Need help to understand NCL Panama canal ports itinerary

[kchys]

Hello, I am looking at the NCL Joy Panama Canal cruise in January 2025. it starts in LA and ends in Miami. Below is the itinerary when the ship is in Panama. Could someone explain to me if the ship is going to dock at the cruise terminal for 2 days before making the full transit? And why are there different times for the 2 days (6:00 pm & 10:00 pm)? Does it mean it will arrive at the cruise terminal at 6:00 pm and will not leave until 10:00pm the next day?

 

Any help will be much appreciated. Thank you!

 

• Monday

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  At Sea
• Tuesday

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  Panama City (Pacific Cruise Terminal), Panama

  • 06:00 PM
• Wednesday

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  Panama City (Pacific Cruise Terminal), Panama

  • 10:00 PM
• Thursday

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  Daylight Transit Panama Canal
• Friday

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  Cartagena, Colombia

  • 10:00 AM - 06:00 PM

[Turtles06]

 

14 minutes ago, kchys said:

Does it mean it will arrive at the cruise terminal at 6:00 pm and will not leave until 10:00pm the next day

 

Yes. Looking at the itinerary to which you linked, the Joy is scheduled to dock at 6pm in Panama City (Fuerte Amador Cruise Terminal) on Tuesday of the cruise.  It will spend the entire next day (Wednesday) there, and at some point during that night (10pm is likely a placeholder), the Joy will depart and position herself for the full transit that begins early on Thursday morning. 

 

 

[kchys]

Thank you so much Turtles06 !!

[erisajd]

transit from the Pacific also is dependent upon tides under the bridge - the top of the ship needs to pass under the bridge!  

[BillB48]

21 hours ago, erisajd said:

transit from the Pacific also is dependent upon tides under the bridge - the top of the ship needs to pass under the bridge!  

I had forgotten about that little extra challenge that the Breakaway+ ships have to negotiate in transiting the Canal.  A Pac-Atl transit clearing the Bridge of Americas is practically the obstacle that needs to be cleared right away as opposed to Atl-Pac transit where clearing the Bridge is the last item on the transit.  Thinking back on those Pac-Atl transits on those ships have led to some very early hours locking through Cocoli Locks.

 

I can't find any authoritative source of the actual air draft, but I read somewhere that it was 197' air draft for the Bliss.  I assume the others would be at least close to that figure.  "IF" I projected the transit date correctly, Jan 16, 2025, the tides at Balboa are for a high tide at 5:26AM and the next low tide would occur at 11:29AM later on that morning.  I do not have any insight on how much clearance the Canal requires for the BoA.  The Canal has a 205' limit on ship's air draft on a case by case basis and vessels that exceed 190' must take in to consideration the height of the tide when clearing the Bridge.

 

The links that the OP provided state that the transit of the Joy is a daylight transit.  In Canalspeak a daylight transit is arrival at the first lock at official sunrise (6:38AM 1/16/25) and clear the last lock at official sunset (6:18PM 1/16).  Not knowing how long after high tide and just how close to low tide they allow the Joy clear the BoA makes me think that the Canal just might have her transit Cocoli Locks in the early morning hours before the 5:26 high tide as they have with other similar ships in the past.  This of course would require sweeping aside the "Daylight Transit" in their description.  I suppose the one thing they could count on is have some irate passenger at guest relations claiming their trip was just ruined because their dream cruise wasn't fulfilled as advertised!!

 

Just to dig down in the weeds a little while assuming the 197' air draft is correct, the clearance under the BoA would be close to 204' at the 5:26 high tide.  At the 11:29AM low tide there would be approximately 218'.   Guess you can tell it has been a slow morning🙃!

[erisajd]

Hey @BillB48 where'dya find the tides for the BofA??  I did a quick google search and its not on the first four pages for 'tide times bridge americas' . . . 

[BillB48]

1 hour ago, erisajd said:

Hey @BillB48 where'dya find the tides for the BofA??  I did a quick google search and its not on the first four pages for 'tide times bridge americas' . . . 

Just look for tides, Balboa, Panama.  Make sure you add the Panama otherwise you probably wind up somewhere in California😉

[schnapperin]

Tagging on here - what sort of start would we looking for the NCL Encore on the 29th October? 

[BillB48]

Welcome onboard.  I assume you looking for information on when you would clear the Bridge of Americas and be in the first lock of Cocoli?  The only thing I can pass along is my best guess as I don't have any authoritative inside knowledge.  Looking at the times of the high and low tides that day, I would say you should have a very good chance for a total daylight experience at Cocoli Locks.  Low tide will be just minutes before 8AM, 7:57 to be exact.  I really don't know how long before low tide or how long after low tide will the Canal consider there to be sufficient clearance for the Encore to clear the BoA.  On Oct. 29, it would not surprise me if the Canal authorities scheduled the ship to clear the Bridge more closely to the time of low tide.  The reason I think this is because the low tide that day is not a particularly low tide.  In fact the low tide on the 29th is actually over 3.5' higher than the low tide I referenced in post #5 for NCL's Joy.

 

Even if you happen to be in the locks at dark, it is very well lit and you will still be able to view the operation.