BillB48

Staying onboard is enjoyable, but please consider this, you have come a long way and expended many $$$ to get to see the Canal. Then why not see more of it? Staying on the ship and locking down the same locks and sailing back to Colon is all ground you have covered already. Why not go see more of the Canal? That would be a partial transit of the Pacific Locks and a passage through Gaillard Cut. That would give you almost a complete transit of the Canal. If you are on a partial transit using the new locks this would give you an excellent chance to experience both the new and the old.. Yes the shore excursions are a tad pricey, but you will experience a lot of what the Canal has to offer.

That is a hard question to answer at this point with the cruise terminal not having been completed, so there may be some bottlenecks in the process. If and that is a very big IF, you could be actually traveling to the airport shortly after 6, 10AM would be doable. However with the unknowns you probably be a lot safer with a departure after noon.

Not necessarily, since the new terminal has not been used for embarkation and disembarkation as yet, only the pier has been in operation. The authorities may not have personnel available to handle the customs and immigration formalities on the first day. My concern is you could get to the airport and not have "officially" entered the country. In the past you had to clear emigration officials on leaving. Best of luck and yes, it is the same facility.

In that case I would recommend the Panama Canal Experience over the Two Oceans by RR. Transiting the original Pacific Locks would be my preference as compared to a shore side visit.

First a question... is the following link the Panama Canal Experience you are referring to? https://www.ncl.com/shore-excursions/PCT_01/Panama-Canal-Experience The next question is, are you on a full transit cruise of the Canal or just a partial? Maybe the last question, will you be transiting using the new locks or the original locks? While I have not been on NCL's version of those shore excursions, most of the tours are conducted largely in the same manner for all the cruise lines. In general I feel the train excursion is better for the person who is a railroad buff and would like to experience the trip since the Panama Railroad has quite a history not only in being the first transcontinental railroad but its importance in building the Canal. Recommending the PC Experience would depend a lot on your answers to the above questions.

Have not had any word back from my contact, but he is not in operations... he is in the training wing. If anyone was a dollar short it will be the ship! The Canal is brutal when it comes to what they call an aborted transit. If for any reason the vessel has to cancel the transit after it starts it gets hit with that additional fee. Don't know what the actual fee is, (depends on size etc.) but it is in the thousands.

Sent my contact a note, maybe he can dredge something up. Probably the most likely reason was mechanical issues.

Sounds like the Ruby Princess is doing a partial transit. Selecting this tour is a good idea since the Ruby will lock through the new locks on the Atlantic side and the tour will take you through two of the original locks on the Pacific side. In addition you will also pass through the Gaillard Cut, so all in all you will have seen a large part of the Canal by combining your cruise and this particular shore excursion. I would recommend booking as early as practical, however the cruise line normally hold back some reservations to be sold onboard. Early reservations are better if you can.

Yes, it is possible to visit the Canal from land. Visitors are welcomed at Miraflores Locks (original) on the Pacific side and Agua Clara Locks (new) on the Atlantic side. If your ship calls on Panama and does not transit the Canal, quite often one of the excursions offered is a partial transit of the Canal which includes Gaillard Cut and the two original locks on the Pacific side.

That is the excursion that will do a partial transit of the Canal which locks through the two original Pacific Locks and the Gaillard Cut, shore ex NC2-615. While the tour does "start" in Gatun Lake, that really is only the tendering off the ship to board ground transportation to the Pacific side to board the "ferry". Also be aware that the tour can operate in reverse order from the description, from Panama City to Gamboa in other words. Absolutely no difference either direction is equally rewarding

Not sure if I can suggest anything, I'm not quite sure on what you mean by Gatun Lake excursion. All the Rotterdam's excursions will begin in Gatun Lake, some will actually involve the Lake as in the Monkey excursion or kayaking. However once leaving Gatun Lake, there are a number of other excursions that involve going to the locks, tours of Panama City or a trip to see the Embera Indians. Being honest, not sure how much interests these tours will be to kids with that age span, but there should be elements of any tour that would be of interest.

If you think you would want to have a little more in depth look at the original locks as you will be using the new locks for your transit, then there are 2 tours that would work. The first is a visit to Miraflores Locks along with an IMAX presentation narrated by Morgan Freeman. The other Locks excursion variant would include Miraflores and a trip across the Isthmus to see the new Locks at Agua Clara. Nice chance to see some of the countryside. The shore excursion that takes you to Panama Viejo to see the ruins of the first city which was founded in 1519, then on to Casco Antiguo where the city was located after Henry Morgan completed some urban renewal, is popular. Usually part of this tour involves a little walking in the Casco.

I don't think that any of the Rhapsody's transits that were cancelled were partials. I looked at a B2B leaving Ft. Amador sailing to two ports in Costa Rica and ending in Colon, that would be a full transit.. From Colon a few stops and then ending in Ft. Lauderdale. I really think the demand for the Canal transits were soft and so they went to the chopping block. As you can see in my previous post, just the cost of reservations is not for the feint of heart. Probably for the reason mentioned, the cost was steep and bookings low. To IndianaRN, I don't believe there is any danger your cruise on NCL is in any danger because of any issues at the Canal. Go and enjoy!

Cruise ships have a reservation for a day certain and usually a time frame (daylight transit), which they pay extra. A ship such as the Radiance would have an extra $50K added for the day certain and an Extra $30K for the daylight transit. They will not be impacted by the backlog, it is only ships that arrive without reservations that go in the queue. If you happen to be in that category you can bring extra $$$ and buy your way to the head of the line. One of the most recent figures was $2.4million for an LNG tanker and that was in addition to the regular toll.

