Gamboa Rain Forest Tour

[Sunmail]

We'll be on the Island Princess on 12/20. I would like to take the Aerial Tram Rain Forest tour so I can meet my father there at the Gamboa Resort. He lives in Panama and is ill. A friend will take him there to meet us. Has anyone been on this tour to know if we will be able to be 'on our own' at the resort until the bus leaves for the ship? This might work out well as long as we don't miss the bus back.

[Richard in Panama]

Why not just take a cab out to Gamboa and then when you are finished visiting with your father take a cab back, allowing plenty of time for traffic? If you do do the ship tour they usually start with a welcome drink in the hotel lobby. Just tell your guide what you want to do and ask him/her when and where to meet the bus for the return portion of the tour.

 

Regards, Richard

[Sunmail]

Thanks for replying, Richard. I am pretty sure that we won't be able to get off the ship in Gatun Lake without being on a Princess tour but I'm not completely sure. If I find out more, a cab would definitely be a better choice. If we wait until we get back thru the locks and dock in Colon later that evening it will be too late and probably not enough time to go there and back. We'll be there on Christmas day. Do you think the traffic will be light?

 

On a side note, I'm in Chorrera now since I had to make an emergency trip down here for my Dad. It is so cold. I never remember being cold at all in the 30+ years I've been coming here! Hope you are staying warm!

[Richard in Panama]

Thanks for replying, Richard. I am pretty sure that we won't be able to get off the ship in Gatun Lake without being on a Princess tour but I'm not completely sure. If I find out more, a cab would definitely be a better choice. If we wait until we get back thru the locks and dock in Colon later that evening it will be too late and probably not enough time to go there and back. We'll be there on Christmas day. Do you think the traffic will be light?

 

On a side note, I'm in Chorrera now since I had to make an emergency trip down here for my Dad. It is so cold. I never remember being cold at all in the 30+ years I've been coming here! Hope you are staying warm!

 

You're correct on not being able to tender off the ship in Gatun Lake unless you are on tour. By the time you get to Colon it will be too late. Traffic will be much lighter on Christmas Day, but having done this on Christmas Day, ship tours go as usual.

 

Hope your Dad is OK. Thoughts and prayers. Chorrera is a lot warmer than Boquete! People always laugh when I tell them I'm sitting by the fireplace . .. in Panama! But at 3,800 or so feet it is cold at night! Well, not as cold as New York or Chicago, but . ..

 

Regards, Richard

[Sunmail]

Thank you, Richard. A fireplace would have been nice! I got back home last night and am warming up in Florida now. :)) It was really something to see the Canal closed. The water was at the top of the platform when we crossed over the Centinario bridge. There were 2 landslides on the autopista and a buckle in the road at the edge of the bridge....yet my flight out was on time!

 

Since you've done this before, can you estimate what time we might get off the ship in Gatun and what time we would arrive at Gamboa? The only thing that Princess can tell me is that we will begin the transit at 5 AM on the Atlantic side.

 

My Dad is better now and thank you very much for the prayers!