Best Cruiseline for Panama Canal with kid

[Cruise4Fun2Sun]

During fall 2017 - 2018 I am considering taking a cruise with then 11yo child through the Panama Canal. This would be for the experience and some learning/education.

 

Traveling with a child- I would like to go on a line that would have some options for the child to enjoy, although I'm not sure that all lines would have a kids club or if so, many kids on board.

 

From some basic research I have done, some lines appear to use the PC to repo to the East or west just 2x per year. Others go this route several times, and still others look like they go through one set of locks to then turn around in the lake area and go back through the same locks.

 

What lines & ships would be recommended for travel with an 11yo child? Missing school is not an issue - we can work around this.

[CruiserBruce]

The first issue is really the length of the cruise. Full transits are 14 days minimum (commonly 15 to 20 days), that will limit the number of children on board. Partial transits are usually 10 or 11days, more children on board.

 

Others will come on with comments about kid programs on board.

[Keith1010]

CruiserBruce is right. Typically these are 14 to 18 day cruises and often done when children are in school. With that said I have sailed Hawaii on 14 day cruises when school was in session and there have bene some children on board as some attend home schooling.

 

I would look at Celebrity, Princess and HAL, but there will not be many children on board.

 

Keith

[cb at sea]

The "partial" canal transits enter from the Caribbean side, go thru 3 sets of locks into Lake Gatun, and later in the day, go back thru those same locks....You get to see the lock operations, and experience the HEAT and HUMIDITY of Panama....and those cruises leave and return to the same port. Unless you have a real need to see each lock...the "partial" cruise is a great option...usually a 10 day cruise will accomplish that.

 

The ships are smaller, so have fewer "bells and whistles", but all of the mainstream lines offer a kid's club...so no worries on that front!

[DanJ]

It's getting harder and harder to find the basic partial transit cruise that used to be so popular. The canal toll seems to average out to over $100 per passenger and many cruise lines would rather dock in Colon or Cristobal for the day and let you purchase a shore excursion to see the canal. A partial transit is a great way to experience it, and still have the convenience of returning to the same port you started from. Of course, depending on where you travel from, flying to one coast and home from the other might not be any difference or inconvenient if you did do a full transit cruise.

 

We did a partial on Carnival 15 years ago and it was a great experience in Panama. We entered the locks on the morning, dropped anchor in Gatun Lake for a few hours and then transited back through the same locks to the Caribbean Sea. While in Gatun Lake, some people left the ship to take shore excursions, one of which was watching the ship go back through the locks from grandstand seating on shore. The ship then docked in Colon for a couple hours and those people caught up with us there. Whether the current itineraries do something like that, I don't know. As I recall, there weren't a lot of kids on the ship, but then, it was Carnival's smallest ship at the time with barely over 1000 people on board. A casino dealer did comment to me this was the oldest crowd he had ever seen on Carnival lol. The afternoon transit was a great time to be on deck as there weren't nearly as many people out to watch it as the morning transit. Plus, the locks are much more impressive looking when seen from atop a ship looking down from the lake.

 

Regardless though, whichever cruise line you take to do the cruise, they all have kids programs and you still will be able to make use of them even if the number of kids numbers in the small dozens rather than the hundreds.

[Coveguy4]

Princess has a great childrens club, but on my last Panama Canal full transit April 2013, there were less than a dozen children on board. A partial transit may have a larger group in his age range, but full transit is a better cruise to take.

[Cruise4Fun2Sun]

Thanks for the thoughts. I might be homeschooling that year as we expect to be moving (but don't know exact dates) and may choose to homeschool for that year. If not, we don't live in an overly strict area, so we can work with the school to satisfy any requirements of missed time.

 

The partial transit does come with the benefit of leave/return to same port, so I might consider that.

 

Does anyone have recent experience with what the educational part of a PC transit might include? I have seen at least one cruise review where there was a retired caption (or similarly experienced) person onboard to give lectures/slide shows regarding the PC, and I would be interested in something like this.

 

Thanks!

[SPacificbound]

We have done full transit twice, once on RCL and the other on Celebrity. 15 night and 14 night.

 

DH is an engineer, very left brained.

 

He bought the whole locks tour with all of the info and explanation and history etc. on the first PC cruise. On the second PC cruise he said "once was enough".

 

Just my personal opinion, unless the 11 year old is extremely left brained, he will get to the point of 'watching paint dry'.

 

Also, it is very hot. Take good sunscreen and use liberally and often.

 

First PC was in April, second one in March, both very hot.

Edited March 20, 2016 by SPacificbound

[OCruisers]

Princess has a very good Children's Programs and does great Panama Canal cruises. :)

[Cruise4Fun2Sun]

With regards to the lectures - if 11yo attended one with a good attitude - I would feel accomplished! I think I would be more likely to attend the lectures. I do have a personal memory of attending my sibling's college graduation when I was about 10 - still ranks as one of the most boring few hours of my life (well, until the various grads came up to get diplomas and they had all decorated their caps/ gowns with paint, etc and my mom said something like "if she did that to the gown I paid for...." and then it got interesting!)

 

But the heat/humidity of Panama we will both remember, I'm sure!

[CruiserBruce]

Many cruise lines have very knowledgeable presenters who do extensive presentations on the Canal. Look over on the Panama Canal, there is a book recommended that would be a good assignment prior to sailing the Canal.

