Stacy & Dave's Bliss-full Haven Canal Cruise May 10-25th

Creme brûlée

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Seven Seas Navigator?

Yes, she transited the Canal yesterday.

Following and enjoying all those awesome pics and usefull information!

Thanks for doing this.

We can thank Jimmy Carter for giving the canal to Panama, even though we built it at a great cost in both finances and lives lost.

Nope. They have told us several times today that it costs NCL 1.3 million to cross. Crazy.

 

 

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How long did it take to get through the canal?

Stacy, thanks for posting the menus. If you happen to go to Pincho Tapa's could you please pose their menu, can't seem to find it in a search. Thanks, Judy

How long did it take to get through the canal?

From the reports I have seen, it took 11 hours and the cost to Norwegian for the transit was 1.3 MILLION DOLLARS ( just about what I thought it would be).

Stacy, thanks for posting the menus. If you happen to go to Pincho Tapa's could you please pose their menu, can't seem to find it in a search. Thanks, Judy

There isn’t a restaurant on the ship with that name? Food Republic or Los Lobos?

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From the reports I have seen, it took 11 hours and the cost to Norwegian for the transit was 1.3 MILLION DOLLARS ( just about what I thought it would be).

11 hours?

I've never done a Canal cruise but never thought it take 11 hours :confused:

What do passengers do in that 11 hour period? Do they actually watch the whole transit from their balconies or bow?

Nevertheless I can't wait to cross the Canal in November.

We started at about 7:00 in the morning. We were through the first locks by 10:30 am. Then we cleaned up, ate, etc., until 2:00 when we got to the 2nd locks. We were in Gatun Lake between locks, which was incredibly beautiful! The second set of locks took longer than expected. It was 7:45 before we went under the Bridge of America’s (in the dark). We sat for a long time waiting in the gates. We were talking afterward about how surprised we were that we just sat and watched all day! It was fascinating.

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Gatun Lake. We were so close to land, similar to the inside passage in Alaska. There was a crocodile on shore and one point. Heard it over the speaker but didn’t see it.

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Day 2 dailies. Sorry! Thought I posted them!!

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Day 3 Dailies!

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Day 4 Dailies!

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This was fun, but no useful for us!! [emoji3]

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From the reports I have seen, it took 11 hours and the cost to Norwegian for the transit was 1.3 MILLION DOLLARS ( just about what I thought it would be).

I believe the 1.3 million is not what the Bliss paid... the 1.3 figure is just about identical to what the container ship CMA CGM Theodore Roosevelt paid when she went through the Canal about 6 months ago. The TR set the record for being the largest ship to have transited the Canal and has a capacity for more than 14,000 TEU containers. She is physically somewhat larger than the Bliss at 1200'x158', so I am doubtful that they would have paid the same toll.

Tolls at the Canal are calculated on the capacity of the vessel and not necessarily how much it is carrying. Now there are allowances made in the tolls charged if the vessel is in ballast, ie. no commercial cargo whatsoever, but it is still based on the capacity of the ship. In the case of the Bliss the capacity is determined on the total number of passenger berths, not the total number of passengers. So all the unoccupied berths in cabins that have the 3rd and 4th berth are included in the total pushing figure to over the 4000 mark. The 4000 figure is accurate enough to get a good idea of what she paid. The toll for passenger ships using the new locks is $148/per passenger berth when carrying any revenue passengers and $119/ppb when not carrying any revenue passengers.

4000x148= 592,000

35000 Reservation fee for a specific date

30000 Daylight transit guarantee

17000 Tug services

6000 Line handlers

That figure comes out to $680,000, but that is largely dependent on the passenger berth count at 4000... I think it could be possible to round that up to somewhere in the area of 4500 depending on just how many more berths are available above double occupancy. The Canal in some of their press releases have put the figure at 5000, don't know how accurate that is. Those figures above are the key figures, but there are some minor charges that could be added into the total depending on whether the service was actually used. One extra for instance is if the Canal provided a person to give commentary for the transit, which is $470 the last I checked.

Hi Stacy and Dave, thanks for letting us tag along for your amazing Bliss holiday. Great review.

If you get a chance, please can you advise which rooms are directly outside the door to the haven lounge/bar area and the door to the courtyard on deck 17? Just one side would be great if they're symmetrical. Thanks very much.

