Princess - Fuerte Amador and private tour

We will be cruising the Canal with Princess in Feb '16 - full transit, 2 day experience. The schedule says Fuerte Amador (for Panama City) 8 am - 6 pm, then the next day 6 am for the Canal... so ... I take that to mean we can schedule a private tour to the Embera Village with no concern for "missing the ship" as we will be stationary at that port until we leave to transit the canal... is that correct? I know that the reputable operators leave little concern for a missed ship, but I'm a nervous nelly... :D

I have always been under the impression that the ship would leave Canal waters and return the following morning. I say that for two reasons, looking at the schedule, on the first day you are at Ft. Amador "depart" 6PM. On the day of your transit you "arrive" at 5AM. I look at that as leaving Canal waters. The other reason I believe they leave is the Canal charges for the anchorage and by leaving they may be able to open the shops and casino.

You might try and pose this question on the Princess board and see if anyone has direct knowledge.

OK - thanks much for your insight. If that is the case, I guess I would be "safer" booking the Embera Village tour run by the cruise line....I was hoping to book with Ann.

I understand your concerns about returning to the ship in time since the trip to any of villages are a little remote and the village that Ann goes to is probably one of the farther ones. If somehow you ran into problems returning, I don't think the 6PM departure is as critical in this case since the ship really won't have anywhere to go except to leave the anchorage and be able to open the casino. The ship would be in a position where they "could" wait if they knew you were on the way. Worse case I am sure arrangements could be made for you to board the ship next morning before the transit. Also a 10 hour port call should give you plenty of cushion. You can always use the ship's excursion as a backup if Ann is not available.

Good thoughts - thanks so much for your input! And I know Ann does this all the time, and I have never heard of anyone missing their ship....