Panama Canal- what to expect (nightlife and otherwise)

[Bethwte]

I was wondering if perhaps you could help me out a bit please. We are a family of 4, with the parents both in their 50s (father late, mother early), a 19 year old (me, and I will be just shy of 20 on this cruise), and an 11 year old (at time of cruising). We are thinking of doing a 14 day Celebrity Panama Canal cruise. Do you guys think this would be alright for us? I will tell you that the kids programs are no matter, as my younger sister doesn't really participate in those types of things, she likes to stay with my parents. I suppose I am more wondering what the nightlife might be like? My father and I are both night owls, and it would really put a damper on our cruise if the ship is empty at night. We experienced this once, and never want to encounter it again. I don't need the ship to be full of crazy spring breakers or anything (in fact, I would prefer it not be), but it would be nice if there were at least a few people, other than the crew, lol, that were around my age. What do you think? Will there be an early 20's crowd at all (other than perhaps newlyweds)? Will there be people in the bars at night for my father to chat with, other than the bartender? Also, we are canal virgins. Any tips on this kind of cruise in general? Also, how similar are the ports to when you do just a caribbean cruise? We have done that a lot, so we don't want anything very very similar to that. Thanks so much, all help is greatly appreciated :)

[Sue L]

Hey Beth,

 

You don't say what dates you are looking at. I think alot of the nightlife activity issues have to do with what time of year and length of the cruise. You will probably have less kids on a 7+ day cruise because of school vacation schedules, unless it is in the summer.

 

Sue

[Bethwte]

We're looking at february, sorry... half of the cruise (7 of the 14) is over a major school break for the northeast though, if that makes a difference.

[Sue L]

In Feb. IMO I think the kids that are close to your age ie, seniors in high school mostly can't take that kind of time off. I know my son has AP and honors classes and can't afford to take 1 day off never mind a whole week.

 

And most college spring breaks do not allow for 2 weeks.

 

I don't mean to be negative, but one of the reasons we are taking our first 11day cruise next year is that both kids will be in college and we want to go on a cruise with limited kids.

 

 

Sue

[Bethwte]

Not negative... I really appreciate your response. Thank you so much :) WE are looking into other cruises because of such responses. Some of the christmas-time ones seem to be the best of both worlds (new places and longer cruises, but there will be young people on board because colleges and high schools are on break). Thank you again to those who posted :)

[NHRedSoxFan]

Ok, this was almost ten years ago, but this is my experience.

My husband and I along with our 10 year old son took a 16 day NCL cruise from San Juan to Vancouver through the canal.

There were a total of six children on the cruise including my son. Four of the children were in the same family group and didn't participate in children's activities. That left my son and an eight year old boy from Toronto. The two boys went to the organized children's activities every day. They still conducted everything for just two kids. (NCL is good with kids). The boys didn't care that there was just two of them and everyday they were winners of the prize! How could they not win? By the end of the cruise everyone on the ship knew their names.

But we were in our 40's then and among the youngest people on the ship. One of the staff said that the cruise we were on was young for a Canal cruise since the average age was 65, and it's usually about 68. During the cruise two passengers passed away -basically from old age.

None of this detracted from the experience for us.

The entertainment on this cruise was the best I had ever experienced on any cruise. They had different entertainers getting on and off the ship at each port so the shows were very diverse.

It seemed like after the shows, the ship's public areas were a ghost town. Everyone went to bed by 10:30, even when the next day was a sea day.