230+ Cruise Ships to Transit Canal This Season

According to the attached article more than 230 cruise ships are due to transit the Canal this "season" which runs from October through April. The inaugural ship for the "season" is listed as the Coral Princess on Oct. 4, although the Disney Wonder and Regatta of Oceania Cruises have already made a northbound transit earlier this month. What I found interesting in the article is that the Canal is accepting booking requests for transits of neopanamax vessels (the old post-Panamax) beginning April 1, 2017. As of now they have 11 reservations for the neopanamax cruise ships starting in October 2017. So far the only cruise ship identified is the Caribbean Princess which is supposed to the first to use the new locks.

https://www.ajot.com/news/more-than-230-cruise-ships-to-transit-panama-canal-in-2016-17-season

Not to be picky, but probably the better way of saying this is that there will be 230 cruise ship transits, as that is different from 230 different cruise ships will transit the Canal.

230 different ships would be amazing. But the fact is some ships make numerous transits each "season".

Well that's what happens when you write headlines for the National Inquirer and other fine grocery store tabloids as a second job;):D! On a related subject to your post, I did try to figure out how many of those 11 reservations for the new locks were going to be used by the Caribbean Princess. Presently they have 13 transits scheduled during the 2017 season which starts in October, which may account for multiple reservations of those announced 11. There is no info out there that I can find as to how many individual ships will make up the 11 reservations.

Not to be picky, but probably the better way of saying this is that there will be 230 cruise ship transits, as that is different from 230 different cruise ships will transit the Canal.

 

230 different ships would be amazing. But the fact is some ships make numerous transits each "season".

I had the same reaction to the poor writing. :)

The link in Bill's post doesn't open for me. I was just coming on here to post the article from Cruise Industry News when I saw this thread. Love the photo; you can really see how tight it is in the locks for some of these ships! (Can't wait for our first transit in January.)

http://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/15778-more-than-230-cruise-ships-to-transit-panama-canal-this-season.html

I had the same reaction to the poor writing. :)

 

The link in Bill's post doesn't open for me. I was just coming on here to post the article from Cruise Industry News when I saw this thread. Love the photo; you can really see how tight it is in the locks for some of these ships! (Can't wait for our first transit in January.)

 

http://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/15778-more-than-230-cruise-ships-to-transit-panama-canal-this-season.html

The article you linked to appears to be the same as the one I linked to from the American Journal of Transportation.

The tight fit in the old locks is much more pronounced than in the new locks. By comparison the new locks might be a little anti-climatic with the amount of space they will have. I say that not to down play the amount of skill necessary to put a ship into either set of locks. In the picture in your article, the Celebrity Infinity is 106' wide going into a space that is only 110' wide. On the other hand, when the Caribbean Princess enters the new locks they are dealing with putting a 118' into 180'. It most likely will "appear" to have a great deal more room.

The article you linked to appears to be the same as the one I linked to from the American Journal of Transportation.

 

The tight fit in the old locks is much more pronounced than in the new locks. By comparison the new locks might be a little anti-climatic with the amount of space they will have. I say that not to down play the amount of skill necessary to put a ship into either set of locks. In the picture in your article, the Celebrity Infinity is 106' wide going into a space that is only 110' wide. On the other hand, when the Caribbean Princess enters the new locks they are dealing with putting a 118' into 180'. It most likely will "appear" to have a great deal more room.

Thanks Bill. (We'll be on the NCL Jewel, also 106' wide if I'm not mistaken. :) )

From a poster over on the HAL board and some digging around in a Disney Cruise Line blog, it now looks like the Disney Wonder will be one of the "230";) cruise ships to transit the Canal this cruise season. What makes this a bit unique is by all appearances it will be the first cruise ship to use the new locks for the Canal transit. Although the Disney Wonder in its current configuration is a Panamax class ship which means it can use the old locks, the work being done in dry dock currently will cause the Wonder to have to use the new locks. During this yard work they will be adding a "duck's tail" to the stern of the ship, this addition will increase the length of the Wonder at the waterline enough to push it over the length limit for the Canal with this type of ship. The Canal' LOA limit is 965' for container ships and cruise ships and the Wonder is presently 964' without the duck addition.

The Wonder's southbound Canal transit should occur on April 29, 2017 on a cruise that leaves Port Canaveral FL April 23 to San Diego CA ... if I interpreted their schedule correctly.

Hope the folks who have booked the Caribbean Princess will not be too disappointed that they won't be the first cruise ship to transit the new expanded portion of the Canal. Maybe they can seek some solace that they will be (at least for now) the first cruise ship to transit the new locks that had not transited the Canal previously. Then again there is still time for some other cruise line to jump in front of the line!