Jewel Of The Seas & Panama Canal

[Lvs2Cruise2]

Hi Everyone.. I hope someone can help me. I have been looking at an April 2010 Jewel Of The Seas cruise. It says it is the Ultimate Carribbean and Panama Cruise. I see that this cruise no longer does a "partial panama canal".. Does anyone know why?? I have also (don't flame me).. but uh hem.. looked at other cruise lines.. and they do not do partial panama cruises either. Most of them now do 14 day full canal. I am unable to cruise until April 2010 and can't do longer than a 10 day cruise.. Any help or input would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

[bikn4fn]

This is one of those mysteries of life. Some reports say the cruise is a partial, others say it is not. We are booked on the March 2010 cruise. We've heard both sides of the story as well. I guess the only way we'll know for sure is to wait and see.

 

I know that's not the answer you're looking for, but I thought I'd let you know you're not alone in what you've heard and what you're feeling.

[Jiffymom]

go for it. Wonderful ship and itinerary I strongly recommend a

balcony for this one.

[Sue L]

They are no longer doing the partial transit into the canal, most likely because it is like $250,000 each time they do.

 

Princess still has some on the Coral Princess that I believe does the partial transit as it says Panama Canal, Panama on the itinerary.

 

It really is a great cruise.

[Bette And Bill]

I think it is the expense of going through the locks at the canal. When we did the full transit in 2006 it cost RCL $250,000 for the transit. Even doing a partial transit you are still going through the same set of locks twice and the cost is probably somewhat prohibitive right now. In addition they are working on another set of locks so larger ships can transit the canal.

 

We are doing the Ultimate Caribbean cruise in November and there is a ferry that will take you through a couple of the locks, if that is what you are looking to do. Also, the price of this cruise has come down over $1000 since they are no longer going into the canal.

[linkerbink]

We were on the Jewel in April for a partial transit, and we were told that would be the last partial for RCCL for the foreseeable future due to the cost the enter the canal. We were told it costs about $200,000 for the ship to go into the canal...I guess only the full transit cruises generate enough money to make this cost effective.

 

There had been several cruises set for this fall which were to go into the canal and they were changed. If the itinerary does not specify "cruising canal" or some other such language, it does not go into the canal at all. That's too bad, because it was a great experience.

[love2vacation]

Hi Everyone.. I hope someone can help me. I have been looking at an April 2010 Jewel Of The Seas cruise. It says it is the Ultimate Carribbean and Panama Cruise. I see that this cruise no longer does a "partial panama canal".. Does anyone know why?? I have also (don't flame me).. but uh hem.. looked at other cruise lines.. and they do not do partial panama cruises either. Most of them now do 14 day full canal. I am unable to cruise until April 2010 and can't do longer than a 10 day cruise.. Any help or input would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

 

Susan (linkerbink) is correct about the "cruising canal" notation on the ITN description. As stated if you can only do 10 days there are other cruise lines that offer a 10 day partial.

 

We were on the last 10 day particial on the Jewel and it was wonderful going through the lock in the huge ship. I also took the ferry excursion and transitted the other locks to the Pacific and Panama City. I am so glad I took that excursion and it was worth the $. You get a much different feel going from large ship to ferry boat going through the locks. I was also able to see the contruction going on at different points on the canal to widen it for larger ships and also it will give ships the ability to pass each other in the canal.

 

There is a link to pictures and some video in my signature.

 

Good luck on your decision.:)

[cb at sea]

It's sooooo expensive to go thru any of the locks...and the cruiselines are trying to keep the prices down....and, but NOT going thru the locks, they are pretty much assured of getting "excursion dollars" from passengers who want to experience the canal....it's a "win-win" situation for them.

[Lvs2Cruise2]

Thanks for all of your input! I didn't realize it was so expensive for these ships to travel through the canal! I peeked at excursions on RCCL's site for Panama , and they do have a ferry that goes through the locks. I just can't see traveling all that way and NOT going through it! Thankyou for all of your help.. that's why I LOVE this website!

