trcori
April 16th, 2006, 12:22 PM
Just wanted to write up a few notes for anyone planning a "partial transit" cruise and wondering if they have to take one of those hugely pricey ship excursions to have a good time. My answer - NO! We had an incredible day staying on the ship and watching the Gatun Locks transit in both directions, then getting off for a while at the Colon terminal and browsing around (including a stop at its affordable Internet cafe').
If your ship goes through early in the morning, be sure to get up in plenty of time to watch the approach to the canal, not just the locks themselves. We were amazed at the sight of the lights from all the ships queued up just outside it, and then, as the sun started to rise, the beautiful jungle lining the waterway before the locks. We saw birds in abundance (I forgot to bring my seabird-identification book!) and heard howler monkeys roaring in the trees.
We decided to stay on "our" deck (aft public deck close to our inside cabin) for both directions. We stood in the corner by the side so we could closely watch the "mule" locomotives and other canal activity.
In the morning, we crossed as part of a group of cruise ships (Seven Seas Mariner before us, Coral Princess and Infinity after us) -- looking at them was OK but it was much more dramatic to watch the huge container ships that crossed back with us in the early afternoon -- everyone who got off the ship missed those AND the more impressive spectacle of the ship being lowered in the locks, to the point where the walls and the door-tops were ABOVE us on deck 8 -- even the mules were above us!
Once we docked at Colon (with Coral Princess) in mid-afternoon, we got off to nose around (the warnings about not leaving the dock area had spooked us, unfortunately, so we didn't). We followed signs to "Internet" and wound up in a small but nice row of computers in the "Business Center" area at the waterside of the terminal (you'll miss it if you don't know what you're looking for), $2/half-hour, certainly beat shipboard prices. As for the rest of what was for sale at the pier, we aren't shopping travelers so I can't tell you if anything was a deal - but a wide variety of items seemed to be available. We did buy several bottles of soda, as we love the taste of soda with REAL SUGAR as it's still made down there, VASTLY better than the corn-syrup junk now used in the US.
After we re-boarded, we sat outside for a while and watched the ship traffic (Colon pier is very close to the waterway entrance) till we pulled out in the early evening. Great trip overall (I've posted a full cruise review on the Celebrity board) ... TR
If your ship goes through early in the morning, be sure to get up in plenty of time to watch the approach to the canal, not just the locks themselves. We were amazed at the sight of the lights from all the ships queued up just outside it, and then, as the sun started to rise, the beautiful jungle lining the waterway before the locks. We saw birds in abundance (I forgot to bring my seabird-identification book!) and heard howler monkeys roaring in the trees.
We decided to stay on "our" deck (aft public deck close to our inside cabin) for both directions. We stood in the corner by the side so we could closely watch the "mule" locomotives and other canal activity.
In the morning, we crossed as part of a group of cruise ships (Seven Seas Mariner before us, Coral Princess and Infinity after us) -- looking at them was OK but it was much more dramatic to watch the huge container ships that crossed back with us in the early afternoon -- everyone who got off the ship missed those AND the more impressive spectacle of the ship being lowered in the locks, to the point where the walls and the door-tops were ABOVE us on deck 8 -- even the mules were above us!
Once we docked at Colon (with Coral Princess) in mid-afternoon, we got off to nose around (the warnings about not leaving the dock area had spooked us, unfortunately, so we didn't). We followed signs to "Internet" and wound up in a small but nice row of computers in the "Business Center" area at the waterside of the terminal (you'll miss it if you don't know what you're looking for), $2/half-hour, certainly beat shipboard prices. As for the rest of what was for sale at the pier, we aren't shopping travelers so I can't tell you if anything was a deal - but a wide variety of items seemed to be available. We did buy several bottles of soda, as we love the taste of soda with REAL SUGAR as it's still made down there, VASTLY better than the corn-syrup junk now used in the US.
After we re-boarded, we sat outside for a while and watched the ship traffic (Colon pier is very close to the waterway entrance) till we pulled out in the early evening. Great trip overall (I've posted a full cruise review on the Celebrity board) ... TR