Panama Canal Recs

[Mysteryreader]

I have finally prevailed on dh that we should consider a Panama Canal cruise. Since I know this is going to be our one-and-only time with this cruise, I want to get it right the first time. I'd appreciate recommendations from members of this bd as to the best time/route. Specifically, R/T or repo? Time of the yr? East to West or reverse? In our previous cruises, port or starboard was immaterial. How about with a PC cruise? In 2008, Mercury and 3 M-Class ships are doing PC cruises. Should we have a preference? Any other considerations I haven't even thought about.

 

Thanks for any ideas.

 

M/R

[judyfssw]

We went on this cruise in February from west to east because we live in Michigan. I loved it! The Panama Canal is so facinating when you know the history. There was a historian aboard plus I read some of the history. We went through the entire canal beginning about 6:00 in the morning which meant that we had to get up early but we had a canal party in our room because we had an aft room and could get a lot of people on the balcony. We also went to a friend's room to see a different view. Of course, we were on the swimming deck (10) and viewing from deck 11.

I know that you would enjoy it. Also, I'm not sure if TAs go all the way through both locks.

[Druke I]

Regardless of time of year, it is going to be hot and humid in the Canal Zone.

 

We've gone both directions through the Canal on full transits, and I don't think it makes much difference which direction, although some prefer the flight before the cruise, others after.

 

I do recommend you pick up a copy of McCullough's Path Between The Seas, an excellent history of the building of the Canal.

 

I still think Jimmy Carter was wrong to give back the Canal; after all, we stole it fair and square, and Panama might still be a province of Columbia had we not built it.

[LeftcoastBC]

Highly recommend this experience.

 

We have done it is Jan & April. Hot both times :)

 

Repos may have better pricing.

 

Direction has a lot to do with where you live and your home time zone and whether you want the big flt. at start or end of your cruise.

 

& I would certainly do the complete transit. (again)

[kkid]

I did an eastbound transit on Summit this past January. It was a great experience. It was warm but not terrible.

 

Whether your cabin is port or starboard is unimportant. There are actually two parallel sets of locks. Unless you are on the bow or stern, you will be looking at the activity going on in the other lock, because the other lock is much more observable than the one you are in. There is no way to predict which side/lock you will enter. If your balcony isn't facing the other lock, you will probably want to move to location where you can see better. 50-50 chance you can sit and watch from your balcony.

 

On Summit they opened the Helicopter pad on the ship's bow to passengers. There is a lot of room on the Helo pad, but for a good view you need to be standing right next to the rail. Get there early. The entrance to the helo pad is through the upper level of the Celebrity Theater...port side.

 

A disadvantage of being on the helo is not being able to hear announcements.

[DaveFr]

LeftcoastBC,

 

This is OT but is there some reason you have three virtually identical countdown clocks in your signature? You must be really, really excited about your upcoming cruise. :D

[LeftcoastBC]

LeftcoastBC,

 

This is OT but is there some reason you have three virtually identical countdown clocks in your signature? You must be really, really excited about your upcoming cruise. :D

 

Dave. I have no idea. I can not see them in my User CP nor on my posts. I can see yours and others though. I did try and put one in several times so I'm guessing it worked and I have no idea why. :)

Hope I'm going somewhere good??? Should be AK in August. I'll try to fix it via another Web Browser or get a hold of the site. Might be my trusty MAC again

 

thks.

 

Bob

[DaveFr]

Bob,

 

Very strange goings on with the countdown clocks. Take good care of the Infinity. We're getting on as you get off the ship. :)

[LeftcoastBC]

Dave

will do. There may be no Gin left at the martini bar however.:D

I went into an old IE and I think its gone. Can u confirm ?

[DaveFr]

Bob,

 

All your countdown clocks are gone. Drink all the gin you want. I'm a vodka man. :D

[alfiemom]

We've done it both ways....but definitely do the whole canal. WB was in April and it was hot, but who cares. EB was in Jan and it was a little cooler. Wore jackets to watch the approach before sunrise. Now that was spectular!

 

Don't understand the partial canal transit thing. It's not going thru the canal.

 

We were on HAL-Ryndam, both times. Kinda the Mercury size. Shouldn't matter, however. We did these 8 years apart and found the changes very interesting. Would like to see it during and after they enlarge it.

[Spender Nui]

Done it 4 times, 2 in each direction.

 

Also have been there on 4 other occasions and also have taken the Panama Canal Railway from Colon 3 times. We were there once and there was a transportation strike so we just hung out ... not a great place for that.

 

My recommendation would be to sail from west to east to make the time change easier. If you go in the other direction you lose 3 hours in one shot rather than over several days. Additionally when you fly from west to east you usually get home late. Example, if you leave west coast at noon you would arrive at PHL somewhere around 9 or 10 at night ,,, if you have a direct flight. If you have connections ... ?????.

[Ttowntreasures]

My husband and our best friends went on Consteallation Nov. 06. Had a wonderful time - left out of Ft Lauderdale - We enjoyed all the stops (Costa Rica not our favorite)

 

We went on the ferry - it takes a bus to the ferry - what a wonderful experience. On the train I believe you go parallel to the canal - but on the ferry you go from the Atlantic side to the Pacific side - through three locks.

 

Loved it

 

Worth every penny of the tour.

 

Kathy

[Albert Ross]

Do you need injections for this trip???

[Spender Nui]

Do you need injections for this trip???

 

No shots required.

[Host Anne]

We've done both - a repo from Acapulco to Ft. Lauderdale and a RT out of Miami that didn't transit the entire canal. If you really think this is the only time you'll do this, I highly recommend the repo and complete transit. It is very, very interesting and the ports of call along the way are pretty nice, too.

