Is a balcony a must on a Panama Canal cruise?

Looking at a last minute cruise in April for the partial transit on the Coral but it's for an inside cabin and a few people from hubbies work who have done it said a balcony is a must to get the best experience . What are your thoughts? It would cost almost $4000 for a balcony versus just under $2000 for an inside on carribe deck which we really like. Hubbies getting ready to retire in March and we want to be able to keep cruising twice a year but if we got the balcony this would be our only one this year, lol.

Thanks I advance

Looking at a last minute cruise in April for the partial transit on the Coral but it's for an inside cabin and a few people from hubbies work who have done it said a balcony is a must to get the best experience . What are your thoughts? It would cost almost $4000 for a balcony versus just under $2000 for an inside on carribe deck which we really like. Hubbies getting ready to retire in March and we want to be able to keep cruising twice a year but if we got the balcony this would be our only one this year, lol.

Thanks I advance

There are many decks on the Coral for viewing. If you get an inside thats fine. Just move all around the ship and get different vantage points!

We had one for our partial transit - and it was neat to be able to sit on the balcony and see just how close you are to the canal! But there we also did spend time at the front to get a better "total" view of the experience. So the balcony a nice to have but I wouldn't say a deal breaker.

Looking at a last minute cruise in April for the partial transit on the Coral but it's for an inside cabin and a few people from hubbies work who have done it said a balcony is a must to get the best experience . What are your thoughts? It would cost almost $4000 for a balcony versus just under $2000 for an inside on carribe deck which we really like. Hubbies getting ready to retire in March and we want to be able to keep cruising twice a year but if we got the balcony this would be our only one this year, lol.

Thanks I advance

For a $2000 saving, I would stay on deck for the transit. Once you have experienced one lock, the rest is history in my opinion.

You have the advantage of moving about for the best vantage point....mind that you'll have a lot of other passengers doing the same.

You can see that Princess capitalizes on the fact that most passengers choose balconies ;)

Enjoy your cruise :)

We did the Panama Canal with an inside cabin, and loved it. It's much better to wander the ship and get different perspectives going through the Canal anyway. Go all the way forward on Baja Deck and you'll have a great view of the locks opening. And be sure and go outside on Promenade Deck when the ship is being lowered. You can almost touch the walls. With a balcony you're limited to a very narrow perspective.

Is it a MUST? No. Does it enhance the experience? Yeah, a little, as it gives you a nice option to get away from the crowds, etc...

Honestly, the main reason we prefer a balcony is the ability to air out the cabin.

For the current price differential, I'd say an inside is fine, or perhaps look at an oceanview.

A balcony is not necessary. You will want to be out on deck and take advantage of different perspectives of going through the locks. Go out front on Caribe deck to the "secret" viewing area. Get there early (maybe 5:15am) to get the full experience of entering the 1st lock. As you enter the 2nd lock, go to the promenade deck to get ground level feel. For the 3rd lock, go to Lido deck at the rear to get the perspective of leaving the locks and see how high you have risen. A balcony is nice if you do a full transit, then you sit on the balcony while the ship sails through the Cut.

I highly recommend a book to read before you go "The Path Between the Seas."

We initially booked an inside for a 17 day PC cruise on Coral. Shortly before the cruise date a few other cabins opened up and our TA sent email immediately. We ended up moving to B731. It's an aft-facing OV. We loved it. There is a viewing deck just outside the window so, at night, we kept the blackout curtains closed. During the day I found it impossible to see into our cabin from that deck as long as the sheer curtains were pulled so we had plenty of light and still had privacy.

We could step out our door and walk maybe 10 - 15 steps to the outside door and onto the rear viewing deck. It was almost like having a really huge balcony. There were maybe 8 - 10 loungers there and the deck was generally either deserted or only had a few people using it.

During the actual transit it got much more use but most people used the forward viewing decks.

If we had stayed with the inside cabin we originally booked it really wouldn't have had much impact on our viewing during the actual transit. We spent much of the time on deck. (It was too hot and muggy to stay out there for the full transit.) A balcony would definitely be "nice" but by no means a "must have".

