Panama Canal tours

We are going on the Galaxy on 2/25/06 12 day Panama Canal cruise and are

trying to decide between Grand Tour of Panama or Panama Canal by Motor

Coach and is the one by Motor Coach 8 1/2 or 6 hours. Any help or advise

would be greatlly appreciated..

We are going on the Galaxy on 2/25/06 12 day Panama Canal cruise and are

trying to decide between Grand Tour of Panama or Panama Canal by Motor

Coach and is the one by Motor Coach 8 1/2 or 6 hours. Any help or advise

would be greatlly appreciated..

EV: We sailed on the Galaxy on Nov. 2004. We took the Panama Tour by Motor Coach. It was a great tour. We toured the Gatun Locks up close. Then we drove to Panama City. It was quite interesting to see the contrast between the Old and the very modern New City. As I remember the cost was pretty reasonable. I am sure you would love Panama and the rest of the Ports.

Thanks for the quick reply. Do you remember how long the tour was?

Thanks.

We took the Grand Tour of Panama last January and it was interesting, although I think calling the tour the "Grand Tour of Panama" is a bit of stretch. The tour visits the Gatun Locks for about and hour and then you travel by bus a short distance to a nice hotel where you board small boats to go to an Indian Village.

Interesting tour, especially the visit to the Indian Village. After returning to the hotel, you reboard the bus for a short trip to Cristobal Pier where you meet back-up with the Galaxy. I think the whole trip was only three to four hours.

You may also want to consider the Ocean-to-Ocean Train Tour. Excellent tour and you will get to see much more of the Canal, and Panama including the Pacific side.

EV:

Below is from Celebrity's Shore excursion site which you can find at Celebrity's website http://shorex.celebrity.com

Panama City by Motor Coach

Approximate Duration: 8 Hours 30 Minutes

Adult: 78.00 (USD) | Child: 56.00 (USD)

We are going on the Galaxy on 2/25/06 12 day Panama Canal cruise and are

trying to decide between Grand Tour of Panama or Panama Canal by Motor

Coach and is the one by Motor Coach 8 1/2 or 6 hours. Any help or advise

would be greatlly appreciated..

We just returned from our RCCL cruise and did the Grand Tour of Panama. My thoughts are pretty much the same as sptrout. It was interesting, but not worth 125/person. We heard from others on our cruise that did Panama City by motor coach and they said it was fabulous.

On one cruise we did the train - fabulous.

On another cruise we did the motor coach of Panama City - another great tour.

Hi Ev

There are a few of on the board on the same cruise - Feb 25 Galaxy Panama Canal. Feel free to join us on the Roll Call http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=189104

Talk to you soon,

Only 60 days to go!!

The Panama City tour by bus with a stop at Gatun locks also includes lunch at a "fine restaurant." I'd seen older reports saying the restaurant was called mangoes. I am thinking of doing this one myself, in Nov. from Zenith.

Phyllis,

We did a Gatun Locks/Panama City bus tour in January. The tour was sold through our local TA, but was supposed to be the same as offered through the ship (Costa Allegra). The locks were OK, but the rest of the tour was terrible! We only were taken to see colonial PC, mostly a slum. Police were following us around the whole time and we were not allowed into a few buildings because of "security". Lunch was on our own in a MALL - lots of screaming kids and fast food stands. This tour was a waste of time (6 hours) and money ($70 ea). I recommend you check out all details of your tour before booking it. Many people have recommended a visit to the Free Trade Zone in Colon, if it is not a weekend. They are closed then.

Thanks for the report on your tour. Sorry I spelled your screen name wrong Bobthek

Ours definitely says we will dine in a fine restaurant and the price of lunch is included in the tour. People on Celebrity have commented here on CC that this is a great tour.

I saw some photos of the old city on a webpage that was listed here under Ports of Call, Caribbean/other, Isla Roatan where a poster gave a link to all his photos, which included many parts of the world besides Roatan which is on our itinerary, too. I went to his Mexico/Central America page and was entranced with the old city. it looks like Spain where I used to live. Our ship's tour is to last 9 hours, so must be slightly different from the one you got for 7 hours. Were you docked in Colon? That's where we'll be.