Panama Canal round trip?

[RSV Angel]

We/wife mainly , are thinking about a cruise to the Panama Canal. We want to do a round trip not sail through and go on to west coast. Is that even possible? it has been at least 10 or 112  years since we did a cruise. And we never even thought of this before. 

[TheOldBear]

There are lots of options for this - look for the term 'partial transit', and you will see they are mostly 'closed loop' sailings returning to the same port.

You will want to visit the Panama Canal forum at https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/54-panama-canal/ 

[CruiserBruce]

It's called a "Partial transit", and they commonly occur between October and the end of April. 

[Flatbush Flyer]

1 hour ago, RSV Angel said:

We/wife mainly , are thinking about a cruise to the Panama Canal. We want to do a round trip not sail through and go on to west coast. Is that even possible? it has been at least 10 or 112  years since we did a cruise. And we never even thought of this before. 

IMO: Partial canal transit is like kissing your sister.

Nonetheless, it is possible.

[njhorseman]

I've also see cruises originating on the East Coast that are full transits ending at Fuerte Amador (the port near Panama City), with the second leg starting in Fuerte Amador doing the full transit in the opposite direction and returning to the East Coast.

 

One example, and I'm sure there are some others:

Dec 2, 2024 Norwegian Gem  nine night cruise from Miami to Fuerte Amador, followed by December 11, 2024 Norwegian Gem nine night cruise from Fuerte Amador to Miami.

Edited March 9 by njhorseman

[Essiesmom]

14 hours ago, RSV Angel said:

We/wife mainly , are thinking about a cruise to the Panama Canal. We want to do a round trip not sail through and go on to west coast. Is that even possible? it has been at least 10 or 112  years since we did a cruise. And we never even thought of this before. 

Go to cruisedeckplans.com and choose ‘ Cruises to… and then Panama Canal.  Then search by your dates.  It will show you who is going there and their itineraries.  Exception may be NCL who often do not list their transits.  EM

[navybankerteacher]

We did a partial on HAL’s Zuiderdam - hardly like “kissing your sister” - you experience the locks, turn around in Gatun Lake, and head back -perhaps hitting a couple of ports before getting back to FL.  You get the idea - without needing a cross-continent flight home.

[wcook]

14 hours ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

IMO: Partial canal transit is like kissing your sister.

What’s wrong with kissing my sister? Is she not good enough for you; you think you are better than her?

[lisiamc]

In your shoes, I’d be tempted to book a b2b with one of the cruise lines who do a horseshoe-shaped itinerary for a few trips in the winter. Viking did a few Panama Canal cruises with Mars this winter, I think. Trip One: From Florida, through the canal, up to California. Trip Two: From California, through the canal and up to Florida. I think that would be fun - about two weeks each leg. I’d love a month on the ship! 

[crystalspin]

22 hours ago, RSV Angel said:

We/wife mainly , are thinking about a cruise to the Panama Canal. We want to do a round trip not sail through and go on to west coast. Is that even possible?

Don't have to go to another site, just way up top of any page on Cruise Critic, choose "Find A Cruise". 

[CDNPolar]

We did a partial transit on Viking - they always offer this.

[lenquixote66]

12 hours ago, navybankerteacher said:

We did a partial on HAL’s Zuiderdam - hardly like “kissing your sister” - you experience the locks, turn around in Gatun Lake, and head back -perhaps hitting a couple of ports before getting back to FL.  You get the idea - without needing a cross-continent flight home.

We did the same cruise of the Zuiderdam .It was our alltime favorite cruise.

[new_cruiser]

12 hours ago, navybankerteacher said:

We did a partial on HAL’s Zuiderdam - hardly like “kissing your sister” - you experience the locks, turn around in Gatun Lake, and head back -perhaps hitting a couple of ports before getting back to FL.  You get the idea - without needing a cross-continent flight home.

 

On a partial transit of the Canal from the East Coast, you miss going through the Culebra Cut - interesting because it's huge and building it was the biggest barrier to completing the Canal. So if one is taking the cruise in part to admire the engineering feat of building the canal, the partial transit misses a major part of that. 

 

We did a full transit in 2019 on and then did a partial transit in 2020. We didn't book the cruise for the partial; it was part of a 31-day cruise from Barbados to Cancun that was visiting a lot of ports we hadn't been to. I wouldn't want it for my only Panama Canal cruise but it was fun going through the locks again - especially because the ship, Windstar Wind Surf, has excellent deck space for viewing on decks 4, 5 & 6. Her masts are too high to exit the Pacific side so that trip was the only time she's been in the Canal. 

