Vaccinations for Panama Canal Cruise

[Grandma Dazzles]

It is always best to check with your own doctor, who knows you and your health history, as far as any shots are concerned.

 

That being said, did Panama Canal without any special shots - did have current hep A and B, tetanus, and TB, as I worked in health care and my employer required those to be current.

 

One additional comment, if you do decide to get additional shots, just for "peace of mind", check with your insurance - many times traveler required shots are not covered under your routine care insurance. Frequently printed out additional receipts for people to submit for reimbursement from their employer, as an example, if they were traveling on business and their personal insurance did not cover. Most of those special shots are expensive.

 

Did use bug spray on our Panama Canal cruise - mosquitos love me and they were abundant, even on our cruise ship balcony.

[Velvetwater]

We got our vaccines done (MMR, Hep A and B, Typhoid, Yellow fever)

 

They were all free except yellow fever and hubby is T1 diabetic so I felt better having them done. It is also likely we will travel a lot in the next ten years also. We are both in our late twenties.

 

Cruisers are usually told they don't need them for that type of itinerary though so its up to you to do your research. The UK NHS advised for it when we filled out our Doctor travel forms.

 

On the currency thing all ports have dollar prices. However, if your maths is good and you carry a converter you will find you get better deals in local currency (as well as it being better for independent sellers). We estimated that we saved around £50 + from using local currency and that was even with the exchange rate considered. For example a lot of Americans bought coffee in Costa Rica at this place on our tour. They paid $13 for a bag yet we paid 4800 colons for the same bag which was around $10.

Edited March 21, 2015 by Velvetwater