Norwegian Encore idle in Gatun Lake

[dmwnc1959]

Edited April 11 by dmwnc1959

[alwalaska]

4 hours ago, dmwnc1959 said:

My very first time will be April 2025. Not sure I could do the Panama Canal fifteen times. 😉
 

And of all the full transits I've looked into none of the ships were larger than 60-90k tons. I'd most definitely prefer the smaller ships for this, just to hit the historic locks and see them (and the old lock gates) from the promenade deck at eye level while we are wedged into a 110-year old lock chamber. But that's probably just the beginner and me talking. 😁

 

 

We did our first Panama Canal trip on a small Princess ship through the old locks and loved every part of it.  We are now looking at PC again for this coming winter and the Bliss and Joy are 2 of the top contenders.  It will be interesting to go through the new locks too now. 
We had an amazing balcony cabin on the back corner of the ship and watched part of the passage from the top/front of the outside decks and a lot from our balcony.  We were so close to the walls.  You couldn't touch, but it felt like you could. 

[hallux]

14 hours ago, dmwnc1959 said:

Our port stop prior to the transit is Colón

I did it from the other side, my port stop was Panama City after the transit.

[dmwnc1959]

2 minutes ago, hallux said:

I did it from the other side, my port stop was Panama City after the transit.

That's another reason why I was so keen on the Coral Princess itinerary. She stopped in Fuerte Amador the day prior to her full-transit arriving at 7am, which gave plenty of time to do the small boat tour/transit and still have some time to see Panama City. 
 

As an update on the Norwegian Encore transit. According to Marine Traffic once clear from the last of the Cocoli Locks she remained there alongside the lock pier-head for just over two hours. When the tides were just right she finally passed under the Bridge of the Americas approximately 9pm local time and arriving at Fuerte Amador just before 1030pm.

What's crazy is that while she was still tied up at the lock pier-head, I took a bunch of screenshots. When advancing back-and-forth through these, you can actually see the ship rise and fall with the tide. Never visualized it quite like that, and seeing basically a time-lapse of this was fascinating. 
 

[dexddd]

That's the biggest tent complex I've seen on a bow.

 

Must have consulted some large city designer.

[PC Skier]

Does the Encore go through the old or new locks in Panama?

[dmwnc1959]

2 minutes ago, PC Skier said:

Does the Encore go through the old or new locks in Panama?

 
She goes through the new locks.