panama canal over new years - celebrity galaxy

[cbfg]

My family and I are thinking about taking the 11 day panama canal cruise on the Celebrity Galaxy 12/29. My kids are 9 and 12 and have been on 3 cruises before and love cruising, but never during winter break. There are alot of "at sea" days on this trip and they normally love these days. My concern is will the weather be warm enough at this time of the years for us to be spending at lot of time at the pool.

 

We love Celebrity but just want to make sure this is a good choice for us.

[canderson]

My family and I are thinking about taking the 11 day panama canal cruise on the Celebrity Galaxy 12/29. My kids are 9 and 12 and have been on 3 cruises before and love cruising, but never during winter break. There are alot of "at sea" days on this trip and they normally love these days. My concern is will the weather be warm enough at this time of the years for us to be spending at lot of time at the pool.

 

We love Celebrity but just want to make sure this is a good choice for us.

Good heavens, yes! We have seen many of these same ports in mid-December on the Summit and mid-December on the Infinity trans-Canal, and believe me, once you start heading south, it gets bloody hot in December! Check the weather links from the Celebrity ports of call on your itinerary. The pool is going to feel very good! It may well be a bit cool leaving Galveston, but that won't last long. By the time you reach Cozumel, it'll be T-Shirts and shorts -- average high there is 82F for both December and January.

[excitedofharpenden]

We found just the first and last day at sea cool, but the rest of the time it was warm then hot. The sea will be a bit cooler in December, but I'd say still, that apart from those days at each end, you should be fine by the pool. I hope the sun shines on you:)

 

Phil

[Live_2_cruise05]

Yall get on when we get off!!

 

Have a great cruise!

[cookie1961]

Hi there,

 

We are booked on this cruise. My dh, myself and my two girls who will be 15 and 11 years old, respectively. We are all really excited. It will be our second cruise and our first with Celebrity. We were on Radiance of the Seas in 2003.

 

I have to agree with the previous responses, although Galveston won't be very hot, the weather really heats up after that :) I was researching the weather patterns and it seems that Panama could be very very hot and humid.

 

I hope to see you and your family on the ship :)

 

Teri

[socialworker]

So glad to hear that we should have warm weather once we leave Galveston area.

 

Judy

[Phyljim]

We took a similiar itinerary last year on the Grand Princess, departed Galveston on 28 Dec. Temps just under 70... We had a very cold front sweep down through Texas during the Christmas holidays.. As we went south things really warmed up, the cold front seemed to have swept the humidity levels away! We had temps of 80's and 90's in all the ports, but humidity levels were lower than norm. Was lovely. Panama Canal was right at 90....

 

You will be very comfortable in the swimming pools!

 

We are booked on the Galaxy, (our first Celebrity) for the New Years cruise this year. And hoping we enjoy the same type of weather.

 

Phyl

[cookie1961]

Hi everyone,

 

I just received my confirmation number for this cruise and I was trying to register for the CC party but I am having difficulty :(

 

I recorded the confirmation number, the ship and date of sailing. After I hit submit I get the message that they can't find the web page.

 

Can anyone help me with this :(

 

Teri

[canderson]

Hi everyone,

 

I just received my confirmation number for this cruise and I was trying to register for the CC party but I am having difficulty :(

 

I recorded the confirmation number, the ship and date of sailing. After I hit submit I get the message that they can't find the web page.

 

Can anyone help me with this :(

 

Teri

It's working from here today. Are you using the following link? I recall that there's another one floating around that I also had trouble with about 6 months ago.

 

https://secure.celebrity.com/cruisecritic/entry.asp

[MortgageChick]

We booked this cruise last week and the price was just awesome. There were lots of staterooms left in all categories. We were able to get our choice of insides on Sky Deck for an incredible price, not just a guarantee. We had been booked on the NCL SUn out of New Orleans for New Years, but this cruise was longer, better itinerary and less $. Plus we prefer X.

[canderson]

We booked this cruise last week and the price was just awesome. There were lots of staterooms left in all categories. We were able to get our choice of insides on Sky Deck for an incredible price, not just a guarantee. We had been booked on the NCL SUn out of New Orleans for New Years, but this cruise was longer, better itinerary and less $. Plus we prefer X.

I assume you beat the current X price of $1450 for a Sky Deck Cat 9, then. Was that part of the special that X ran last week, or did you use a TA?

 

We're two cruises ahead of your date, and Cat 9's are now going for $1235. SS's are now $300 higher than they were when we booked a while back. And yet there are still all kinds of cabins available. Wonder why they've raised prices?

