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19 Day Pacific Panama Canal (overnight)


ndjoe

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My wife and I are doing the 19 Day Pacific Panamal Cruise on the Island Princess in April of 2008. Has anyone done this cruise? The cruise mentions an overnight in the Panama Canal. Where does the ship anchor, Gatun Lake, or at a port city? Do you do the full transist of the canal, or just into Gatun Lake? What tours would you recommend there? Any information on this cruise would be greatly appreciated.

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Hello,

 

Unfortunately, I am not going on this cruise until April of 2008, so if you would be kind to post anything about the cruise when you return, I would be forever grateful. Not a lot of response to my original post, not sure too many people have gone on this particular cruise. Maybe its a new cruise that Princess has begun. My wife and I are going to Hawaii this April on the Island Princess. I have heard rave reviews about the Island Princess, so when I noticed she was going to be on the 19 day Pacific Panama Canal cruise, I booked it early to get good accomodations.

 

Again, thanks for your reply, wish I would have been able to help you.

 

Joe

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We will be doing the Sun Princess in April 2007 for 17 nights, but not overnight in the Canal.

 

In reading the great itinerary on the Princess site for your cruise, it indicates that the night will be spent "In" the Panama Canal.

 

I would suspect that you could call Princess direct, or your TA, to clarify exactly where you will be "sitting" during the overnight stay.

 

Sounds so interesting - Please be sure to post a reply to let us curious ones know if/when you learn the answer.

 

Thanks, and have a wonderful time!!:)

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  • 1 month later...

We did the Island Princess to Hawaii 12/05/06-12/20/06 and booked this PC cruise while onboard. Loved the IP and look forward to the PC sailing in 2008. We're already starting to search these boards for information on our ports. Hope we meet onboard! Bucky

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You are probably aware that the Canal operates 24 hours a day and that the cost of going through is probably much higher during the day for cruise line.

The transit takes roughly eight hours; or more, depending on traffic. There are two locks for each of the six changes in water elevation. So there will be another ship next to you. At night the locks will be fully lit, I would assume. But during the rest of the passage it will be very dark indeed.

I don't want to spoil your trip, but you should be aware of this. To be sure, the passage through the locks is the most interesting and to be on a cruise ship is (in my opinion) better than a quick ferry ride through one of them.

So, if it happens at night, be sure to stay up late and experience the "mules", closing and opening of the giant doors, and the rushing water coming from the lake above. You will have a marvelous experience.

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  • 4 weeks later...

We will be doing the same 19 day Princess Panama Canal intinerary in September. I was also interested in what we'll be doing while in the Canal. I called Princess and although I can't personally vouch for their information, here is what they told me (please understand, this information is only for the 19 day Los Angeles to Los Angeles - Panama Canal cruise!)... because we enter the canal from the Pacific Ocean, the distance to Gaton Lake is longer than if we entered the canal from the Atlantic Ocean. Because the distance is greater, we don't reach Gaton Lake until late afternoon (so no time to take a ship's tour). We spend the night in Gaton Lake and depart the Lake early next morning (so again, no time for a ship's tour) We travel through the canal, the same way we came in and at about 4:30 pm, reach the Pacific ocean again. From there, we make a 5 pm stop at Fuerte Amador (for Panama City).

 

At first, I was a little disappointed that we wouldn't be able to take the ferry or railroad excursion while in the canal...but then I realized stopping in Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Guatemala was a pretty good trade-off.

 

Sandy

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Sandy is right. the 2 tours that princess offers is Panama city by night and the panama canal by night. (In Puerto Amador)

so far the only shore excursion we are going on is a ecco walk in Huatulco...everthing else we plan on doing on our own

We are sharing a tour by charlie soto with another cc member in costa rica

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You are probably aware that the Canal operates 24 hours a day and that the cost of going through is probably much higher during the day for cruise line.

The transit takes roughly eight hours; or more, depending on traffic. There are two locks for each of the six changes in water elevation. So there will be another ship next to you. At night the locks will be fully lit, I would assume. But during the rest of the passage it will be very dark indeed.

I don't want to spoil your trip, but you should be aware of this. To be sure, the passage through the locks is the most interesting and to be on a cruise ship is (in my opinion) better than a quick ferry ride through one of them.

So, if it happens at night, be sure to stay up late and experience the "mules", closing and opening of the giant doors, and the rushing water coming from the lake above. You will have a marvelous experience.

The Island Princess, like its sister ship the Coral, is actually too large to transit the canal at night... we actually arrived at Gatun locks before dawn on the Coral earlier this month, but had to wait until daylight to actually enter the canal. Large ships are allowed to spend the night anchored in Gatun Lake, but you should have full daylight for all of the actual canal transit. This is NOT the case for smaller cruise ships (i.e. Cruise West); only for larger ships like the Island and Coral that are "Panamax".

 

This sounds like a great itinerary... might just have to look at this myself!

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