1st Time Princess, Panama Canal: Tips, Secrets?

[TLCOhio]

Ideas, secrets, tips?? Starting to plan and prepare for an early 2017, 15-day cruise doing the Panama Canal, Ft. Lauderdale to San Francisco sailing on the Island Princess. This would be our first time . . . BOTH . . . with Princess . . . and . . . for visiting Columbia, Panama Canal, Central America, Mexico, etc.

 

What's most important to know? As detailed below in one live/blog, we have done a couple of cruises with Celebrity on their larger Solstice ship. Plus, six other cruises on smaller ships in such areas as the Amazon River, South Africa, Norway, Greek Isles, Baltics/Russia, etc.

 

Here are some of my specific Princess questions based on some research for this cruise and the ship we will be sailing.

 

1. SPEAKERS/PROGRAMS?: Since this is a 15-day cruise with eight sea-days, how good and/or enlightening are the ship speakers, programs, destination experts? Average or better?

 

2. ENTERTAINMENT?: Know that ships are not Broadway or London's West End, but are their evening programs just good/OK or much better? Any programs that are must-see, much better than average?

 

3. FOOD?: How well does the anytime evening dining times work? Little or longer waits to be seated? What are their "best-of-the-best" evening dining treats? What are the best lunch buffet dining location food stars?

 

4. INTERNET?: It's a ship, so the Internet is not that fast, but are there certain times when it works better than average? Do the wireless connections work in most ship locations or just in a few main areas?

 

5. EXCURSIONS?: For the Princess ship excursions, do they normally pack the buses fairly full or only about half?

 

6. SPECIAL TOURS?: Besides doing a galley tour, are there any other options for special ship tours, including the bridge, engine/mechanical areas, etc.?

 

7. PANAMA CANAL BEST TIPS?: For this transiting of this location, any tricks or secrets to share in addition to moving around, seeing the sights from various locations and angles on the ship during this day? On longer cruises like this one, what are the typical demographics for a late February-early March sailing?

 

8. HIDE-AWAY, QUIET AREAS?: What public areas of the ship are less busy, more quiet, having comfortable seating, away from the crowds, with some views, etc.? Or, am I dreaming?

 

Appreciate all of the suggestions and creative thoughts. What else am I missing? Or, should I be asking?

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

Enjoyed a 14-day, Jan. 20-Feb. 3, 2014, Sydney to Auckland adventure, getting a big sampling for the wonders of "down under” before and after this cruise. Go to:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1974139

for more info and many pictures of these amazing sights in this great part of the world. Now at 157,432 views for this posting.

[GRAYTech]

4. INTERNET?: It's a ship, so the Internet is not that fast, but are there certain times when it works better than average? Do the wireless connections work in most ship locations or just in a few main areas?

 

Were we in an aft suite and the internet worked pretty good. We had a good wifi connection all the time and as noted, the internet speed was not fast but it was good enough for a Magic-jack call or even face-time when were in port.

 

One thing the onboard internet did not allow was an IPsec Cisco VPN connection. Not a surprise, it's noted on the Princess website but I had not seen it prior to our cruise. All kinds of "cheap" wifi options while in port so no big deal.

[wheezedr]

One thing I would suggest would be to read The Path Between the Seas by David McCullough. Understanding what went into the building of the canal really increased my appreciation as we sailed through. Plan on spending lots of time on deck during the transit as it is fascinating to watch the process of ships this size moving in and out of the lock system.

As to Princess and some of your questions. The entertainment shows are good, not great, and generally about 45 minutes. Food as on many lines has declined over the years but is good, enough variety for most people but not up to a 4 or 5 star restaurant in San Francisco. We generally do at least one specialty restaurant on a cruise and prefer the crown grill if available on that ship.

Internet is slow no matter when. I tend to off ship excursions so suggest either your roll call or panama ports of call boards for that.

Overall this was one of our favorite cruises out of now 18.

[JimAOk1945]

This sounds like a awesome cruise. We did the partial cruise on the Island Princess and had a great time. Cartagena Columbia was our favorite port call. We went on a Princess excursion to see folk dancers. The costumes and music were wonderful. If you are interested you can see the pictures at my wife's website link below.

 

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[Thrak]

If you have ever been to Mexico and thought you were being hassled by a lot of vendors you ain't seen nothing yet. Colombia was crazy with vendors everywhere. We booked a tour with 6 others from our roll call and Dora (our tour guide) "protected" us from most of the vendors. They recognized her and didn't swamp us like they did some other folks.

