Independent Tour-Partial Panama Canal

We (three persons) will be on the Zuiderdam on a partial Panama Canal Cruise. The ship enters the Canal on the Atlantic Ocean side, sails to Gatun Lake and then sails back out the same way it entered. While it is in Gatun Lake the ship docks and you can do HAL tours. The ship stops in Colon to pick up people. My feeling is that this arrangement does not encourage independent touring.

Is it possible to do an independent tour. Three years ago we did a complet Panama Canal transit. I do not know where the ship docks in Gatun Lake. Will there be taxis that we could hire for the day to take us to Miraflores, and back to Colon? Where does the ship stop in Colon to pick up passengers?

This is a common topic here. Panama law restricts people getting off the ship in Gatun Lake to cruise line tours only. Not the cruise lines. And, it is a tender operation, not a docking, in a not particularly (as I understand it) high volume flow location.

So, no private excursions, taxis, etc.

Ship's tour, or nothing....but know that the trip into and out of Lake Gatun is an excursion unto itself!

We (three persons) will be on the Zuiderdam on a partial Panama Canal Cruise. The ship enters the Canal on the Atlantic Ocean side, sails to Gatun Lake and then sails back out the same way it entered. While it is in Gatun Lake the ship docks and you can do HAL tours. The ship stops in Colon to pick up people. My feeling is that this arrangement does not encourage independent touring.

 

Is it possible to do an independent tour. Three years ago we did a complet Panama Canal transit. I do not know where the ship docks in Gatun Lake. Will there be taxis that we could hire for the day to take us to Miraflores, and back to Colon? Where does the ship stop in Colon to pick up passengers?

Only ships tours for the Gatun Lake stop as the previous posters have indicated. Your feelings are correct, they do not want to encourage any private tours and so are not permitted. The reason for this is there is no town, no business or tourist area and no taxis/transportation that would be for private use. The area where you get off the tender is on the perimeter of the industrial park that was constructed to build the new locks. Having booked a shore excursion through HAL ensures that there will be someone there to pick you up and return you to Colon.

After the ship locks back down Gatun Locks it will sail to Colon and dock at the Colon 2000 terminal. Just consider this is one stop that it is better to be on a ships tour anyway... you would some distance from the ship, sometimes on roads that are prone to traffic problems etc. This way you are not on the hook to be on time for the ships departure:).