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Stay on The Ship or Book an Excursion


Stella's mom
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We will be traveling with Holland American in February through the Panama Canal. The ship turns around in Lake Gatun and picks up travelers in Colon. My question is, should we stay on the ship and observe the canal or should we take one of the excursions from Lake Gatun to Colon? If you think we should take an excursion, which one would you recommend?

 

Thanks,

Stella's Mom

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Well, that would really be up to you and your interests, right? Maybe affected by your mobility and your budget? And we know nothing about those.

 

If you look down the board there are many discussions about options. A common one is to take a ferry that takes you the rest of the way through the Canal to the Pacific side. This would expose you to the parts of the Canal you are missing. I think you come back on a bus. Or you can do a train trip to the Pacific side.

 

There are tours to visitor centers where you can get more Canal info.

 

Occasionally...I am not sure how often any more, there are tours to the Embera Village...meeting the local indigenous people. Many people find this very interesting.

 

Staying on board is certainly is an option. We did this our second trip through the Canal, as we had already due a full transit, and two more full transits since then.

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If you are on Zuiderdam it looks like it is doing a partial transit? If so the ship normally normally goes into Gatun Lake from the Atlantic side so you will have to go through the Gatun Locks to get to the lake. Then you get off the ship to go on an excursion while the ship goes back through the same locks. If you leave the ship you will just miss the second transit through the same locks. I would take an excursion to see more of the area.

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Welcome to Cruise Critic! I think you made a good decision in opting for an excursion once your ship reaches Gatun Lake. Now another decision as you already know... the ones that Cruiser Bruce suggested are some of the more popular one at the Gatun Lake stop. If your primary purpose in selecting this itinerary is to see the Canal then your best bet is the excursion that takes you through Gaillard Cut, the two Pacific Locks and the Pacific entrance to the Canal on a smaller vessel or "ferry". Not only will you see a great deal more of the Canal, but it is the more visually interesting parts of the Canal. It is also a great experience to see one set of locks (Gatun) from your large ship and then experience the operation from the smaller vessel. This gives you two different perspectives.

 

One other tour I'll throw out, will take you to the Pacific side to see the three Panama Cities. First there is ruins of Old Panama (Panama Viejo) founded in 1519. Panama City number 2 is the Casco Antiguo which was founded in 1673 after Henry Morgan paid an unwelcomed visit to Old Panama. Modern Panama City fills in the spaces between the first two Panama Cities.

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The entry trip into the lake will be crowded as all get out...once the excursion folks leave, the ship is pleasantly uncrowded...so the trip back out later in the day will be much nicer for your viewing pleasure. All of the excursions are quite lengthy and it's HOT....we enjoyed our day on the ship without so many others!!!

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We're on the Caribbean Princess in February and I had the same question. Hate to miss seeing the sites on our only trip to the Panama Canal. I was thinking about an excursion that cruises Gatun Lake, visits the Embera Indian village and the Aqua Clara locks.

Anyone familiar with this excursion?

Thanks!

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The only sights of the Canal you will "miss" is the return trip through the Agua Clara Locks, which is just the reverse of what you experienced on the trip up through the Locks to Gatun Lake. On the other hand the visit with the Embera Indians is an extremely popular excursion, for many it is about as close to a Nat Geo experience you will have.

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  • 3 weeks later...

We just returned from our trip through the Panama canal. We opted for the ferry through the locks to the Pacific ocean side. It was a long day, but we enjoyed the view, crew, and history as explained by the guide. We were traveling with friends. One took the excursion that went to the Mila Flores (spelling?) locks overlook and visitor center. They also got to see the Old Panama City. They enjoyed the visit and said they would go back and stay in the old city, it was that charming. Another friend took the boat ride that included the monkey viewing. They had a great time too and said that a monkey jumped right on to their boat to grab a banana that someone brought on-board.

 

I appreciate the advice I received from you other cruisers here on the site. I hope that this helps jeanlouise55 as well. By the way, we stayed in our room and had breakfast on the balcony. It was great. Once the decks cleared, we also went to the forward deck and watched the locks. We got an even better view on our excursion.

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