BillB48

As far as I as I know, if the ship is is scheduled to use the original locks and instead is shifted to the new locks, the ship will not incur any additional charges.  The Canal makes that decision because it it advantageous to them, so no additional charges to the vessel.  To put it in perspective, out of 14,000  total transits it happens less than 200 times.

Some of the largest container ships have paid just over $1 million in tolls.  This should not be confused with ships that can bid to "go to the head of the line", the recent record for the highest bid is just under $4million.  Those bids are above and beyond the toll charges.

33 minutes ago, Linsuesue said:

Thank you for the quick response! I figured lock fees were based more off the size of the ship and didn’t realize that it costs much much more for the new locks. That makes sense though, they need to pay them off.  There are sites for port schedules that I have checked out before. Is there a site for Panama Canal scheduled transits? I will have to look. 

The tolls are determined by the size of the ship and you are correct that normally it does cost more for a ship to use the new locks.  However, the primary reason it costs more is because the ships using the new locks are larger.  Take for example, if the Carnival Spirit for some reason requested to transit the new locks, they would pay more in tolls than what it would cost to transit the original locks.  The reason is there are slightly different rate charged for each Panama Canal Ton.  Ships are measured by Panama Canal/Universal Measurement System (PC/UMS) and is a measure of volume and not actual weight.  It is a measurement similar to a ship's Gross Tonnage.  For a ship like the Carnival Spirit, it would cost about $400,000 for transit though the original locks.  Because there is a slightly different rate charged per PC ton the cost for the Spirit to transit the new locks would run about another $30,000.

There have been numerous times ships that could have transited the Canal using the original locks have been diverted to the new locks for Canal convenience.  To date these ships have all been ships carrying cargo... containers, grains, autos,, petroleum products and so on.  Only once since the new locks were opened did a passenger ship that could use the original locks use the new locks.  There were so many unique circumstances to that transit it can't be taken as anything that you would consider precedent setting.  Without almost any doubt, if the Spirit can fit in the original locks, that's where she will go.  

15 hours ago, salmn said:

Any idea if the Colon 2000 mall or Super 99 stores are safe if we need to pick up something for the second half of our cruise. I think we dock in that area.  We are pretty travel savvy and only carry small amount cash, no credit card or jewelry when off the ship.

That area is safe, just take the normal precautions that you would in any unfamiliar area as it appears you already do.  Just don't leave the mall area unless you are in a ship's tour, with a private tour or a taxi.

7 hours ago, Essiesmom said:

 Here is Cavalier Royal, if your friend is still collecting.  Pics are captured from my iPad so I hope they aren’t too grainy for his purposes.

Thanks, he has them now.  He wanted a couple of  the excursion boats to provide a visual for his presentations.

I am assuming the partial transit is not cancelled.  A change between Cristobal and Colon is primarily a distinction without a difference.  The piers in Cristobal are primarily for container operations and are on the west side of Colon, for whatever reason the larger Princess ships have been using Cristobal instead of Colon.  The Colon facility is on the east side of Colon about a mile and a half across town, it is more geared for cruise ships and where the majority of cruise ships stop when they call on Colon.  It may just be because of available berths or lack of them necessitate the change.

The no excursions perhaps is just a temporary measure until things are finalized.  On partial transits normally the ships only call on Colon or Cristobal to pick up passengers who disembarked the ship in Gatun Lake for shore excursions.

Thanks, I just sent them to him.

Thanks to  EM and dmwnc1959 for helping me make a good friend's day, greatly appreciated.

5 hours ago, Essiesmom said:

At least you wouldn’t be shoveling snow.  It was 25 here this morning (no snow), now up to 45.  EM

Oh, but the driveway was just covered with sunshine and it was freezing... 53F!  That is added for our northern friends to feel sorry for us... HA!

I checked with him and he said the same buses that took them to Gamboa drove them back the short distance to ship.

One of the Tuiras is in Gamboa this AM,so maybe that's the excursion vessel and a southbound.  My friend says they have had no word on the vessel or the direction yet even though they are in Ft. Amador docked next to the Ariania.

That would be great!  Thanks so much.

