14 night Panama Canal on X- what to expect (nightlife and otherwise)?

[Bethwte]

I also posted this in the Panama Canal forum, but it seems pretty dead over there, so hopefully posting over here might help me as well...

 

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 :)

[motherchic]

Hi,

I see you havnt gotten a tremendous response.

i am also going on the 14 day Panama cruise. And have done allot of research and havnt found nearly as much info as when we have gone to the Southern or Eastern Caribbean.

I have been on several 11 day cruises and IMO it is typical to find an older crowd with the longer itineraries.

I am also a night owl, would go to bed around 1-2 a.m.

There are always people in the casino and usually dancing, some in the bars but not tons.

I never did see many 20-ish year olds. ( several newlyweds )

I love celebrity but I would not be able to recommend Celebrity to my 24 year old ( and she is not a big partyer at all )but I know she would hope for more younger people her age.

If you do choose to go, I would highly suggest going to Roll Call and seeing if their are others joining you. This is a wonderful way of making friends, before the cruise and during. we have been very lucky to meet some great people that way and have allot of fun.

Best of luck with your search, and your cruise

Nadine

[ocngypz]

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

 

The longer the itinerary, the older the passengers.

[seaplus]

I think the best way to assure yourself that younger adults and teens will be on board is to travel during a time when schools are on vacation. During the school year, most families are reluctant to pull kids out of school for two whole weeks, so there will be few younger people on board. And, as Ocngypz correctly pointed out, there will be fewer young people on board as the cruise gets longer (and more expensive, too). Younger people need to work (and are unlikely to get two consecutive weeks of vacation), and would have a hard time affording such an expensive trip.

 

The bottom line: if I were you, I'd plan on bringing a lot of DVD's, books, spending time in the spa and/or gym, gambling in the casino, eating lots of good food, taking naps, etc. You probably won't find more than a few people your age, but there WILL be a few passengers that fit the bill. I think that if socializing is very important to you, you'll be disappointed in Celebrity's 2-week canal cruise. If you can get past that, you'll have an experience to remember for a lifetime.

[springtxbill]

On our recent Galaxy cruise that was over spring break the staff mentioned several times that this was the youngest group of pax they had had. There were 110 kids on board and only 8 the cruise before and 12 the cruise after. The nightlife is not wild for sure.:)

[Bethwte]

Thank you so much for the input guys... :)

[flashdog_1]

Both loved Celebrity. They'd go to bars and listen to the guitarist with or without me. Same with the shows. You will undoubtedly get lots of attention from the staff. They're always looking but not touching pretty girls.

 

My daughter likes to read by the pool, go in the T pool and relax. She avoids the casino, however because of the smoke and noise level. I agree.

 

Visiting the ports of call will keep you up on table talk at dinner, too, comparing notes. You will be in foreign countries, and learning the differences in their culture and ours.

 

Last cruise we sat with another mother/daughter combo 45/19 ages, and we enjoyed them, even with the age difference. A cruise is what you make of it. We've been on cruises where our dinner mates were my age, and another where there were two single young women at our table along with the old fogies. It is interesting to talk to people of all ages.

 

The canal is better appreciated if you will read beforehand, McCullough's the Path Between the Seas. They may show a PBS type movie condensation of the book while you are on board.

 

Have fun.

[flashdog_1]

Both loved Celebrity. They'd go to bars and listen to the guitarist with or without me. Same with the shows. You will undoubtedly get lots of attention from the staff. They're always looking but not touching pretty girls.

 

My daughter likes to read by the pool, go in the T pool and relax. She avoids the casino, however because of the smoke and noise level. I agree.

 

Visiting the ports of call will keep you up on table talk at dinner, too, comparing notes. You will be in foreign countries, and learning the differences in their culture and ours.

 

Last cruise we sat with another mother/daughter combo 45/19 ages, and we enjoyed them, even with the age difference. A cruise is what you make of it. We've been on cruises where our dinner mates were my age, and another where there were two single young women at our table along with the old fogies. It is interesting to talk to people of all ages.

 

The canal is better appreciated if you will read beforehand, McCullough's the Path Between the Seas. They may show a PBS type movie condensation of the book while you are on board.

 

Have fun.

[adegner]

We have been through the canal twice. Here are some thoughts. As others have said, these cruisers will be OLDER PEOPLE. Very, Very, VERY few young people. Think WWII age.

 

But, you have to think - What do I want to get out of this? Do you want to always see the same ports, the same old Caribbean stuff? The Panama Canal is such a colossal and wonderous thing. Is it worth it to give up the late night stuff to see? Only you can decide. A quiet cruise isn't such a bad thing. And, yes, the crew will be very attentive to you.

 

I see you have been on a lot of different cruise lines. You might consider choosing an RCCL ship for this as it would be a little more lively. BUt, I see you also did a Connie repositioning. Was that the cruise you found was too quiet? This one will be more so.

[Bethwte]

Actually.. it was a RCCL ship, how funny! It was on an older ship (vision) and to the mexican riveira, so I think that was why. The repositioning on the connie wasn't too bad, it was pretty much just a caribbean cruise that ended in NJ, so they called it a repositioning. Thanks for the input about trading off the nightlife for seeing the canal. At this point in my life though, I just don't think I would want to be on a ship where there was NO nightlife at all...

 

LOL to all of you talking about getting attention from the crew. I get this no matter what cruise it is, so I'm thinking that on this kind of cruise, it might be almost unbearable (It makes me uncomfortable as it is sometimes).

[lisiamc]

We have been through the canal twice. Here are some thoughts. As others have said, these cruisers will be OLDER PEOPLE. Very, Very, VERY few young people. Think WWII age.

