Panama Canal

[R,D,W]

We have cruised with Oceania and were impressed. In fact we want to cruise with Oceania again. However, we want to know if there is a cruise line that "does" the Panama Canal better than another. We want to cruise the entire canal with a daylight transit of the canal. Thank you in advance for your advice.

[takemewithyou]

We have cruised with Oceania and were impressed. In fact we want to cruise with Oceania again. However, we want to know if there is a cruise line that "does" the Panama Canal better than another. We want to cruise the entire canal with a daylight transit of the canal. Thank you in advance for your advice.

 

 

We have done two Panama Canal cruises ..one with Celebrity and one with HAL. Both were daytime transits...I think they all are, aren't they? Both were similar, however the commentary and written materials pertinent to the canal transit were better on Celebrity than on HAL.

 

I would like to do a Canal cruise with Oceania because I think it would be interesting to go through on a ship the size of the R class ships.

 

I am not sure one cruise line does a canal transit better than another. Will be interesting to see what responses you get....

Edited September 13, 2014 by takemewithyou

[pacheco18]

We also did the full transit on Celebrity -- Infinity -- M class ship we where had one of the rear facing CC cabins with the huge balcony ( 20 people can be on it). perfect vantage point for the transit. The narration and lecturers were fantastic.

 

I have nothing to compare it to however.

 

The more I think about I think my cabin and its location had a lot to do with our enjoyment of that cruise and the transit.

We had friends join us for the transit, drank wine, ordered room service. The large balcony made it possible. The narration was played thorough the TV in the cabin so we never had to leave. The view was all ours.

Not sure I would have loved it as much in a traditional starboard or port cabin.

Edited September 13, 2014 by pacheco18

[Toranut97]

We are booked on "Tropical Transit" next April on Regatta. It features a full daytime transit. I see it is pretty much wait listed right now. Having done the partial transit with HAL, we are excited to do the full journey!!!

[Hunding]

We sailed from San Francisco to New York aboard Regatta in September, 2011, a terrific 21 days, start-to-finish. We were in a PH3, but rented a cabaña topside for the entire cruise ($750, a sensational investment as it turned out, since cabañas rented for $150 for the day's passage). Our daylight transit of the Canal was everything you could hope for. Oceania brought aboard a well-versed, well-spoken local "guide," who narrated the entire transit over the PA system; we went from brilliant sunshine through squalls and back out again; and we exited the Canal into a ravishing sunset en route to Cartagena. I won't ever forget it, and would love, of course, to do it again.

 

By all means, you must sail through the Canal at least once, and you surely could not enjoy a traversal more than you will on Oceania (and, probably, preferably on an R ship -- Regatta's size enabled us to be joined in most of the locks by private sailboats and yachts).

 

I add as a footnote that I had, before the cruise, done my "due diligence," and read David McCullough's masterful The Path Between the Seas, his account of the history of building the Canal. I highly recommend anyone contemplating a transit do the same -- the book gave enormous context to the experience, and enriched it in many, many ways.

[LHT28]

We have done the transit 3 times with O all were daytime transits

 

We did 2 on Regatta & 1 on Marina not sure if any other lines do it better or worse as far as the canal is concerned

Had a commentary with all of them

We had David McCullough on 2 of them

 

Check the other ports of call to see what works for you

 

Lyn

Edited September 13, 2014 by LHT28

[newbie60]

[

 

I add as a footnote that I had, before the cruise, done my "due diligence," and read David McCullough's masterful The Path Between the Seas, his account of the history of building the Canal. I highly recommend anyone contemplating a transit do the same -- the book gave enormous context to the experience, and enriched it in many, many ways.

 

We were on the same 21 day cruise in 2012 and it was one of the best experiences ever! The enrichment lecturer on board also made the entire journey entertaining as well as educational. The cabanas have now been eliminated but there should be ample viewing opportunities.

 

And definitely read the book before going - it makes an enormous difference in your understanding of the effort the canal took.

[Mura]

We did the Panama Canal with O in 2004. We were in a PH (8057 as I recall) but we went "up top" early in the morning and stayed there for several hours. Then we came to our room and viewed everything from our veranda.

 

This was a cruise where a number of passengers could not get to the departure from Costa Rica in time (due to weather problems) and the captain had to leave as scheduled because we would have lost our daytime slot. I doubt that many cruise lines schedule night-time transits!

 

It was a fabulous day. We had a wonderful "narrator" up top to tell us what we were seeing.

 

We are going to do the Canal again on Marina in April and it remains to be seen how much we will "see" since this time we're also in a PH unless I luck out and get an upsell to an aft OC or VS. For the Canal I'd prefer the VS, I think, although normally I prefer aft views. I don't count on getting such a benefit, however, so we'll do as we did before.

 

Based on our own O experience, the narration was fabulous. As was the view.

 

I do recommend that anyone who doesn't have a front-facing view (as in a VS) go up top for the early morning approach. It's fabulous.

 

After you've gone through a number of locks, it becomes something of the same which is when you can retreat to your veranda (if you have one).

 

Views are also good from Terrace.

 

Mura

 

P.S. You could also make friends with people who have a VS and hint that you would love to join them for the day ...

[Socal404]

We've done 2 Panama Canal cruises. One on Celebrity Summitt, and last May on the Regatta. Obviously all transits through the canal are daytime. The options you might be thinking of are whether you do a full transit, or a roundtrip from the Florida coast. That will take you through the first set of locks, stop in Lake Gatun, and then turn around and return to Florida. The 2 we've done were both full transits, from south Florida to the west coast, (California). We like this as it reduces to only 1 airline flight. We live in southern California.

