Panama Canal

How come Carnival doesn't go to the Panama Canal? Which line would you recommend?

We did the 2 week full transit on Celebrity and loved it!!! Their Belgian waffles are fabulous, and everyday there were different flavors of hard hand scooped ice cream.

They usually have a few unexpected cruises. They just had one on the Legend August 17th. In the oast few years, the Inspiration, Imagination, Miracle, Elation and Paradise crossed over.

They need to reposition ships in order to do it. That's one of the reasons they switched Paradise and Inspiration. I have no clue or even a spoeculation of the 2016/2017 cruise season, which will be realeased in Feburary 2015. I guess we'll have to wait.

I wish Carnival did what Princess and Royal do. They have one or two ships just go east to west, and then west to east for a month of the year, and in princess's case, 2 or 3 months. But carnival is limited to the ships that can go through. The Fantasy class ships, which they won't unless they have the balcony additions, so just the Ecstasy, Fasciantion and Sensation, the Spirit class, Legend, Pride and Miracle. I personally don't see why they don't give the Legend up for an extra month after the alaska season and go west to east, so Long Beach to Miami, and then Miami to Long Beach east to west, and then send it down to Aussie.

But to answer the OP question, Princess. Neighbors are on it now and the pictures they uploaded while in Cartagena were amazing.

Good luck on your search :D

How come Carnival doesn't go to the Panama Canal? Which line would you recommend?

I took two Carnival cruises to the Panama Canal, other stops were Limon and maybe Belize. On one of the cruises (Miracle in January 2010) the average age of the passengers was maybe 80. Plenty of scooters and walkers all over the ship.

I would guess that the slower speeds of today's ships would make that a 9 day cruise from Florida. Panama could be combined with Cartagena, as other lines sail there.

Both HAL and Princess have full and partial transits to the PC. I like the 10/11 day RT from Ft. Lauderdale since I can not take 14-18 days to do the full transit.

My favorite ship for this is the Coral Princess which was built specifically for PC cruises. She is Panamax size and literally only has a few inches left on each side as she goes into the Gatun Locks into Gatun Lake where ship disembarks passengers for shore excursions and than turns around and comes back through the locks to pick-up shore excursion people in Colon/Panama City.

Last I went through you could practically touch the canal wall from the balcony.

Doing even a partial transit of the Panama Canal involves very expensive canal fees. Cruises that go into the canal pass along the costs to the passengers in the cost of the cruise. As a result, Panama Canal cruises cost more then the typical Carnival passenger would ever consider spending on a cruise.

Both HAL and Princess have full and partial transits to the PC. I like the 10/11 day RT from Ft. Lauderdale since I can not take 14-18 days to do the full transit.

My favorite ship for this is the Coral Princess which was built specifically for PC cruises. She is Panamax size and literally only has a few inches left on each side as she goes into the Gatun Locks into Gatun Lake where ship disembarks passengers for shore excursions and than turns around and comes back through the locks to pick-up shore excursion people in Colon/Panama City.

 

Last I went through you could practically touch the canal wall from the balcony.

We also did this 11-day partial transit cruise on Princess. (We were on the Island Princess, the sister ship of the Coral Princess). It was a FABULOUS cruise with some very good ports-of-call, particularly Cartegena.

If you choose a partial transit, consider taking the excursion in which you take a ferry through the remaining locks of the Canal. You will actually be able to touch the side of the Canal from the ferry--we did!

How come Carnival doesn't go to the Panama Canal? Which line would you recommend?

We are doing the partial transit next December on NCL Pearl. We love NCL!

We did the full transit on Princess and it was a wonderful cruise with people of all ages. Just make sure you have a balcony - preferably starboard side for an east to west transit and port side for the reverse so you can sit in the shade during the transit. I'll never forget that night at dinner, seeing all the terribly sunburned people who had been up top with raccoon eyes where their sunglasses had been. Their sunburns looked terribly painful. If you don't plan to do a balcony, at least bring a wide brimmed hat and sunscreen for that day.

I took two Carnival cruises to the Panama Canal, other stops were Limon and maybe Belize. On one of the cruises (Miracle in January 2010) the average age of the passengers was maybe 80. Plenty of scooters and walkers all over the ship.

That's funny - we sailed the 13 day Legend repo cruise through the Panama Canal in August. The cruise director said that the average age was 70 but they were the most spry, active 70 year olds we've ever met. (We're in our mid 50's but act 30. :D) We saw much fewer scooters and walkers on this sailing than on any of our regular seven day cruises.

Another vote for the Coral Princess. We did a Panama Canal cruise on the Coral several years ago. It was one of our favorite cruises.

HAK does the 10 day r/t FLL on Zuiderdam. I have done a full transit twice, first in 2009 on Oosterdam, San Diego to Rome. Second time last year on Infinity, San Diego to Harwich. EM

Coral & Island Princess were especially designed to go through the Panama Canal (long & narrow). We've loved our Canal cruises on them! :)

LuLu

Another vote for Princess. A few years ago I did a 15-day full transit, FLL to SFO on the Sea Princess. Absolutely wonderful visit to one of the modern wonders of the world.:)

Yes there aren't that many ships that are small enough to fit through the present locks (Panamax size). Would expect more/most cruise lines will offer more cruises once the new locks are completed.

Here you go, on Aug 22 this year here is the Carnie Legend at Gatun Locks.

Admittedly they don't do Canal transits all that much... You would have better luck looking at Celebrity, Princess, HAL and to a lesser extent RCI for Canal transits.

Here are some of my pictures on RCCL Legend Of The Seas Panama Canal cruise in April.

http://www.jeannietx2.com/panama-canal-cruise-2014/

Jewel of the Seas is doing full transit in 2015.

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We will be doing the 11 day partial transit in December on the Island Princess. We are looking forward to it!

We did the partial transit on the Coral Princess. Unfortunately, it had rained heavily and many of the excursions were cancelled because the roads were washed out.

Below is the link to our trip story and pictures

http://stevekathytravels.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/panamacana2010.pdf

We are always happy to answer questions.

I did a full transit this past April on NCL Jewel, 15 days, NOLA to San Fran. Great fun. Loved the Cartagena stop. Friends had front and side facing owners' suite and invited our group for transit party. Nicely assorted ages onboard. Highly recommend reading "The Path Between the Seas" before going.