Our third cruise to the Panama Canal is coming up in a few weeks with inside rooms every time. Just get up early, find a good spot, a lounge chair and sit there for a few hours, then move around. IMO no value in a balcony.

Sent from my LG-H631 using Tapatalk

We were recently on the Pacific Princess B2B (34 days). We had an aft balcony on leg 1 and an inside for leg 2.

The only benefit of the balcony was that on that ship we were up close and personal with the lock gates. We felt like we were IN the lock.

That being said...one both legs we spent more of out time forward in the indoor viewing area. It was HOT!!

IMHO air conditioning is more of a must than a balcony.

We did the Panama Canal with an inside cabin, and loved it. It's much better to wander the ship and get different perspectives going through the Canal anyway. Go all the way forward on Baja Deck and you'll have a great view of the locks opening. And be sure and go outside on Promenade Deck when the ship is being lowered. You can almost touch the walls. With a balcony you're limited to a very narrow perspective.

 

 

 

 

BEAUTIFUL pictures, thank you for sharing

Wow! Thank you all soooooo much, I feel hopefull now I'm crying. We could of just held off and saved or booked for 2017 and paid towards it monthly but hubbie battled cancer last year so we're not out of the woods just yet and this is something we both want . We always cruise for our anniversary in May and do a balcony so this will be our cruise for that (minus the balcony )

Can't wait to show him all the pics and great advice.

Thanks again!!!!

The necessity of a balcony for any cruise entirely depends on the individual. DW declared a couple of days ago that she considers a balcony an essential for all cruises from now on.

I agree about moving around on the ship during the lock transits. This is one of the big benefits of the Princess ships - ease of access to multiple views.

Having gone through the Soo Locks many times, I do not expect the effect of being in the locks to have much affect on me. I do believe that everyone needs to pass through a large lock at least once in their life, so enjoy.

Doc:D

On the coral I sat in lobby bar by window and saw the sides of the lock.

On the coral I sat in lobby bar by window and saw the sides of the lock. [ATTACH]375468[/ATTACH]

Looks cold out there.

We had an inside cabin for our Panama Canal cruise. I agree with the others who said get on deck early. I think the 360-degree view from the main decks beat anything we could have seen from our balcony.

I had an inside and I was up early and all over that ship during our transit of the canal. There was so much to see from every side, every level. /the people who I spoke to afterwards who just watched it from their balconies actually made me kind of sad, sure they went through the canal but they hardly saw any of it.

Hello...A small group of us will be doing the partial transit of Panama Canal next Feb 2017. Can anyone tell me if it is worth doing any of the excursions instead of staying onboard through the canal? Do I understand correctly that the ONLY way to do an excursion at Panama Canal/Gatun Lake is through Princess excursions...no private ones allowed?

Thanks for the help!!

We did this cruise last year! Would not go without a balcony!

Wow! Thank you all soooooo much, I feel hopefull now I'm crying. We could of just held off and saved or booked for 2017 and paid towards it monthly but hubbie battled cancer last year so we're not out of the woods just yet and this is something we both want . We always cruise for our anniversary in May and do a balcony so this will be our cruise for that (minus the balcony )

Can't wait to show him all the pics and great advice.

Thanks again!!!!

Enjoy your cruising while you can. Take the others advice and move around the ship and keep your inside cabin. Take your savings and book your next cruise.

The only time we get a balcony is if it's a bargain. Otherwise, we'll take an obstructed view or even an inside. On our Panama Canal cruise, we had an ocean view (free upgrade from our guarantee obstructed view). We spent most of the time during the transit of the locks on the Promenade Deck in the morning. We moved to the upper decks as we were exiting Gatun Lake in the afternoon.

Looking at a last minute cruise in April for the partial transit on the Coral but it's for an inside cabin and a few people from hubbies work who have done it said a balcony is a must to get the best experience . What are your thoughts? It would cost almost $4000 for a balcony versus just under $2000 for an inside on carribe deck which we really like. Hubbies getting ready to retire in March and we want to be able to keep cruising twice a year but if we got the balcony this would be our only one this year, lol.

Thanks I advance

A balcony would be nice but it's just too much $$$$$$$$$$$$.

