BillB48

Thanks, my good friend is still on the Emerald (it is his last trip) and I sent him a few of the pics. He gives a very detailed presentation to the passengers.

What may have occurred with the Aurora is due to the reduction of transits, currently 24/day, they could slot the ship immediately for a down lockage. Previously they were running 10-12/day neos through the new locks and about 24/day through the original locks. Now, with the reduction of transits 8 neos through the new locks and around 16 through the original. With less ships in the schedule it was probably very easy to schedule an in and out since they did not want any time to tender passengers ashore.

Finally got around to watching the video, it probably is one of the better ones that I have watched recently. A lot of the others are not much more than hand wringing, the world is going to end click bait.

To answer your question first, it is not regular practice to send a Panamax ship through the new locks instead of the original locks. While it has been done in the past for non passenger ships for Canal convenience it is rarely done with a passenger ship. In fact it has been done only once as far as I know and there was a laundry list of special considerations for that particular transit. From looking at the sister ship Silver Nova I see nothing in her dimensions that would require the Nova or the Ray to use the new locks. In fact the dimensions do not really push the limits of a Panamax ship. There is one caveat to that statement however, in my search to find info on the Ray I came across a statement promoting their "asymmetrical design". To be honest, I have no idea what that means. From the pictures I ran across of the two ships it doesn't appear to involve the shape of the hull that would require some sort special handling that could be provided at the new locks. Perhaps as I suspect it may have to do with the interior design, but I really don't know. The only other possibility is the vessel operators want the ship to use the new locks for some reason and have requested to use the new locks. While the Ray would pay a premium to transit the new locks, the tolls still would not be as high as the Canal would be able to charge a neo Panamax ship which normally have deeper pockets. Not knowing how authoritative the information you received I am a little suspicious as to the accuracy of which locks the Silver Ray will use. Often times the people who are on the customer service end don't always have the most accurate info. I completely understand your concerns and preferences to use the original locks.

Of course the good news is all predicated on the ENSO (El Nino Southern Oscillation) shifting toward neutral in the April May June time frame. This prediction has allowed the Canal to maintain the 24 per day lockages through the Dry Season which normally ends at the end of April. Plans had been in place to reduce lockages to 20 per day and then on to 18 per day. From gCaptain... https://gcaptain.com/end-of-el-nino-could-bring-relief-for-panama-canal-water-crisis/ From NOAA...

Your quoted portion is exactly what happens. Once the ship reaches Gatun Lake is when the tendering begins, normally from where the ships anchor it is only about a 5 minute tender ride to the Gatun Yachtless Club. Absolutely the Gatun Locks are not involved with the tender. Just an aside, I say Yachtless because a yacht at that club would be hard to find. Even in it's heyday yachts were not usually in evidence, it really was just a local watering hole. Spent many of Sundays there swimming. . Sometimes those tour descriptions read more like a novel or at least something from a creative writing class! At first I did not pick up on it, but then I went back and read it again and thought I would jump in and just make sure we all had the same sheet of music!

dmwnc, when I came back an re-read your post, I am not sure if I understand correctly what you are saying here... "The NCL version @ $200 from Colon is about that price now for an April 2025 transit. If I’m reading this correctly it is quite literally a full transit of all three lock systems as well as the Culebra Cut, then back to Gamboa and Colon." Not sure if you mean you will have gone through all three locks when you are on a partial transit cruise when you include the first set of locks on the Atlantic side on your ship and the two sets of locks on the Pacific side while you are on the excursion. I agree you do go through a large portion of the Canal, however what is missing here is the section of Gatun Lake from Gatun to Gamboa, a distance of about 22 miles. The excursion describe above covers from Gamboa, the Cut and the two Pacific Locks and essentially is a partial transit of the Pacific portion of the Canal A good part of the time the cruise lines offer that very excursion to cruise ships that are making the full transit and calling at Colon or Ft. Amador. Think what may happen in these cases the poor writer with the job of writing excursion descriptions just starts copying and pasting a subject they probably know nothing about🤪. A FYI, often times the excursion is ran the in reverse order from the way it is described above. In other words they will start the excursion in Ft. Amador (they use Balboa above), pass through Miraflores Locks, Miraflores Lake, Pedro Miguel Locks and through Gaillard (Culebra) Cut ending in Gamboa. From Gamboa you will return by bus to wherever your ship is. Either way is equally rewarding, although just personal preference I like up lockages better. In any event I hope this doesn't muddy any Canal waters!