 

If you want a nice tour in Cartagena I would suggest checking out Dora at http://www.cartagenatour.com/ Because we booked early we actually had Dora as our guide rather than one of her other employees. She was great and we all had a great tour.

Edited October 15, 2016 by Thrak

[diane.in.ny]

One thing I would suggest would be to read The Path Between the Seas by David McCullough. Understanding what went into the building of the canal really increased my appreciation as we sailed through. Plan on spending lots of time on deck during the transit as it is fascinating to watch the process of ships this size moving in and out of the lock system.

 

Totally agree with this. And we are booked for our second canal cruise.

[socaljo]

We loved our Ocean to Ocean tour this spring on the Island! The best tip I got was about the aft area on the Emerald Deck, go all the way back, there is a small open aft deck where you can stand against the rail & watch the mesmerizing locks open and close and open and close! It surprised me that we couldn't stop watching! Over and over. Truly fascinating. Loved it so much I wrote my very first review! You can check it out here:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2340550

 

Happy Sailing!

[Thrak]

One thing I would suggest would be to read The Path Between the Seas by David McCullough. Understanding what went into the building of the canal really increased my appreciation as we sailed through. Plan on spending lots of time on deck during the transit as it is fascinating to watch the process of ships this size moving in and out of the lock system.

 

I read that before we did the canal as well. Lots of info. It was kind of a bummer that I had just read it and then the book was one of the daily gifts from our TA on the cruise. D'Oh!

[diane.in.ny]

 

 

2. ENTERTAINMENT?: Know that ships are not Broadway or London's West End, but are their evening programs just good/OK or much better? Any programs that are must-see, much better than average?

 

Princess made changes to the Island Princess adding cabins to the stern. In the process, they removed one of the theaters. IMO the forward theater is really not big enough for evening shows. If you want to get a seat, you have to get there early ... like 20 min or more pre-show time. Which can be hard to do depending on where you are eating dinner and how fast (or slow) your service is.

 

3. FOOD?: How well does the anytime evening dining times work? Little or longer waits to be seated? What are their "best-of-the-best" evening dining treats? What are the best lunch buffet dining location food stars?

 

Around 3 p.m., Princess rolls out, literally, carts with fresh baked cookies and cold milk. The chocolate chocolate-chip cookies are to die for. :)

 

If you like cappuccino and other specialty type coffees, get a coffee card. It allows you unlimited brewed regular coffee and 15 specialty coffees. Always get a large as it 'costs' the same one punch as a small.

 

And the pizza always gets great marks.

 

As for the food, in general, all I can tell you is that I never went hungry. :D

4. INTERNET?: It's a ship, so the Internet is not that fast, but are there certain times when it works better than average? Do the wireless connections work in most ship locations or just in a few main areas?

 

I never had a problem with the internet. We usually book Caribe deck forward.

 

7. PANAMA CANAL BEST TIPS?: For this transiting of this location, any tricks or secrets to share in addition to moving around, seeing the sights from various locations and angles on the ship during this day? On longer cruises like this one, what are the typical demographics for a late February-early March sailing?

 

There are doors forward on the Caribe deck that are unlocked during the transit. You can get out onto the bow that way. Be sure to spend some time on the Promenade deck both when down in the lock and when first sailing in or out. Great perspectives.

 

8. HIDE-AWAY, QUIET AREAS?: What public areas of the ship are less busy, more quiet, having comfortable seating, away from the crowds, with some views, etc.? Or, am I dreaming?

 

There are indoor corridors outside the Explorer Lounge and Wheelhouse that have seats along windows. But can't think of any reason you'd want to be inside during the transit unless the heat gets to you. You might find some quiet comfortable places on the Sun deck.

 

[joeyancho]

Definitely go to all the lectures ( not the shopping talks ). They will increase your enjoyment.

Be prepared, it will be very hot and humid. Also afternoon tea is very nice. Just random thoughts.

[Cruisercl]

If you have ever been to Mexico and thought you were being hassled by a lot of vendors you ain't seen nothing yet. Colombia was crazy with vendors everywhere. We booked a tour with 6 others from our roll call and Dora (our tour guide) "protected" us from most of the vendors. They recognized her and didn't swamp us like they did some other folks.

 

If you want a nice tour in Cartagena I would suggest checking out Dora at http://www.cartagenatour.com/ Because we booked early we actually had Dora as our guide rather than one of her other employees. She was great and we all had a great tour.

