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Panama canal miami to miami


Cafedumonde
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You go through the first set of locks, into Gatun Lake, I believe. There’s some time in the lake (for excursions to depart) and then the ship goes back through the locks.

 

 

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We’re planning to do a partial transit next year. The schedule says you enter Gatun Lake, where excursions depart, and then the ship sails to Colon (you are there for a few hours, it’s really to let the excursions return.)

 

I checked the map (again, it’s been a while since I planned this), and to get to Gatun Lake, you have to traverse the Gatun Locks to enter the lake, and you will have to traverse them again to reach Colon.

 

 

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The partial transit through the Atlantic Locks at Gatun will give you a feel for the locks of the Canal. but the locks are just a part of the Canal. There is an excursion you can select once the ship reaches Gatun Lake, it is a transit through the Pacific Locks and Gaillard Cut on a smaller vessel or "ferry". By transiting the two Pacific Locks and the Cut, this will give a much better feel for the Canal. In fact, by passing through the Atlantic Locks on your ship in the AM and then seeing it all from the ferry latter in the day gives you two different perspectives of the operation. I think that is a real plus. Another plus is you will get to see a little of the country and a glimpse of Panama City... a lot different than Colon.

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If you go to the PC on a round trip, I do encourage you to do the complete transit with the additional excursion. If you go that far, see the whole thing. It's existence is much more than just the locks. And the Gaillard Cut, which still has to be continuously dredged daily even after a hundred years, was one of the reasons the PC almost never was completed. Do read A Path Between the Seas for a complete history and understanding of what a wonder you will be seeing.

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We have done both the full, and the partial transit. We actually enjoyed the partial more, only because of the itinerary. We will get a chance to see the new locks this May...can't wait!

Consider doing both if you can, that way you get to experience both the Pacific coast, and the Western Caribbean.:D

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the partial transit through the atlantic locks at gatun will give you a feel for the locks of the canal. But the locks are just a part of the canal. There is an excursion you can select once the ship reaches gatun lake, it is a transit through the pacific locks and gaillard cut on a smaller vessel or "ferry". By transiting the two pacific locks and the cut, this will give a much better feel for the canal. In fact, by passing through the atlantic locks on your ship in the am and then seeing it all from the ferry latter in the day gives you two different perspectives of the operation. I think that is a real plus. Another plus is you will get to see a little of the country and a glimpse of panama city... A lot different than colon.

 

this!

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Yes indeed, unless you are some sort of "canal" aficionado! You will go thru 3 sets of locks, spend the day in Lake Gatun (where the excursion folks get off) and then return thru the 3 locks again (but without the crowds)....you certainly get a "feel" for the canal...there is a navigator onboard giving running commentary throughout the entrance into the Lake.

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We have done both the full, and the partial transit. We actually enjoyed the partial more, only because of the itinerary. We will get a chance to see the new locks this May...can't wait!

Consider doing both if you can, that way you get to experience both the Pacific coast, and the Western Caribbean.:D

 

If you take the BLISS or other -AWAY class ships you will transit the new portion of locks.

With the smaller ships DAWN or JEWEL class it could be either.

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While there isn't anything that prevents a Panamax** ship from using the new locks, as a practical matter Panamax ships continue to use the original locks. Fairly simple reason, the number transit slots at the new locks are limited and the Canal would much rather save those slots for the customers who are going to pay higher tolls. This not to say that somewhere down the road there isn't a reason that a Panamax ship could be slotted to use the new locks, but for now if it can fit in the original locks, that's where she will go.

 

IMO, if you have not transited the Canal before, I think you would find the original locks more interesting.

 

**Panamax is the term the Canal uses to describe the maximum sized vessel to use the original locks. Vessels that exceed this size are referred to as NeoPanamax.

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We have done both the full, and the partial transit. We actually enjoyed the partial more, only because of the itinerary. We will get a chance to see the new locks this May...can't wait!

