Southern Caribbean itineraries?

[Lightngsvt]

The wife and I are looking to book a last minute cruise for our anniversary at the end of March. Right now looking like we'll do easter caribbean on the Celebrity Reflection. However I really want to do a southern cruise, especially the Panama Canal. Do any of the lines do 7 day cruise to the south, or are they all 11, 12 or 14 day trips? Im all for a longer trip but we just can't spare 2 weeks for a vacation right now. Might be able to squeeze out 8, maybe 9 days. Oh and we are looking to leave from the US, NOT one of the islands (I'm not real hip on flying over oceans yet).

[Hlitner]

There is not such thing as a 7 day cruise through the Panama Canal. Some cruise lines do a shorter (often 10 day) cruise that goes half way into the Canal, turns around at Lake Gatun, and comes back out into the Caribbean. There are several cruise lines that do very port intensive 7 day Southern Caribbean Cruise out of San Juan which often will have only one sea day. But if you want a 8-9 day cruise out of the USA you can forget about going into the Canal since it just does not happen. However there are some partial transits as short as 10 days out of Florida on HAL.

 

Hank

[DonnaK]

There are also no 7 day Southern Caribbean itineraries out of Florida. You have to go out of San Juan for that.

[UtCruisinFamily]

We went on a 7 day southern caribbean cruise out of Ft Lauderdale on Princess. Aruba and Caracao are two of my favorite ports.

[OCruisers]

We went on a 7 day southern caribbean cruise out of Ft Lauderdale on Princess. Aruba and Caracao are two of my favorite ports.

 

Yes, Princess does have some 7 night cruises going to the deep southern Caribbean. :)

 

LuLu

~~~

[Essiesmom]

In 2010 I did a 7 day cruise from FLL on HAL that included San Juan, Aruba & Curacao. Carnival Breeze and Carnival Freedom do an 8 day from Miami that includes Aruba and Curacao. In May, Carnival Sunshine and Carnival Liberty will start 8 day southern cruises from Port Canaveral. EM

[Hlitner]

Folks should read the OPs post where they specifically are looking for the Panama Canal. The ABC islands are nice, but not near the canal :).

 

Hank

[Lightngsvt]

I guess my first post was a bit vague. I would love to do the Panama Canal, but more importantly want to do a southern itinerary without or without the canal. Does anything in the 7-9 day range go to the country of Panama?

[Essiesmom]

Go to http://www.cruisetimetables.com and from the second list of ports - Destinations - choose the ports that interest you. then the time you wish to travel. This will tell you who is sailing there, and their itineraries. EM

[cruiseapril]

Most of the Panama itineraries are for 10 or more days. Holland America and Princess offer partial transit cruises. HAL has the Zuiderdam and Princess the Coral and Island going to Panama.

 

We liked our Westerdam cruise to Curacao, Aruba, and Half Moon Cay on a 7 day cruise. Several cruise lines offer a similar itinerary. There is a great deal to see and do in Curacao and Aruba.

[Lightngsvt]

Thanks, sounds like that might be a plan for next year. One thing I was told by a travel agent is that since we have experience with Celebrity and are used to the extra amenities that we may not be happy with HAL or Princess and recommended we stay with Celebrity or move up to "premium" tier cruise lines. Weird. But sounds like we'd have to go to a different line for a partial crossing.