Princess/Panama

[Colo Cruiser]

News Article

 

5/6/2008

 

 

Princess Expands Canal Experience in 2009-10 with Extra Day in Panama

New Two-Day Visit Offers Opportunity to Enjoy Both Full Canal Transit and Time to Explore Region

Canal Leader Now Offers Three Ways to See Modern Marvel of Engineering

 

SANTA CLARITA, Calif. (May 6, 2008) - Panama Canal passengers marvel at this dramatic transit through the Canal's locks, but often wish they could also explore the country's natural beauty and culture. To give travelers more time in Panama, Princess Cruises is introducing a new "Two-day Canal Experience" on all 2009-10 Canal transits of 15 days or longer, featuring a second day in port so passengers can enjoy both the engineering wonder of the Canal and further discover the country.

This new double dose of Panama will be offered on 23 sailings on four ships. In addition, Princess will also offer two other favorite itineraries, with a shorter 10-day full-transit option and the convenient 10-day roundtrip voyage from Ft. Lauderdale featuring a partial transit to Gatun Lake - giving passengers three distinct options for visiting the Panama Canal. In total, the season will feature 44 Canal sailings, with calls at 20 ports in 10 countries.

The Two-day Canal Experience will feature the full Canal transit plus a day with the ship at anchor at Fuerte Amador, on the Canal's Pacific side. Passengers can take advantage of this day to enjoy a variety of shore excursion options including the Panama Canal Railway, Panama City, Soberania National Park Rainforest or a visit to an authentic Embera Indian Village. The intimate Royal Princess' 20-day sailing will also introduce a new port for Princess, Puerto Chiapas in Mexico, the gateway to the rich culture of the Mayan region featuring opportunities to explore coffee plantations and architectural landmarks.

"Panama is such a rich country with so much to see, and many passengers don't get the opportunity to experience it because they naturally want to savor the marvel of engineering that is the Panama Canal," said Jan Swartz, Princess senior vice president. "So we're now offering the opportunity to do both - spend one day on the ship as it is lifted and lowered through all three sets of locks, plus have a day in port to venture further into Panama."

Panama Canal Two-Day Experience - Coral Princess and Island Princess will feature 15 sailings on this 15-day Los Angeles/Ft. Lauderdale route, with the two-day Canal experience plus calls at Cabo San Lucas, Acapulco, Huatulco, Costa Rica (Puntarenas), Cartagena, and Aruba. In addition, Island Princess and Sea Princess will offer three similar sailings between San Francisco and Ft. Lauderdale. Royal Princess will offer one 20-day itinerary from Ft. Lauderdale to Seattle, offering the two-day Canal experience, plus calls at Aruba, Costa Rica (Puntarenas), new port Puerto Chiapas, Huatulco, Acapulco, Cabo San Lucas, and San Francisco. Coral Princess and Island Princess also offer longer 17-, 18- and 19-day options, sailing to and from Vancouver. Coral Princess sailings depart between September 21, 2009 and April 21, 2010. Island Princess sailings depart on September 14, 2009 and April 29, 2010; and Sea Princess sailings depart September 25, 2009 and May 7, 2010. Royal Princess sails on April 30, 2010.

Full Transit Sailings - The 10-day Panama Canal Adventurer route between Ft. Lauderdale and Acapulco offers a full Canal transit plus a focus on Central America with visits to Costa Rica (Puntarenas), Nicaragua (San Juan del Sur) and Guatemala (Puerto Quetzal), as well as Ocho Rios and Huatulco. Island Princess offers eight sailings on this route, with departures between December 10, 2009 and March 20, 2010.

Roundtrip Panama Canal - Island Princess will sail on this classic 10-day itinerary from Ft. Lauderdale, which offers a partial Panama Canal transit to Gatun Lake followed by a call in Cristobal, plus calls in the Caribbean ports of Aruba, Cartagena, Limon (Costa Rica), and Ocho Rios. The ship offers 13 departures between October 1, 2009 and April 19, 2010. Panama Canal cruises are available for booking on May 22, 2008. Escape Fares for 10-day sailings start at $1,199 per person, based on double occupancy. Past Princess passengers are eligible for up to $50 in Captain's Circle Launch Savings on bookings made by December 31, 2008.

