Panama Canal question 10/13 coral

[darienill]

We're doing the Ft. Lauderdale round trip to panama canal. I understand the ship arrives at the canal about 6 am. Goes through to the lake, stops, turns around and starts back about 1 pm. My plan is to not take a shore trip, sleep through the entry , get up and catch all the action going back through the locks. maybe go ashore at Cristobal. any comments??:o

[mii]

We're doing the Ft. Lauderdale round trip to panama canal. I understand the ship arrives at the canal about 6 am. Goes through to the lake, stops, turns around and starts back about 1 pm. My plan is to not take a shore trip, sleep through the entry , get up and catch all the action going back through the locks. maybe go ashore at Cristobal. any comments??:o

 

Hi Darienill: Sure you can do that but boy do you miss alot as far as I am concerned. It seemed to me that going into the locks were somewhat different than coming out. Also most of the cruisers are going to be up for this entrance into the canal and they will be on their balconies, on the decks; in other words making alot of noise. There is so much to see from different parts of the ship that in my opinion just get up and watch the whole proceeding. I have been through it twice and never, never tire of the comings and goings of the locks.

 

Marilyn

[Hello-Kitty]

hello,

i did the panama in 2004 on he coral, one of my best cruises, let me know what itineary you have.

 

You dont want to sleep through it!! It was worth getting up for, i dont remeber even going back through it:eek:

I dont know if you know that you just cant get off you have to take a tour to get off the ship, if you dont take a tour then you can just go right outside where there is a warehouse and some local merchants(beware some wer naked) they were all locals. I dont know if things have changed any.

 

We also took the train ride and it was a complete waste of money. I think we spent 150.00 pp on that tour and it was ridiculous, but that was our opinion.

Hope this helps

[NAS-KARR]

I suggest you go there and ck out the Panama Canal posts, I'll bet you get alot more info re your query.

 

Ciao,

[darienill]

hello,

i did the panama in 2004 on he coral, one of my best cruises, let me know what itineary you have.

 

You dont want to sleep through it!! It was worth getting up for, i dont remeber even going back through it:eek:

I dont know if you know that you just cant get off you have to take a tour to get off the ship, if you dont take a tour then you can just go right outside where there is a warehouse and some local merchants(beware some wer naked) they were all locals. I dont know if things have changed any.

 

We also took the train ride and it was a complete waste of money. I think we spent 150.00 pp on that tour and it was ridiculous, but that was our opinion.

Hope this helps

 

10 day r/t from ft. lauderdale. first trip other than USN way back. Soooo much stuff to plan, want to do sting ray city and costa rica tram trip. other stops undecided.

[bjboothman]

outside where there is a warehouse and some local merchants(beware some wer naked) they were all locals. I dont know if things have changed any.

 

 

I believe the word you were looking for was topless, not naked, yes? And the men wear some type of thong/sarong - but nobody was naked. Just didn't want to start a rumor :D .

[2Ports]

Can't believe Derf hasn't chimed im yet! :D

[Hello-Kitty]

I believe the word you were looking for was topless, not naked, yes? And the men wear some type of thong/sarong - but nobody was naked. Just didn't want to start a rumor :D .

 

Oh shame on me! I forgot some people would whip me for posting such a rumor, thanks for correcting me, they were topless!!! ooops that is what i meant.

[Another Cruise]

We did the full transit on the Coral last year. It was fantastic. You will love the Coral. I have to agree with the others. Do not sleep through the entry. This might be a once in a life time experience. You can sleep the next day. Also it can be VERY hot later in the day and it also could be raining. If you do get up early, go to the front of the ship, I think on Caribe deck. There will be a door at the very front of the ship that might be marked "crew". It will be unlocked when you go through the canal. There is a balcony across the front of the ship and the canal guide will be right above you with the captain, narrating your trip through the canal. This is a "secret" you only find out about on Cruise Critic. They won't announce it on board. Another place you will want to go is to the back of the ship. Emerald deck is a great place because it will be lower and closer to the gates. You will want to be back there when they are closing a gate after the ship is completely through it. There is a very large deck on the back of Emerald that has a small covered area. (It won't look like it on the deck plan, but this is the deck we were on and we watched sunsets and the lock gates from there for a different view than we got from our balcony) Speaking of balconies--if you have one you will want to consider the Ultimate Balcony Breakfast that will be offered the day you go through the canal. Cristobal was just an excuse to get off the ship. It is not a highlight of the trip!! I thought this cruise would be boring, but it turned out to be my favorite so far. You don't want to miss anything.

