Review of Panama Canal Cruise–14 Nights on NCL Sun October 14–28, 2016 (with photos)

[sue402001]

I just finished reading your great review, looking forward to seeing some of it myself. I do have a question, do you know if the ships Photo Gallery had transit photos for sale during your cruise? Thanks!

[SeahawkSiren]

Appreciate so much the many fine pictures and details from your great reporting. This includes these key comments on the Panama Canal and how things will work with the new versus old canal.

 

We will be doing a Fort Lauderdale to San Francisco cruise through the Panama Canal in late February-early March 2017 on a Princess ship. This includes stops in Aruba (that we did in early 2015), Cartagena/Colombia, Puntarenas/Costa Rica, San Juan del Sur/Nicaragua and Cabo San Lucas/Mexico. This would be our first time for visiting Columbia, Panama Canal, Central America, etc. It’s eight sea days, which is a little high for us, but it is a little “get-away” from the Midwest winter.

 

Any added tips, suggestions, secrets from you or others?

 

Congrats to your Seahawks winning a thriller last night!!

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

Thank you for the nice comments, Terry. It was a fabulous trip! Enjoy your Panama Canal cruise!

 

And thanks for the congrats on the Seahawks win! That was a heck of a game! Really fun to watch!

 

I just finished reading your great review, looking forward to seeing some of it myself. I do have a question, do you know if the ships Photo Gallery had transit photos for sale during your cruise? Thanks!

 

I'm sorry I don't know the answer to that question. We don't usually buy ship photos.

 

We did receive a complimentary certificate acknowledging our Panama Canal transit (see attachment). If you are doing a partial transit I don't know if NCL offers something similar acknowledging that.

 

We did purchase a glossy photo (I think we only paid $10.00 for it) which shows the entire cruise route and has a snapshot of each port we visited (see other attachment). Very nice!

 

We also purchased a DVD (which we haven't viewed yet) which I think is specific to our crossing.

 

There were plenty of Panama Canal related items to purchase onboard. On the day of the actual transit they set up tables on the pool deck and were selling t-shirts, key chains, magnets and plenty of other souvenirs. And then on some of the days later in the cruise they were still selling Panama Canal items at discounted prices in the gift shop.

Panama Canal Crossing Certificate.pdf

Panama Canal Itinerary.pdf

[sue402001]

Thanks for your reply SeahawkSiren! I'm not sure if we get a certificate or not either. It's great to know that there should be Canal related items to purchase. Only 116 more days to find out, lol.

Edited November 16, 2016 by sue402001

[808cruisef]

OP: so glad you had a great trip, and thank you for taking the time to do this review. In particular, I know it's quite time consuming to go through your photos, and select and post them. Much appreciated.

 

 

 

We'll be on our first Panama Canal cruise in a little over two months, on the NCL Jewel, same direction in which you traveled, so I'm reading along here with interest. I share your thoughts about the Canal and the engineering marvel that it is, and I'm so excited about our transit.

 

 

 

BTW -- I got a smile from your photo of the Panama Canal day balcony breakfast. I've read so much on here about NCL's Canal cruises, but this is the first anyone has mentioned that breakfast. I love huevos rancheros, so I hope the Jewel will be serving them as well. :)

 

 

 

Looking foward to the rest of your review.

 

 

We are on the same cruise in February! So excited.

 

 

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[808cruisef]

Thank you so much for taking the time to post this. I am so excited for our cruise in February. We will have the same itinerary.

 

 

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[AndiamoDee]

I also want to thank you for posting this. Hubby and I are on the same cruise, but in reverse in February. It's great to know what to expect.

[rp23g7]

Great review, we are on the Island Princess full transit in October, looking forward to it, what were the tour companies you used in the ports, or did you use the ships excursions? I think we will be going to a few of the same countries.

 

OH AND GO HAWKS!!!!!!!!!!!

Edited November 22, 2016 by rp23g7

[clarkg]

Great Review. Thanks for sharing.

[NMLady]

What a fantastic review. I loved all the photos of the ship and from your excursions. Our first Panama Canal transit in 2005 was also on the Sun. Really really great cruise. Our next transit was eight years later on the Star. Was just as impressed by the canal transit and service from crew.

 

On neither transit did we receive any kind of certificate. Were they given only to those in balcony or higher level categories?

[mugtech]

We were in an inside cabin on the May, 2015, Tampa to Vancouver 19 day through the canal, received a certificate of having gone through the canal, and maps of the entire cruise were for sale. We also bought a DVD filmed by our friend Eddie Spaghetti from South Philly, the assistant cruise director, a fun guy and part of a great crew.

[PhillyTravelBug]

Excellent review!!!

[SeahawkSiren]

Great review, we are on the Island Princess full transit in October, looking forward to it, what were the tour companies you used in the ports, or did you use the ships excursions? I think we will be going to a few of the same countries.

 

OH AND GO HAWKS!!!!!!!!!!!

 

We only did ship excursions.

 

And most definitely, GO HAWKS! :)

 

What a fantastic review. I loved all the photos of the ship and from your excursions. Our first Panama Canal transit in 2005 was also on the Sun. Really really great cruise. Our next transit was eight years later on the Star. Was just as impressed by the canal transit and service from crew.

 

On neither transit did we receive any kind of certificate. Were they given only to those in balcony or higher level categories?

 

I am assuming that certificates were given to all stateroom categories. And a couple people have posted in this thread about receiving certificates in 2014 and 2015 so I am guessing that 2014 is when they started doing the certificates if you did not receive one in 2005 or 2013.

