Panama Cruise Ship Suggestions

We are a group of 4 couple that have been traveling together for a few years. The only vacation suggestion one couple has made is the Panama Canal cruise. So that is our vacation for next year. They would like to do a full transit and would like as many ports as possible (not a lot of at sea days).

What is the difference in a full or partial transit? If you did a partial transit with an excursion for the full transit on a smaller ship, would you get the same experience as a full transit on a cruise ship?

Most of us would prefer to limit the cruise to 10 days. Can you get the most of this vacation on a 10 day cruise?

I know nothing about the Panama Canal. We have cruised a few times before.

Any help/suggestions you can provide will be most appreciated. Thank you!

straitfan:

a transit on a small ship is way better, but way better than a large cruise ship.

on a small ship (120 foot) you will feel the water moving, see more details, touch the walls !!, see other larger ships close to you, your pictures will be awsome !!!!

the partial transit is from gamboa to pacific(half way)

a full transit is from pacific to atlantic, this will take 8hrs,

on the full transit you will do everything, if you are really into the canal, take the full transit.

if you only want to see the canal and learn about it, the partial is enough.

good luck

What is the difference in a full or partial transit? If you did a partial transit with an excursion for the full transit on a smaller ship, would you get the same experience as a full transit on a cruise ship?

 

Most of us would prefer to limit the cruise to 10 days. Can you get the most of this vacation on a 10 day cruise?

 

I know nothing about the Panama Canal. We have cruised a few times before.

As I write this I'm finishing up a book MS to answer this kind of question, since there is nothing really out there to answer this and many of the other types of questions folks ask. Lots of people I find BUY "The Path Between The Seas" which is a great book, but not a lot of folks actually READ it. If you only have 10 days the ZUIDERDAM round-trip into the Canal, through Gatun Locks, turning around and going back through the same locks is a good choice. You experience some of the Canal and the locks . . . if you want you can take a small ship through the rest of the Canal or go off and see some of Panama. I worked ZUIDERDAM for 5 months on this itinerary, so I'm a little prejudiced.

You mgiht find my blog "5 Types of Panama Cruises" http://panamacanalblog.wordpress.com/2010/10/07/five-panama-cruises/ really helpful in understanding what's available.

Hope that helps! If you have other questions post them. Meanwhile, back to work . . . Regards, Richard

Let me answer you last question first. The Coral Princess is doing 10 day full transits of the Canal from Ft. Lauderdale ending in Acapulco or vice versa.

This is a description I wrote in another thread: Here goes, the partial transit is normally a round trip cruise out of Florida. On the day of your partial transit you will arrive at the Canal breakwater on the Atlantic side, (Caribbean) fairly early, around 5-5:30AM. The ship will receive the pilot/s and continue down the channel towards Gatun Locks. You will lock up at Gatun Locks where you will enter Gatun Lake and go to anchor, this will happen sometime around 9:AM. This is as far as your ship will travel into the Canal, technically not the "midway point" but your turnaround point. If you have booked any tours in Panama, this is where you will tender off your ship to meet your tour. There is a tour that you can take that will take you to the Pacific side where you will board a smaller vessel and transit the two Pacific Locks and Gaillard Cut. In my opinion, this is the more visually dramatic portion of the Canal and by taking this tour you will have been through a large portion of the Canal. Actually it gives you a great perspective of seeing the Canal operations from your Panamax ship at Gatun and then a smaller vessel at the Pacific Locks, a great comparison.

While you are on your tour, the passengers who remain on the ship will lock back down Gatun Locks and proceed to Cristobal or Colon. That is the same place, just different docking facilities in Colon. Touring passengers will rejoin the ship in Colon. (Here's the thread http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1285917)

While I think the partial transit is a great cruise and a good way to get a good feel for the Canal, if I had a choice between the two, I would opt for the full transit. Even though on the partial transit you do see a large portion of the Canal, you don't get to experience sailing across Gatun Lake. Outside of seeing a few other passing ships or some of the Canal's dredging equipment, the area is still very much in it's natural forrested state.

