14 day panama canal with kids......HELP!!!!!

[thefudgecompany]

Hi,

First let me say I have had a blast purusing the family cruising boards learnign lots. My family and I are taking a 14 day panama canal trip on NCL in January. My kids are 6 and 3. We are not expecting to do much in ports which is ok, but if anyone had done the canal and found a great excursion not to be missed please advise!!!!!! I am wanting parents opinions or advise with a long trip and any advise or thoughts about NCL kids programs. Thanks in advance for all of your great wisdom.

 

Sherry

[cb at sea]

Does your ship actually enter the canal? If it does, then there's no need to pay for an excursion.

If the ship does NOT enter the canal, the only way to see any of this will be to buy an excursion...there are several to choose from..

[thefudgecompany]

Actually we are going through the entire canal (we start in Miami and finish in LA).

[3dashers]

We are cruising the PC Dec 23 HAL.. heard the Miraflores Locks by Night tour is good..

[kitty9]

If the ship offers a tour of Panama City via the antique train, take that one. I think the kids would love riding the train and it's an easy tour for kids. Unfortunately, one of the best tours, the aerial tram ride, cannot be done by very young children. So, if you feel comfortable leaving the kids on board in the kid's program, you and your husband might enjoy that tour in Costa Rica. Have you thought about the dolphin swim? A number of ports now have that and it's great for kids.

 

As for the kid's programs, with a cruise that long, and at that time of year, there is a very distinct possibility of not many kids on board, and because of that there could be less of a program. But with NCL, you never know, and there could be lots of kids. But from my experience on taking 4 Canal cruises, on every one of them, including on RCI, there were less than 10 kids total on board.

[josask]

We are going on a 10 day Panama cruise in January with 3 kids (6, 9, 13) on Jewel of the Seas. We debated, knowing there would be fewer kids on board, but decided to go ahead anyway.

We have decided on the Embera tour while in Panama. For more info. and feedback, check out the Panama forum in the ports of call section. We think our kids will get a great taste of a variety of sights and learn a ton. We've yet to decide what to do in Costa Rica and Cartegena.

[poppan]

We are doing the exact same trip but on Celebrity in November. 14 nights, Miami to Los Angeles. My twins will be 2.5 y.o. when we go. I'll come back and tell you how it went! For now our plans are to stay onboard for the PC transit (I heard the first time you go this is not to be missed, if it's your second or third time then you might want to do an excursion instead). In Mexico we will probably go to beaches and see the divers in Acapulco. There is also a water park with dolphin shows and dolphin experience in Acapulco that might interest you as you have slightly older children. In Costa Rica I've decided to book a private tour. And in Colombia we will just explore Cartegena ourselves. Not sure what ports you're calling... those are the ones our boat will hit.

[thefudgecompany]

Wow...2.5 yr old twins. I can't wait to hear how it goes. we will be stopping in Columbia, Costa Rica, Guatamela, Mexico (to include Acapulco and Cabo). I will have to check out that water park with the Dolphins. We are going to go see the divers also. We will be doing the zipline in Costa Rica with our older child. Unsure about columbia and cabo. let me know how it goes.

 

Sherry