Panama Canal???

[upgrademe]

Thanks in advance for the numerous and well founded replies I know I'll receive. This board is an excellent source of information from very knowledgeable people.

Is there a better time of year (Fall vs. Spring) and direction to transit (traveling easterly or westerly) the canal? Does anyone have any preferred lines that they think do a better job for this routing?

 

Many thanks!

[paul929207]

We did a full transit on the Regal Princess over Thanksgiving, 2006. We went from the Atlantic side to the Pacific. It was wonderful. Haven't done it anyother time, so no basis for comparison.

[Essiesmom]

There are cruise lines that do regular transits during the winter...HAL and Princess come to mind...These are usually 14 day cruises. Some lines may do a partial transit on a 10 day cruise, usually on the Caribbean side. Other lines will do full transits in early spring or late fall as they reposition ships from alaska to Europe, and vice versa. I did the full transit, San Diego to Fort Lauderdale, on Oosterdam. They do a wonderful job, wit expert lecturers on board to narrate the transit. They also put off a team of photographers who photograph the ship from the locks, the shore, and follow the ship on land, rejoining at the last lock. EM

[Born Cruiser 2]

Go to the Celebrity Cruise line web site and "click" onto the "specials"

and scroll down to the "Panama Canal" listing.

 

You will find some absolutely INCREDIBLE RATES on several different ships (Constellation & Infinity, in particular),

 

And, some of the dates have age 55 discounts if this could apply to

you. I know this because I booked a back-to-back canal trip from

Ft Lauderdale to San Diego with return to Ft. Lauderdale.

 

Celebrity is an EXCELLENT cruise line.

 

Bon Voyage to all!

[BillB48]

This not meant to be all inclusive as you might find a Canal transit on some line any time of the year. In the spring most of the Canal transits will be Atlantic to Pacific, usually starting around April. In the fall sometimes starting as early as late September you find the bulk of the full transits going from Pacific to Atlantic.

 

As far as which cruise line does a better job, I think that would depend on which line you prefer in combination with the particular itinerary. Your flight connections at the begining and end of the cruise are something to think about as well. Weather wise in the Canal and vicinity there is not really a better time. The chances of rain are higher in the fall and deminish as you move towards December but I would not let this be a major consideration. For most folks living outside the tropics it will be sufficiently hot and muggy whatever time frame you choose:D.

 

Starting around November and running into April is when you will find the most partial transits. As mentioned earlier usually on the Caribbean side, running round trip to Florida. During the winter months Princess offers a 10 day (I think) full Canal transit from Acapulco to Ft. Lauderdale, I believe. This is probably the shortest full transit available which is about the same length as the partial transits that round trip out of Florida.

 

Between HAL, Princess, RCI and Celebrity plus any I failed to mention, you have a lot of choices.

 

Partial or full transit, they are one of my favorite cruises!

[kitty9]

We've done Panama Canal cruises in November, January, March and April and there were no differences whatsoever. It was hot and humid regardless of when we cruised. As for cruise line, we like Celebrity or Crystal

[cruznjan]

We did a full transit on the Celebrity Summit from San Diego to Fort Lauderdale. My preference is west to east because, for me, the canal is the highlight of the cruise. To go there first would cause the rest of the cruise to lack the level of anticipation in waiting for the canal. This time we're going on Royal Caribbean's Serenade of the Seas from San Diego to San Juan.