[WeBeGone]

We're doing the Ft. Lauderdale round trip to panama canal. I understand the ship arrives at the canal about 6 am. Goes through to the lake, stops, turns around and starts back about 1 pm. My plan is to not take a shore trip, sleep through the entry , get up and catch all the action going back through the locks. maybe go ashore at Cristobal. any comments??:o

 

We've done this cruise twice and I don't understand why anyone would pay this kind of money to sleep through any part of the trip !! And you're really missing great shore excursions - Cristobal is a waste of time. It is incredibly filthy, noisy, with little or nothing to see besides children with their hands out begging. The few nice vendors are inside the port area and there is ample time to shop after returning from a shore excursion. My comment is to rethink your plan.

[Hello-Kitty]

We've done this cruise twice and I don't understand why anyone would pay this kind of money to sleep through any part of the trip !! And you're really missing great shore excursions - Cristobal is a waste of time. It is incredibly filthy, noisy, with little or nothing to see besides children with their hands out begging. The few nice vendors are inside the port area and there is ample time to shop after returning from a shore excursion. My comment is to rethink your plan.

 

my thoughts exactly i just didnt know how to say this in a nice way, my next panama canal trip i would not even get off the ship, maybe just to see the vendors.

[honeyclair]

darienill, we're on the same cruise. Come on over to the Canal roll call board.

[Cruiseteach]

We did this cruise last March. Unless you are a very heavy sleeper or wear earplugs, I doubt you will be able to sleep through it. Gets rather noisy :) Can't imagine why you would want to, anyway. One piece of advice; skip the $25 "special" cahmpagne breakfast. it is so-oo much food. You can get regular room service or just skip up to HC and bring back whatever you want.

[TorontoTL]

I'll add a couple of comments. We did the same Panama Canal itinerary and loved it. When the went through I was glad that I got up early to view the canals going in. There were a couple of reasons for this. The temperature was more comfortable than it would have been later in the day. Also, we had a torrential downpour of huge magnitude during out transit out of the canal. Had we not viewed the canals on the way in, we would have missed the canals on the way out.

[darienill]

You've all convinced me to get up at the crack o' dawn. Who am I kidding, I don't sleep in anyway.

[WeBeGone]

You'll actually need to get up before dawn cracks! We were out on deck to watch the pilot boat drop off the person who actually takes the ship through the canal. He jumps from one moving boat into the side od the ship. Skip the breakfast in your cabin-grab a quick bite in the buffet and move all around the ship to get different views of the process. And I really recommend the shore excursion that takes you by boat to visit the native tribe, Embara. This is probably the most unique trip offered. We also did the train to Panama City on our 2nd trip and it was ok but we loved visiting the tribe. Glad we were able o convince you. Have fun.

[Cruiseteach]

You've all convinced me to get up at the crack o' dawn. Who am I kidding, I don't sleep in anyway.

I don't think it will be a problem, esp if you leave your balcony door open at night, as most folks do. I had set the alarm for 6 a.m., but was awoken by the nosie from shore at about 5:15 or so. Watching dawn break over that canal is an experience not to be missed.

[cruzzers]

I am glad to see you all posting good ideas about what to do while going through the canal. I would like to hear more pros and cons about getting off in Cristobol. If we get off for an excursion, do we miss part or all of the canal? I am so confussed about this......!!!. Another question, we have a mid-ship balcony on a bump-out section of the Baha deck. Do you think we will be able to see everything from there or should we move about the ship during the transit?

