Panama Canal Ferry Tour

[fourcruisin]

I am looking for some detailed info on this tour. We are interested in booking it for our 2/3/08 cruise on the Carnival Miracle but my dh and myself are concerned about the length of time it will take on the bus etc.

 

Here are my questions.

 

1. From the Colon terminal, how long was the actual bus ride to the Pacific side where you boarded the ferry? Is the bus air-conditioned?

 

2. Was the ferry bathroom ok? I know it won't be the Ritz but want to make sure that it is actally useable.

 

3. How is the a/c on the ferry? Does it actually work?

 

4. How long is the trip back to the Colon terminal once you get off of the ferry?

 

5. Overall, would you recommend the tour?

 

We have been to Panama once before and took a private taxi to the Gatun Locks. It was great but talk about hot, if a person could melt, Panama would be the place it would happen. Dh does not want to be stuck on a bus or ferry in that heat without a/c and the restroom issue has come up several times.

 

TIA for any info you can provide.

 

Nancy

[labmom]

We did this in mid Jan 07. The bus ride was 1 1/2 hours, long but informative. I think this was the only bad spot on the trip, but it was early and I slept a little. A/c on the bus was good. The ferry, wonderful tour guide, 2 levels, and the bathroom was good. The A/C on the ferry was wonderful, but I think only about 3 to 4 people used it because the weather was wonderful, they have a lot of shade. When we were done with the tour the bus ride wasn't that long, but I'm sorry to say I don't remember how long it was. Check out my pictures to see a little more.

http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2202677210102338296vTrJpU?vhost=good-times

Hope this helps,

Happy cruising,

Pam

[fourcruisin]

Pam,

Thanks for the reply. Sounds like it was a nice excursion.

[bellagirl]

Pam-the pics are wonderful. Was that excursion through Carnival? Do you remember the name of the tour? Did it meet your expectations and exactly where did you go and what did you see? I noticed some beautiful river photos-were those taken during the excurison as well? Thanks for your help. Shelly

[southwardbound]

My husband and sons went on this tour last week. It was long, but very informative. They were very glad that they experienced it.Carnival should be able to give you a length of time on the bus. I believe it is 2 hours. Buses are new and AC. It was a comfortable ride.

 

Just for your information I was talking to another person on the boat and they went on the Ocean to Ocean Railroad excursion with Carnival and they said it far out weighed there expectations. Either way I would do an excursion with Carnival and not with someone at port as time is an important factor. .

[labmom]

Hi Shelly, I can't remember the actual name of the tour but the description would tell you that you would go thru 2 locks. The river pictures were from Limon, Costa Rica. We took a train, bus, boat tour and really injoyed that also. The boat was a pontoon boat and we went thru a rain forest area and saw many animals. I didn't enclude them in my photos because how do you show someone a sloth in the trees...they don't move:D or bats (many of them) on a tree branch. That cruise went to Colon, Limon, and then Belize. We went to the ruins in Belize and that was beautiful. We went to the top of one of the ruins but the steps up and down it were very steep. Very hard for a one legged fat girl for sure:eek: All the tours were thru Carnival...I just don't trust independents out of country....just my hang up:o But I do almost all independent tours in Alaska. Hope this helps.

Happy cruising,

Pam

[LRATL]

Nancy,

You said that you took a taxi to the locks on a previous trip to the Canal. Was it a taxi from Christobal? If so, how long does it to get to locks? We have been to the Canal twice before and are going again next week. We don't want to get off the ship in the lake, but want to go back through the locks and to the viewing area at the locks. Is this possible?

 

Thanks for any advice...

Laura

[fourcruisin]

Nancy,

You said that you took a taxi to the locks on a previous trip to the Canal. Was it a taxi from Christobal? If so, how long does it to get to locks? We have been to the Canal twice before and are going again next week. We don't want to get off the ship in the lake, but want to go back through the locks and to the viewing area at the locks. Is this possible?

 

Thanks for any advice...

Laura

 

Hi Laura,

Our ship, CCL Legend docked at Colon, we did not do a full or partial transit of the canal on the ship.

 

Dh and I had originally booked the 2 Oceans by RR thru CCL but Dh wasn't feeling great the day before so they allowed us to cancel w/o penalty.

 

I really wanted to see the canal but didn't want to do an organized tour. When we got off the ship, there were taxis everywhere and one woman seemed to be organizing all the drivers. She gave us a price for a ride to the Gatun Locks and we decided to go ahead. CCL had advised passengers not to do independent tours etc because of the danger to tourists but the woman took our ship name, our driver's name and taxi #. (Not that it meant anything if we disappeared, but it made me feel a little more secure!!)

 

It took about 35 minutes or so to get to the locks. The driver did not speak very good English but he gave us a little tour and as much info as he could on the way over. He brought us right to the locks and told us to take as much time as we wanted and told us where we could find him when we were ready.

 

On the way back to the ship, I wanted to see monkeys but there were none to be found. He gave us a side trip to a residential area where a resident had a small zoo in his backyard. He had birds, monkeys, deer and a few other animals including some type of Lynx. It was pretty cool. The whole trip took about 3 hours and that gave us time to do some shopping at the pier.

 

Dh and I are usually cautious and don't venture out w/o a ship sponsored excursion but I really didn't feel uncomfortable in Panama at all. The driver was wonderful and although communication was an issue, we all managed to get our points across to each other.

 

BTW, I think the ride was about $30.00 and we gave him a $20 tip because he was so good. This was in 2004. It was a cheap way to see the canal and some highlights of the city.

 

Have a wonderful trip.

 

Nancy

[LRATL]

Nancy,

 

Great information about taking a taxi from the pier to the locks. Thank you so much for your explanation. I think we will try to get to the locks by taxi. We have seen the jungle and have been to Portobello; we just want to sit at the locks for a couple hours.

 

Thanks again,

Laura