Fuerte Amador- still a tender port by Oct 2021

[Turtles06]

18 minutes ago, njhorseman said:

Took a cruise line excursion which included a visit to the Miraflores visitor's center

Paul, thanks for your thoughts. For folks who have been through the Canal, do you think it’s still worthwhile to go to the Miraflores Visitor’s Center? 
 

Happy New Year to you and Ellie!

[njhorseman]

2 minutes ago, Turtles06 said:

Paul, thanks for your thoughts. For folks who have been through the Canal, do you think it’s still worthwhile to go to the Miraflores Visitor’s Center? 
 

Happy New Year to you and Ellie!

We did it on our second full transit and I thought it was worthwhile at that point. Now having done six full transits I wouldn't so as canal "veterans" you and Eileen might not . I think a visit to Panama City might be interesting for you just as i think it will be for us. I like to visit the "old cities" in Central and South America and if I recall you also do.

Happy New Year

[Turtles06]

11 hours ago, njhorseman said:

We did it on our second full transit and I thought it was worthwhile at that point. Now having done six full transits I wouldn't so as canal "veterans" you and Eileen might not . I think a visit to Panama City might be interesting for you just as i think it will be for us. I like to visit the "old cities" in Central and South America and if I recall you also do.

Happy New Year

Thanks Paul, Panama City will likely be it for us as well. 😊

[BillB48]

Since you may have settled on a visit to the Casco Antiguo, what goes together with the churches better than museums.  Pictured below is the Panama Canal Museum located on Plaza de Independencia in Casco Antiguo.  The building started out as the headquarters for the French Canal Company and for a period of time the headquarters for the U.S. construction of the Canal.  The bottom picture is from the French era.  In Spanish it is known as Museo del Canal Interoceanico de Panama.

 

Must confess I haven't been there, it opened as a Museum in the late 90s after I had left.

 

 

[Queen of DaNile]

Glad I found this thread. Makes me feel a lot more confident that the cruise terminal will be ready when we board Seabourn Quest November 2022.

[happycruiserco]

On 1/4/2022 at 2:49 PM, BillB48 said:

 

As far as tours on the turnaround day, I have been on back to backs where they were offered, but many times they were cancelled because of lack of interest.  So, you are probably wise to plan your own day independently.  Don't know if you are looking to take in more of the Canal or not.  If that is the case Miraflores is where the visitor's center is for the Pacific side.  You can watch the operation of the locks and they have many displays that include the old GE mules and the Mitsubishi replacements.  In the last couple of years they have added an IMAX theater that runs a 45 minute documentary narrated by Morgan Freeman that is certainly worth a look.

 

The visitor's center for the new locks is on the Atlantic side near the Gatun Locks.  The drive across the Isthmus is a little over an hour each way.

 

If you are looking for non Canal points of interests right near by in Amador is the Biomuseo, the building was designed by Frank Gehry.  You can't miss it the building, something akin to a tornado deposited a pile of twisted colored sheet metal!  Things to see in Panama City proper would be the Casco Antiguo and perhaps the ruins of Old Panama (Panama Viejo), the original city.  A couple of notable things to see in the Casco would be the Church of the Golden Atlar and the Church of the Flat Arch.  The Golden Altar is in the Church of San Jose, parts of the altar were taken apart and submerged in the bay while the larger portions were tarred to prevent Henry Morgan from appropriating it.  The ruins of the Church of Santo Domingo is where you will find the Flat Arch.  The Arch was used as an example for Panama' geological stability.  Spoiler alert... the Arch collapsed in 2003 after a massive fireworks demonstration for Panama's 100th Independence celebration.  It has since been reassembled.

 

Getting to these places, not really a problem as you can always hire a cab to take you.  There is nothing inherently dangerous about grabbing a cab to see the sights.  The big negative is sometimes you may get a highly creative version of history which may or may not have any similarity to actual events.  Used to be able to do a search on this board and find a number of tour guides that came with a decent recommendation, but Covid has taken its toll there as well.  Don't if know if Trip Advisor would be any help or not.  If you decide on jumping in a cab just agree on what you are going to do and a price beforehand and make sure your driver is good enough in English.  You won't have any problems finding people who speak good English, but for some reason many cabbies didn't get the memo.

We want to mainly explore Casco Viejo and roam along Cinta Costera as we love walking.  Suggestion as to where to have a taxi drop us off (we'll be on Caribbean Princess).  THANKS.

