coast to coast train in Colon Panama

[jkepple]

Hi,

 

Has anyone been on this excursion and have any info on it. Whats the cost, is it worth it, is it open air, enclosed, a/c or hot. Any help appreciated.

 

Thanks

[Gsel]

Hello, we did this tour on a HAL cruise a couple of years ago. It is a very enjoyable trip, the scenery is beautiful and you will have a number of great views of other portions of the canal. The train is enclosed, we chose the car without the "sunroof" because of the heat. You can see just as much without the sun shining on your head! I would definitely recommend the trip, the train is restored to almost perfection, you can imagine what it must have been like years ago to travel by train when that was the only way.

Let me know if you have any more questions and I will try to answer. The only "downside" was the box lunch and we didn't need to eat that anyway!

[ridgeview lab lover]

My husband is a train enthusiast so we do train excursions whenever we can. This was a great trip in a beautiful air-conditioned train. I think the cost was approx. $100 ea. We felt it was worth it. If you ever get to St. Kitts, you may want to try the Sugarcane Train excursion. We did this last November while on the 14 day Sea Princess. It was great! Had both an open-air level and a/c level. They even provided entertainment with a singing trio.

[KroozFoolz]

This thread on the Panama Canal board in the Port of Calls section of cc has some good information and some links to pics for this excursion:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=318955

 

We took this excursion two years ago on our X Horizon cruise and enjoyed it very much. I have to agree the box lunch wasn't the greatest.

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

Here are 2 threads I started on the same topic last year..

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=208134

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=208186

 

Tom

[LandOfBeaches]

After all the good things I have heard about this excursion, I am going to book this excursion online before I even get on the ship. The ports of call section has a wealth of info !!!

[tomsandi]

This might be the second time I did this sorry. I would like to book this Excusions with Carnival 10-21-06 on the VICTORY, but Carnival won't let me, Is there a independent CO. That I can book with.

[richfret]

Did the train excursion in Panama in March while sailing on the Liberty. It was great. I thought the price was more than $100 and probably closer to $150 a person. Bear in mind that you go by bus to get to the train station. Then you take the train. When you get to the end, you take another bus for a short ride to view the canal. There is the main guide who travels with you on the first bus and train and another guide with the last bus. If you put that all together, you can see why this is a more expensive tour than some.

 

The train is very clean and is remodeled. You have a table to share with your partner and nice big windows. It is especially quiet and that really surprised me. You sit opposite each other and have much room.

 

The only disaster we had while on the train was that some clown (I am being nice) was about 15 minutes late while returning from shopping. Then another lady (again I am being nice) was also late from her venture for the second bus trip. The result was that we missed our chance on the rails. It is a single track and another freight train took priority. It ended up that we just made it back to the ship and missed any opportunity to shop in Colon. Our two heros thought this rather funny. I think a nice $100 taxi fare back to the ship would have been a better solution.

 

I definitely recommend this excursion (with or without clowns).

[tomsandi]

One more time, could some one tell me if there is a independent Co. that I can call, for that Panama train Excusion. Thanks!:D

[Gsel]

I am not sure if there is an independent company for the train. It was our impression when we booked it that the cruise lines keep them very busy. Our train was packed with just people from our ship.

[KroozFoolz]

I have read quite a few reviews on this board for this excursion. I have always gotten the impression that it was booked through the cruiseline and do not recall anyone posting about booking it any other way. I did an internet search for "Panama Railway" and found this:

http://www.panarail.com/en/index.html

Hope this helps.