Question about Panama Canal excursions

[sabreline]

Do you have to take an excursion at the Panama Canal or can you stay on the ship? Can you see anything interesting or pleasant from the ship? TIA

[DrivesLikeMario]

It depends on what itinerary.  Are you talking about the 10-day partial Canal itinerary or the full 15-19 day transit?

You can stay onboard any time you want.  You never "have to" take a tour, but you'll see and experience a lot more if you do.

[sabreline]

10 day. We have been in hundreds of locks on our own boat so nothing having to do with the lock is terribly interesting to us!!! Might do a canal cruise to see monkeys though!!!!

[NavyVeteran]

You can stay on the ship if you want. You will go back out through the same locks you entered. If you want to watch the process, you will have much better views because the ship won't be crowded.

 

You can also go on a Princess excursion. You cannot leave the ship on your own if you are not on a Princess excursion.

[skynight]

Yes, you can stay on the ship. We have done this many times. On the 10 day partial transit the ship enters the Atlantic locks and anchors in Gatun Lake. At that time passengers on ship excursions tender ashore. No one else is permitted to tender ashore. No private touring. The ship then exits the locks and docks. There are some vendors on the dock. You can walk off and visit them. Those on ship's tours are returned to the dock to board.

[riffatsea]

The best excursion I have ever taken was on a Panama Canal cruise!

It was a bus to the river an d then a canoe ride to a native village where we ate,saw dancing,heard about their life and shopped for beautiful craft items

It was idyllic!

Edited August 18, 2022 by riffatsea

[sabreline]

2 hours ago, skynight said:

Yes, you can stay on the ship. We have done this many times. On the 10 day partial transit the ship enters the Atlantic locks and anchors in Gatun Lake. At that time passengers on ship excursions tender ashore. No one else is permitted to tender ashore. No private touring. The ship then exits the locks and docks. There are some vendors on the dock. You can walk off and visit them. Those on ship's tours are returned to the dock to board.

Thanks for the info. Just what I was looking for!

[sabreline]

1 hour ago, riffatsea said:

The best excursion I have ever taken was on a Panama Canal cruise!

It was a bus to the river an d then a canoe ride to a native village where we ate,saw dancing,heard about their life and shopped for beautiful craft items

It was idyllic!

Thanks so much! We are very undecided!!!!

[Megamixer]

On 8/18/2022 at 3:31 PM, riffatsea said:

The best excursion I have ever taken was on a Panama Canal cruise!

It was a bus to the river an d then a canoe ride to a native village where we ate,saw dancing,heard about their life and shopped for beautiful craft items

It was idyllic!

We did that same excursion this past spring on an RCL repositioning from Barbados to Galveston. THE best excursion! Canoes driven by these guys?