 

I agree with Andrea on this one. There will be six of us going as a group, and our ages range from 45 to 65. I think we'll be among the younger people on the ship, so even the younger ones are older, if you see what I mean!

 

However, we do stay up late and like a little nightlife.

 

Lisa

[dmarch@islc.net]

Nightlife...that's a good one.

[lisiamc]

Well... liking nightlife and finding it on the ship are sometimes two different things!:)

 

Lisa

[happycruzer]

Hi Bethwte....we too are in the process of booking a X panama cruise...either LA to Miami or the same cruise in reverse....might see you on board.

 

We have just newly returned from a B2B on the Jewel of the Seas and our waiter was speaking with us near the end of our cruise asking us what our next cruise/vacation was going to be etc. When we said hopefully the Panama Canal she immediatley pointed to our grown up kids of 23,26 and 29 and said 'not for them' she then went on to say that the clientelle were much older than the Caribbean cruises and that even my DH and I at 50 & 53 would be the 'young ones' on board....

 

It might be worth a bit of thinking before doing this cruise ! 14 days is a long time to be bored . My DH and I are aware of the age thing but we SO want to see the PC as we are very interested in construction and engineering things so we are willing to sacrifice the night life for that......If I was 20 again I'm not so sure..Hope this info helps.

Good luck with what ever you decide.

[Bethwte]

Thanks guys... you're cracking me up! "Nightlife...that's a good one." We've rethought it... perhaps sometime later in life I'll see it. I agree, 14 days is a long time to be bored. We actually found a cruise on X that kind of goes into the canal area (not quite sure how much we'll see, but it's something) and is 11 days long. It is december 22- january 2 though, so its christmas break. Lots of kids and nightlife (I've checked the roll call). Hopefully it will kind of be the best of both worlds :) Thanks again for all the helpful insights :)

[genmasjoy]

Beth, I think you are talking about a partial transit cruise, which means that the ship goes through the first set of locks, into the Gatun lake, and then returns back through the locks to Colon where it is docked for the day. I did that on a 10 days cruise from FLL on Princess, and it was great. If you want to see anything much in Panama, you have to sign up for a ship's tour because they use tenders in Gatun lake and the only people who can board the tenders are the ones booked on tours. I recommend the railroad trip. It runs the length of the canal, so you get to go all the way to the Pacific side. Upon arrival, you get a bus tour to the visitor's center for the canal, to see the Bridge of the Americas, and other misc. attractions. Later in the afternoon, the train goes back to Colon and you get back on the ship. I felt that I got to experience the canal without having to take a 14 days cruise, but then I enjoyed it so much, my husband and I did a 14 day Panama canal trip on Summit last year. However, we are in the "older" group, I think you wil be very happy with the cruise you've chosen.

[motherchic]

Beth,

I think you really made the right choice. We have also done that cruise. Loved the itinerary. And spring break will be perfect to get more "younger cruisers"

Enjoy !!

Nadine

[Bethwte]

Thanks motherchic and genmasjoy :) Hopefully it is the partial transit that we're doing (that is what it looks like). That sounds pretty neat, and thanks for the tour recommendation, I'll have to look into that.

[Arubalisa]

Thanks guys... you're cracking me up! "Nightlife...that's a good one." We've rethought it... perhaps sometime later in life I'll see it. I agree, 14 days is a long time to be bored. We actually found a cruise on X that kind of goes into the canal area (not quite sure how much we'll see, but it's something) and is 11 days long. It is december 22- january 2 though, so its christmas break. Lots of kids and nightlife (I've checked the roll call). Hopefully it will kind of be the best of both worlds :) Thanks again for all the helpful insights :)

You have me worried kiddo...2006??? IF you taking the same cruise as us for 11 nights, the closest we will be to the Panama Canal is Aruba. We did the partial transit of the canal on the Galaxy last Christmas.:D Which btw, although something is better than nothing, would recommend full transit.

 

As far as the ship goes, there were a tons of families aboard the Galaxy last Christmas. You will not find the same nightime atmosphere you would find on Carnival or RCCL, but they will not be rolling up the dance floors at 11 pm.

 

Date Port/City Activity Description

Fri, Dec 22 San Juan, Puerto Rico Departure Depart 8:00 PM

Sat, Dec 23 Tortola, British Virgin Isl Docked Arrive 7:00 AM Depart 5:00 PM

Sun, Dec 24 Philipsburg, St. Maarten Docked Arrive 7:00 AM Depart 5:00 PM

Mon, Dec 25 At Sea

Tue, Dec 26 Castries, St. Lucia Docked Arrive 7:00 AM Depart 6:00 PM

Wed, Dec 27 Bridgetown, Barbados Docked Arrive 7:00 AM Depart 6:00 PM

Thu, Dec 28 At Sea

Fri, Dec 29 Margarita Island, Venezuela Tendered Arrive 7:00 AM Depart 3:00 PM

Sat, Dec 30 Willemstad, Curacao Docked Arrive 11:00 AM Depart 6:00 PM

Sun, Dec 31 Oranjestad, Aruba Docked Arrive 7:00 AM Depart 11:00 PM

Mon, Jan 01 At Sea

Tue, Jan 02 San Juan, Puerto Rico Arrival Arrive 7:00 AM

[Bethwte]

okay... don't I feel blonde! We were also looking at the RCCL Brilliance of the seas, which does go into the canal... too much planning does this to you. I must have looked at a million cruises in the past week or two, they're all beginning to blend together. Please, just ignore me... LOL