[BillB48]

6 hours ago, happycruiserco said:

We want to mainly explore Casco Viejo and roam along Cinta Costera as we love walking.  Suggestion as to where to have a taxi drop us off (we'll be on Caribbean Princess).  THANKS.

 

Perhaps a central place would be Independence Square (Plaza de la Independencia) would be fine, the Metrpolitan Cathedral and Canal Museum are right there.  The Church of the Golden Altar and the ruins of the Church of Santo Domingo (the Flat Arch) are not too far away.

 

Do be vigilant in your walking  around the Casco and if you venture out on the Cinta.  The area is much improved from when I lived there, but it is a big city and sometimes the flavor of the neighborhood can change without notice.  I don't have any specific advice on what or where extra caution is needed,  but a great place to walk would be the Causeway walking towards the mainland from the cruise terminal.  Lots of shops and watering holes with great views of the skyline on one side with the Canal on the other.  The Cinta was built to accommodate pedestrians as well as cars, IMO the Ft. Amador Causeway would be better suited for walking.

[v3cruiser]

Anyone heard any current news or updates on this port opening?

[njhorseman]

1 hour ago, v3cruiser said:

Anyone heard any current news or updates on this port opening?

The port's been open for months. Although it's possible all the work still hasn't been completed, ships docked there back in the winter.

[v3cruiser]

1 hour ago, njhorseman said:

The port's been open for months. Although it's possible all the work still hasn't been completed, ships docked there back in the winter.

Ok cool, Ive read a variety of articles and they all seem to have various opening dates as there have been delays from Covid shutdowns to material/supply issues. Some opening dates projected to be  as far into future as May 2023.

[BillB48]

Have not heard even a whisper, hopefully that is good news. Of course this is the off season for cruise ships so maybe this time has been used to get the whatever is needed to make the facility operational.

[BatchawanaBabe]

I recently spoke to the Shore Excursion desk at NCL and was told that this is still a tender port although my cruise confirmation says that we dock. NCL doesn't show much in the way of excursions nor do some of the shore excursion companies.  I guess between Covid and the new port, things are still in a state of flux.  We did a partial Panama Canal cruise a few years ago docking in Colon which was a scary industrial-looking place.  Really enjoyed visiting Panama City but would love to be able to tour a few other areas in the country that retirees are moving to. Guess we'll have to fly in for a longer visit.

[BillB48]

11 hours ago, BatchawanaBabe said:

I recently spoke to the Shore Excursion desk at NCL and was told that this is still a tender port although my cruise confirmation says that we dock. NCL doesn't show much in the way of excursions nor do some of the shore excursion companies.  I guess between Covid and the new port, things are still in a state of flux.  We did a partial Panama Canal cruise a few years ago docking in Colon which was a scary industrial-looking place.  Really enjoyed visiting Panama City but would love to be able to tour a few other areas in the country that retirees are moving to. Guess we'll have to fly in for a longer visit.

 

Don't have anything I can add whether the Pacific Cruise Terminal at Ft. Amador will be fully open when this years cruise season gets underway.  My contact down there has been quiet regarding the cruise terminal at Amador.  Perhaps they are still in the process of firming everything up and will have a selection of shore excursions closer to sailing or onboard.  It has been close to a year since one of the Viking ships disembarked and embarked passengers at the Cruise Terminal and the NCL Sun used the pier frequently during the layup.

 

If you are wanting to visit the popular ex-pat hangouts, that would be really stretching the limits of a port call.  While the nearest beach communities west of the Canal like Gorgona and Coronado would be theoretically possible to visit in that time period, don't think it would be a good decision.  Depending on the time of day, day of the week or perhaps a holiday, the traffic around the Bridge of Americas or the Centennial Bridge is legendary.  Other destinations in western Panama such as the beaches in the Azuero Peninsula or the mountains near Boquete really need a couple of days for a meaningful visit.

[v3cruiser]

October 8th is first date for a ship, Safari voyager, to be docked to board passengers at the new cruise terminal.  The encore shows up on the 8th november and then the Jewel on the 24th.

 

There are more Spanish articles about this port than English.. What i read from an article earlier in the year is the port was 90 percent competed and there are squabbles over the funding of the last 10%. 

 

According to cruise mapper there are a lot of ships scheduled to dock for sure.

