Princess Full Transit in February or April?

[Koz1]

We're considering doing a Princess full transit from Fort Lauderdale to Los Angeles in February or April 2015.

 

The Island Princess cruise on February 19 is listed as a 2 day canal experience and visits Aruba, Cartagena Colombia, Fuerte Amador Panama (for Panama City), Puntarenas Costa Rica and Puerto Chiapas Mexico.

 

The Coral Princess cruise on April 12 visits Aruba, Cartagena Colombia, Puntarenas Costa Rica, San Juan del Sur Nicaragua and Cabo San Lucas Mexico.

 

I've read that it's good to look for a cruise that visits Panama City when doing a full transit so the February cruise looks better in that regard. We're looking at a balcony cabin on either cruise and the February cruise is around $500 more per person than the April cruise.

 

We'd like to book on Princess as we have a Future Cruise Credit with OBC and also we've been on both the Coral and Island on Alaska cruises and would like to book on either for a Panama Canal cruise because we like the open aft decks.

 

Three of the ports are visited on both cruises but two others are different on each cruise - the February one visits Fuerte Amador Panama (for Panama City) and Puerto Chiapas Mexico while the April cruise visits San Juan del Sur Nicaragua and Cabo San Lucas Mexico. We've never visited these areas before and would appreciate some thoughts on the different ports visited on the two cruises.

[BillB48]

I would be inclined towards the February itinerary, one for the reason you stated, the cruise includes a day stop for Panama City. Many of the itineraries do not have this option, this will certainly provide you with an opportunity to see more of the Canal or take in other interesting shore excursions that Panama has to offer. The second reason is IMO, the weather in February is better, the humidity is about as good as it ever is going to get, the vegetation is still very lush and there is usually a pleasant northerly breeze.

 

While I have not visited all of the Pacific ports you listed (San Juan del Sur, Chiapas) so it is not quite fair for me to include them for a comparison. Panama and the Canal are the main attraction IMO, so I would tend to make my decision with that in mind.

[Koz1]

I would be inclined towards the February itinerary, one for the reason you stated, the cruise includes a day stop for Panama City. Many of the itineraries do not have this option, this will certainly provide you with an opportunity to see more of the Canal or take in other interesting shore excursions that Panama has to offer. The second reason is IMO, the weather in February is better, the humidity is about as good as it ever is going to get, the vegetation is still very lush and there is usually a pleasant northerly breeze.

 

While I have not visited all of the Pacific ports you listed (San Juan del Sur, Chiapas) so it is not quite fair for me to include them for a comparison. Panama and the Canal are the main attraction IMO, so I would tend to make my decision with that in mind.

 

Thanks for your advice Bill. We decided to do the February cruise and we booked it a couple of days ago.

[BillB48]

Great.... I hope you will enjoy!