 

Glad to know you were just as impressed by the canal transit and also had great service by the crew. The NCL crew was awesome on this cruise and I can't say enough good things about them. And it really was an incredible experience doing the transit. And watching people's reactions on the other ships going by was really fun too. Even though many of the ships we passed were cargo/container ships with people busy working on them, you could see everyone was really enjoying their transit and taking time to enjoy the moments. Ships from all over the world. We were all waving at each other as we passed by, taking photos of each other's ships. Such a fun and memorable day!

[Turtles06]

And it really was an incredible experience doing the transit. And watching people's reactions on the other ships going by was really fun too. Even though many of the ships we passed were cargo/container ships with people busy working on them, you could see everyone was really enjoying their transit and taking time to enjoy the moments. Ships from all over the world. We were all waving at each other as we passed by, taking photos of each other's ships. Such a fun and memorable day!

 

Suggestion re your photos of other ships. If any of the other ships were cruise ships, if you haven't already done so, you might want to post them on a new thread on that cruise line's forum with the date. E.g. (in the Celebrity forum) thread title: Celebrity Infinity, Panama Canal Nov. 10, 2016. People love to see photos of their ships when they were on them. :)

 

Thanks again for your terrific review and photos. Our transit is in two months, can't wait!

 

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

[OceansOfTravels]

Thank you for your lovely review and pictures of your cruise on the Sun. I am dying to cruise NCL, as well as the Panama Canal, so I really enjoyed your review. Thanks for all of the effort you put into it! :)

[riclop]

Thanks for the review.

[mrsjetpup]

First of all we are neighbors, as we are in Olympia! And are also avid Seahawks fans! Thank you so much for posting this awesome review! My husband and I are goIng on our first Panama Canal cruise on NCL's Pearl in March, so thoroughly enjoyed your reviews and pictures.

 

I also love your signature line. Thanks again and go Hawks!

[Mandy412]

Ship coming out of the new locks

 

 

Port of Balboa

 

 

 

Bridge of the Americas

 

 

 

Wow! So much to be said and I have to try and condense it. This day alone was such a wonderful experience and ranks very high up on my list of most memorable and special days in my life! As our canal transit was coming to an end after we passed under the Bridge of the Americas it really started to hit me and I was in awe with what I had just experienced. The Panama Canal is such a magnificent and unique wonder of the world, and the ingenuity in building it 100+ years ago and what it has withstood in all this time is, in itself, so impressive. And to literally get to experience going through this roughly 50 mile canal connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans was an unforgettable time and I am so thankful I got to experience it in person. It was truly incredible! Starting this day in the Atlantic Ocean and ending it in the Pacific Ocean in a span of about 10 hours, well, what more can I say.

 

 

How many locks did you go through in total?

[Turtles06]

How many locks did you go through in total?

 

I'm not the OP, but I can tell you that there are three sets of "old" locks. Starting from the Atlantic: the Gatun Locks (3 chambers), the Pedro Miguel Locks (1 chamber), and the Miraflores Locks (2 chambers).

Edited November 26, 2016 by Turtles06

[SeahawkSiren]

OP: we have also booked the Antigua on Your Own excursion, as the city looked quite fascinating from my research, and I'm so glad to read that you enjoyed it.

 

Do you have any advice or tips for us? Clearly, the Cathedral is a must-see. Anything else? Anything we should be aware of? (Did you get to the arch?)

 

I know some folks are concerned about safety in Guatemala, but Antigua is supposed to be fine if you don't go off the beaten path; it sounds like you had no issues on that score.

 

We have been back from our cruise for nearly a month and I am just now getting around to going through all of our paperwork, souvenirs from the cruise, etc. I have attached a pdf of the map we received on the bus on our way to Antigua. I know you are planning on doing the Antigua On Your Own excursion too so thought this might be helpful for you to have in advance. The red star on the map (Jade Maya) is the meeting place where the bus dropped us off at and where we were to return for the bus back to the ship.

 

Enjoy your time in Antigua. It was our favorite port stop on this cruise!

Antigua Map.pdf

Edited November 27, 2016 by SeahawkSiren

[Turtles06]

We have been back from our cruise for nearly a month and I am just now getting around to going through all of our paperwork, souvenirs from the cruise, etc. I have attached a pdf of the map we received on the bus on our way to Antigua. I know you are planning on doing the Antigua On Your Own excursion too so thought this might be helpful for you to have in advance. The red star on the map (Jade Maya) is the meeting place where the bus dropped us off at and where we were to return for the bus back to the ship.

 

Enjoy your time in Antigua. It was our favorite port stop on this cruise!

 

Thank you so much for taking the time to post the map, I really appreciate it! I've found some good maps on line, but in terms of our planning, yours is particularly helpful in showing where we are likely to be dropped off. Very kind of you, thanks!

[TAMIAMI]

Loved your NCL Sun review. We are booked for 10/05/17 in cabin 9277 right next door to your cabin.

[cincicruisers]

Great review, thanks for sharing.

[Oldgoat61]

Your review brought back memories! Enjoyed your review very much. We did the PC in Oct 2013, and was one of our best cruises. We did get a certificate, so I'm surprised others didn't.

 

I also enjoyed your review because we will be on the Sun in May, thanks for the photos!:D

[themnms]

After walking around the city for a couple of hours and viewing many of the things on the map we were given, we headed for lunch. Karla gave us a helpful bit of information and told us that most of the guided tours eat lunch at a specific place so we decided to eat lunch elsewhere away from all those crowds. She recommended a place, El Arco, so we ate there and it did not disappoint. A lovely little place where we ate outside in a nice courtyard.

 

 

 

 

I had the most wonderful quesadillas here!

 

 

 

great tip!! thank you

[Wrightwoodsbest]

Thanks so much for sharing your trip details. We will do the opposite journey from SAN to FLL in April. Will use your notes for new ports. Have a happy New Year.