The only problem with the 10 day FLL-ACA is your ship will not stop in Panama for you to take any land tours there. A benefit of the partial transit is that you would be able to get off the ship and take a land tour (such as the partial transit of the Pacific Locks) and see a little of the country. Some of the longer full transits incorporate a stop in Panama that allows tours.

Most of the Canal cruises will "average" out to having one sea day and then a port day, there probably will be a period where you have two sea days or two port days in a row.

As far as you being able to get the same experience from a partial as opposed to a full transit.... let's say you can get a great experience form both, but they are somewhat different. Either cruise will compliment the other if you chose to do a partial and then at a later date do a full transit. The reverse will work just as well.

For those who are interested in reading about the Canal, there is the "official" book of record that most will recommend, including me.. The Path Between The Seas by David McCullough. There is enough info in there to make your hair hurt;), just kidding.... a very good book. David McCullough also hosted a program for NOVA, called A Man, A Plan, A Canal, Panama. This video is available through Amazon.

While it may be possible to find a Canal cruise anytime of the year, most of them can be found from the fall until the begining of spring.

 

I know nothing about the Panama Canal. We have cruised a few times before.

 

Any help/suggestions you can provide will be most appreciated. Thank you!

As others have said, the Path Between the Seas is the definitive record and it's an excellent read. But it's 615 pages long.

These will give you good idea of what the canal is all about and they're only 17 minutes long in total

but nothing beats going through it, especially when you know about the sacrifices that were necessary to create it.

hmm i think 10 days are enough

Thank you all for your responses. Since we are hoping to sail the Panama Canal sometime this January-March, I am feeling a bit pressured to make some decisions. It looks like the Zuiderdam, Coral Princess or Jewel of the Seas ships might be our best bets. Any comments/suggestions?

Richard, you are a wealth of knowledge and thank you so much for your post. I know you were on the Zuiderdam for months. Have you sailed either of the other ships or have knowledge of them? We have been to Grand Cayman and Aruba, so I think our friend would probably like the itinerary that ports in places other than those. He likes the idea of exploring new places and does not necessarily enjoy days at sea (as I do).

If anyone has sailed the Panama Canal on a 10 day cruise and would like to share your experience, it would be most appreciated. Again, thanks so much!

Thanks for all the info. I really want to do the canal. It must be amazing. I would love to do the full transit but the partial would be alright if not able to do the full. Now I know what ships to look at.

Linda

Thank you all for your responses. Since we are hoping to sail the Panama Canal sometime this January-March, I am feeling a bit pressured to make some decisions. It looks like the Zuiderdam, Coral Princess or Jewel of the Seas ships might be our best bets. Any comments/suggestions?

 

Richard, you are a wealth of knowledge and thank you so much for your post. I know you were on the Zuiderdam for months. Have you sailed either of the other ships or have knowledge of them? We have been to Grand Cayman and Aruba, so I think our friend would probably like the itinerary that ports in places other than those. He likes the idea of exploring new places and does not necessarily enjoy days at sea (as I do).

 

If anyone has sailed the Panama Canal on a 10 day cruise and would like to share your experience, it would be most appreciated. Again, thanks so much!

My only comment/suggestion is something you may already be aware of, is that the Jewel of the Seas does not enter the Canal, only docks in Colon. Of course you can usually opt for the tour that makes a partial tranist of the Pacific Locks while the ship is at Colon.

I have done several 10/11 day partial transit cruises as well as full transits, so if I can answer any specific questions, I'll be glad to.

Richard, you are a wealth of knowledge and thank you so much for your post. I know you were on the Zuiderdam for months. Have you sailed either of the other ships or have knowledge of them?

Straitfan, Yes, I worked on ZUIDERDAM for 5 months. Fantastic ship, great line, great service and crew. I now work for Holland's sister company, Princess, and although I haven't personally been on CORAL, it has the same high degree of service, yada yada. And I own stock in RCCL . . . what can I say. They are all aiming at the same market. RCCL is more of a family market ship. Holland and Princess are, I would say, a little more upscale . . . the RCCL comparison brand would be Celebrity, which I've lectured on.