[mytime53]

Well, I'm glad we took the 15 day Island sailing this year. I would be disappointed to go to Cabo again, and don't need a cruise for Acapulco. Plus we had a blast in Jamaica, truly enjoyed Guatemala, and were happy to go to Nicaragua. An extra day in Panama would have been nice so that we could have gotten off the ship, however.

[Colo Cruiser]

I would like that extra day in Panama too. :)

[ilovhywd]

We took a Panama Canal cruise that ended in Costa Rica. We flew home the same day. What we saw of Costa Rica on the ride from the port to the airport impressed us so much that we were wondering why we didn't plan a post-cruise stay in Costa Rica. (Not in San Jose, that's nothing special. The beautiful, varied terrain of the interior and the two coasts is the attraction).

 

So three years later, we took a LAND tour of Costa Rica, and it was one of our best trips ever. We actually slept in the jungle and the cloud forest, and we saw exotic birds and monkeys everywhere!

 

What I'm trying to say here is don't under-estimate Costa Rica. It is one of the best ports on the Panama Canal itineraries!

[mytime53]

I went to Costa Rica a few years ago for 2 weeks with a friend and had such a great time that I returned just a few months later (talked my hubby into going that time). Now we have friends going next year, and I sure wish we could go with them. There's nothing we did there that we wouldn't do again.

[LAC2]

We doing the full transit LA to FLL this Nov. What excursions did you like best? Would appreciate any info. Thanks.

[mytime53]

Since we only have experience with one in each port, I can't say which ones are best, but here's what we did (if I spell any ports wrong, sorry...I don't have time to look them up right now):

 

Huatulco--we just caught a water taxi right where we docked. He took us on a short (20 minutes or so) tour of the bay, then to Entrega Beach to go snorkeling. That was at the recommendation of friends who have spent a lot of time there, and we loved it.

 

Guatemala--someone on the cruise (found them on the roll call) arranged for several of us to take an independent tour to Antigua. It was very enjoyable, although I would have preferred less time at the craft market. The crafts were beautiful, but we had 3 weeks of travel after the cruise, and no space for souvenirs.

 

Nicaragua--we just went to the craft market right at the pier. And at those prices, we ended up buying souvenirs and mailing stuff home from FLL. The pottery is amazing if you look at it closely. People were friendly, and there was folk dancing in the square to entertain us.

 

Costa Rica--Took a tour through Greenway tours: Carara Park/Crocodile Man tour. Had a great time with 5 other CCers on this tour. Basically the same as a Princess tour, but with fewer people and more stuff tossed in.

 

Cartegena--another independent tour with another couple. Awesome tour of old town, just wish we had had more time in port.

 

Aruba--this is where I wanted a ship tour, but didn't realize it until too late. We were #9 and 10 on the waitlist, and I don't think anyone on the wait list made it. It was a sailboat to 3 snorkeling areas (I don't remember the name of the tour). We ended up grabbing an independent tour (we actually tried for a rental car, but none were available until 3 in the afternoon) with a few other people. After about an hour, we left the tour at a bay where the guide said would be our best bet for snorkeling. Was he ever right! Anchored right off shore (as in close enough for even me to swim to if I wanted) were all the boats with the snorkelers on the cruise ship tours, including the sailboat. Then we caught the local bus back to the ship.

 

Jamaica--We figured that since we hadn't set anything up ahead of time, that in Jamaica we should take a ship tour, but most of the tours seemed to include Dunn's Falls, which we weren't interested in. So we took the snorkeling tour that didn't include the Falls. It was way better than it sounded from the description, and guess what...we still got to see the Falls (does NO tour skip the Falls?), although from the snorkeling boat.

 

And I think that was every port. For us, it was the right combination of history, culture, and activity.

[Sea and Me]

Does anyone know when the pricing and schedules come out??

[Commodore Suzy]

Opens 5/22.

 

The coastal cruises for late 2009 and early 2010 are also in this news article and open the same day.

[jfv379]

The article does say 22 May for booking. Some one should tell Princess about the news release. The web site for the Coral and the Island in April 2010 show them both doing 14 day FLL/LAX on 21 April and 29 April, 2010. But they are under the heading of Ft. Lauderdale to San Francisco. Does the right hand not know what the left hand is doing?:D