Panama Canal cruise with 3 kids, mom, dad & grandma-crazy idea?

Anyone ever been on a Panama Canal cruise with kids? We are thinking of taking the kids plus grandma in January. Are we crazy? Will the kids be bored? Sounds like a great plan but in reality, is it? Any opinions are appreciated! Thanks!

You really just need to evaluate the rest of the cruise, and not worry about the Panama Canal portion very much. Grandma will pretty much be OK on any cruise, but the kids need a kids-friendly line to make it all work well.

The Panama Canal portion is just one day, in in the morning, out in the evening. Depending on their ages, there are lots of things going on outside the ship as you go through the sets of locks, but during the middle of the day, you will be slowly cruising between the sets of locks. Not much during that period. So you will have some on-board activities for the kids. Disney must have a canal cruise, and I have heard that Royal Caribbean is good with kids. Check out those lines and look on their respective boards to see how they are with kids. Disney is great with kids, but tends to be more expensive than some lines.

How old are the kids? There is a lot of history involved and the trip through the locks is interesting. However, it is also a bit boring.

Also, many of the mega ships with lots of activities are too big for the canal.

Canal cruises are usually longer with not so many kids on board. I think much hinges on the ages of the kids and what else you plan to do.

We did this for our 50th anniversary -- 8 grands from 5 to 16 and their parents. It was great. The older ones wrote essays on the building of the canal and the youngest ones read/had read to them picture books of the construction and all watched historical you tube videos. They were well prepared but after the first lock we ALL had seen enough.

Ours was a HAL partial and because of the size of the group and age range we did only HAL excursions -- sometimes as a group of 16 and some separately as the younger ones were too light to zip line and young snorkel.

Why are you thinking that's "crazy"? It's a fantastic cruise! Plenty to do for everyone. Hot weather...what could be better?

It's only crazy if you think everyone will stay in 1 cabin . . .

Smooth Sailing! :) :) :)

Why are you thinking that's "crazy"? It's a fantastic cruise! Plenty to do for everyone. Hot weather...what could be better?

Maybe just pleasantly warm weather?:)

Did you complete this cruise? We’re thinking of the same for our next cruise with extended family, and would love to hear a report :) (Tho it looks like you may not be posting much to CC?)

It is not crazy. There will be a lot of ports for the kids to see. We would find a ship with activities for the kids.

Keith