I'd look more at the itinerary . . . and whether or not you actually want to experience the Canal . . . of course getting 8 people to all agree . . . good luck! Any would be good choices. I can tell you that Princess takes the most passengers through the Canal, Holland is second, RCCL is a rather distant third . . . whatever that means.

Regards, Richard

Richard: I was all ready to book the Zuiderdam today for the 2/1 ten day cruise. But....as you say, getting 8 people to agree is going to be quite a challenge. Really has not been a problem in the past, but this is a pricey trip compared to others we've been on. And now that we've had a balcony cabin, I prefer it. So you pay for that. I did discover today that the "Fast Deals" that I've been sent in emails are the same price that the cruise line's home page quote. It wasn't any less expensive. I do prefer this itinerary, with the last 2 days at sea. Our last cruise we took was a western caribbean trip on Carnival. We had balcony cabins along the side and back of the ship. We had the cabin steward unlock the partitions and we really used that balcony the whole week. It was fabulous!

Bill: I was not aware that the Jewel of the Seas does not enter the canal. That would be a deal breaker for the friend that has suggested this cruise. So, I'll cross that one off. Thanks so much for that info!

The search continues.........

We are sailing on the March 23,2011 Zuiderdam cruise into the Panama-Canal. The information supplied is greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

Jon,

NH - You will enjoy ZUIDERDAM! Tell the Hotel Manager I said hello! And by the way my YOUR DAY IN THE PANAMA CANAL should be out by then. Straitfan, let us know what your crew decides: just ply them with rum punch until they all agree . . . on something! Good luck! Regards, Richard

hallo richard

just read and look your panama blog. thank you much for your informations, my husband and i will go through the panamacanal in april 2011 with zuiderdam and as i saw your blog i cannot expect it. gratulations to that and greets from austria

Let me answer you last question first. The Coral Princess is doing 10 day full transits of the Canal from Ft. Lauderdale ending in Acapulco or vice versa.

 

This is a description I wrote in another thread: Here goes, the partial transit is normally a round trip cruise out of Florida. On the day of your partial transit you will arrive at the Canal breakwater on the Atlantic side, (Caribbean) fairly early, around 5-5:30AM. The ship will receive the pilot/s and continue down the channel towards Gatun Locks. You will lock up at Gatun Locks where you will enter Gatun Lake and go to anchor, this will happen sometime around 9:AM. This is as far as your ship will travel into the Canal, technically not the "midway point" but your turnaround point. If you have booked any tours in Panama, this is where you will tender off your ship to meet your tour. There is a tour that you can take that will take you to the Pacific side where you will board a smaller vessel and transit the two Pacific Locks and Gaillard Cut. In my opinion, this is the more visually dramatic portion of the Canal and by taking this tour you will have been through a large portion of the Canal. Actually it gives you a great perspective of seeing the Canal operations from your Panamax ship at Gatun and then a smaller vessel at the Pacific Locks, a great comparison.

 

While you are on your tour, the passengers who remain on the ship will lock back down Gatun Locks and proceed to Cristobal or Colon. That is the same place, just different docking facilities in Colon. Touring passengers will rejoin the ship in Colon. (Here's the thread http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1285917)

 

While I think the partial transit is a great cruise and a good way to get a good feel for the Canal, if I had a choice between the two, I would opt for the full transit. Even though on the partial transit you do see a large portion of the Canal, you don't get to experience sailing across Gatun Lake. Outside of seeing a few other passing ships or some of the Canal's dredging equipment, the area is still very much in it's natural forrested state.

 

The only problem with the 10 day FLL-ACA is your ship will not stop in Panama for you to take any land tours there. A benefit of the partial transit is that you would be able to get off the ship and take a land tour (such as the partial transit of the Pacific Locks) and see a little of the country. Some of the longer full transits incorporate a stop in Panama that allows tours.

 

Most of the Canal cruises will "average" out to having one sea day and then a port day, there probably will be a period where you have two sea days or two port days in a row.