 

I agree with others....since you live in Delaware, I'd recommend a west to east itinerary. Weather will be warm (we did ours in March, I think - it was quite a few years ago) regardless of when you cruise.

 

Have a great time....it's a fantastic cruise!

[captpeachy]

Bob,

 

Very strange goings on with the countdown clocks. Take good care of the Infinity. We're getting on as you get off the ship. :)

 

I see your on Infinity, We have never sailed Celebrity and this ship has an itinerary that stops in Cabo and Grand Cayman(our little groups favs). We like westbound because it gets the flight out of the way first. Can you give any pro's and con's?

 

Thanks

[spearmint]

My husband and our best friends went on Consteallation Nov. 06. Had a wonderful time - left out of Ft Lauderdale - We enjoyed all the stops (Costa Rica not our favorite)

 

We went on the ferry - it takes a bus to the ferry - what a wonderful experience. On the train I believe you go parallel to the canal - but on the ferry you go from the Atlantic side to the Pacific side - through three locks.

 

Loved it

 

Worth every penny of the tour.

 

Kathy

 

We will be on Constellation in Nov. this year. Was the ferry tour one of the ship's tours? We are considering that one, and have read that others enjoyed it, but have never been able to find out how posters booked the tour. Is this a tour where you are bussed for a while (1/2 to 1 hour) to a ferry which then transits locks back to where you started?:confused:

We do not stop in Costa Rica; we stop in Cartegena, Colombia instead. Do not know what that will be like, but never did want to visit Costa Rica anyway. :)

[mjceditor]

We will be on Constellation in Nov. this year. Was the ferry tour one of the ship's tours? We are considering that one, and have read that others enjoyed it, but have never been able to find out how posters booked the tour. Is this a tour where you are bussed for a while (1/2 to 1 hour) to a ferry which then transits locks back to where you started?:confused:

We do not stop in Costa Rica; we stop in Cartegena, Colombia instead. Do not know what that will be like, but never did want to visit Costa Rica anyway. :)

 

You can book the Panama Canal by Ferry on the Celebrity website.

Here is a description from the Celebrity website.

After a 1-hour narrated drive to Balboa, the ferry will travel through the Miraflores Locks, along Miraflores Lake, through the Pedro Miguel Locks and through the Gaillard Cut. Your canal experience concludes at the pier in Gamboa for a 1 hour bus ride back to the ship.

 

Our tour was from Colon by bus to Gamboa, 1 hour drive, ferry through the Gaillard cut, Pedro Miguel Locks and Miraflores Locks ending up in Balboa on the Pacific side of the canal. The bus ride back to Colon was about 1.5 hours.

 

I have pictures post here http://web.mac.com/mjceditor/iWeb/Constellation_Caribbean/Panama.html from our tour last February.

[Cracker Ken]

I highly recommend a complete transit. I also agree with the others that the East bound transit works better with flights from the E. coast to San Diego or wherever you embark. I did the transit on Mercury in December. It was hot, but the breezes made it very tolerable. I don't believe port or starboard makes much difference. You never know. I think the best question is fore or aft. If you can't get out on the helipad, go way up high forward, or find the deck that has an observation platform out over the bridge. You can also make use of the forward observation lounge (Navigators Club?). I was outside all day, starting at 5:45AM, except for a lunch break while in the Gatun Lake. On our cruise, the ship had a National Geographic documentary about the building of the canal on TV, and I watched that a couple of times before we got there.

 

Doing a "sampling" of the canal won't do it justice. The whole thing is worth it. If you get a sample of it, you will want to return. I did the whole thing, and I still want to return.

 

If you want to see a bunch of pics, I have two albums of interest on my Yahoo photo page. The link is in my signature block. There's one album with the cruise in general, and there's another album with just the Panama Canal. There are a lot of pics, in chronological order, like maybe 200+ per album. I hope these pics help.

 

Ken

[alfiemom]

We visited Cartegena, Colombia in 2005 on the EB canal transit. Interesting. Take a ships tour, however, since I wouldn't want to do it on my own. Take water and watch for the emerald store.

[spearmint]

mjceditor: Thanks for the reply. Your photos are great, and make us look forward to a tour. I appreciate your taking the time to post them.

 

alfiemom: We will take a ship's tour, and thanks a lot for the heads-up about taking water! Would not have thought of that. From these boards, I gather that no matter what the time of year, it is hot and humid in Panama and Colombia. There are several tours one in which you walk the old city, two which include fort(s). Which did you do?

[alfiemom]

We did a city tour and visited a very lovely fort in the city. We parked the bus on flat ground, but the fort was up hill a bit. That was before the new knees so we stayed at the base. We did go to a church high up in the hills above the city and the view was wonderful. Then they were taking us to a traditional dance group which just happened to be in a place the required the group to walk down a long street from the bus, stop for "a cool drink" at an emerald store and then proceed to the dancers. We ended up at a shopping arcade with more emerald stores and a couple of leather stores and places to eat. We walked around a little and went back to the bus. Never having been there, it was just fine. If we stopped there again....it would be a spa day on the ship.

[shipshape sam]

We have done both partial and full transit and doing the full transit is the best.

 

We like going on Westbound as we like to end up in San Francisco and enjoy SF for a couple of days. We are looking forward to 2009 and doing Panama Canal again,this time going to wine country for two days. I keep asking myself why stop partying just because we have gotten off the ship.:)

[lysolqn]

We've done a few Panama Canal cruises and would recommend the full transit over the R/T, and an M-class ship over a C-class. As far as eastbound vs. westbound, well that depends on whether you'd rather take the longer flight pre- or post-cruise.