Has anyone done that tour? Also the other two ports, any suggestions for independent tours? Thank you.

[BillB48]

Sounds like the Ruby Princess is doing a partial transit.  Selecting this tour is a good idea since the Ruby will lock through the new locks on the Atlantic side and the tour will take you through two of the original locks on the Pacific side.  In addition you will also pass through the Gaillard Cut, so all in all you will have seen a large part of the Canal by combining your cruise and this particular shore excursion.

 

I would recommend booking as early as practical, however the cruise line normally hold back some reservations to be sold onboard.  Early reservations are better if you can.

[chris153]

we are on the emerald princess in NOv only partial transit. do they offer this type of tour? Did not see it on their website. We would love to do this. 

[BillB48]

Here is a clip of a screen shot for the Nov. 24 partial transit cruise on the Emerald.  As I noted above if you try to book it online and are unable to, get to the excursion desk ASAP after boarding and try to reserve it.

 

[chris153]

On 10/7/2023 at 1:00 PM, BillB48 said:

Here is a clip of a screen shot for the Nov. 24 partial transit cruise on the Emerald.  As I noted above if you try to book it online and are unable to, get to the excursion desk ASAP after boarding and try to reserve it.

 

Am i Correct,  this tour you get on BEFORE the ship goes through the new locks?  BUT after the tour and back on ship, does it go through the locks again to go back to ft. Lauderdale?  This tour looks great, but also was looking forward to going through locks on ship. 

 

[njhorseman]

6 minutes ago, chris153 said:

Am i Correct,  this tour you get on BEFORE the ship goes through the new locks?  BUT after the tour and back on ship, does it go through the locks again to go back to ft. Lauderdale?  This tour looks great, but also was looking forward to going through locks on ship. 

 

In the description of the tour it says: "Travel by ship's tender to the Gatun Yacht Club..." which means the ship will be in Gatun Lake and will have transited through the Agua Clara locks.

[chris153]

6 minutes ago, njhorseman said:

In the description of the tour it says: "Travel by ship's tender to the Gatun Yacht Club..." which means the ship will be in Gatun Lake and will have transited through the Agua Clara locks.

Thank you, exact answer I was looking for. Do you know if after excursion, ship goes through locks again on way back to Fort Lauderdale?

[Essiesmom]

12 minutes ago, chris153 said:

Thank you, exact answer I was looking for. Do you know if after excursion, ship goes through locks again on way back to Fort Lauderdale?

While you are on the excursion the ship will transit back through the locks and dock in Colon, where it will pick you up.  EM

[john bowtie]

I did this excursion on an Emerald Princess partial transit and it was incredible. The small ferry went through the old locks with another much, much larger cargo ship that towered over our ship and had only a few feet of clearance on each side--this really added to the experience. One note, my trip was one of the first after cruising restarted and the small ferry was at less than half capacity--if it had been full, the excursion would still have been good (do you really want to go to the Panama Canal and not be in both the Atlantic and Pacific in the same day) but more of a challenge to get a good spot to see everything.