I believe the 1.3 million is not what the Bliss paid... the 1.3 figure is just about identical to what the container ship CMA CGM Theodore Roosevelt paid when she went through the Canal about 6 months ago. The TR set the record for being the largest ship to have transited the Canal and has a capacity for more than 14,000 TEU containers. She is physically somewhat larger than the Bliss at 1200'x158', so I am doubtful that they would have paid the same toll.

 

Tolls at the Canal are calculated on the capacity of the vessel and not necessarily how much it is carrying. Now there are allowances made in the tolls charged if the vessel is in ballast, ie. no commercial cargo whatsoever, but it is still based on the capacity of the ship. In the case of the Bliss the capacity is determined on the total number of passenger berths, not the total number of passengers. So all the unoccupied berths in cabins that have the 3rd and 4th berth are included in the total pushing figure to over the 4000 mark. The 4000 figure is accurate enough to get a good idea of what she paid. The toll for passenger ships using the new locks is $148/per passenger berth when carrying any revenue passengers and $119/ppb when not carrying any revenue passengers.

 

4000x148= 592,000

35000 Reservation fee for a specific date

30000 Daylight transit guarantee

17000 Tug services

6000 Line handlers

 

That figure comes out to $680,000, but that is largely dependent on the passenger berth count at 4000... I think it could be possible to round that up to somewhere in the area of 4500 depending on just how many more berths are available above double occupancy. The Canal in some of their press releases have put the figure at 5000, don't know how accurate that is. Those figures above are the key figures, but there are some minor charges that could be added into the total depending on whether the service was actually used. One extra for instance is if the Canal provided a person to give commentary for the transit, which is $470 the last I checked.

It was reported by several of those posting from on board The Bliss yesterday that the price was 1.3 Million. I am not surprised by that figure at all.

I believe the 1.3 million is not what the Bliss paid... the 1.3 figure is just about identical to what the container ship CMA CGM Theodore Roosevelt paid when she went through the Canal about 6 months ago. The TR set the record for being the largest ship to have transited the Canal and has a capacity for more than 14,000 TEU containers. She is physically somewhat larger than the Bliss at 1200'x158', so I am doubtful that they would have paid the same toll.

 

 

 

Tolls at the Canal are calculated on the capacity of the vessel and not necessarily how much it is carrying. Now there are allowances made in the tolls charged if the vessel is in ballast, ie. no commercial cargo whatsoever, but it is still based on the capacity of the ship. In the case of the Bliss the capacity is determined on the total number of passenger berths, not the total number of passengers. So all the unoccupied berths in cabins that have the 3rd and 4th berth are included in the total pushing figure to over the 4000 mark. The 4000 figure is accurate enough to get a good idea of what she paid. The toll for passenger ships using the new locks is $148/per passenger berth when carrying any revenue passengers and $119/ppb when not carrying any revenue passengers.

 

 

 

4000x148= 592,000

 

35000 Reservation fee for a specific date

 

30000 Daylight transit guarantee

 

17000 Tug services

 

6000 Line handlers

 

 

 

That figure comes out to $680,000, but that is largely dependent on the passenger berth count at 4000... I think it could be possible to round that up to somewhere in the area of 4500 depending on just how many more berths are available above double occupancy. The Canal in some of their press releases have put the figure at 5000, don't know how accurate that is. Those figures above are the key figures, but there are some minor charges that could be added into the total depending on whether the service was actually used. One extra for instance is if the Canal provided a person to give commentary for the transit, which is $470 the last I checked.

Jovo, the Hotel Director, told me that our bill for crossing was 1.3 million. I also heard someone say that the crew counts, too.

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I would assume that NCL charges a per person port tax of $325 to cover this amount?

The breakout of the cruise fare would have the numbers. I would think that overall, this cruise is charging around $700 pp for port tax/fees.

Plenty of pool deck space at 10:30 am

 

 

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And the ship is at FULL capacity with that many chairs remaining at 10:30 available - this is good to see!!

Thanks for all the great pics. I look forward to seeing the new locks. We will be on the 3/30/19 PC sailing.

Tom & Cyndi

Video of us entering the Canal yesterday

Video of us leaving the Canal

Stacy, this is a great review. Really enjoying everything about it. My parents are on the cruise, so say hi to them if you get a chance. [emoji12] Man, I really need to make a cruise reservation. Gotta convince the wife this week!