[mcmarya]

We are supposed to be on a ship that will disembark at Amador on 11/25 then the ship will embark with new passengers later that day.  I cannot imagine how a ship could disembark/embark a cruise without docking considering all the luggage and provisions that would need to be transferred too/from the ship. 

[Turtles06]

On 9/10/2022 at 7:40 PM, mcmarya said:

We are supposed to be on a ship that will disembark at Amador on 11/25 then the ship will embark with new passengers later that day.  I cannot imagine how a ship could disembark/embark a cruise without docking considering all the luggage and provisions that would need to be transferred too/from the ship. 

 

We'll be in a similar situation in February.  I'm sure that any cruise line that scheduled a cruise to embark/disembark in Fuerte Amador this fall/this coming winter did so with the expectation that the ship would be able to dock.  Guess we'll know soon! 

[njhorseman]

On 9/10/2022 at 7:40 PM, mcmarya said:

We are supposed to be on a ship that will disembark at Amador on 11/25 then the ship will embark with new passengers later that day.  I cannot imagine how a ship could disembark/embark a cruise without docking considering all the luggage and provisions that would need to be transferred too/from the ship. 

 

42 minutes ago, Turtles06 said:

 

We'll be in a similar situation in February.  I'm sure that any cruise line that scheduled a cruise to embark/disembark in Fuerte Amador this fall/this coming winter did so with the expectation that the ship would be able to dock.  Guess we'll know soon! 

Some ships docked there last year. There's no issue with being able to dock at the pier, the issue is completion of the cruise terminal building facilities, but I would imagine that temporary facilities such as canopied or tented areas for check in could be used if the building still isn't finished.

 

We took a B2B cruise a couple of years ago where the first segment ended and the second began in Lima, Peru, or more accurately in Callao, which is the port that serves Lima. It's a commercial port with no cruise terminal and canopies or tents were used as gathering places for passengers and luggage, with the actual check in process being conducted on the ship in its theater. There was a lot of grumbling from the passengers about the inconvenience, but everyone who had to disembark or embark got through the process.

[Turtles06]

45 minutes ago, njhorseman said:

 

Some ships docked there last year. There's no issue with being able to dock at the pier, the issue is completion of the cruise terminal building facilities, but I would imagine that temporary facilities such as canopied or tented areas for check in could be used if the building still isn't finished.

 

Thanks for clarifying that! 

[mcmarya]

On 1/5/2022 at 2:29 PM, BillB48 said:

Since you may have settled on a visit to the Casco Antiguo, what goes together with the churches better than museums.  Pictured below is the Panama Canal Museum located on Plaza de Independencia in Casco Antiguo.  The building started out as the headquarters for the French Canal Company and for a period of time the headquarters for the U.S. construction of the Canal.  The bottom picture is from the French era.  In Spanish it is known as Museo del Canal Interoceanico de Panama.

 

Must confess I haven't been there, it opened as a Museum in the late 90s after I had left.

 

 

The museum is well worth visiting or at least was several years ago when we were there.  My husband particularly enjoyed the display concerning the flag raising incident at Balboa High School in 1964 since he was there and his good friends appeared on the cover of Life Magazine.  In the Palacio Bolivar we were able to see the room where the there 1826 Congress of Panama was held.  If it is open, be sure to go inside this building.  Also, don't miss the San Jose church, the church of the golden altar.

[Queen of DaNile]

On 9/10/2022 at 7:40 PM, mcmarya said:

We are supposed to be on a ship that will disembark at Amador on 11/25 then the ship will embark with new passengers later that day.  I cannot imagine how a ship could disembark/embark a cruise without docking considering all the luggage and provisions that would need to be transferred too/from the ship. 

Sounds like you might be on the Quest as we board her on the 25th. Very interested in seeing the logistics.

[Essiesmom]

Viking Star is scheduled to turn around at Fuerte Amador on Monday.  Will be interesting to see if she socks or tenders.  Stay tuned…. EM

[njhorseman]

Viking docked last year. Why wouldn't this year? The issue isn't whether a ship can dock there, it's whether the other cruise terminal facilities were completed.

[mcmarya]

Yes, on the Quest.  Almost every port, including Cozumel (on our sailing), is listed as a tender port so it's hard to tell what to believe.

[Essiesmom]

The proof is in the picture.  Viking Star is docked at Fuerte Amador.

 

 

[BillB48]

Busy day at the Amador Cruise Terminal, the Norwegian Encore has joined the Viking Star at the new pier.