 

 

[navybankerteacher]

22 minutes ago, new_cruiser said:

 

On a partial transit of the Canal from the East Coast, you miss going through the Culebra Cut - interesting because it's huge and building it was the biggest barrier to completing the Canal. So if one is taking the cruise in part to admire the engineering feat of building the canal, the partial transit misses a major part of that. 

…

 

Of course we missed that part - but a full transit would have included the frankly dreary ports up the west side of Mexico and a required transcontinental flight home.  I believe the partial transit was precisely what we wanted… we all have different inclinations.

[new_cruiser]

3 minutes ago, navybankerteacher said:

Of course we missed that part - but a full transit would have included the frankly dreary ports up the west side of Mexico and a required transcontinental flight home.  I believe the partial transit was precisely what we wanted… we all have different inclinations.

Our full transit was from Colon, Panama to Puerto Caldera on Windstar Wind Star - no dreary ports involved. (Well, Colon itself isn't delightful but we flew into Panama City and had a lovely private transfer with site seeing along the way.) Obviously, flights were needed at both ends.

 

They also have full transits that go between the Caribbean and Puerto Fuentes (Panama City) since that has opened as a embarkation port.

[MacMadame]

3 hours ago, navybankerteacher said:

Of course we missed that part - but a full transit would have included the frankly dreary ports up the west side of Mexico and a required transcontinental flight home.  I believe the partial transit was precisely what we wanted… we all have different inclinations.

They don't always stop all over Mexico. Ours goes to Costa Rica and Guatemala with only one stop in Mexico (Puerto Varata -- which doesn't look dreary to me. I guess we'll find out.) 

 

You'll still have the cross-country flight home though.

[Turtles06]

If you take a partial transit from the East Coast, you will have the option after going through the Gatun Locks on the Atlantic side of the Canal to take an excursion in a ferry-sized vessel that will go through the Pacific locks and a big part of the Canal that you would otherwise have missed.  And then you'll rejoin your cruise ship back in Colon on the Atlantic side of the Canal. 

 

The best place to look into all of this is over in the Panama Canal Ports of Call forum.

 

 

Edited March 10 by Turtles06

[Turtles06]

On 3/8/2024 at 8:38 PM, njhorseman said:

I've also see cruises originating on the East Coast that are full transits ending at Fuerte Amador (the port near Panama City), with the second leg starting in Fuerte Amador doing the full transit in the opposite direction and returning to the East Coast.

 

Indeed (and as I know you know), my wife and I did these as B2B cruises in January/February 2023.  The first cruise began in NY on the NCL Gem and ended in Fuerte Amador (having transited the Canal southbound).  The second cruise began in Fuerte Amador, transited the Canal northbound, and wound up back in NY.  It was a fabulous trip, a total of 23 days.

 

[Essiesmom]

5 hours ago, Turtles06 said:

If you take a partial transit from the East Coast, you will have the option after going through the Gatun Locks on the Atlantic side of the Canal to take an excursion in a ferry-sized vessel that will go through the Pacific locks and a big part of the Canal that you would otherwise have missed.  And then you'll rejoin your cruise ship back in Colon on the Atlantic side of the Canal. 

 

The best place to look into all of this is over in the Panama Canal Ports of Call forum.

 

 

Here are a couple of so pics from the canal today.  First, the Miraflores locks on the Pacific side, two of the ferry type vessels that are used for the excursions.  The one with the white roof is Pacific Queen, the other is Cavalier Royal.  They are waiting for a cargo vessel to join them before they are lowered.  And in the background is Emerald Princess in the channel leading to the Cocoli locks.  
  And then we have the Emerald Princess in the first Cocoli lock, the new locks for larger ships.  You can see the difference between the old and new locks.  EM

[mrg0433]

We recently took Princess from LA to Ft Lauderdale.   Last year we did the reverse.  Next  year they are adding new ports.    I injured my knee before.the cruise so we only got off the ship in Costa Rica to swim at the beach next to the ship.   

 

2025 Princess will b stopping  in Aruba and Pacific coast of Panama.  Beautiful areas.   New ports.   They definitely needed a change.  Our stop in Grand Cayman and Nicaragua were cancelled.   Considering most of the passengers are retired, I do not recommend ports with tenders.  Many passengers need wheelchairs or have walkers.  Glad to see Aruba replacing  Columbia.   I wish they wud add another Caribbean port like Bonaire or Curacao or even Jamaica. Huxatulco is a great new port in Mexico.  Beautiful beach next to ship.