[cookie1961]

Hi everyone,

 

I finally got it to work :) I am now registered for the CC party :)

[socialworker]

On this particular sailing, we will be "cruising" the Panama Canal, which is different than the other 11 night Galaxy sailings, in that no excursions will be offered within the canal. According to the Captain's Club rep., Panama Canal excursions will be offered from Puerto Limon, but I saw no such tours on X's website. Hopefully they will be added closer to sailing date.

 

Does anyone have any additional information to share?

[canderson]

On this particular sailing, we will be "cruising" the Panama Canal, which is different than the other 11 night Galaxy sailings, in that no excursions will be offered within the canal. According to the Captain's Club rep., Panama Canal excursions will be offered from Puerto Limon, but I saw no such tours on X's website. Hopefully they will be added closer to sailing date.

 

Does anyone have any additional information to share?

I was advised this a.m. by the CC desk that the window for viewing and booking excurions online has either been changed or is changing shortly to 3 months prior to the sail date, so it will evidently be a while before any of us with December Galaxy sailings will know much.

[socialworker]

At this point, my primary concern is knowing whether I'll actually get to experience the Panama Canal on this sailing...or not. And I'd like to know prior to final payment becoming due.

 

Our itinerary doesn't even show "partial transit" but instead uses the term "cruising." Surely someone at Celebrity revised the itinerary, so perhaps it's just a matter of finding out who that person is and then contacting them for clarification. Yep, probably not as easy as it sounds.

[Don Haynes]

Its a partial transit, cruising Lake Gatun. You'll go through the Gatun locks, cruise the lake, and then cruise out through the Gatun locks, and have enough time the next day at Puerto Limonr to visit the canal with the land excursions. Its not 100 miles across the isthumus, a nice short bus ride.

[canderson]

Its a partial transit, cruising Lake Gatun. You'll go through the Gatun locks, cruise the lake, and then cruise out through the Gatun locks, and have enough time the next day at Puerto Limonr to visit the canal with the land excursions. Its not 100 miles across the isthumus, a nice short bus ride.

?? Puerto Limon is a pretty good hike from Panama (nearly 200mi as the crow flies, and much further by coast road), and is the port visited the day before Panama on these cruises. The round trip would eat up the whole day unless transport was via air.

 

These Galaxy cruises take you in through the Gatun locks. They toss out the anchor in Gatun Lake. Anyone with a shore excursion gets tendered off there. The ship turns around and heads back for the Gatun locks at about 3pm with those passengers that didn't get off the boat, and docks at Cristobal Pier and waits for everyone to find their way back from their excursions. All happens in one long day.

[socialworker]

?? These Galaxy cruises take you in through the Gatun locks. They toss out the anchor in Gatun Lake. Anyone with a shore excursion gets tendered off there. The ship turns around and heads back for the Gatun locks at about 3pm with those passengers that didn't get off the boat, and docks at Cristobal Pier and waits for everyone to find their way back from their excursions. All happens in one long day.

 

That's what I initially thought too, but the itinerary of this particular sailing doesn't show a stop at Cristobal Pier, just Panama Canal "cruising" from 7:00 am to 3:00 pm - end of story.

[canderson]

That's what I initially thought too, but the itinerary of this particular sailing doesn't show a stop at Cristobal Pier, just Panama Canal "cruising" from 7:00 am to 3:00 pm - end of story.

Just checked the X web site, and I see what you mean ;) . Looks like those that get off the boat in Gatun Lake for their excursions will just have to helicopter in to the ship on the fly!!

 

Seriously -- back up to one of the itineraries just prior to yours in December and you'll see what it looks like. They've forgotten to include both lines of data for 4 January is all.

[socialworker]

I'll keep checking the itinerary on X's website to see if anyone corrects what's currently posted. This sailing also seems to have an extra "at sea" day, so maybe they need to get going sooner. Only time will tell....

[socialworker]

Good News! The itinerary has been changed slightly, but now includes a stop at Cristobal Pier from 3-7 pm. I'm assuming this means we'll be able to take excursions from Gatun Lake.

[Cruisin-Family]

A little off your question, but:

 

When we took the 11 day through the canal, it was October, and we were in our early 30's. (weather was HOT!!!) Everyone thought we were honeymooners becuz they were all much older than us. I don't want to offend anyone, but they were really older than us..... I think partially becuz of the length of the trip - they were retired - no job to return to, thus no 'vacation bank of time' they were tapping into....

 

Hopefully, since it is during winter break there will be other children onboard for yours to meet.

 

Enjoy.