Can someone explain the Itinerary?

[hazels]

Hi,

Looking at our itinerary for the 'Canal it stipulates "panama canal, Panama 5:00 am to 3:30 pm? and then Colon Panama 4:00 to 7:00 pm. Is the actual passage occuring between 5am and 3:30pm and we remain on the ship and then can get off at Colon at 4:00? If this is the case, what is there to do in Colon for 3 hours?

[BillB48]

I believe you are transiting the Canal from the Pacific to the Atlantic, is that correct? Assuming that is the case, what happens is after you transit the Pacific Locks, Gaillard Cut and cross Gatun Lake, the ship will anchor before locking through Gatun Locks. While it is at anchor, passengers who have tours purchased through the ship will tender off and meet their tour. Those not taking a tour will complete the Canal transit by locking through Gatun Locks and proceed to the pier in Colon where the touring passengers will rejoin the ship.

 

There has been in the past some limited shopping near the ship at the Colon stop. Other than the shopping there won't be anything for you to do, no time for a tour or anything like that. Colon is not a place you would want to strike out on your without benefit of a tour even if you had the time. Basically the reason for the stop in Colon is to pick up the touring passengers and depending on how quickly they return to the ship, it is possible that your ship may not use all the time it has scheduled for the stop.

 

PS Those times are really just estimates and are really very fluid.

 

The Canal transit is wonderful, hope you enjoy!

[Mrs.Right]

If your cruise is like mine:

 

We do a partial transit from the east, dock and let off ONLY passengers who have booked an excursion through Princess. Then at approximately 3:30, pull up anchor and sail back to Colon arriving approximately 5 PM where anyone can disembark, although I've been told there's not much reason to.

 

Barbara

[BillB48]

Mrs. Right, I did not even think about this itinerary possibly being a partial transit of the Canal:o, (in other words a roundtrip cruise out of Florida which only passes through Gatun Locks.) The precedure would be similar, after the ship leaves Gatun Locks, it will go to anchor to begin the tendering. The rest of the explanation remains the same.... the ship would lock back down Gatun Locks and then proceed to Colon.

[BillB48]

If my research is correct it looks like hazels will be on the Island Princess out of FLL. So what I wrote in post #2 is not entirely accurate because I thought it was a full transit. Once you start tendering in Gatun Lake the description is correct.

 

 

Actualy these partial transit cruises offer somewhat of a unique opportunity to see the Canal operation from your Panamax ship while going through Gatun Locks. Then combine that with the partial transit by ferry of the Pacific Locks and Gaillard Cut you will have transited a large portion of the Canal. Viewing the Canal operation from a smaller vessel (the ferry) will give you a completely different perspective. If the passage through Gatun Locks has filled your Canal quotient, then there are a lot of other tours that will let you see some of Panama.

[mtfasls]

Does anyone know how the tours work when you are doing a full transit going from east to west? It shows 2 days, one for the Gutan Locks area and one for Panama City, yet they are both the same tours.

 

I want to be on the ship for the whole transit, does that mean on the second day we will be docked in Panama City after we have gone through the whole thing and I can then do a tour?

 

This is on the Coral for 15 day cruise.

 

Thanks for any input anyone who has done this itinerary has.

[BillB48]

I can't speak with any direct knowledge about tours offered on the day of your transit on day 6 of your itinerary. Day 7 at Ft. Amador would be the better spot to take your land tours for Panama, at Ft. Amador they use the tenders instead of docking. Taking your tours at Amador will ensure you get to be on the ship for the entire transit, which I would reccomend if you have not been through the Canal before.

 

Many of the cruise lines have recently added the additional day in Panama in conjuction with the Canal transit, so there may not be a lot people who have completed this particular itinerary