[kyriecat]

Have you checked Holland America Zuiderdam? It does a 10-night cruise out of Fort Lauderdale with a partial canal transit. Itinerary is Half Moon Cay, Bahamas; Oranjestad, Aruba; Willemstad (Curacao), Antilles; Enter Panama Canal Cristobal; Gatun Lake, Panama; Exit Panama Canal Cristobal; Cristobal, Panama; Puerto Limon, Costa Rica; Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The only April 2010 date is the 10th. It also has a sailing on March 31st.

 

 

Have you considered Princess? Island Princess has a 10-night from Fort Lauderdale with a partial canal transit. Itinerary is Oranjestad, Aruba; Cartegena, Columbia; Enter Panama Canal Cristobal; Gatun Lake, Panama; Exit Panama Canal Cristobal; Cristobal, Panama; Puerto Limon, Costa Rica; Ocho Rios, Jamaico. There are 2 sail date for April 2010: 9th and 19th.

[CalGal777]

Hi Everyone.. I hope someone can help me. I have been looking at an April 2010 Jewel Of The Seas cruise. It says it is the Ultimate Carribbean and Panama Cruise. I see that this cruise no longer does a "partial panama canal".. Does anyone know why?? I have also (don't flame me).. but uh hem.. looked at other cruise lines.. and they do not do partial panama cruises either. Most of them now do 14 day full canal. I am unable to cruise until April 2010 and can't do longer than a 10 day cruise.. Any help or input would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

Princess Cruises (Island Princess has a 10 day partial transit of the canal in April 2010 its out of FLL. Don't any one flame me, just trying to be helpful, would have been more than happy to have taken a RCI ship if they hadn't stopped doing those cruises.

[BonnieLark]

Susan (linkerbink) is correct about the "cruising canal" notation on the ITN description. As stated if you can only do 10 days there are other cruise lines that offer a 10 day partial.

 

We were on the last 10 day particial on the Jewel and it was wonderful going through the lock in the huge ship. I also took the ferry excursion and transitted the other locks to the Pacific and Panama City. I am so glad I took that excursion and it was worth the $. You get a much different feel going from large ship to ferry boat going through the locks. I was also able to see the contruction going on at different points on the canal to widen it for larger ships and also it will give ships the ability to pass each other in the canal.

 

There is a link to pictures and some video in my signature.

 

Good luck on your decision.:)

 

Thanks for the pictures. We are going on this cruise in February 2010. I especially love your excursion pictures. What excursion did you take in Costa Rica? Looks like you had a real adventure.

[love2vacation]

Thanks for the pictures. We are going on this cruise in February 2010. I especially love your excursion pictures. What excursion did you take in Costa Rica? Looks like you had a real adventure.

 

A group or 24 of us from the CC meet & mingle thread took Oscar Brown tour 1 and then 12 of us did the zipline. It was the highlight of our trip (other than the canal)! I highly recommend Oscar. We had a great lunch at a beach restaurant that was fabulous.

[linkerbink]

Susan (linkerbink) is correct about the "cruising canal" notation on the ITN description. As stated if you can only do 10 days there are other cruise lines that offer a 10 day partial.

 

We were on the last 10 day particial on the Jewel and it was wonderful going through the lock in the huge ship. I also took the ferry excursion and transitted the other locks to the Pacific and Panama City. I am so glad I took that excursion and it was worth the $. You get a much different feel going from large ship to ferry boat going through the locks. I was also able to see the contruction going on at different points on the canal to widen it for larger ships and also it will give ships the ability to pass each other in the canal.

 

There is a link to pictures and some video in my signature.

 

Good luck on your decision.:)

 

Hi, Judi! How are you and Doug doing? I see you have another cruise coming up shortly...we don't go again until April. A long wait!!!