 

I totally agree, the Dora tour in Cartagena was awesome! We were also lucky to have Dora as our guide. The PC cruise was one of my favorites; going through the canal was so interesting! :)

OP, enjoy your crusie.

[MTJSR]

I took the Island Princess from San Francisco to Ft Lauderdale cruise and it remains my all time favorite. Here are some of the memories/experiences (in no meaningful order) that may help you plan and or stoke some excitement.

 

I loved my day in Cartagena and found the best tour deal by hiring a taxi right at the exit out of the cruise terminal area. We managed to stay away from all the busses and formal tours that way. We negotiated $60.00 U.S and still tipped afterwards, great sights! BTW, all the cuban cigars being peddled in Columbia tourist areas are replicas (not authentic) per our Taxi driver.

 

Aruba had a weird vibe to me. We walked around and also rode the trolly thru the shopping area. Seemed like a somewhat sketchy area and the people were not very friendly. My advise is do a formal tour or get a taxi ride to one of the hotel/beaches.

 

The canal is awesome and every square inch is a new picture to take. We literally spent all day finding new spot onboard to take pics. We also stood out on our balcony as we sailed thru Gatun lake in the pouring rain and loved every wet minute of it.

 

As you go thru each of the locks, the multi story visitor centers fill up with spectators who watch your big white ship go thru each set of locks.

 

Watch for crocodiles near all the locks, I have pics of many spotted along the way.

 

Panama City is huge, I was not expecting a city that looks like Dubai to appear off in the distance.

 

At night off the coasts of Costa Rica and Nicaragua you can hear the dolphins jumping around the ship.

 

Manzanillo Mexico was a nice surprise!

 

The demographics was much different than a normal longer cruise. Very few wheel chairs and scooters in use. Perhaps this itinerary is more adventurous than others.

 

The longest part of the cruise is on the pacific side between Panama and SFO.

 

Plan to have a great time because you will.

[diane.in.ny]

 

Panama City is huge, I was not expecting a city that looks like Dubai to appear off in the distance.

 

 

Agree! Caught me totally by surprise.

[IECalCruiser]

You will want to be out and about looking at the sights as you go through the Gatun locks. You will be spending much more of you time just cruising through the Canal. Most of the interesting sights will be on the port side for your cruise so I would suggest a balcony on that side if you are booking a balcony. I would also suggest going down to La Patisserie on Plaza deck 5 when you go through one lock. You will have an up close and personal view of the Canal wall.

 

We had two good lecturers. One were a couple who gave very good information on the ports and were on deck narrating the passage through the locks and before that narrating the sail into Cartagena. I forget some of what the other lecturer talked about but the was a good lecture about Route 66.

 

Although reduced in size there is still a nice Library midship on Emerald deck that should be quiet as well as seating area in La Patisserie. In addition there are very comfortable padded chairs and loungers in the Lotus pool area.

 

 

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Edited October 16, 2016 by IECalCruiser

[TLCOhio]

This sounds like a awesome cruise. We did the partial cruise on the Island Princess and had a great time. Cartagena Columbia was our favorite port call. We went on a Princess excursion to see folk dancers. The costumes and music were wonderful. If you are interested you can see the pictures at my wife's website link below.

 

socaljo: Viewing Locks. We loved our Ocean to Ocean tour this spring on the Island! The best tip I got was about the aft area on the Emerald Deck' date=' go all the way back, there is a small open aft deck where you can stand against the rail & watch the mesmerizing locks open and close and open and close! It surprised me that we couldn't stop watching! Over and over. Truly fascinating. [/quote']

 

wheezed: One thing I would suggest would be to read The Path Between the Seas by David McCullough. Understanding what went into the building of the canal really increased my appreciation as we sailed through. Plan on spending lots of time on deck during the transit as it is fascinating to watch the process of ships this size moving in and out of the lock system. As to Princess and some of your questions. The entertainment shows are good' date=' not great, and generally about 45 minutes. Food as on many lines has declined over the years but is good, enough variety for most people but not up to a 4 or 5 star restaurant in San Francisco. We generally do at least one specialty restaurant on a cruise [/quote']

 

IECalCruiser: Although reduced in size there is still a nice Library midship on Emerald deck that should be quiet as well as seating area in La Patisserie. In addition there are very comfortable padded chairs and loungers in the Lotus pool area.

 

WOW!! Appreciate so much these many' date=' varied and [b']helpful comments[/b] and insights. Highly beneficial to me and hopefully for others, too! I have only highlighted a few above, but all of these comments are of value. Will be copying and pasting this ideas to my computer trip file and sharing with those in our group.