We were on the Island on Jan 14 for the partial transit and had a window. We never used it during the whole time we were in the canal as we were on deck. All of our other cruises have been in an interior cabin and we haven't missed anything. Save the money.

Sent from my SM-G900W8 using Tapatalk

Hello...A small group of us will be doing the partial transit of Panama Canal next Feb 2017. Can anyone tell me if it is worth doing any of the excursions instead of staying onboard through the canal? Do I understand correctly that the ONLY way to do an excursion at Panama Canal/Gatun Lake is through Princess excursions...no private ones allowed?

Thanks for the help!!

If you are doing partial it has to be a Princess tour as they will only tender you to shore to meet their tours. I did the ferry trip through the other locks and thoroughly enjoyed it. After spending all that money and traveling all that way (from Australia) I wanted to do both sets of locks.

To the original poster: this was a wonderful cruise, and I really enjoyed it and would take it without a balcony if that was my only option.

In 2013, prior to a retrofit, this was true but you should verify it ahead of time to ensure that nothing has changed: In Panama, you can get an excellent view of the boat arriving at the Panama canal on Deck 10 forward (there is a set of doors that you pass through marked private, but no one seemed to mind the few people who were on that deck). My mother knew she had found the right place when she saw the ship's photographers going through the doors in front of her! You can also call room service to arrange for some coffee and a light breakfast to assist you with the early morning (generally around 5 am but ultimately dependent upon the Panamana Canal Authority's clearance) boat entrance through the canal.

To the person asking about tours:

In Panama, the Coral Princess docks at Gatun Lake and only allows passengers who have signed up for a Princess tour to leave the boat, as per Panama Canal Authority regulations. The boat returns back through the locks and then docks in Colon, where passengers on Princess cruise tours are able to reboard. We signed up for a short tour Gatun Lakes Cruise and Locks so we would be able to give our son a nap before he got overtired. Unfortunately, we were not informed until the day before Panama when it was too late to switch tours that there would be a substantial gap between when our tour ends, and when we would be allowed to reboard the ship. We were told at the end of the tour that we would be allowed back on the ship in an hour when it docked. The ship arrived on time one hour later, but no one was allowed to board for another hour, and the Panamanian authorities would not tell us when we would be allowed to board. That led to two very long hours standing outside of an elevator at the port in Colon with a screaming toddler who needed to nap. If we had known about this gap ahead of time, we would have either chosen a longer tour with the Embera Indians or simply disembarked in Colon and taken a cab from Colon to the nearby Gatun locks (although if you are planning this, please check the operating hours at Gatun locks, since I don't know what time they close, and the docking time for the Princess boats at Colon can vary based upon canal traffic). People without children who take short Princess tours in Panama are not likely to experience significant problems with the delay in reboarding the ship, since there is a very affordable supermarket and several restaurants with free wifi in the Port of Colon.

The Princess Gatun lake cruise that we took was not very good, since there was very little wildlife (two monkeys and one sloth) and no other ships on Gatun lake. Wildlife and ship traffic are not guaranteed and on another day people might have more luck seeing interesting things on this tour but overall we were disappointed that our only Princess tour was the most disorganized tour we took on this cruise, and we would not want to utilize cruise tours in the future.

Travelers with disabilities or those with small children should note that there are approximately 150 steps to climb to reach the viewing platform at Gatun. There is a platform on ground level for visitors with disabilities, but you can't really see much from there. Parents can, however, take turns with one supervising children on the downstairs platform, and the other climbing the stairs to watch the locks in action. People with disabilities may prefer taking a Princess cruise tour that brings you directly to Miraflores locks, which has a restaurant, a museum explaining the history of building the Panama Canal, and an elevator. Miraflores was chosen to be the visitor center because it is located closest to Panama City, but Gatun generally has more ship traffic so you have more of an opportunity to see the locks in action at Gatun. Princess passengers who want to travel to Miraflores should book this tour prior to departure to ensure that it isn't sold out, since passengers will be unable to travel to Miraflores independently. You can also cancel tours on the boat (I believe they require 24 hours notice for a full refund) so please consider booking a Princess tour if you think you might want to travel to Miraflores.