Panama Canal Jan 2024

[Anyislandwilldo]

Just booked a 14 day on the Dream for the Panama Canal in Jan 2024.  The itinerary states that one of the ports is Colon (Panama Canal) but it doesn't say anything about going through the Canal or a partial transit.  Has anyone ever done a cruise with Colon as a port?  Can you tell me what to expect?  Thanks.

[Jasonsterling]

When I did the Panama Canal ages ago, lol, Colon was listed as the port but we did transit the full canal. Are you beginning and ending in the same port? If so then probably not a full transit- just in and out the same side, if not then a full transit across the entire canal. If it says Panama Canal you should be going into the canal in some fashion though. As far as Colon itself, sorry, I didn't disembark. 

[JeanieTheMom]

Usually, if the ship will do a partial transit, it will be listed as such on the itinerary. If you look at the cruise on the Legend from Baltimore also going in January 2024 as an example, it doesn't say Colon, it says partial transit. If you click on View Itinerary on your cruise, it says you're going to Colon, and that one of the excursions you could do is to tour the Panama Canal. When you click View Itinerary for the one from Baltimore, it tells about the Panama Canal on day 9, but doesn't show any excursions, because the ship doesn't stop at a port.

 

Hope this is understandable and helpful.🙂

[sfaaa]

You can tell by looking at the port tax. If the amount is low, it's not a full transit.

[reeinaz]

6 hours ago, Anyislandwilldo said:

Just booked a 14 day on the Dream for the Panama Canal in Jan 2024.  The itinerary states that one of the ports is Colon (Panama Canal) but it doesn't say anything about going through the Canal or a partial transit.  Has anyone ever done a cruise with Colon as a port?  Can you tell me what to expect?  Thanks.

Look at the map of the cruise. Does it cross from the Atlantic to the Pacific or vice versa? That's a full transit.

[mpdog42]

It's just a stop in Colon, not even a partial transit.....

[Jasonsterling]

5 hours ago, JeanieTheMom said:

Usually, if the ship will do a partial transit, it will be listed as such on the itinerary. If you look at the cruise on the Legend from Baltimore also going in January 2024 as an example, it doesn't say Colon, it says partial transit. If you click on View Itinerary on your cruise, it says you're going to Colon, and that one of the excursions you could do is to tour the Panama Canal. When you click View Itinerary for the one from Baltimore, it tells about the Panama Canal on day 9, but doesn't show any excursions, because the ship doesn't stop at a port.

 

Hope this is understandable and helpful.🙂

Ha ha- yeah I'd say Jeanie is definitely correct here and brilliant- lol. I never thought of just looking up your cruise and other Panama cruises which does pretty clearly spell it out. So if you want to go through the locks you might have to find another itinerary. 

[firefly333]

30 minutes ago, Jasonsterling said:

Ha ha- yeah I'd say Jeanie is definitely correct here and brilliant- lol. I never thought of just looking up your cruise and other Panama cruises which does pretty clearly spell it out. So if you want to go through the locks you might have to find another itinerary. 

I think from colon there is a excursion, used to be 350 per person, might be higher, to take you to the one lock.

[Tapi]

8 hours ago, Anyislandwilldo said:

Just booked a 14 day on the Dream for the Panama Canal in Jan 2024.  The itinerary states that one of the ports is Colon (Panama Canal) but it doesn't say anything about going through the Canal or a partial transit. 

Is it the January 13th, 2024 departure? If so, it doesn’t seem like it goes through the Panama Canal. You’ll stop at Colon and from there you can take an excursion on a smaller boat that takes you through the locks (usually these will take you through one set of locks into Gatun Lake). 
 

Itineraries that go through the locks will say that you fully transit (where yo go through all the locks from one ocean to another) or partially transit (where you don’t cross the canal completely, but go through one set of locks, turn around and go back out the same way you came). Neither one seems to be the case with your itinerary. 
 

And as someone mentioned above, if in doubt, look at the port taxes. For a Panama Canal transit they will be substantially higher (from what I’ve seen in the past, more than $300pp). The taxes for your itinerary are around $135pp so it’s pretty evident that you won’t be going through any locks.  

Edited July 2, 2021 by Tapi

[Anyislandwilldo]

Thanks everyone for all your helpful responses.  I see now that we will not be going through the Canal but at least we can do an excursion on a smaller boat and go through a lock.  So grateful for the helpful people on these forums!!  Happy 4th!!

[Number12]

We're booked on this cruise and I'm excited to stop in Panama.  We've been through the canal several times, but never stopped in the country. 

[Nic6318]

3 hours ago, Anyislandwilldo said:

Thanks everyone for all your helpful responses.  I see now that we will not be going through the Canal but at least we can do an excursion on a smaller boat and go through a lock.  So grateful for the helpful people on these forums!!  Happy 4th!!

 

Hi 

 

I had taken one of the excursions that went with a smaller boat as a partial transit through a few locks and I found it to be a long and tiring day. Might even go as far as to say, boring. 

 

My thought on this subject was that being able to see the operation of the locks from outside the canal was much more interesting. I had done this at the Miraflores locks, where I was able to see everything about the operations as well as the history. It was much more fun for me watching these large ships passing through the locks up close rather than going through it in a relatively small boat. I don't know what excursions would be available to you at that time, but it is just something to consider. 

 

 

 

[Anyislandwilldo]

17 hours ago, Nic6318 said:

 

Hi 

 

I had taken one of the excursions that went with a smaller boat as a partial transit through a few locks and I found it to be a long and tiring day. Might even go as far as to say, boring. 

 

My thought on this subject was that being able to see the operation of the locks from outside the canal was much more interesting. I had done this at the Miraflores locks, where I was able to see everything about the operations as well as the history. It was much more fun for me watching these large ships passing through the locks up close rather than going through it in a relatively small boat. I don't know what excursions would be available to you at that time, but it is just something to consider. 

 

 

 

Thanks Nic6318!  Definitely a different point of view.  I will take this up with the hubby and get his thought on it as well.  Plus research the port a little more.