 

Jim mentions his wife's pictures. They are super excellent. You can check out her many posts at:

http://www.nancysoasis.com

As related to our upcoming "adventure", below are just two examples for what she shared from the Panama Canal and Colombia. Encourage others to check our her pictures. As my live/blog below shows from the Amazon River and Caribbean, I like sharing travel visuals as it has been well summarize that just one picture can be worth one thousand words.

 

Keep it coming!! Love to hear even more tips, suggestions and ideas. This advance research and planning is a big part of the fun and learning in doing such trips. In less than 24 hours after doing this initial posting, I really love this high level of responses and the quality of the information shared.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

From our Jan. 25-Feb. 20, 2015, Amazon River-Caribbean combo sailing over 26 days that started in Barbados, here is the link below to that live/blog. Lots of great visuals from this amazing Brazil river and these various Caribbean Islands (Dutch ABC's, St. Barts, Dominica, Grenada, etc.) that we experienced. Check it out at:

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2157696

Now at 44,269 views for these postings.

 

 

Here are just two visuals samples from Nancy's very nice "Oasis" of travel highlights. First is one picture in going through the Panama Canal. Second is a picture from Cartagena/Colombia that highlights music and dance by the Calenda Folkloric Group. Very nice photography work by Nancy!!:

 

 

 

[2islandhoppers]

If you are interested in something other than a ship's tour in Panama, I suggest emberavillagetours dot com. Anne Gordon de Barrigon is an American woman married to one of the village members and her company offers small, individualized tours to one of the villages. It was absolutely the highlight of our cruise.

 

The Panama was probably our favourite cruise so far. The transit through the canal is fascinating, and IMO, Princess does an excellent job in providing lecturers who educate and enhance the cruise.

[Steelers0854]

One thing the onboard internet did not allow was an IPsec Cisco VPN connection. Not a surprise, it's noted on the Princess website but I had not seen it prior to our cruise. All kinds of "cheap" wifi options while in port so no big deal.

 

 

 

That's odd. In 6 Princess cruises I have always used a Cisco IPSec VPN connection and never had an issue, including as recently as February on the Royal. Are you sure there wasn't a stray setting that prevented the connection?

[jasbo49]

Terry, our FLL to LAX cruise in December 2015 had the same itinerary as yours, except for ending in L.A. Just to hit on a few points:

 

Speakers, etc.: We found both the canal lectures and port talks worthwhile. It was one of the first cruises we'd been on where they had legit port lectures rather than shopping talks. We loved that.

 

Entertainment: Make sure to catch "On the Bayou," a stage show performed only on the Island and Coral Princess. It's a New Orleans-style revue rich with atmospherics and good music.

 

Food: Anytime dining worked as well as any we've tried, but you'll still have a line if you go at the most popular times. The buffet was smaller than other Princess ships we've been on, but seemed particularly well-managed with trays kept hot and full and good traffic patterns.

 

Ports: We especially enjoyed Costa Rica and Nicaragua, the latter being a bit of a surprise. A great little harbor-main drag area.

 

Jim

Edited October 16, 2016 by jasbo49

[Steelers0854]

 

 

 

6. SPECIAL TOURS?: Besides doing a galley tour, are there any other options for special ship tours, including the bridge, engine/mechanical areas, etc.?

 

 

Search for the Ultimate Ships Tour on this board, lots of good info and reviews on about it. In short, it's a great value as you get a lot of take homes that basically equate to the cost of the tour and you get to see great parts of the ship such as medical, bridge, engine room, kitchens, behind the stage, etc. I'm not sure it's on all ships especially the smaller ships that go through the old canal and sometimes they can't fill the tour so they cancel it, it other cruises it fills quickly. IMO worth every penny to do it once.

[IECalCruiser]

One thing I would suggest would be to read The Path Between the Seas by David McCullough. Understanding what went into the building of the canal really increased my appreciation as we sailed through. Plan on spending lots of time on deck during the transit as it is fascinating to watch the process of ships this size moving in and out of the lock system.

In addition to McCullough's excellent book, if you have an iPad I would also recommend:

 

The Panama Canal, the Invisible Wonder of the World by Ron Armstrong

https://itun.es/us/tOQOG.l

 

It is a pictorial history but is also shows what is underneath the water you are sailing over.

 

 

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[FirstCruiseBeth]

Hi Terry

 

We took this cruise on the Island last February/March in the opposite direction, LA - Ft Lauderdale. Here are a few comments based on our experience.