[CruiserBruce]

Not all cruise lines allow people on the bow during Canal passages. Holland America does. And they have good presenters, as well as both partial and full transits, across the entire Canal season. If Holland America doesn't do the most Canal transits, they are second.

[Cruise4Fun2Sun]

Many cruise lines have very knowledgeable presenters who do extensive presentations on the Canal. Look over on the Panama Canal, there is a book recommended that would be a good assignment prior to sailing the Canal.

 

Hi Bruce, Is there a particular book you are referencing? When we do trips I try to get a few applicable things to read/do on the trip - where possible. In this case, the Panama Canal is a pretty great thing to learn about and to experience so I'm interested! Thx

Edited March 21, 2016 by Cruise4Fun2Sun
name

[LHT28]

The Path Between the seas by David McCullough

we were fortunate to have Mr McCullough as the speaker on 2 of our PC cruises

[CruiserBruce]

The Path Between the seas by David McCullough

we were fortunate to have Mr McCullough as the speaker on 2 of our PC cruises

 

This is the book I was referring to. I didn't complete my sentence correctly. Some research on the Panama Canal board would be beneficial.

[SPacificbound]

The Path Between The Seas is a huge book, 698 large pages. Even my very left brained Engineer DH only made a small dent in it, and I got it for him about a year before our first PC trip.

 

I have seen it said that if you start at page 365 it is more relevant. :D

[Cruise4Fun2Sun]

Thanks for the book reference! Also, CruiserBruce has indicated a Panama Canal board. Is this on CC? I had done a search on CC and I don't think this came up, maybe I was in the wrong section?

[Clarea]

Thanks for the book reference! Also, CruiserBruce has indicated a Panama Canal board. Is this on CC? I had done a search on CC and I don't think this came up, maybe I was in the wrong section?

Here is the Panama Canal forum:

 

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

[Essiesmom]

I have done two full transits. Both HAL and Celebrity had excellent lecturers on board. I have a partial scheduled for next year. I recommend the full transit because I think you may get a wider variety of ports, as opposed to several Caribbean ports. Particularly if you can get a cruise that stops in Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala. Take the tour to Antigua. It is a class on volcanoes and earthquakes, as well as Mayan people. EM

[Cruise4Fun2Sun]

Thank you for the link, Clarea ! It is not working on my phone, but I'll try it when I'm on my computer.

 

Thanks for the port info Essiesmom .

[Floridiana]

I have done two full transits. Both HAL and Celebrity had excellent lecturers on board. I have a partial scheduled for next year. I recommend the full transit because I think you may get a wider variety of ports, as opposed to several Caribbean ports. Particularly if you can get a cruise that stops in Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala. Take the tour to Antigua. It is a class on volcanoes and earthquakes, as well as Mayan people. EM

 

I second that! Both the canal and Antigua are excellent learning opportunities. You have to do some research to whittle down the extensive materials into portions that are manageable for a 11 year old.

 

We 'did' the canal 3 times on HAL ships. They have a children's program and they run it even if there are almost no children aboard. They also have extensive libraries on their ships with librarian hours, a good source of information. It helps if you yourself have an interest in history and the human side of building such a canal in a tropical climate. The technical aspects are just part of it.

[Cruise4Fun2Sun]

Thanks Floridiana. Good to know about the library on HAL. And to research prior.

[Cruise4Fun2Sun]

What are the chances that a PC cruise could turn into a themed cruise? For example, I was reading a review on here (not on a PC cruise) where the passengers enjoyed many aspects of their cruise, but it was negatively impacted in several ways due to the cruise being a themed cruise around a particular music group and so many groupie types and events around it (and behavior of other passengers). At no time prior to boarding were they aware of this being a themed cruise, so they had no opportunity to change their plans if they had desired. Anyway, a 10-14 day or longer PC cruise doesn't sound like it would lend itself to being taken over by a large group anyway. Anyone know or have experience with this?

[kitty9]

I've been on cruises that were 7 to 21 days long that had large groups and partial charters on board, and while some had little impact, others negatively impacted the entire cruise experience. I was recently on an 11 day cruise that had a large group of Harley riders, and a Panama Canal cruise of 14 days that had three rather large groups on board. The length of cruise or itinerary does not mean anything with regards to group or charter cruises. Group cruising and partial charters have become very popular the last few years, and some cruises have been cancelled when a group charters the entire ship---and those previously booked were out of luck. I've been on cruises with college alumni groups, cross dressers, automobile dealers, Precious Moments collectors, bridge players, Christian groups, gay/lesbian groups, American Girl collectors, Conservative and Liberal Political groups, followers of various music genres, fans of sports teams and travel agents. Smaller groups generally won't have any impact on your cruise, and you probable won't even know they're on board, but larger groups definitely will as they completely take over many of the venues on board and those who are not with the group will not be allowed into those venues, including many of the most popular venues.

Edited March 27, 2016 by kitty9

[Cruise4Fun2Sun]

Good to know Kitty9. Is this kind of thing something that can be found out before the cruise? Are cruise lines willing to give this info out if asked? For the most part, I would think there wouldn't be a problem, but would like to be aware of any large groups/ partial charters ahead of time.