Lucky 13th Cruise, heading to the Panama Canal

Just booked my 13th cruise on Carnival yesterday, heading out on a partial Panama Canal Transit . I hope there is no bad luck associated with my 13th cruise. Thinking about taking out extra cruise insurance just in case. The only unlucky part is that it's not until April 2018 [emoji53].

We were hoping to do a full transit but the length and cost was prohibitive, so we are doing the partial. Has anyone done a partial transit? Would like to know if we will be able to get off the ship at all. The itinerary says it arrives at 7:30 and departs at 7:00, not sure if that is the time it takes to transit half of the canal or if that is how long it will be in port.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

I'm on the same cruise! We have a roll call. Come join us!

Sent from my SM-G925V using Forums mobile app

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2419916

Sent from my SM-G925V using Forums mobile app

The Panama Canal has been on my to do list for years. WE booked our for DEC 2017. Can't wait.

We are booked on the Miracle for the transit in January 2018. I could not believe how much it cost. If it was not the cruise my husband, a civil engineer, wanted for retirement, I would have chosen a partial transit.

I want to go, too!

Just booked my 13th cruise on Carnival yesterday, heading out on a partial Panama Canal Transit . I hope there is no bad luck associated with my 13th cruise. Thinking about taking out extra cruise insurance just in case. The only unlucky part is that it's not until April 2018 [emoji53].

 

We were hoping to do a full transit but the length and cost was prohibitive, so we are doing the partial. Has anyone done a partial transit? Would like to know if we will be able to get off the ship at all. The itinerary says it arrives at 7:30 and departs at 7:00, not sure if that is the time it takes to transit half of the canal or if that is how long it will be in port.

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

When you ask if you will be able to get off the ship at all, I assume you mean during the Canal portion of the trip and if so, the answer is no unless you book a ship-offered excursion that departs while the ship is in the lake. Otherwise, you stay on the ship until it gets to it's next port (likely Colon, I'm guessing).

Edit: BTW, I really envy you - I coveted this particular sailing but the timing would not work for us so I'm hoping for something subsequent to this one in early 2019.

When you ask if you will be able to get off the ship at all, I assume you mean during the Canal portion of the trip and if so, the answer is no unless you book a ship-offered excursion that departs while the ship is in the lake. Otherwise, you stay on the ship until it gets to it's next port (likely Colon, I'm guessing).

Edit: BTW, I really envy you - I coveted this particular sailing but the timing would not work for us so I'm hoping for something subsequent to this one in early 2019.

We cancelled a Journey cruise for October 2017 because there are not going to be any excursions from Lake Gatun. We have done a full transit and a partial before, so I am not interested in watching us go in and out of the Canal. I contacted Carnival and was told there were not going to be any excursions in Panama on our cruise, nor on any of the other partial transits Carnival offers. Bummer. I wanted to do the train trip.

We did the full transit in April 2016, but with Holland America. The price was way higher than what I've seen on CCL. IIRC, it was about $3500 pp for a Balcony -19 days. It was an awesome cruise, would love to do it again for less money.

We cancelled a Journey cruise for October 2017 because there are not going to be any excursions from Lake Gatun. We have done a full transit and a partial before, so I am not interested in watching us go in and out of the Canal. I contacted Carnival and was told there were not going to be any excursions in Panama on our cruise, nor on any of the other partial transits Carnival offers. Bummer. I wanted to do the train trip.

Thanks for the Carnival-specific information. I was basing my comment on experience on another cruise line wherein you had to stay on the ship unless you booked a ship excursion. Sounds like Carnival is not even offering excursions in the Canal for partial transits. Pity. :(

Thanks for the Carnival-specific information. I was basing my comment on experience on another cruise line wherein you had to stay on the ship unless you booked a ship excursion. Sounds like Carnival is not even offering excursions in the Canal for partial transits. Pity. :(

Ships that offer excursions on a partial transit tender the passengers off in the lake, and then sail back out and dock in Colon to pick them up. Since Carnival is not stopping in Colon, or any other Panama port, there would not be an opportunity to reclaim the excursion passengers. So no excursions.

We did the partial on the Pride repo from Tampa to Baltimore. Colon Panama and Limon PR were part of the cruise ports. We did an off carnival excursion for Colon. I don't normally do those types but there were like 80 of us from cruisecritic. I felt the ship wouldn't leave 2 buses of us. The excursion was an all day thing but was so wonderful. An experience of a lifetime for sure.

Now the limon was a carnival bought excursion to the organic chocolate banana plantation/ petting zoo and we were late. The bus was driven up to the gangway. There were many white suits waiting on us with a clip board to check us off the list. I kid you not!

Thanks for the info, I noticed there is not a stop for colon. So I'm assuming we won't get off. Which is fine, although I would have liked to go to the visitor center.

I checked on the price for the cruise, hoping to find a price drop. But found just the opposite it increased almost $500. Glad we booked early.

Also I booked a short 5 day cruise to Cozumel for May just in case cruise #13 is cursed. We've been to Cozumel so many times so if Cruises #13 is cursed we won't be missing out on anything. So now the panama cruse is lucky 14 and all will be just perfect.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

I've been watching the rates and they have gone up steadily since we booked too. Over $500. Crazy!

Sent from my SM-G925V using Forums mobile app

Well, I can stop watching rates. My category just sold out (8K).

Sent from my SM-G925V using Forums mobile app

We are booked January 2019 out of Galveston and verified that there is no stop in the canal/canal area. Might depend on the cruise.