Panama Canal P/T Jan 13 2011

[pudy68]

I posted this question in my roll call, but it's not very active so no one has answered. Can anyone here help me understand which ports I should be researching, and which port(s) will require us to only book Princess excursions in order to be allowed off the ship? Thanks!

 

 

 

Hmmm, I just checked our itinerary so we could start looking at the specific ports of call. Has it changed, or is it worded differently?

 

The brochure I received from Princess which prompted me to book this cruise showed:

FLL

Aruba

Cartagena

Panama Canal

Gatun Lake

Cristobal

Costa Rica

Ocho Rios

FLL

 

but when I signed in on the Princess website today to start filling in my cruise docs, it listed this for the stops:

FLL

Aruba

Cartagena

Panama Canal

Colon

Limon

Ocho Rios

FLL

[WeBeGone]

The Panama Canal requires passengers to book excursions thru the ship. We've done this cruise twice. The first time we visited the Embara tribe in the rainforest. It was a great day. The second time, we took the train to Panama City and took the bus back. Also a great day.

 

Panama Canal and Gatun Lake are the same. The ship turns around in the lake and returns to Colon/Cristobal. People withour ship excursions stay on the ship for the whole day and travel out the canal they came in through in the morning.

 

Limon is the name of the port in Costa Rica. So yes, the itineraries are the same, just worded differently.

 

The other ports you can book excursions privately of you like.

[RickEk]

I posted this question in my roll call, but it's not very active so no one has answered. Can anyone here help me understand which ports I should be researching, and which port(s) will require us to only book Princess excursions in order to be allowed off the ship? Thanks!

 

 

 

Hmmm, I just checked our itinerary so we could start looking at the specific ports of call. Has it changed, or is it worded differently?

 

The brochure I received from Princess which prompted me to book this cruise showed:

FLL

Aruba

Cartagena

Panama Canal

Gatun Lake

Cristobal

Costa Rica

Ocho Rios

FLL

 

but when I signed in on the Princess website today to start filling in my cruise docs, it listed this for the stops:

FLL

Aruba

Cartagena

Panama Canal

Colon

Limon

Ocho Rios

FLL

 

Okay, the brochure seems to have been a bit verbose. Gatun Lake is on the other side of the Gatun Locks which you'll be entering. The ship will anchor in Gatun Lake and tender off anyone who is going on an excursion. She will then exit the Canal and dock at Cristobal which is the same as Colon (I'm not sure why... :p)

 

And you do not have to book a Princess excursion to get off the ship in any of those ports (except possibly on Canal day). Check the Ports boards and you'll find a plethora of independent excursions that you can book. Just be forewarned that if you're on an independent excursion and get back late, the ship might have sailed and you'll be responsible to try and catch up at the next port.

[pudy68]

OK, so based on both of your replies, this is my take (please correct):

 

FLL

Aruba

Cartagena

Panama Canal/Gatun Lake (excursions can only be thru Princess)

Colon/Cristobal

Limon/Costa Rica

Ocho Rios

FLL

[RickEk]

OK, so based on both of your replies, this is my take (please correct):

 

FLL

Aruba

Cartagena

Panama Canal/Gatun Lake (excursions can only be thru Princess)

Colon/Cristobal

Limon/Costa Rica

Ocho Rios

FLL

 

 

Yes! And be aware that you'll be at the Panama Canal and Colon/Cristobal on the same day.

[pudy68]

Thank you, thank you!!

[skellis]

As you get closer to the time of your cruise your roll call may get busier. For Cartagena, you might want to consider a tour with Mr. Emerald (leland@misterEmerald.com) rather than with the ship, which is both cheaper (and more customizable) and has fewer people than the ship tours, particularly if other roll call members want to go as well. I'm glad I went, but next time I go to Cartagena on a cruise I will stay on the ship as I don't like to be constantly approached by people begging or selling stuff, and while the guide ran most of them away, they were very persistent.

 

In Costa Rica there was a ship's tour which included an arial tramway through the rainforest, lunch and a boat ride. It was great and I love Costa Rica.

[Treven]

This past May, I did the arial tram ride in Costa Rica, lunch & then a river boat ride, saw lots of crocadiles up close :eek: and almost too personal! My excursion was on the Pacific side of the rain forest. The company has the same set up on the Atlantic side of the country though. Well worth the time I think and I really don't think you'd be wasting time or $ by taking this excursion.:D

[TGHRS]

We are on the same cruise.

 

Keep up with checking the roll call as we get closer I believe the activity will pick up.

 

It is still very early for most to be looking at excursions, my group will not start the research until after final payment and we make the final decisions when we have an "Excursions Party".

 

Right now they are saving money to take the trip.

 

On the roll call I have given an an approximate list to what we are thinking and what we did in 2001.

