Panama Canal Cruise East to West

We have booked a cruise on the Coral Princess leaving Miami on February 19, 2018 going through the Panama Canal and ending at San Francisco. We would like your opinion on which side of the ship you prefer for seeing the locks and for sunrises and sunsets sailing East to West. Thank you, Kim

A corner aft suite is the best for seeing the locks if the price is within your budget. Unless things have changed since I lived there, you can see equally well from either post of starboard side. Just this morning I said to DH that if we went through the canal again I would like an aft veranda cabin. On our last Panama cruise we had a cabin on the port side. I was sitting on the balcony with a sick child and we saw the sunrise. It was quite amazing.

Marcia

While the aft cabin idea has it's benefits, there is no "best side" in the Panama Canal. The scenery is all around you, and you will be roaming the ship, not locked in your cabin. For example, being on the bow, or on the Promenade Deck while in a lock is very commonly recommended. We have been on the bow for two Canal trips. The third Canal transit was pouring rain at the Gatun Locks, so we took cover.

As you will not be sailing in the same direction every day, sunrises and sunsets will be all over the place, and you can't have it both ways...that is on the "best side" for both sunrises and sunsets. Again, best to roam the ship.

FYI, remember in the Canal, when sailing from Ft Lauderdale to San Francisco, you are actually sailing generally southeast...

Are you sure your leaving from Miami ? You'll probably spend a lotof time moving around the ship to get a good look.

No, you are right the port we are leaving from is Fort Lauderdale, not Miami. Thank you for all of your valuable information. We will look into an aft balcony. You guys are all wonderful, thank you.

Welcome to Cruise Critic! I'll speak to sunrises... on the way to the Canal from Ft. Lauderdale, depending on the actual course your ship takes, sunrises will favor some portion of the port side. Once you leave the Canal and are on a sea day the sunrise will start near the stern of the ship and gradually work its way up the starboard side as you head to LA. Of course while you are approaching port in the early AM the sunrise could be anywhere.

Favorite side at the Canal, that would be outside or at least topside:). I think the best way to view the Canal is from different vantage points during your transit. Usually there is a lot of interest in approaching the first lock (in your direction that would be Gatun) in being up forward to watch the first set of gates opening and your entrance into the chamber. Then it also great to see the ship in the chamber and how close to the lock wall you are from the lowest outside public deck at some portion of the transit. In short be where you can take in whatever is of interest.

While I absolutely love an aft balcony, at the Canal it would not be the best spot to see the Canal, particularly in and around the any of the locks. My reason for this is because the accompanying commentary is normally give with a forward perspective, so it will be some time later before you are able to see what is being described.

Even though I don't recommend "picking" a side for the Canal since it is all worth seeing, there is a wee bit more visual interest over all on the port side in the direction you will be transiting.

On this cruise, you will travel on a south east direction through the canal

On this cruise, you will travel on a south east direction through the canal

So true. One of the things I had to convince many fellow cruisers was that we actually were going west, northwest to be correct, through the canal as we went from LA to FLL. Most people assume that since the Atlantic is east of the pacific in the US that we must be traveling east in the canal. They do not take the time to look at how the isthmus is oriented. Great way to win a drink or two in an informal trivia contest.

On this cruise, you will travel on a south east direction through the canal

Gatun Locks are further west then the Pacific Locks.

We have booked a cruise on the Coral Princess leaving Miami on February 19, 2018 going through the Panama Canal and ending at San Francisco. We would like your opinion on which side of the ship you prefer for seeing the locks and for sunrises and sunsets sailing East to West. Thank you, Kim

I think you will be leaving from FLL, not Miami. Princess does not sail from Miami. EM

There really is no best cabin location for the Panama Canal.

You'll probably be wanting to spend time out of your cabin lots of times.

Coral Princess was built for the Panama Canal so you have lots of viewing options. :)

We just sailed the Canal this past April 2016. Loved it. Like others have said- all over the ship for best views. We had about 8 hours total going through the locks & were all over the ship for that 8 hours- topside, our balcony, aft & forward. For breaks from the heat, we even watched our in cabin TV's forward camera every couple of hours.

I know the Canal is the main attraction, but we really enjoyed our other ports of call. Best itinerary I have ever had the pleasure to sail. We sailed from Ft Lauderdale to Seattle Wa on Holland America- loved it. Wish we could afford to do it again.

In addition to the Panama Canal we enjoyed our port stops on the Pacific side of Central America. :)