Partial Panama Canal????

[some1else]

We have never cruised and are just starting to research. We would like to travel in January 2012 to celebrate my husband's and a friend's 60th birthday. We are mainly interested in the Panama Canal. I see Princess offers a Ft.Lauderdale trip that is a reasonable price but only does 1 of 3 Panama Canal locks.

 

Has anyone done this cruise? Would we be disappointed by only doing 1/3 of the canal on the ship or do the ferry excursions give the full experience?

 

I look forward to hearing your opinions and please feel free to offer up any other first time cruising advice. Thanks. :)

[paul929207]

You may want to try this on the Princess section.

[6rugrats]

We have never cruised and are just starting to research. We would like to travel in January 2012 to celebrate my husband's and a friend's 60th birthday. We are mainly interested in the Panama Canal. I see Princess offers a Ft.Lauderdale trip that is a reasonable price but only does 1 of 3 Panama Canal locks.

 

Has anyone done this cruise? Would we be disappointed by only doing 1/3 of the canal on the ship or do the ferry excursions give the full experience?

 

I look forward to hearing your opinions and please feel free to offer up any other first time cruising advice. Thanks. :)

I have never done this cruise, but if you want a full crossing in January 2012, there are several options, such as starting in San Diego or Los Angeles, and ending in Ft. Lauderdale. Or, you can start in Ft. Lauderdale and end in Costa Rica, etc. Suggest you visit a travel agent who can discuss all the options with you.

[cb at sea]

We've done a "partial" canal....it's fine...unless you're some sort of engineer, the 3 locks will give you a great idea of what the Panama Canal is all about...and the HEAT and HUMIDITY that the workers had to endure.

 

I didn't want to do a 1-way flight...so a partial canal cruise was ideal. A navigator is onboard and giving you info over the loudspeaker system for the entrance into Lake Gatun...you'll sit there for a while, and any excursions will depart via tenders. Then, you'll retrace your steps back to the pier, where you'll await the excursion folks...about 8 hours for any excursion. There's no need to leave the ship...just be sure to wander from side to side and different deck levels to get the full effect of the canal.

[wieslaw]

Hi,

I have done 2 partials and one full ( none on Princess). I did appreciate the full transit a lot more, but I do agree with the poster above me.

Partial transit will give you a very good idea what the canal is all about.

I found the Panama Canal cruises very interesting.

here are links to some of the photos that I posted in the past for someone.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=71670&d=1204331389

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=71669&d=1204331081

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=85603&d=1216929620

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=85604&d=1216929650

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=71670&d=1204331389

[eh2zed]

Partial is fine for regular level interest. You go through the same lock in both directions. Usually you anchor then in Gatun Lake and go ashore. I would like to do the full transit sometime but the partial was good enough for now.

[skrufy]

If you have the time and the means, do a full transit of the canal, its an amazing journey.

[navybankerteacher]

The partial transit, with a few hours at anchor in Gatun Lake permitting shore excursions, gives you a very good picture of the Canal and it's operation -- without having to spend the greater amount of time and money to experience a full transit.

[Talisker92]

I have done both, but IMO, the partial gives you the flavor. You can take a train or other excursion to the Pacific side.

The story & pictures of our cruise in on our website http://www.stevekathytravels.com

One other problem with the full transit for me was the number of sea days after you hit the Pacific side. The Gatun locks are a set of double locks, while the Pedro Miguel and Miraflores are single locks.

Also, since you have never cruised, there are stories of all our cruises on our website. This may give you some ideas for future cruises.

[Dayenu]

If you can (time-wise and financially) do a full transit west to east. I read maybe a thousands of posts on different websites, and all agreed this was the best way to navigate the canal - and I agree.

 

Pacific locks are more interesting, you see them in the morning when you are not tired, after that float on the river into the lake. Partial cruises take you to this lake only. From the lake, you can take tours.

 

Cruises going east to west don't have tours starting on the lake, and Pacific locks in the evening.

 

We flew back Delta, no penalty for one-way flight. Also Southwest sells one-way for 1/2 price of a round trip. Maybe JetBlue?

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

We have don it and it was great

[jschm27]

We did the full transit east to west in 2009 and loved it. We arrived at locks before just before dawn. The whole ship seemed to be up and on deck. I stayed on deck for the whole passage. Fascinating. My only complant was that I got sun burned. Oh well... :o

 

John

[STARFISH*4]

a partial PC cruise is a shorter cruise and might be a better suggestion for a first time cruiser, altho the full-transit is a great cruise but a longer cruise--personally if i had never cruised i wouldnt take 2 week or longer cruise in case i didnt care for cruising.

[merdon]

We have done this cruise on Island Princess and had a wonderful time. We also did the excursion to Panama City (to the Pacific side). We had a great time and would do it again.

[some1else]

thanks all for the feedback and the links, was greatly appreciated.

[GORDONCHICK]

a partial PC cruise is a shorter cruise and might be a better suggestion for a first time cruiser, altho the full-transit is a great cruise but a longer cruise--personally if i had never cruised i wouldnt take 2 week or longer cruise in case i didnt care for cruising.

 

 

It's not necessarily shorter - our partial from Galveston was 12 nights, and our 1st cruise. Most full transits are 12-14 nights.

[Love.II.Cruise]

We had to make the same decision this year. We are doing the Partial on Island Princess. Although many things factored into this decision, part of it was that we were not interested in seeing Mexico right now with all the violence - this is a personal decision everyone has to make for themselves. Plus we've seen lots of Mexico already. We'll do a full transit when things calm down a bit. Whatever you decide, have a wonderful vacation!

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

It is a great cruise and it will give you a feel of the locks...

[silentbob007]

I've done a partial ... have no interest in specifically looking for a full-transit trip. It is a very slow process and you get the idea very quickly (and you get the idea twice ... once in and once out). It was interesting.

[garlinn]

We did the parial on the Island Princess last year. We also did the excursion that went on through the other locks to the Pacific. It was a whole different perspective going through the resto of the locks in a smaller ship.

[Tamara2cruise]

It sounds like seeing the Panama Canal is your primary motivation for taking your first cruise. If that is the case, I wonder if you might not regret doing only a Partial Transit?

 

Here's my endorsement for a Full Transit:

 

We took a full Panama Canal transit cruise in March, traveling from west to east. Prior to the cruise DH and I read David McCullough's The Path Between the Seas from cover to cover. After reading this book and learning how much history is contained along the entire pathway of the Canal, I would have been sorely disappointed to have missed any of it. Particulary the engineering challenges of the Pacific Locks, the intricacies and loss of life represented within the Culebra Cut, and the beautiful Bridge of the Americas, all on the Pacific side.

 

We also enjoyed amazing stops along the Pacific side prior to entering the Canal. Namely, Cabo San Lucas and the seaside jewel town of Zihuatanejo in Mexico, the ancient city of Antigua in Guatamala, plus an entire day in Panama City prior to entering the Canal early the next day.

 

Like an earlier poster, DH and I spent the entire day of the transit up on deck and it was the absolute highlight of our cruise.

 

I also want to add I've been to Mexico on several prior cruises and didn't expect to enjoy our stops there. Much to my surprise, Cabo was very clean and enjoyable compared to our last visit (we did a catamaran whale watch trip that was a lot of fun) and we loved Zihuatanejo, which we had never visited before, and which we found to be completely lovely and charming.

 

Tamara