Consider doing both if you can, that way you get to experience both the Pacific coast, and the Western Caribbean.:D

that is exactly what keeps us from doing the complete passage. We have done the Western and and pacific coast on other cruises. We loved the itinerary on the partial canal itinerary

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The partial transit through the Atlantic Locks at Gatun will give you a feel for the locks of the Canal. but the locks are just a part of the Canal. There is an excursion you can select once the ship reaches Gatun Lake, it is a transit through the Pacific Locks and Gaillard Cut on a smaller vessel or "ferry". By transiting the two Pacific Locks and the Cut, this will give a much better feel for the Canal. In fact, by passing through the Atlantic Locks on your ship in the AM and then seeing it all from the ferry latter in the day gives you two different perspectives of the operation. I think that is a real plus. Another plus is you will get to see a little of the country and a glimpse of Panama City... a lot different than Colon.

This sounds great. We did not know about that excursion.

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I really appreciate all the feedback on this. We have wanted to do the Panama Canal for some time but the scheduling is hard for us. Every year we look at it and say next year. One of our kids is a real Teddy Roosevelt fan and is interested in engineering and has been asking to see the PC since he was about 8 (now 16!). We have never considered the shorter one that goes part way because it seems like it is not the real Panama Canal cruise, but we have been looking at it lately and the shorter one looks much more feasible. We were looking at the partial PC cruise on NCL Jade (11 day) because it goes over our spring break. But yesterday we looked around more and realized both HAL and Princess have shorter ones (10day) that also go over our spring break where our kids would only miss 3 days of school (would have missed 5 days on Jade). So I think we are in! We just have to decide between HAL or princess, never been on either. Thanks again.

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I really appreciate all the feedback on this. We have wanted to do the Panama Canal for some time but the scheduling is hard for us. Every year we look at it and say next year. One of our kids is a real Teddy Roosevelt fan and is interested in engineering and has been asking to see the PC since he was about 8 (now 16!). We have never considered the shorter one that goes part way because it seems like it is not the real Panama Canal cruise, but we have been looking at it lately and the shorter one looks much more feasible. We were looking at the partial PC cruise on NCL Jade (11 day) because it goes over our spring break. But yesterday we looked around more and realized both HAL and Princess have shorter ones (10day) that also go over our spring break where our kids would only miss 3 days of school (would have missed 5 days on Jade). So I think we are in! We just have to decide between HAL or princess, never been on either. Thanks again.

 

Cafedumonde, hmmm... a cup of that and a couple of beignets sure would hit the spot on this chilly morn!! Since one of the kids is fond of engineering I would recommend you try and get a copy of the book The Panama Canal, The Invisible Wonder of the World by Ron Armstrong. I did not see it listed on Amazon but the author's web site seems to be up and running (link below). The book is presented as a southbound transit through the Canal with an extensive collection of construction pictures. I thought I had seen every construction photograph that exits, but I was mistaken! The author traveled to West Point and sifted through Col. Goethals collection of Canal construction photos to put his book together. A fabulous collection that shows what a challenge it was to build the Canal.

 

One other thing, when looking at Princess... the Caribbean Princess offers the partial transit using the mew locks while the Island and Coral Princess (they both do the Canal, don't remember which one is doing partial transits) use the original locks.

 

http://www.theinvisiblewonder.com/books.htm

 

 

 

 

Appears to be still available in ibook or soft cover print.

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Cafedumonde, hmmm... a cup of that and a couple of beignets sure would hit the spot on this chilly morn!! Since one of the kids is fond of engineering I would recommend you try and get a copy of the book The Panama Canal, The Invisible Wonder of the World by Ron Armstrong. I did not see it listed on Amazon but the author's web site seems to be up and running (link below). The book is presented as a southbound transit through the Canal with an extensive collection of construction pictures. I thought I had seen every construction photograph that exits, but I was mistaken! The author traveled to West Point and sifted through Col. Goethals collection of Canal construction photos to put his book together. A fabulous collection that shows what a challenge it was to build the Canal.

 

One other thing, when looking at Princess... the Caribbean Princess offers the partial transit using the mew locks while the Island and Coral Princess (they both do the Canal, don't remember which one is doing partial transits) use the original locks.

 

http://www.theinvisiblewonder.com/books.htm

 

 

 

 

Appears to be still available in ibook or soft cover print.

