Coral Sanctuary - Panama Canal Day extra charge?

[mattyboy]

I've read that even if you book the Sanctuary for the full 10 days - that there is an extra charge on the day of the Panama Canal full transit. Any truth to this?

[lhall85917]

We had seen the same thing (perhaps a $75 charge for the day?) but didn't check it out while onboard. There was plenty of room for viewing all over the ship and it wasn't crowded, I can't imagine it is worth the extra charge to do this, especially since you may want to walk around to see things from the front, back, and sides of the ship.

We spent a great deal of time watching on the front of the ship from deck 10, just walk all the way to the front, there is a door marked Caribe Deck 10, go there, walk a very short hallway to another door and you will find yourself on the front of the ship with a wonderful vantage point of the canal crossing.

[cb at sea]

The day in Panama is HOT...really hot. And, yes...you should wander the entire ship during the passage....if you stay in one spot, you'll miss 75% of the sights. Roam, deck to deck, side to side, front to back.

And, get into the AC frequently! Lots and lots of sunscreen, too....did I mention it's HOT there?

[Loonbeam]

I've been trying to confirm this. Anecdotally, it looks like they may charge extra on the full transits, when there is no stop for tours, but not necessarily on the Partials, when people get off for the smaller boat tours, etc...

 

If anyone currently on or just off the ship can confirm, would love to know that...

[meowann]

I've been trying to confirm this. Anecdotally, it looks like they may charge extra on the full transits, when there is no stop for tours, but not necessarily on the Partials, when people get off for the smaller boat tours, etc...

 

If anyone currently on or just off the ship can confirm, would love to know that...

We booked the Sanctuary for our entire ten day Panama cruise (partial). We did NOT book for the day of the transit as it was quite a bit more $$$.

We walked up there that morning and there were many attendants but no passengers. We did love the sanctuary

c.

[chamima]

We booked the Sanctuary for the full 14 day LA to FLL Panama Canal cruise on the Coral last February and did NOT pay any extra for the Canal day.

The supervisor was up there before 6 am on that day with freshly brewed (not the usual from-syrup) coffee, fruit and pastries! :D

[Loonbeam]

So so far 1 extra, 1 not extra :)

 

I've asked someone doing a live from to check as well to see what they say.

 

The issue for us is that I am planning to book the sanctuary for the whole 10 day, but since we will be off the ship on Canal day doing the boat tour, trying to decide if the higher cost is worth it if they charge it.

[chamima]

Loonbeam

The person who said it was extra was on the Island Princess. From what I've read they have some different rules on there. One thing was that someone said you didn't book a specific lounger even if you booked the whole cruise. Since that's one of the things we really love about the Sanctuary that would make a big difference to us.

However, if you notice, while we were on the Coral, we did the full 14 day transit, not the 10 day partial so that might make a difference also.

[mattyboy]

Want to thanks all for the responses but I'm not sure that I have a firm answer on whether or not there is an extra charge on the full transit cruise on the day of actual crossing of the Canal.

[mattyboy]

Any recent Coral cruisers with a definitive answer?

[5:00_Somewhere]

We're also interested in the answer to this question, as we have an upcoming full transit on the Coral and were considering booking the Sanctuary, though I would likely want to roam the ship on the canal day anyway. Still, would be nice to have a definitive answer.

[Cruise Junky]

From what I've read lately, there's a charge on partials, but not on full transits.

 

This is not based on fact, just from postings over the past couple of months