Panama Canal or 14 day Alaska

[Middle Aged and Happy]

For all you three and four star marinars, I thank you in advance for your advice.

 

I am in the early stages of planning our next vacation. We have been on six HAL cruises and will be returning. Our cruises have consisted of three Alaska, one New England/Canada and two Carribean. We decided that we loved all our Alaska adventures as we love the outdoors, the scenery and the adventure. We least liked the Carribean as we are not sun/beach kind of people. I offer that just for background in hopes of gaining better direction from you.

 

We are now considering Alaska again just because we love it but are wondering if we should try something different. My hubby thinks the Panama Canal could be a lot of fun. I am hesitate that it might be too much like the Carribean. For those who have done both, please provide your thoughts. Thank you in advance.

[Littlebeachlover]

I have done both and enjoyed both! Do the Panama Canal...it's one of my favorite cruises to date!

[Alberta Quilter]

I would choose Alaska, as I am also not a beach type person.

 

One thing that may sway your decision is that this is the last year that HAL is offering the 14 day Alaska cruise. So, if that's the Alaska cruise you're considering, do it before it's gone. Who knows if it will be offered again.

[Krazy Kruizers]

We have done lots of Alaskan cruises including the 14 day Amsterdam one which will no longer be offered after this year.

We have also done several full transit Panama Canal cruises -- which we love the best. And we have done a few partial Panama Canal cruises.

You didn't mention what type of Panama Canal cruise you are considering.

[catl331]

We aren't beach people either as the ocean is just down the street from us at home! Sometimes we forget it is there. (except when we pay our home insurance!). :)

 

We totally loved our full transit Pan. Canal cruise. The canal's history and structure is very interesting and we enjoyed ports in Costa Rica, Chiapas Mex., Hualtulco and Cabo but not Acapulco! We also took a ship's tour of Cartagena Colombia. Very nice old section of the city.

 

We have not been fortunate with the weather on our two Alaska cruises.

[George C]

I like the warm weather and beach so I would do Panama Canal , I have been on 54 cruises and still haven't done Alaska.

[lcand1923]

Only been to Alaska once, but want to return. Done two full transits of the Panama Canal and one partial transit, want to go again. Can you tell which cruise wins my vote? :) (Am not a beach person, but the ports that you visit on a Panama Canal transit have a lot of other things going for them.)

[RuthC]

I am not at all a Caribbean fan, and hate hot/humid weather. However, I truly enjoyed my recent partial Panama Canal cruise and would like to do another full transit (it's been ages since I did one).

I also love Alaska and have my 6th cruise (and second HAL 14-day) booked for this year.

The choice for you, is do you want to do the 14-day Alaska cruise? The Panama Canal will still be there next year; the 14-day Alaska cruise will not.

[martinimadam]

Since you've done the Alaska cruise, you know about the beautiful scenery.

 

I did a full transit last November of the Panama Canal. Picked this cruise because there were a lot of sea/cruising days. It was way too hot for me, though I was prepared for that. I stayed on board the ship the whole cruise. It did get cool enough once we started back toward San Diego that I could go out and enjoy the aft pool deck (in the shade) the last few days.

 

The cruise through the canal was spectacular and the scenery, especially cruising Golfo Dulce was wonderful. We didn't stop in Acapulco, had an extra sea day instead. And when we got to Cabo there were two mega ships there already so I decided to stay on board.

 

From what I've read here, you may want to take advantage of the last 14 day cruise to Alaska, then try the Canal next year. The PC cruise was very nice as long as I stayed in the air conditioned ship and I may do it again as it's the only cruise I can find that I'd want to do over the T'giving holiday.

[Watson's aunt]

Alaska do the 14 day Amsterdam went last year back this year because HAL is not going to have the 14 day cruise after this year

[DAllenTCY]

What time of year are you considering? Alaska is only available May-Sept. Panama Canal is Sept-May.

David

[DeepWaterMariner]

A full Panama Canal transit is not like a Caribbean cruise. Its focus, besides the canal, is Central America which is very different from the Caribbean. With that said, a 14 day Alaska cruise won't be available after this year until who knows when and as RuthC said, the canal isn't going anywhere. If you go to the canal in 2014 maybe you'll go through the new locks.

[St. Louis Sal]

What a "terrible" decision you have to make! Having done both 14 day Alaska and Panama Canal I have to echo the others-do the Alaska 2 week cruise while it's still available. You get to visit Homer and Kodiak and it's such a treat to dock in Anchorage. But I do hope you will cruise the Panama Canal in the future. My husband and I aren't beach people either but except for Hualtulco in Mexico I never did any beaches. The focus is very much on the logistics of the canal as well as some wonderful stops in Central America.

 

Have a wonderful vacation no matter what you choose.

 

St. Louis Sal

[BillB48]

What time of year are you considering? Alaska is only available May-Sept. Panama Canal is Sept-May.

David

 

There you go, problem solved.... do both:D!!

[Lemur]

For all you three and four star marinars, I thank you in advance for your advice.

 

I am hesitate that it might be too much like the Carribean. For those who have done both, please provide your thoughts. Thank you in advance.

 

Dear Middle-Aged and Happy (I'm jealous already;)),

 

We have done both and they are completely different trips.

 

Panama Canal: We did San Diego to Tampa aboard the Ryndam in September 2010. We are also not beach people and found some of the temperatures in Central America and the Caribbean challenging, but loved the entire ride. The trick is to lay low at midday and stay off the beach.

 

Alaska: We did the 14-day trip on the Amsterdam in September 2011. This was our third trip to Alaska (we had one 7 day and two 7 day B2B trips under our belt). This was by far the best trip to Alaska. The extra ports of Homer, Kodiak, and Anchorage were a special treat. If you like dogs, check out the Wild Ride Sled Dog Rodeo in Anchorage.

 

As HAL has decided to stop doing the 14-day Alaska trip after 2012, I'd book that puppy as soon as I could. Panama will still be there next year.

 

Whatever you choose, have a great trip!

 

Cheers,

Lemur

[JJPacer]

This is the last year for the 14 day RT Alaska on HAL? That's a bummer. We wanted to do that cruise in the future. We're disappointed. :mad:

[KimberleyFL]

For all you three and four star marinars, I thank you in advance for your advice.

 

I am in the early stages of planning our next vacation. We have been on six HAL cruises and will be returning. Our cruises have consisted of three Alaska, one New England/Canada and two Carribean. We decided that we loved all our Alaska adventures as we love the outdoors, the scenery and the adventure. We least liked the Carribean as we are not sun/beach kind of people. I offer that just for background in hopes of gaining better direction from you.

 

We are now considering Alaska again just because we love it but are wondering if we should try something different. My hubby thinks the Panama Canal could be a lot of fun. I am hesitate that it might be too much like the Carribean. For those who have done both, please provide your thoughts. Thank you in advance.

 

I just got off the Zuiderdam today from an 11 night panama canal (partial transit) cruise. I really liked the itinerary, but I love Caribbean cruises and it did seem the same as the Caribbean cruises. So, this might not be what you would enjoy. If you are thinking about doing a partial transit cruise, I would not recommend the Zuiderdam. The crew was so different (didn't seem to care about anything, etc..) that it really didn't feel like the HAL cruises I love so much. I heard that same thing prior to my cruise, but ignored it -- It WAS true. We did not let it spoil our vacation though, but I would recocommend a different ship if the itinerary you want is offered on other HAL ships.