Live from Celebrity Millennium Panama Canal Oct. 27 (15 night) aka “Let’s Just Leave the Lifeboat”

[t18c97]

On 11/6/2021 at 2:52 PM, Essiesmom said:

Gatun Locks.  Looks like some of you are still out on the helipad

 

 

We did that cruise a couple years ago but were in the new locks. That transit didn’t look as interesting as going through the original ones.

[SireDoime]

1 hour ago, t18c97 said:

We did that cruise a couple years ago but were in the new locks. That transit didn’t look as interesting as going through the original ones.

I'm on the NCL Bliss in January; I just found out the ship is too big to go through the old Locks. 😟😞 I'm a little sad about that; I didn't even know until recently that there were two locks.

 

When I trying booking a Panama Canal cruise with Regent Seven Seas, the earliest was this December, - but the suite I wanted was waitlisted, and later trips were also waitlisted. I should've just booked the Concierge D suite on Mariner for this Xmas.

 

BUT, the NCL Bliss is a nice ship 🛳️ (and has amenities the RSS Mariner does not - it would be nice if Luxury lines had waterparks and race tracks), and at least I will experience going through the Canal, albeit via the NeoPanamaAX locks.

 

Plus, it'll be my first time on Norwegian and on a megaship. 😆🎊

Edited November 11, 2021 by SireDoime
who, what now?

[bridedoll1026]

Thanks for the update on the Covid situation. Overhead some talk this morning speculating.

[t18c97]

9 hours ago, SireDoime said:

I'm on the NCL Bliss in January; I just found out the ship is too big to go through the old Locks. 😟😞 I'm a little sad about that; I didn't even know until recently that there were two locks.

 

When I trying booking a Panama Canal cruise with Regent Seven Seas, the earliest was this December, - but the suite I wanted was waitlisted, and later trips were also waitlisted. I should've just booked the Concierge D suite on Mariner for this Xmas.

 

BUT, the NCL Bliss is a nice ship 🛳️ (and has amenities the RSS Mariner does not - it would be nice if Luxury lines had waterparks and race tracks), and at least I will experience going through the Canal, albeit via the NeoPanamaAX locks.

 

Plus, it'll be my first time on Norwegian and on a megaship. 😆🎊

If you're interested, here's a video that the ship put together of the crossing in the new locks, 

 

[SireDoime]

7 hours ago, t18c97 said:

If you're interested, here's a video that the ship put together of the crossing in the new locks, 

 

Oh OK, so they do let passengers on that part of the ship, cool. Only the haven guests have an outdoor forward facing open deck. Everyone else has to look out through the observation lounge. But his is cool and better.

[upwarduk]

4 minutes ago, SireDoime said:

Oh OK, so they do let passengers on that part of the ship,

Passengers allowed on the Helipad by invitation only. You need to wear closed toe shoes.

We were invited as Elite members of the Captain’s Club when we left Stockholm.

However, I have heard that Concierge guests are invited and also those new to cruising.

I guess it’s the luck of the draw.

Edited November 11, 2021 by upwarduk

[SireDoime]

2 minutes ago, upwarduk said:

Concierge guests are invited

On Equinox I was in this class and got invited, I thought it was nice, but since it was my first cruise I didn't see the big deal. I didn't do it on Infinity when I was in AquaClass, either they didn't have it, or I foregoed it, or they didn't invite me.

 

Either way, it would be nice to have an outside forward and aft view of the crossing.

[Ipeeinthepools]

1 hour ago, upwarduk said:

Passengers allowed on the Helipad by invitation only. You need to wear closed toe shoes.

We were invited as Elite members of the Captain’s Club when we left Stockholm.

However, I have heard that Concierge guests are invited and also those new to cruising.

I guess it’s the luck of the draw.

 

On the October 27 sailing access to the helipad was limited to suite guests and maybe Zenith from 7:00- 9:00 am.  This roughly corresponded to the time to go through the Mira Flores locks.  The helipad was open to everyone after 9:00 am until about an hour after we entered the Atlantic.

[Essiesmom]

I did a B2B2B on Millie from Miami, and was invited to the helipad for the departure from Miami on the second two legs…as a B2B guest.  First leg I was in concierge, second and third inside.  EM

[Ipeeinthepools]

On the October 27 Millennium sailing Elite and Elite + were invited to the helipad for the sailing from Cartagena

[bunzini]

Actually, on this cruise suite guests were allowed on the helipad a couple of hours earlier than when it was opened to all.  Everyone had the opportunity to go on the helipad during the transit.

 

[bridedoll1026]

 

Edited November 14, 2021 by bridedoll1026
Duplicate

[iluvthe-c]

There seems to be a lot of Panama Canal knowledge on this thread.  Planning our first PC cruise.  Would you advise to go through it and end up in a different debarkation port?  Would we miss out on anything significant by returning to the same departure port?

 

[canderson]

27 minutes ago, iluvthe-c said:

There seems to be a lot of Panama Canal knowledge on this thread.  Planning our first PC cruise.  Would you advise to go through it and end up in a different debarkation port?  Would we miss out on anything significant by returning to the same departure port?

 

There are 3 options depending upon itinerary.  

 

Bump and run:  Make port outside the locks on Atlantic side.  You miss the experience of going through locks.

 

Atlantic into Gatun:  You pass through the locks on the Atlantic side and make port in Gatun, then reverse course through locks on Atlantic side.

 

Full passage:  In via locks on either Atlantic or Pacific side, into Gatun, and out the locks on the other side.  Definitely the E ticket ride of the three options.

 

Have done it all 3 ways, and the full transit definitely our favorite by far.  

 

 

 

Edited December 31, 2021 by canderson
Usual typos

[Ipeeinthepools]

18 minutes ago, iluvthe-c said:

There seems to be a lot of Panama Canal knowledge on this thread.  Planning our first PC cruise.  Would you advise to go through it and end up in a different debarkation port?  Would we miss out on anything significant by returning to the same departure port?

 

 

 

If you can swing the time and probably additional cost, I would really suggest the entire transit and end up at a different port.  There's a lot more to the PC experience than just seeing the locks. It's also an interesting cruise on the lake between the locks and you gain a better appreciation about how difficult it really was to build the canal.  I had also never cruised on the western side before and those ports were very nice for a change. 

[iluvthe-c]

Great!  Thank you both for the helpful information.