 

I did a search for the Riverside Hotel it looks very nice.

 

Our group is probably heading to the LaQuinta. The Ale House is close and it has a Thrusday special of 5 Bud Lite Longnecks for $7.95.:p

[BillB48]

The OP noted that the brouchure noted the stop of Cristobal and then the cruise documents said Colon for the stop after exiting the Canal. Essentially they are the same place, just different facilities in Colon. One is on the east side of town and the other on the west side. What I have noticed recently is the cruise lines have been dropping the reference to Cristobal and only referencing Colon. I don't know if this is just semantics to increase name recognition for Colon or that they are not using the Cristobal facility any longer. It would too bad if they are not using Cristobal any longer as they had a very nice shopping area in the pier area. There is some shopping at the Colon facility.

 

As RickEK pointed out, the Canal and Cristobal/Colon are the same day. Cristobal/Colon is where the touring passengers return to the ship. In the past there has not been enough time for you to engage a tour during the stop in Cristobal/Colon, only some quick shopping at the pier.

[lhall85917]

This past May, I did the arial tram ride in Costa Rica, lunch & then a river boat ride, saw lots of crocadiles up close :eek: and almost too personal! My excursion was on the Pacific side of the rain forest. The company has the same set up on the Atlantic side of the country though. Well worth the time I think and I really don't think you'd be wasting time or $ by taking this excursion.:D

 

We are on the same cruise as the OP and interested in all of the comments posted - thank you. Treven, did you do the tram ride through the ship or privately? I have seen comments that there wasn't much to the tram ride, you just saw the top of trees not much else. Did you find that true? If you did it privately, can you share the company you used?

[Treven]

We are on the same cruise as the OP and interested in all of the comments posted - thank you. Treven, did you do the tram ride through the ship or privately? I have seen comments that there wasn't much to the tram ride, you just saw the top of trees not much else. Did you find that true? If you did it privately, can you share the company you used?

 

The excursion was through the ship. During the arial tram ride, you are in places a couple feet off the ground, as you are passing the tall columns which support the arial cable. In other spots, between the pylons you are 30-40 feet above the ground. You get up to the top of the "mountain", you swing around the turning wheel and begin your ride back down. You don't get off the gondolas. The entire trip is only around 30 minutes. Yes, the gondolas are pretty much near the top of the rain forest.

 

After the tram ride a guide took us through their garden area as well as their snake exhibit - fortunately the snakes are all enclosed. We then had lunch, which consisted of chicken, (at least I think it was chicken - though it could as easily been crocadile), macaroni salad, rice & beans. After that, they drove us to the river locale where we had about an hour & a half ride getting to see lots of wildlife.

The reason I put mountain in quotes is that I live in northern California, only 90 miles from the Sierra Nevada mountain range. So in comparison, the mountain in Costa Rica is nothing like I'm used to up here, it was more like a large hill.

[geoherb]

We're taking the Island Princess in December. It's going to the same ports as your cruise. Costa Rica is the port that stumps me. From reading the Ports of Call board, there seem to be some options other than the tours through Princess. I'm hoping someone on our roll call will talk about a great thing to do that will spur me into action.

[lhall85917]

Just booked our hotel after trying Hotwire and Priceline for a couple of weeks we figured out we had enough credit card points for our hotel. We booked the LaQuinta at the airport which is the one we wanted since it offers a shuttle from the airport, shuttle to the port and breakfast.

We've also booked all of our excursions through Princess for all ports except Cartajena - their prices seem fairly reasonable and it honestly was just easy! For Cartajena we are are thinking we may get a cab to the walled city and spend the day looking around - if anyone is working on a private excursion, please let us know, we may be interested if you need others to join.

Sharon

[lhall85917]

Just booked our hotel after trying Hotwire and Priceline for a couple of weeks we figured out we had enough credit card points for our hotel. We booked the LaQuinta at the airport which is the one we wanted since it offers a shuttle from the airport, shuttle to the port and breakfast.

We've also booked all of our excursions through Princess for all ports except Cartajena - their prices seem fairly reasonable and it honestly was just easy! For Cartajena we are are thinking we may get a cab to the walled city and spend the day looking around - if anyone is working on a private excursion, please let us know, we may be interested if you need others to join.

Sharon

 

Oops, thought this was our roll call thread - ignore the post - lol.:o

[cruisingready]

Will be very interested to here anything on this cruise as ours is in May going all the way thru to Frisco. First time going on the Panama Canal Cruise.

[beachbaby830]

We're doing this cruise in November and have booked excursions through the ship for Aruba (such a short time there, didn't want to risk it), Panama (the only way to do a tour) and Jamaica (SAFETY SAFETY SAFETY). We have booked private tours in Cartegena and Limon. Both on recommendations of friends who have been there, done that.

 

Have Fun!!

 

Mimi:)