Long planning help: Panama Canal RT Fort Lauderdale

I am interested in doing a 10 or 11 night Panama Canal cruise, roundtrip return to Florida.

2 adults, 1 child.

No airfare, or pre/post-cruise hotel necessary.

Oceanview or Balcony

1 or 2 nights specialty dining (what is kids price policy?)

At least one, maybe two, big excursions focused on the canal or south american ports

What is a good amount to budget for a trip like this? Is $5K reasonable or too low? 7k?

I'm figuring OV room at 1K per person. Port charges and gratuity another 500 per person. excursion, say 500. dining 100-200. insurance 200-300. So already into mid 5's. Thinking of doing a trip like this in 2-3 years so want to budget appropriately now to meet a target.

OK, I just did this in April with 3 of us. Paid for an OV. Amount paid thru my TA (cruise fare + taxes + insurance) was $4300. Tips were almost $500. Excursions were $600 (not big fancy ones). Just FYI, current specialty dining is $29 per adult, $14 for child. My airfare and hotel added another $1600, but you said you don't need that. It was spring break--we got killed on airfare.

My suggestion....we booked late. Not really "last minute," but late enough that there were no great deals being offered. We got some OBC from my TA, and shareholder OBC from Princess. Not much. I would suggest that you book when there is a "deal" of some sort going on--complimentary gratuities, specialty dining, OBC, or whatever you can get. We have all three on our upcoming cruise. It helps!

Taxes on this cruise were $300 pp. That's a chunk. FWIW, I had originally planned on the 10 day Caribbean cruise preceding this one; the cost on that would have been slightly over half of what the Panama cost. Cabin rates were lower, taxes were $125 pp, etc. Unfortunately, I didn't put a hold on the cruise, and when I went on line to book the next day, the HA cabin we needed was sold. Also, the air and hotel would have been far lower.

I think that if you want to go big on excursions, $7K is a reasonable budget. I'm of the "budget high, and if you don't spend it all, that's great" variety.

1 or 2 nights specialty dining (what is kids price policy?) Pretty sure kids are 1/2 price.

 

What is a good amount to budget for a trip like this? Is $5K reasonable or too low? 7k?

 

I'm figuring OV room at 1K per person. Port charges and gratuity another 500 per person. excursion, say 500. dining 100-200. insurance 200-300. So already into mid 5's. Thinking of doing a trip like this in 2-3 years so want to budget appropriately now to meet a target.

You're probably in the ballpark. Of course, in a year or 2, it will most likely go up in price rather than down or stay the same.;)

A check of Coral Princess itineraries for December 2018 & 2019 reveals there are no round trip from Ft. Lauderdale. The Coral will have an Ocean to Ocean 15 days (LA to FLL) December 7th, 2018 only.

Good luck on your long range planning.

John

Look for a cruise deal that will include gratuities (3 for free). Sometimes it will also include a specialty restaurant.

Keep a watchful eye on the Coral Princess. In my opinion, best ship to do a partial from FLL. Much better if you could do a 14 day full transit, but understand that airfare would add to your cost. She has absolutely wonderful viewing areas so you could get away with an OV room.

You might be able to get a private tour of the Jaguar Sanctuary in Port Limon with the three of you. I couldn't do it because I couldn't find a single person to join me.

How old is your child? There is a great visitor's center at the end of the pier in Cartagena. Not sure how much your child will enjoy the history of the city.

Grand Cayman is one of the best ports on a Caribbean itinerary. I would shy away from Jamaica.

A check of Coral Princess itineraries for December 2018 & 2019 reveals there are no round trip from Ft. Lauderdale. The Coral will have an Ocean to Ocean 15 days (LA to FLL) December 7th, 2018 only.

 

Good luck on your long range planning.

John

OP didn't say she wanted Coral. She just said round trip, which would be partial transit.

I totally agree that Grand Cayman is one of the best ports in the Caribbean.

OP didn't say she wanted Coral. She just said round trip' date=' which would be partial transit.

 

I totally agree that Grand Cayman is one of the best ports in the Caribbean.[/quote']

 

I'm glad the Coral will be doing Ocean to Ocean sailings, again. FLL to LA is different than LA to FLL regarding ports.

I am interested in doing a 10 or 11 night Panama Canal cruise, roundtrip return to Florida.

 

2 adults, 1 child.

 

No airfare, or pre/post-cruise hotel necessary.

 

Oceanview or Balcony

 

1 or 2 nights specialty dining (what is kids price policy?)

 

At least one, maybe two, big excursions focused on the canal or south american ports

 

What is a good amount to budget for a trip like this? Is $5K reasonable or too low? 7k?

 

I'm figuring OV room at 1K per person. Port charges and gratuity another 500 per person. excursion, say 500. dining 100-200. insurance 200-300. So already into mid 5's. Thinking of doing a trip like this in 2-3 years so want to budget appropriately now to meet a target.

Look at the Princess web site

Select a cruise you may want

Select the itinerary and you will see a tab for excursions

Select a port and you will see possible excursions and pricing

The go to book a cruise. There you will see all the fares and port charges.

There are no special children's fares. The fares are for the 3rd and 4th passengers in a cabin

Figure 8% for insurance.

Specialty dining will be $29 adult and $14.50 for children under a certain age. Not sure of the age, maybe 12. For 10 day P.C cruises the ships have Sabatini's and the Crown Grill. The Caribbean Princess also has Steamers and Planks which are $12/pp.

Currently the automatic gratuity is $13.50/pp/day for the cabin you mention, and yes children are charged each day.

Don't forget to add for on board spending, beverages, casino, spa, photos, shops, video games, internet (maybe $25/day). It all adds up.

No one knows what itineraries and ships will be around past March 2020. But, you can base your calculations on today's pricing and add something for price increases.

I would say an OV cabin for 3 covering fares, port charges, insurance and gratuity would be based priced around $6,000, maybe a little less. Then you have to add excursions, on board expenses, expenses when in port, parking at the port, extra tips and so on. You have to look for promos to kind of ease the cost a little. Hope this information is helpful.

Thanks all, seems like I am at least on the right track. I think I'll do a dummy booking just to get a baseline and then keep watching. I am also brand agnostic, and so I would consider NCL or any other line doing partial transit cruises. I think Carnival may even have a few but only 8 days which really limits the ability to see some new ports or cities if going through the expense to travel to the region. Sometimes NCL has kids free + other perks, Nothing is really "free" but you can bottomline it for comparative purposes.

Child is 3 now. I am thinking minimum age 5 but really, probably 6 or 7 so he can get more of a learning experience from it. So I have 3 years to budget discretionary funds as its certainly going to take more planning, time, and discipline than a $1.5K who cares what ship, who cares what room, 7 day who cares what islands cruise

 

Taxes on this cruise were $300 pp. That's a chunk.

For a Panama Canal cruise the taxes will be "a chunk" because they include your share of the transit fee charged to Princess.

If in an inside/OV room, third bed will require the bottom bed to be in twin configuration. Inside, the bunk bed is attached to the wall. Not sure of OV.