 

As far as you being able to get the same experience from a partial as opposed to a full transit.... let's say you can get a great experience form both, but they are somewhat different. Either cruise will compliment the other if you chose to do a partial and then at a later date do a full transit. The reverse will work just as well.

 

For those who are interested in reading about the Canal, there is the "official" book of record that most will recommend, including me.. The Path Between The Seas by David McCullough. There is enough info in there to make your hair hurt;), just kidding.... a very good book. David McCullough also hosted a program for NOVA, called A Man, A Plan, A Canal, Panama. This video is available through Amazon.

 

While it may be possible to find a Canal cruise anytime of the year, most of them can be found from the fall until the begining of spring.

Bill, I am confused about the stops on the Acapulco-Fort Lauderdale cruise. When I first booked, the stop in Panama was Cristobal. Now I see that Cristobal has closed down and the ship will now call at Colon. How does this affect the shore excursions? We want to do the Embera Indian Village but will this still be possible? There are shore excursions in Princess Cruise Personalizer for all the ports except Panama. Here is the itinerary.

30 April Panama Canal, Panama 5:00 AM 4:30 PM

30 April Colon, Panama 5:00 PM 9:00 PM

I don't see Princess giving up the revenue of selling shore excursions but it's just strange they aren't bookable when all the other ones are. Where does the ship let people off for shore excursions? I don't think there is enough time at Colon.

Also, does anyone know what will happen to the craft market at Cristobal? Will they move to Colon or if they can't, is it close enough to go there in a taxi? Are there crafts available at Colon?

Not to worry!! "Cristobal" referred to a port complex that was located in Colon. The Colon ports were about a mile from the "Cristobal" port. So everything is pretty much the same except . . . it takes a little longer for the ship to go to the Colon ports because it must sail out around the breakwater.

I suspect that there is some reworking of schedules, etc. going on because the construction of the new Gatun Lock complex is "interrupting" if you will the flow of some of the guests who were being tendered off in Gatun Lake. I think it is mainly rewording the copy. At any rate the ship goes to Colon primarily to pick up guests who were off on tours. The Embera Tour is a highlight and very popular and I don't see that disappearing. The Colon ports - Colon 2000 and Home Port - are not allowing the Indians to sell crafts unless they pay an exhorbitant amount, for them, to rent a store. There will be crafts for sale at the village if you take the Embera tour. If you take the Panama City tours a lot of them stop either at the craft mart behind the YMCA or at a few stores in Casco Viejo ["Colonial" Panama] and both have good selection and fairly good prices.

It will work out, and you will have a great time!

Regards, Richard

"Where does the ship let people off for shore excursions? I don't think there is enough time at Colon."

You actually tender off the ship just before Gatun Locks, probably sometime around noon. At this point you will have been through most of the Canal, the Pacific Locks, Gaillard Cut and the sail across Gatun Lake. What you will miss is the lockage at Gatun Locks and the passage down the approach channel to Colon. I suspect that a complete lineup of tours will be available since the CP is the only ship scheduled for Colon on April 30..

While there is some shopping near the pier area in Colon, the craft market as it was set up at the Cristobal pier has not made it over to the Colon pier as yet. Richard's suggestions on the shopping will be your best bet.

Not to worry!! "Cristobal" referred to a port complex that was located in Colon. The Colon ports were about a mile from the "Cristobal" port. So everything is pretty much the same except . . . it takes a little longer for the ship to go to the Colon ports because it must sail out around the breakwater.

 

I suspect that there is some reworking of schedules, etc. going on because the construction of the new Gatun Lock complex is "interrupting" if you will the flow of some of the guests who were being tendered off in Gatun Lake. I think it is mainly rewording the copy. At any rate the ship goes to Colon primarily to pick up guests who were off on tours. The Embera Tour is a highlight and very popular and I don't see that disappearing. The Colon ports - Colon 2000 and Home Port - are not allowing the Indians to sell crafts unless they pay an exhorbitant amount, for them, to rent a store. There will be crafts for sale at the village if you take the Embera tour. If you take the Panama City tours a lot of them stop either at the craft mart behind the YMCA or at a few stores in Casco Viejo ["Colonial" Panama] and both have good selection and fairly good prices.