Shiner, I am only familiar with one of the vessels used in this excursion, they have more than one. The Pacific Queen does have and air conditioned area, however I don't know about the others. The only advice I can offer is there is almost always some shade to be found and as long as you are out of the sun even the slightest breeze will provide some relief. Much of the time the waits occur when the tour vessel arrives at the locks way before the larger ship that they will normally lock with arrives. In times when water wasn't an issue they would often lock the excursion vessel through alone. Conserving water is a high priority now, so the excursion vessel will wait if necessary. Also when there are delays they usually are not one long delay but a series of shorter delays. It all can translate into a longer excursion time. Not all of these excursions end up being some sort of lesson in testing your patience, but it can happen. As they sometimes will remind you ship happens!😉

The ferry excursion is a great way to see a large part of the Canal when you are on a partial transit cruise. The biggest negative about the excursion is it can turn out to be a long day, not always but it is a possibility. The excursion also gives you the opportunity to experience your ship passing through the locks and then experience the trip through the locks on the much smaller ferry. This provides you a view of the locks operation from two completely different perspectives.

I looked briefly at their Canal offerings and what I saw was in the December/January time frame. That usually is a great time for the Canal.

Captain Kate has been doing a daily vlog over on YT, here is her vlog on the partial transit of the Beyond,

You are typing to someone who would recommend that Eskimos buy more ice! Being the Canal wonk that I am, I whole heartily would agree that seeing the it from the smaller vessel is a good thing. Truly, it is a different experience in the locks when you are on the smaller craft than when you are on your Panamax ship.. If you are interested in things Canal, then two trips through the locks and the Cut is all good. When you go through the locks on your ship, you can almost seem removed from he process. There is much greater feeling as to the size of the locks when you are on the smaller vessel. I know this recommendation is not for everyone, but I would take that excursion in a heart beat, even though I have been there and done that. If you do Princess then there is a chance you could have the "Professor" as your port lecturer, he is the best of the best for the Canal. No real way of knowing that for you to plan you trip, unfortunately.

dmwnc'59, one thing I forgot to mention... I would look for any Canal cruise that had a stop in Panama either pre or post transit as a plus. Many ships don't include a stop in Colon or Ft. Amador in conjunction with the transit. For someone who is keenly interested in the Canal, seeing things from the land end of the Canal is great.

Ah you don't have to be crazy to do 25 nights! I did my first cruise longer than 7 days about 20 years ago, on the first day I thought to myself that at the end of the cruise I would be ready to get off. Guess what... I wasn't ready after the 11 day cruise returned to Baltimore. It was a few years before I did anything longer and then that was a 16 day trans Atlantic. I never even gave any thought that I would be ready to jump ship when it was over. To date I have not found any cruise that was too long and that includes a couple of 32 day B2B cruises! As far as Princess vs NCL, I know that generally Princess puts some effort into providing destination lecturers on their longer cruises. It has been so long since I have been on a NCL ship I can't provide any insight as to what they do or don't do. Having a knowledgeable lecturer, particularly for the Canal is a real plus. The unfortunate thing is you won't know if you will have a competent speaker until the deed is done and I don't think you can get any real information from shore side pre-cruise. In the past many of the cruise lines have just taken on narrator de jour that the Canal can provide, for an additional cost as you might expect. They can run the entire spectrum from good to why bother. Just remember a Canal transit is like eating one peanut or one chip... you always want another😉!

