trip to Panama Canal

[marion123reading]

We would like to take a cruise to the Panama Canal in Feb. or March of 2013 - any recommendations of a good cruise line. We have cruised on Holland American before and liked it. We want a cruise that has an actual stop in Panama - so maybe a 14 day cruise?

Thanks!!

[Azulann]

I am doing a full transit of the Panama Canal on the Celebrity Century in Dec.

It is a 15 day cruise with a full day in port in Panama. Then we go thru the whole canal the next day. Celebrity runs two ships that do this at this time.

 

I would only look at full transits from Fl and CA either way to make sure you have time in the country of Panama.

[CruiserBruce]

HAL doesn't actually stop in Panama, but other cruise lines do.

 

You would be hard pressed to find a full transit less than 14 days. Partial transits are usually 10 or 11 days.

 

You should wander over to the Panama board, here:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=89

[donaldsc]

Regardless of which line you select, make sure you do a full transit and not a partial transit.

 

DON

[Treven]

I did a full transit of the canal a couple years ago, on the Sea Princess. We overnighted in Gatun Lake and spent a day at Panama City. It was a great trip, the canal is certainly something to see! I agree with the other posters, a full transit is the way to go, usually 15 days.

[lovesublime]

HAL doesn't actually stop in Panama, but other cruise lines do.

 

You would be hard pressed to find a full transit less than 14 days. Partial transits are usually 10 or 11 days.

 

You should wander over to the Panama board, here:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=89

 

 

 

 

 

Not necessarily true. We did a full transit...FLL to ACA on Princess and we also had a stop in Panama. It was a 10 day cruise.

[BillB48]

I did a quick search and could not find any HAL cruises that had an additional stop in Panama either before or after the transit. Seems sort of strange because IIRC they were one of the early adopters of this practice. The good news is both Princess and Celebrity are including a stop in either Colon or Ft. Amador (for Panama City) the day before or day after your transit. It also appears to me that Princess stops in Ft. Amador and Celebrity uses Colon.

 

To the OP, any mainstream cruise line will do a great job with a Canal transit. The main thing is that you are happy with the service from line you prefer. Right now the mainstream cruise lines that are offering any selection of cruises over the up coming winter season are as far as I can tell, HAL, Princess and Celebrity. You may find a cruise here or there from other cruise lines during that time frame, (RCI, NCL and Carnival offer a few) but the most choices are from those I just mentioned.

 

Too bad Princess doesn't offer that 10 day FLL-ACA/ACA-FLL any more.

[CruiserBruce]

Not necessarily true. We did a full transit...FLL to ACA on Princess and we also had a stop in Panama. It was a 10 day cruise.

 

I am aware of 10 day cruises- in fact, we did one a LONG time ago on RCI, San Juan to Acapulco. But they are rare.

[GoochDSA]

While most prefer the full transit Panama Canal cruise, if you opt for a partial on Princess out of Fort Lauderdale, Princess does run excursions on the Panama Canal day. Once the ship anchors in Gatun Lake, tenders will take those to their excursions. The ship will then leave the canal and dock in Colon, where those who took excursions can meet back up with the ship. There is an excursion that will take you the rest of the way through the canal that really takes you up close to the locks. My fiancee and I can't take off the extra time needed for a full transit and felt that this was the next best thing for our honeymoon. Our partial is actually an 11-night partial that they are starting next fall opposed to the 10-night that they will be running this fall/winter/spring.

[lcmslady]

We are big Celebrity fans but booked with Princess.

 

The price was certainly better on Celebrity but we liked some of the aspects of Princess' Island and Coral and the fact that they were built with the Canal in mind.

 

You should join us in January (9th) :)

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Princes does a great job.

[geoherb]

We had a great time on our partial transit on the Island Princess. A full transit would be great if we had unlimited time and money. It's cheaper for us to fly roundtrip to Fort Lauderdale than to fly to California and back from FLL plus we don't have to fly all the way across the country.

[marion123reading]

Wow - thank you so much for all of the thoughtful responses!! We are leaning toward Celebrity Infinity as we can't go until February - and thought about April 1 because of the itinerary. We had been pleased with Holland American in the past, but their only stop in Panama is a short one at night - I will also look into the Princess line today.

 

Thanks so much!!