 

The PC fascinates me to the level of how we ever successfully sent persons to the moon, several times, using 1969 computers and rockets (yes, it actually did happen). The whole concept of how the PC design was finally engineered is actually astounding itself. The lake as a main portion fed by the river, the world's largest earthen damn, at the time, the dredging, the locks and the gates (their buoyancy is such that they have almost no suspended weight and can be opened and closed by only a very low horsepower motor), the filling of the locks and then draining by gravity alone, wow, as incredible an event as man has ever created. And France, bless them, gave it a multimillion dollar effort first but was just a bit too early for the technology to be there. And not to forget all the medical research that went towards malaria and yellow fever. I guess you've figured out that I do like the place. Oh yea, this all is 114 years old now and most of the locks equipment is original and working just fine. Do read a Path Between the Seas also.

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I have a hard time believing that a Jewel class ship will be going thru the new locks. They were designed specifically for larger ships (Away, and tankers).

True.I was on a partial in March. The commentator said they do use the larger new locks for smaller ships IF traffic is high for the old locks and low for the new ones.

I would not count on this happening on a cruise on a smaller ship.

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to me, this would be a tease. we leave in 80 days for our full transit, LA to Miami. i wanted the thrill of the whole experience and going from one ocean to the other. but obviously not everyone can do a 2 week, one way sail.

 

i agree with another poster - id much rather see the old, original locks. we will transit on teh Star so we should use those unless there is some backlog and we get sent thru the new locks, but i would assume this is a last resort.

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Cafedumonde, hmmm... a cup of that and a couple of beignets sure would hit the spot on this chilly morn!! Since one of the kids is fond of engineering I would recommend you try and get a copy of the book The Panama Canal, The Invisible Wonder of the World by Ron Armstrong. I did not see it listed on Amazon but the author's web site seems to be up and running (link below). The book is presented as a southbound transit through the Canal with an extensive collection of construction pictures. I thought I had seen every construction photograph that exits, but I was mistaken! The author traveled to West Point and sifted through Col. Goethals collection of Canal construction photos to put his book together. A fabulous collection that shows what a challenge it was to build the Canal.

 

One other thing, when looking at Princess... the Caribbean Princess offers the partial transit using the mew locks while the Island and Coral Princess (they both do the Canal, don't remember which one is doing partial transits) use the original locks.

 

http://www.theinvisiblewonder.com/books.htm

 

 

 

 

Appears to be still available in ibook or soft cover print.

 

I really appreciate the book recommendation, looks amazing, and did not know that about the different Princess ships/locks. The one we are looking at is Island Princess, although we are kind of interested in HAL for itinerary. Princess seems more popular, as there are less spaces left to book. So, we are not sure. It is for March 2019, so we have a bit to decide. But we want to go ahead and book in the next couple of weeks.

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The PC fascinates me to the level of how we ever successfully sent persons to the moon, several times, using 1969 computers and rockets (yes, it actually did happen). The whole concept of how the PC design was finally engineered is actually astounding itself. The lake as a main portion fed by the river, the world's largest earthen damn, at the time, the dredging, the locks and the gates (their buoyancy is such that they have almost no suspended weight and can be opened and closed by only a very low horsepower motor), the filling of the locks and then draining by gravity alone, wow, as incredible an event as man has ever created. And France, bless them, gave it a multimillion dollar effort first but was just a bit too early for the technology to be there. And not to forget all the medical research that went towards malaria and yellow fever. I guess you've figured out that I do like the place. Oh yea, this all is 114 years old now and most of the locks equipment is original and working just fine. Do read a Path Between the Seas also.

I just ordered the Path Between the Seas from Amazon and we will all read it! The Panama Canal is incredible and your comparing it to the moon landing captures it exactly. It is otherworldly when people do things that seem so impossible. Thank you!

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I just ordered the Path Between the Seas from Amazon and we will all read it! The Panama Canal is incredible and your comparing it to the moon landing captures it exactly. It is otherworldly when people do things that seem so impossible. Thank you!

 

I think you'll like it. It is long but so interesting and well written. It begins with the French and their massive effort, which almost bankrupted the country, and continues through the whole process. It covers not only the engineering involved but the politics, politics.

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If you do the Panama Canal cruise that does not go all the way through the canal, do you get enough of a feel for the canal? You do go through some locks, right?

 

It's great -- highly recommend. I did it in 2016 and don't regret it at all. I do recommend that if you can swing it you get an AFT facing balcony/mini/suite. We got an AFT penthouse, and it was fantastic to just walk out and look down on the locks. We also had the butler lay out a spread for our family who were also on the cruise.

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