Honestly there is very little (if any) temperature differences between the beginning of February and early April. The biggest difference probably would be in how it feels, February is early Dry Season and it "seems" more pleasant, by that I mean the canopy and ground cover are still green. There is usually a pleasant breeze and the air is clear. In April it is towards the end of the Dry Season some of the canopy and ground cover have browned out to a degree. Also the air is slightly more opaque, largely from brush fires throughout the region. It is unlikely that you would see or actually smell any of the fires, but it does linger in the atmosphere and creates a haze. Since April is at the end of the Dry Season so you are potentially entering into a transition period where you can be exposed to a few elements of the Rainy Season. The biggest negatives there would be the breeze dropping off and feeling a little muggier. Of course a slightly greater chance of rain. Now that I have typed all that it really boils down to nuances and subtleties, I think the weather in either situation will not have a huge impact on your trip. I would pick the trip that you want to do and really not give much weight to the weather. The bottom line is you are from a temperate climate traveling in air conditioned ship. The weather in Panama ( and many other places) will seem humid and you will notice the difference!

As far as I as I know, if the ship is is scheduled to use the original locks and instead is shifted to the new locks, the ship will not incur any additional charges. The Canal makes that decision because it it advantageous to them, so no additional charges to the vessel. To put it in perspective, out of 14,000 total transits it happens less than 200 times. Some of the largest container ships have paid just over $1 million in tolls. This should not be confused with ships that can bid to "go to the head of the line", the recent record for the highest bid is just under $4million. Those bids are above and beyond the toll charges.

The tolls are determined by the size of the ship and you are correct that normally it does cost more for a ship to use the new locks. However, the primary reason it costs more is because the ships using the new locks are larger. Take for example, if the Carnival Spirit for some reason requested to transit the new locks, they would pay more in tolls than what it would cost to transit the original locks. The reason is there are slightly different rate charged for each Panama Canal Ton. Ships are measured by Panama Canal/Universal Measurement System (PC/UMS) and is a measure of volume and not actual weight. It is a measurement similar to a ship's Gross Tonnage. For a ship like the Carnival Spirit, it would cost about $400,000 for transit though the original locks. Because there is a slightly different rate charged per PC ton the cost for the Spirit to transit the new locks would run about another $30,000. There have been numerous times ships that could have transited the Canal using the original locks have been diverted to the new locks for Canal convenience. To date these ships have all been ships carrying cargo... containers, grains, autos,, petroleum products and so on. Only once since the new locks were opened did a passenger ship that could use the original locks use the new locks. There were so many unique circumstances to that transit it can't be taken as anything that you would consider precedent setting. Without almost any doubt, if the Spirit can fit in the original locks, that's where she will go.

That area is safe, just take the normal precautions that you would in any unfamiliar area as it appears you already do. Just don't leave the mall area unless you are in a ship's tour, with a private tour or a taxi.

Thanks, he has them now. He wanted a couple of the excursion boats to provide a visual for his presentations.

I am assuming the partial transit is not cancelled. A change between Cristobal and Colon is primarily a distinction without a difference. The piers in Cristobal are primarily for container operations and are on the west side of Colon, for whatever reason the larger Princess ships have been using Cristobal instead of Colon. The Colon facility is on the east side of Colon about a mile and a half across town, it is more geared for cruise ships and where the majority of cruise ships stop when they call on Colon. It may just be because of available berths or lack of them necessitate the change. The no excursions perhaps is just a temporary measure until things are finalized. On partial transits normally the ships only call on Colon or Cristobal to pick up passengers who disembarked the ship in Gatun Lake for shore excursions.

Thanks, I just sent them to him.

Thanks to EM and dmwnc1959 for helping me make a good friend's day, greatly appreciated.

Oh, but the driveway was just covered with sunshine and it was freezing... 53F! That is added for our northern friends to feel sorry for us... HA!

I checked with him and he said the same buses that took them to Gamboa drove them back the short distance to ship.

One of the Tuiras is in Gamboa this AM,so maybe that's the excursion vessel and a southbound. My friend says they have had no word on the vessel or the direction yet even though they are in Ft. Amador docked next to the Ariania.