A good friend of mine, (back to high school) is the port lecturer on the Emerald Princess and does the Canal narration as well.  The Emerald Princess is calling at Ft. Amador tomorrow the day before the transit.  He will be assisting on the partial transit excursion offered by Princess.  He won't be the narrator but just assisting in keeping all the ducks in a row.  I won't be available tomorrow to get as the excursion vessel goes through Miraflores to get a screen grab.  Best guess is it is the Pacific Queen and possibly a southbound partial, but don't know for sure.  He would like to use it it in his presentation on the partial transit that he will give a couple of days from now.  Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Made a back to back Canal cruise from Florida to LA and back to Florida a couple of years ago, on the trip to LA we called on Colon the day before the transit, spent the full day in Colon and sailed that afternoon.  Went sufficiently offshore to enable everything to open and the following morning entered the opening used for ships transiting the Canal.  On the return leg just the opposite, exited the Canal, spent the night at sea and called at Colon the next day.

I suppose it is because of government regs... in most ports casinos and the ship's shops remain closed.  So head out to international waters and then the passengers can make some donations.  I am sure that beats paying higher fees for a longer time at the berth.

You are in luck, that still is a good time.  Actually the Dry Season should be fairly well established by then, but everything will still green and lush along with very little chance of rain.  The other thing you will avoid that occurs in late Dry Season is the haze that is often present due to brush fires.  Even though the Jan-Feb period of time you find the "lowest humidity" many people coming from winter to the tropics may look upon the weather as being humid.

If you were going to pick a time for the most comfortable time of the year to visit Panama, January is about the best.  Right after the Rainy Season ends and the Dry Season starts is the lowest humidity and the high temps are not bad.  Much better chance for regular breezes out of the north as well.

Yes keep checking specially around final payment time, a lot of cabins open up then.  Starboard side on a southbound is not the end of the world in any event,  I've been on the "wrong" side of the ship numerous times!  Enjoy!

First of all the stop in Colon from 5p to 8p is primarily to pick up the passengers who took ship's tours at Gatun Lake.  Those times are very fluid and I would not count on the times being used for any type of tour.  And as Bruce pointed out you really should not leave the port area in Colon.  Leaving the port area is fine if you are on a tour, but there is not time for a tour.

In all honesty beach and food are nothing you will find in Colon.  The nearest beach is at least 90 minutes away and the nearest food would be on your ship and a whole lot better than what you will find ashore.

Suggestion... let him go visit the original locks and you enjoy the ship.

I can not say with absolute certainty, but I think not.  They are closed when the ship is in port in Panama, I am inclined to believe the casinos would also be closed while the ship was transiting as well.

Many partial transit veterans may recall this location being referred to as the Gatun Yacht Club.  It is still generally known as that today, even though you will notice a distinct absence of yachts.  Actually in its heyday there really were not very many yachts, but it was a favorite watering hole when people lived in Gatun.  At that time most of the Yacht club consisted of the white building that you can easily see in EM's bridge cam shots from the Gem near the center of the picture.

I'll take this opportunity to give you a little historical trivia, although I doubt it will pop on any Trivia challenges.  The white X on the picture denotes the approximate location of the first ship to sink in the Canal.  At that point on the bottom lies the wreckage of the SS Brion.  She was not a huge ship by today's standards but she was a little over 200' long.  She was a northbound transit and began taking on water coming across Gatun Lake.  The pilot attempted to beach her in that area, the ship was evacuated and then it slipped from the shore and sank to the bottom.  The Lake is well over a  100' in that location 

g

Good to see he is back on the job now that the mine issue is resolved😁.

2 hours ago, dmwnc1959 said:

She’s still at the Pacific Anchorage as of this morning

Suppose if I thought about it for a minute it would be just being repositioning voyage and would only be carrying crew.  Just checked AIS and it looks like she is taking on bunkers.

Was she carrying passengers or in "ballast"?

Meant to include this in the above... The book of record for most people who are interested in the Canal you will want to include The Path Between The Seas by David McCullough.  Pretty much a doorstop edition but worth it.

Not a history lesson per se, but there is a narrator that describes the operation and points of key items of interest.  They will cover some of the construction, but I would not call it a history lesson.  PBS's American Experience is available on YouTube, is a good start.