 

It will work out, and you will have a great time!

 

Regards, Richard

Thanks Richard. I am interested in both Embera crafts and Kuna "mola" crafts. If the market situation isn't sorted by next April, is it feasible to just take a taxi to the main Cristobal market or is the market also shut down? It seems the vendors will have to move somewhere, they depend on sales to cruise passengers to feed their families.

If Princess can get their website sorted, there was also a tour that combined a quicker visit to an Embera Village (less remote one), Gatun Lake and Gatun Locks, don't know if this one would be better for shopping?

"Where does the ship let people off for shore excursions? I don't think there is enough time at Colon."

 

You actually tender off the ship just before Gatun Locks, probably sometime around noon. At this point you will have been through most of the Canal, the Pacific Locks, Gaillard Cut and the sail across Gatun Lake. What you will miss is the lockage at Gatun Locks and the passage down the approach channel to Colon. I suspect that a complete lineup of tours will be available since the CP is the only ship scheduled for Colon on April 30..

 

While there is some shopping near the pier area in Colon, the craft market as it was set up at the Cristobal pier has not made it over to the Colon pier as yet. Richard's suggestions on the shopping will be your best bet.

Thanks Bill. I'm happy to go through the first couple locks and then get off to experience some of Panama. Are the molas available in the Super99 store if I can't get to any other markets?

I hope a solution is found for the Indian's sake as well, it's their whole livelihood.

Thanks Richard. I am interested in both Embera crafts and Kuna "mola" crafts. If the market situation isn't sorted by next April, is it feasible to just take a taxi to the main Cristobal market or is the market also shut down? It seems the vendors will have to move somewhere, they depend on sales to cruise passengers to feed their families.

 

If Princess can get their website sorted, there was also a tour that combined a quicker visit to an Embera Village (less remote one), Gatun Lake and Gatun Locks, don't know if this one would be better for shopping?

You will find molas all over Panama. The pier at Cristobal has been razed and is no more. All the gift shops have some crafts, although it's not the same as buying direct. The "quicker" Embera Village is more of a demonstration village and not very authentic. I don't recommend. See my tour comments . .. you can't do everything, so figure out what it is that most interests you, and do it. If it's culture, do the Embera Tour. If it's wildlife, do Gatun Lake Safari, if history The Shaping of Panama or Colonial Panama, if it's the Canal, the Canal Ferry Tour, if trains are your thing, the Panama Railway trip. If you really want to shop independently for crafts, try the craft market behind the old YMCA in Panama City, or the craft market at Old Panama (not Casco Viejo), and there are some good shops in the Casco Viejo. You can hire a cab for $15-20 if you just want to spend the day hopping around looking for crafts.

It's unfortunate that the Colon piers don't realize the high value guests put on having Indian crafts available where the Indigenous themselves make the sale so keep the bulk of the money.

Regards, Richard

Thanks Bill. I'm happy to go through the first couple locks and then get off to experience some of Panama. Are the molas available in the Super99 store if I can't get to any other markets?

 

I hope a solution is found for the Indian's sake as well, it's their whole livelihood.

I don't know if they are available at the Super 99 or not, but I would be surprised if they were not available somewhere in that shopping center. Be on the lookout in Puntarenas, I read recently on this board that Molas were for sale near the pier at that stop.

Edit: Here's the link to the info I was referencing..... http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1135792&highlight=molas+puntarenas Not a lot of details but it would be worth a look.

Thanks Bill, that's good to know! I do love shopping for local crafts and the molas are gorgeous! Hopefully the locals will have a new venue to sell their goods in Colon too, I am sure they are trying everything possible as they need to earn a living. Can they just set up casual vending in a nearby park or something if the shopping centre is too expensive? You know what I mean, blankets or ground cloth with wares displayed, folding table & chairs or whatever?