No, it has been in place for some time. I am sure it is a real money maker now a days!

Saw this a couple of days ago and forgot about it but fits in nicely with this topic... A Norwegian shipper recently paid $2.4 million in addition to the regular tolls of approximately $400,000 to go to the head of the line and skip the wait. What the Canal does is auction one transit north and south each day to the highest bidder. So, if you have the dough... you can go! The ship was an LPG carrier, many of the petroleum carriers are big users of the bidding system. Article from GCaptain... https://gcaptain.com/panama-canal-shipper-pays-2-4-million-to-skip-the-line/

While looking for a rabbit hole to dive into, I was able to find the original post on the HAL board that gives a little detail of the Rotterdam's cancellation. The OP quoted the email they received from HAL saying the call at Gatun Lake on March 24 had been cancelled and they were refunding the cost of the shore excursion. I assume if the call to GL is cancelled the partial transit is a no go as well. Checked HAL's website and they do not have any sailing listed during that time frame in March, although I did find that sailing listed on site I don't think I am suppose to mention. I am sure HAL had reservations for their partial transit and even cancelling the reservation over 6 months out doesn't come without a little bit of pain in the checkbook. A ship the size of the Rotterdam, the reservation fee is $70,000 and cancelling between 180-365 days is $14,000! I suppose if they can't make the partial transit spending 14K is the preferable option than to loose the entire reservation fee. The transit would have cost about $500,000

Here is a screen grab of the cruise terminal from a video on FB of an approach to Gelabert Int. Airport (PAC) which is the former Albrook AFB. Looks to me while the terminal building appears complete there is no way of knowing how functional the terminal is. There doesn't appear to be any supporting infrastructure such roads, parking lots completed yet. The poster said it was taken recently.

Unfortunately it is just that, a little news. A friend of mine sent me an article in Spanish from one of the local news outlets detailing an announcement from the Panama Marine Authority (AMP). This is the government authority that oversees the ports as opposed to the agency that runs the Canal, the Panama Canal Authority (ACP). The article states that Sept. 1 marks the beginning of the third season of operation of the terminal. I think most of us Canal cruise watchers would say it is more like the third season for the pier with the terminal building opening to follow! Key takeaways from the article... Presently AMP has 49 reservations for cruise ships, serving 83,000 passengers An in transit passenger is expected to spend approximate $100. A passenger embarking or disembarking from a cruise is expected to donate about $350. Total income for the Panamanian economy $11.5 million. Accompanying the article was the following picture... Photo Credit AMP Don't have any idea of the date of the photo, however whenever it was taken there is still quite a bit of work to be completed shore side. I suspect it is an older stock photo. Maybe things are further along... hopefully anyway.

NCL's train and close up excursion from the Ft. Amador cruise terminal is relatively new since the terminal has only recently began to receive cruise ships. Add to that, the terminal is not completely finished so ships calling there and the details of the excursions are a work in progress. With that as a disclaimer, I can give you some info on the railroad trip. The Panama Railroad has quite a history and it was the first transcontinental railroad completed in 1855. Until transcontinental RR was completed in the US in 1869, the PRR provided an alternative to the grueling wagon trip across the plains and Rockies or a long voyage around Cape Horn to reach the west coast. Of course it was key in the construction of the Panama Canal. Lots of history and nostalgia when you ride that train, probably on a train buff's bucket list. However while the train trip is scenic in some respects you only see glimpses of the Canal on the trip and that is if you are on the correct side. Much of the trip is through undeveloped areas and not many panoramic vistas are presented. I am not trying to be negative, only to convey that to many people it is just a train ride and it is the history you are experiencing. The second part of the excursion of giving you a close up view of how the locks work... there are two scenarios for that part of the tour I can think of. One is take you to the visitor's center at either the original locks at Miraflores on the Pacific side or the visitor's center at the new Agua Clara Locks on the Atlantic side. This stop could be accomplished either before or after the train portion of the excursion. Another item, the train ride could be a round trip or a combination one way train and one way bus.

While i would not have any reservations in going into town in a group, don't think I would try this alone or only with one or two other people without a guide of some sort. From the cruise terminal into the nearest part of the City would be close to 5 miles and that would not be the primo part. There are some eateries and such near the terminal that offer great views across the bay towards the City. IMO Panama and the City, unless you are with someone knowledgeable can run into some pretty sketchy areas within a block or two particularly after dark . Not a good place for DIY tourism without some sort of guide. If your with someone who knows the area, you are fine.

Up until now I have no issues booking directly, but I can see the times where a good travel agent is invaluable. Like many people on this board finding a really knowledgeable agent is not an easy task. My experience with a travel agent while wasn't catastrophic was certainly an added layer of bureaucracy that had to be navigated to get a price reduction, hence I went back to doing it myself. I guess you just don't miss the work of the pros until you really need their assistance.

Thanks everyone for the feedback. I did call to see if I could re-book as a solo and the rep said that would be a forfeit of the two cruise fares minus fees and taxes. I would be ineligible for the double points since the cabin would have to have been booked as a single to begin with. I booked the cruise after final payment and my plan was she would be sailing or at least one of the other members of clan. Crystal ball is always in the shop when you need it the most.

Thanks, the double points would be at least some benefit. Guess I'll have to give them a call.

As we thought would happen, the "boss" will not be able to make the cruise because of work. Tried to shop it around to the kids... but they have jobs too! Work, the curse of the cruising class. Just wondered if it would be better (easier) to call them today and cancel or just me tell them at check in she will be a no show?? Cruise leaves Saturday, Aug 26.