 

We were anytime dining and found it worked very well BUT our routine was to see the early show first and then eat around 7.45 - 8 o'clock. I think there were complaints about queues for those who wanted to eat early. Also, when we came out of the theatre at 7.15pm there were very long queues for the later show. By switching our schedule we walked into the theatre and found good seats five minutes before showtime and never had to wait for dinner.

 

We took ship excursions everywhere. I would not deny you probably get a better experience with a private tour but we are fairly new to cruising and I'm very risk averse. The only one we were really disappointed with was in Costa Rica where we went to the rainforest with arial trams and we saw no wildlife except one toucan. Maybe our expectations were too great.

 

Agree about reading the Path Between the Seas. There is also a film about the building of the canal (based on the book if I remember right) which was shown in the theatre and on MUTS - well worth seeing.

 

The demographics on our cruise were mostly mature/retired -I don't remember seeing any children though there may have been a few.

 

On the day of the transit we wandered all over the ship. It was an early start (before 6am) to see the entrance to the canal. As we approached the first locks, the viewing spots were pretty crowded. But during the day we took in views from the front, rear and sides and by the time we reached the locks at the opposite end of the canal the crowds had all but disappeared and there was plenty of space to get excellent views.

 

BTW I've been enjoying your posts on the European ports pages - we are doing the North Cape cruise in August 2017 so thank you for all your help over there.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Beth

[sammiedawg]

We had a terrific full transit on the Island a few years ago. Princess does a great job on this particular itinerary.

Best viewing is all the way forward through unmarked doors accessible from Baja or Caribe deck. You will be right under the bridge on a small open deck. The onboard canal expert narrates from the bridge. We stood most of the day here to see it all.

A couple times we checked our verandah viewing.

We also stood on each side of the promenade deck a couple times to see everything at a lower height.

 

We had an outstanding canal expert on board and he did many presentations on the history and construction. He also recounted personal experiences growing up in the Canal Zone.

 

We went east to west and at one point we passed by the prison housing Manuel Noriega and other notorious criminals. Check with the canal expert on what time you will pass.

Make sure you are on deck when you pass through the most western locks. You pass in front of the land based visitor center and there will be hundreds waving and cheering for you.

 

The promenade deck can be a quiet place to find a lounge chair and sit.

Princess has a forward Sanctuary area that is terrific, you pay a modest per diem for shade, a padded lounge and attendants who will bring drinks and snacks.

 

Food on Princess is fairly good for a mass market line. Pizza is terrific and we like Italian night in the dining room. Definitely try out the specialty restaurants for better meals.

We always do anytime dining and have had no problems. We tend to eat early before the big rush.

The Horizon court lunch can be Ok depending on what is at the carving station. Soups are pretty good and we've enjoyed the made to order pasta station. They put out lots of wonderful desserts later in the evening and we enjoy tasting a few things. We don't do dinner in the Horizon court.

 

Terry, on a personal note I've read and enjoyed your trip reports and reviews for years!

[northbeachgirl]

Thanks to all the wonderful people who have done this cruise and have shared your experience. We will be on the Island January 4/17 the information will definitely enhance our experience. So excited for our first panama cruise.

[sammiedawg]

The most interesting port is San Juan Del Sur Nicaragua. It was a tender port and there is very little infrastructure but we had the most marvelous private tour with Macau Tours. It was just the two of us with a guide and driver.

They picked us up outside the port area for a full day tour. We visited Masaya, Granada, a crater lake, we had a private boat ride on Lake Nicaragua and saw volcanic craters that the cruise bus doesn't get near. We had a brilliant guide who was most anxious to please and we saw and did so much. I highly recommend this private tour, check out their web site which I think is macuatours.com.

We did a private tour with other CC people in Cartagena. I don't remember if it was with Dora, previously mentioned here. There are several well regarded private tour companies and all are better options than a ship excursion.

We had a private tour group in Punta Arenas Cost Rica, I don't remember who we used.

We used Sonny Binns in Aruba. He offers a very inexpensive tour driving around the island.

[DougandEric]

We did a full transit on HAL's Statendam. We had an outside forward cabin on the lowest passenger deck. While the ship was lowered in one of the locks, I sat on the bed and took pictures as the ship lowered into the lock. It was very interesting seeing the walls of the lock. If you could, I'd try doing the same from a lower deck in a public room. I tried looking at the deck plans but can't tell if any of the public rooms other than the dining rooms have windows.