 

Susan

[love2vacation]

Hi, Judi! How are you and Doug doing? I see you have another cruise coming up shortly...we don't go again until April. A long wait!!!

 

Susan

 

HI Susan!

We are good. BTW- I use that bag all the time! Thanks so much for your thoughtfulness.

 

It will be hard to beat the Jewel cruise! I see you are going to Bermuda- for future reference let us know how you like that ITN. E-mail me! I don't want to "hijack" the thread!;)

[LisaH]

This is one of those mysteries of life. Some reports say the cruise is a partial, others say it is not. We are booked on the March 2010 cruise. We've heard both sides of the story as well. I guess the only way we'll know for sure is to wait and see.

 

I know that's not the answer you're looking for, but I thought I'd let you know you're not alone in what you've heard and what you're feeling.

 

Hey, bikn4fun - are you on the March 26 Jewel cruise? We have a roll call going if so.

 

This cruise was originally a Panama Canal but no longer...fine with us. Our original date was March 2 (approx) - they cancelled that and gave us $200 OBC to switch dates. So we picked this one.

[MICK48DC]

we are booked on the April 5 cruise, I an told it does NOT do a transit thru the canal so i guess we will book a ferry trip thru , ports look interesting to this Brit

[tbmrt]

I've seen locks in Europe and honestly was bored. I'd like your input on the other ports on this trip.

 

Also, do you think the week of March 5th is a good time for this cruise?

[NorbertsNiece]

we are booked on the April 5 cruise, I an told it does NOT do a transit thru the canal so i guess we will book a ferry trip thru , ports look interesting to this Brit

 

We had an awesome cruise on the Jewel earlier this year (link to blog below). Despite what tbmrt says these locks are like no other I have ever experienced in Europe. How can they be? The rain forest back drop, the wildlife and the history exceeded all our expectations. You will have a fabulous time.

[AMR40509]

Like others, I'd suggest just doing an excursion though the locks on a smaller boat while you are there on the cruise. We did a partial on Brilliance a couple of years ago, and are doing the 'new' modified trip w/o actually going into the canal on Jewel this winter.

 

On Brilliance we had the "cruising the canal" item on the itinerary, which consisted of going though a few locks - then we transferred to a smaller boat and went all the way though to the Pacific and then took a bus back. The only real difference in going through a lock on the big ship, vs. the smaller boat, was seeing that with the big ship there are only inches of clearance on the sides of the lock. Other than that, the experience is the same, and you get to do it MANY times on the complete, smaller boat, transit.

[patseacruiser]

I am booked on the Jewel in 2011. When I originally booked this 10 cruise in June of this year I was told it goes to the first lock. Then a little later I was informed that someone read it here that it does not go anymore. I am not happy but I will do a private tour through the lock anyway.

[camofwilliamsburg]

Doing JOS on Dec 11 and taking a tour with Charlie De Soto( any info on him would be great) and doing what OP did in Costa Rica. Doing the Jungle Breezes, banana plantation, river cruise, animal reserve, bonita beach and lunch, with free beer , water and soda throughout. We had the choice of lunch in the rainforest or beach. He said the rainforest was a great choice so we listened to him. ANy info.... ? Glad this was a good highlight of the cruise for you. It surely sounded to cover enough.

[NorbertsNiece]

Doing JOS on Dec 11 and taking a tour with Charlie De Soto( any info on him would be great) and doing what OP did in Costa Rica. Doing the Jungle Breezes, banana plantation, river cruise, animal reserve, bonita beach and lunch, with free beer , water and soda throughout. We had the choice of lunch in the rainforest or beach. He said the rainforest was a great choice so we listened to him. ANy info.... ? Glad this was a good highlight of the cruise for you. It surely sounded to cover enough.

 

Charlie is wonderful. Good pre excursion correspondance via email. He has a few vehicles so we didn't have him as a guide on our particular excursion but the driver and guide we had were excellent. Charlie is a great fan of English soccer! Blog in link below.