 

Both ships we were on were comparable. The size of the locks dictates the ship size that will fit through them. The Princess ships, as an example, were built specifically with the Panama Canal in mind. Don't gush over doing this on an Oceania ship. It's the same as any other ship.

[LHT28]

Don't gush over doing this on an Oceania ship. It's the same as any other ship.

 

Only considerably less people on Oceania unless you are on a Princess R ship

 

2000 + people all trying to get a position at the front or the side rails VS less than 1250 people ;)

[pacheco18]

Only considerably less people on Oceania unless you are on a Princess R ship

 

2000 + people all trying to get a position at the front or the side rails VS less than 1250 people ;)

 

Which is why having that huge aft veranda on Celebrity made it special.

 

I think the best thing to do is book an aft on ANY cruise ship. A transit is a transit. Then it won't matter how many people are on board. You won't have to struggle for a viewing position.

[StanandJim]

Which is why having that huge aft veranda on Celebrity made it special.

 

I think the best thing to do is book an aft on ANY cruise ship. A transit is a transit. Then it won't matter how many people are on board. You won't have to struggle for a viewing position.

 

Actually, one of the forward facing suites, such as a Vista, gives an even more dramatic view of the Canal transit, because the "lift" or "descent" of the ship is much more apparent.

[orchestrapal]

Have done it twice in an aft suite on Oceania. Thant aft view with the TV on whit the forward view and commentary probably can't be beat. Must, however say we would not do it again as even the second time through gets to be a very, very long day.

[bobndee]

We did the Panama Canal on the Azamara Quest earlier this year. Also a daytime transit. We prefer the smaller R ships, so this was perfect for us. In addition to the viewing locations mentioned above, I found the promenade deck on deck 5 to give a vantage point much closer to the action. Plus it was shaded - a big plus in the tropical sun.

[TERRIER1]

We did the full transit on the Regatta. We like the smaller ships but if I had to do it again I would look for a ship that had an unobstructed front view. The cabanas which were private rented blocked the front view going through the canal.

[LHT28]

The cabanas which were private rented blocked the front view going through the canal.

 

The cabanas are no longer

[TERRIER1]

The cabanas are no longer

 

That would make for a great passage.

[hondorner]

The cabanas are no longer

 

They have been replaced with a putting green. The tinted windscreen should still be in place. I find the best forward view, with clear windows, is in Horizons Lounge, but forward-facing benches go fast. while going through the actual locks, I liked to peer over the side, either from the sun deck above the pool or our balcony. Also, it seems there is always a friendly crowd at every

 

The next time we go through the canal is near the end of the World Cruise; we won't have a balcony.

 

If anyone gets the chance, find a cruise that goes to Colon and does not go through any locks. We did this several years ago, took a land excursion across the isthmus, saw locks from the land side and had a memorable walking tour of Panama City on the Pacific side. Most canal cruises do not dock anywhere in Panama.

[LHT28]

They have been replaced with a putting green.

 

Does the putting green go all the way to the blue glass partitions??

 

Yes the benches in Horizons are gone very early in the morning ;)

 

Lyn

[ronrick1943]

We did it on "O" and enjoyed the trip. However we just booked the cruise on Silver Seas in for Dec in 2015, from what I hear it should be great and the ports are better than "O" for this trip. It's Fort Laud to Los Angeles which is great for us since we live in Palm Springs. Got a great deal, everything included-even laundry-dry cleaning, phone and inter net and a great OBC.

 

Rick

[hondorner]

Does the putting green go all the way to the blue glass partitions??...

They do on the O ships, so I suspect they do on the R ships. On the O ships, there are some "fake rocks" the will support you if you have a good sense of balance, to get some photos over top of the screen.

[LHT28]

They do on the O ships, so I suspect they do on the R ships. On the O ships, there are some "fake rocks" the will support you if you have a good sense of balance, to get some photos over top of the screen.

 

Ok I was thinking on the O ships there was a walkway between the rail & the putting green

I never go up to those areas so makes no difference to me ;)

 

Once you have seen one lock ..... ;)

 

We have some amazing locks here in Canada ..more exciting than the Panama ones

 

But doing the Canal was on the bucket list

 

Lyn

[ORV]

 

The next time we go through the canal is near the end of the World Cruise;

 

 

The End of the World Cruise? ;)

[hondorner]

The End of the World Cruise? ;)

Who knows -- could be -- at least we'll go out happy! :D

[Cabunit]

+1 regarding reading in advance.

 

+1 regarding stopping to go ashore in Panama at some point. We were totally lucky and stopped in Colon before our first transit - so we saw the canal from the shore-side first.

 

Other suggestions for what they are worth:

 

1. If you have a ship location channel on the TV take a picture of it when it shows you in the middle of land.

 

2. Don't set your alarm based on the announced time for the first lock. In our case a ship ahead of us cancelled and our transit was started early - we entered the first lock just as the sun rose (the approach in the dark was interesting in itself).

 

3. Watch for crocodiles in the Atlantic side approach/exit channel.

 

4. Don't waste time on table service meals on this day. There is too much cool stuff to see to be anywhere except at a window or railing.

 

5. Make sure you look for the new canal excavations. It'll give you a sense of what the original effort must have been like.