Which ship to consider?

[karenscruises]

My parents are considering a 10-15 day Panama Canal cruise from LA or San Diego to Ft Lauderdale or Miami sometime this fall. They've done a little online research and found 2 Royal Caribbean cruises (Serenede of the Seas and Radiance of the Seas), 2 Celebrity cruises (both on the Infinity) and 2 Princess cruises (Coral and Regal) that are "doable".

 

All of these cruises sail pretty much into the same ports of call w/September and October being the main travel months. They have cruised on Carnival and Royal Caribbean but would like to try something a little different.

 

Anyone have any suggestions on one ship/itinerary over the other?

 

Thanks in Advance,

Karen

[musicmansmom]

karen, i cant beleive you posted about this ? i am in the same delema as you for a repo:D . i have only sailed carnival and they dont do a repo for the canal ( that i know of ). the other cruise lines are a little out of my price range but im hoping my ta can get me a good price on the ship i choose ( A BALCONY OF COURSE ;) ). since i have never cruised on anything but carnival and dont know anything about the other ships personally the decision is a tough one for me. i am leaning towards the princess but i have just started my research so it is still up in the air and it depends on how many family members can go as too the date of the cruise. i hope you get some good post as i will be reading each one for myself.

 

loved your post :)

[SailAways]

We have booked the Sun Princess for a 17 night, April 19 2007 repositioning cruise. We didn't want to cruise during hurricane season. We will fly from Seattle to Ft. Lauderdale.

 

The Coral Princess is also doing an April Panama Canal.

 

We searched the internet, and the pricing seems about the same from ship to ship. No break on the Canal prices, it seems.

 

We like Princess for the anytime dining offering, as we have only done NCL with the freestyle - which we love.

 

Good luck with your search.

[Sue L]

You all might also consider the 10 or 11 day Brilliance of the Seas. It is a partial transit, which means you go through the locks on the Atlantic side, turn around in Lake Gatun and come back out. It is RT from Miami. This one worked for our schedule as all the full transits were in the 14-17 day range and we didn't have that large a chunk of days off or with two kids in college that large chunk of cash.

[Travelbug 2]

We are booked on HAL == Volendam. You can sail from either Vancouver BC or Dan Diego, 17 or 15 nights. It is a repo' leaving Vancouver on Sept' 27th. arriving Ft Lauderdale Oct 14th.

 

We love HAL and the Volendam is a beautiful classic mid size cruise ship with a very special crew.

 

Hope you find a good cruise and have a great time.

[producegirl]

We are doing the Brilliance also on 3/16/07. I've been thru the canal twice.

Once on RCCl and the other time on Princess. I loved them both...but RCCL is my favorite!

[Sue L]

We are doing the Brilliance also on 3/16/07. I've been thru the canal twice.

Once on RCCl and the other time on Princess. I loved them both...but RCCL is my favorite!

 

 

 

We will be getting on as you are getting off! I can't believe how long we still have to wait!!!

[newmexicoNita]

We have decided to do the 10 day on either the Regal or Coral Princess in November or very early Dec. The prices, of course are lower and all we really will miss is the complete canal. Never doing the canal before what we don't see we won't miss. The weather should be good, it is at the end of the hurricane season so we feel fairly safe and ports are great. We like the Regal ports better but would rather cruise the Coral.

 

NMNita

[LFM]

Last August we cruised on the Sun Princess doing the Inside Passage. We loved Princess so much that we're booked the Coral Princess for a partial transit. We're not going until April, 2007, but had to book early to get our cabin choice. I believe that I read on one of the CC postings that the Coral is the largest ship that can fit through.

[edste]

We just returned from Fll to San Francisco on the Coral Princess and would definitely recommend it. I also believe it's the largest ship that can fit through the Canal. The only other line I've used is Carnival and I liked Princess better. This was our fifth cruise with Princess and I liked Coral best of all. Enjoy the trip.