WEBEGONE...The tour you mentioned sounds intriging. Was this a ship tour or one you did on your own?

[wrp96]

cruzzers, if you do an excursion through the ship, you get off once you are in Gatun Lake so you will have seen the transit throught the locks.

 

Cristobal is really nothing to get off the ship for. There is a little shopping at the pier, but it isn't safe to leave the pier area unless you are on an excursion.

 

When I did a partial transit, I did an excursion on a ferry that took us the rest of the length of the Panama Canal which was amazing and very worth it - if your reason for going to Panama is to see the workings of the Panama Canal.

[Kirsten T]

I think that excursion is now called "Panama Canal by Boat" - used to be "Ocean to Ocean". Expensive, but if you really want to see the canal up close and personal, it's worth it. I've done it twice. This time we're just staying on board, to enjoy the Gatun locks twice. The Patter newsletter will have the approximate transit time the night before you arrive in Panama. Get up an hour or more earlier if you want to see the entire approach from Cristobal to the Gatun locks. Seeing all the other ships waiting their turn in the harbor while it's still dark is amazing - so many ships covered with lights! And gliding almost silently up the canal towards the locks, which are lit up like a shopping mall in the middle of the jungle, is also impressive, especially when there's a ship or two behind you. A trip down to the Emerald stern deck is worth it; you get a better idea of just how massive the gates are, and how fast the water rises and falls. We've had E710 twice - a cat BE veranda on Emerald - and the view was great. We were eye-to-eye with the mule (engine) drivers towing us through the locks - very friendly guys! They didn't even laugh at my very poor Spanish. ;>

Cheers,

Kirsten

[WeBeGone]

I am glad to see you all posting good ideas about what to do while going through the canal. I would like to hear more pros and cons about getting off in Cristobol. If we get off for an excursion, do we miss part or all of the canal? I am so confussed about this......!!!. Another question, we have a mid-ship balcony on a bump-out section of the Baha deck. Do you think we will be able to see everything from there or should we move about the ship during the transit?

WEBEGONE...The tour you mentioned sounds intriging. Was this a ship tour or one you did on your own?

 

1. - You should move about the ship. It's just not possible to see everything if you stay on your balcony.

2. - You don't miss anything by getting off and taking a shore excursion except seeing the same thing you already saw coming into the Lake.

3. - All shore excursions from Gatun Lake are Princess excursions. Due to the politics and security at the canal, no independent excursions are allowed. Only a few people are allowed to visit the Embara tribe each day. They are really primitive (clothing sparce) and incredible weavers. You can purchase items from the tibal encampment or at the pier. To them, one day equals one dollar so if it took 30 days to weave the basket you want to buy, the cost is $30., No bargaining-it is not in their realm of understanding.

4. - Cristobal is the ONLY city I recommend NOT visiting. It truly is not a "tourist" city. If you decide to venture beyond the pier gates, leave purses, jewerly, and cameras on the ship. Go with a group and put wallets in your front pockets. Stay on the main roads. In my experience, it is more dangerous than any city in Jamaica.

[derf5585]

Can't believe Derf hasn't chimed im yet! :D

 

Here I am

Ah Panama. Brings back memories. Back to my Navy days.

As you probabbly DONT know prostitution is legal there. Well as our group went in liberty call, I was the designated money holder since I did not partake.

10,000

[cruzzers]

Thanks so much for all the great advice. We are really excited to go on this cruise and will feel much better prepared after hearing all your experiences now.

[2Ports]

as we pass you, darienill - we're getting on her as you get off! Take good care of our Coral - been waiting for this trip almost 2 years!

[JolleyRoger]

1) The ship goes through the locks.

 

2) The ship, without docking anywhere, unloads the people taking excursions onto tenders.

 

3) The ship turns around and goes back out the locks.

 

4) The ship docks at Colon/Cristobal for about four hours to let shipboard people shop and to pick up those who took excursions inside.

 

Did I get that correct?