Best and fastest way to book an excursion onboard

[NemoCrownie]

This will be our first Celebrity cruise and we have a LOT of OBC. I would like to know what will be the best way to book an excursion for Colon once on board. I definitely want to see the Panama Canal and it appears that many of the ship's excursions sell out. We will be Elite in a Concierge Class cabin. Should we go to the Shore Excursion person or use a Concierge. If our best option is a Concierge, where do we find them on the Equinox? Thank you.

 

Also, the Celebrity excursion details are sparse and the reviews appear to be unrelated to the excursion (1 of the 3 is for ziplining [emoji35] ). Do you have recommendations for which excursions will have availibility and are a good way to see the canal? I would enjoy seeing as much as possible - not just the canal - and to not be sitting on a bus for hours. Again, thank you for any assistance. Feeling confused because we booked this cruise for the opportunity to see the PC but it is the only port we don't have plans for.

[Azulann]

We have the same happy dilemma on our upcoming Celebrity Cruise in Europe.

We did book one ship tour before hand. It showed that there was limited space remaining for this tour in looking at it yesterday. We went ahead and booked it. Will use our OBC for other things and other ship tours that are not that unique.

 

Your only chance to see the canal up close and personal is doing a tour either to the Gatun locks and the new canal observationa area, or a tour on a small boat on the canal or lake Gatun, or take a tour to Panama city and from there see the canal area . It is about a hour drive form Colon to Panama City on the one and only highway across Panama.

I would book a ship tour before hand to make sure you see the canal. Or see if people are organizing a private canal tour on our roll call. You can ususally join a private tour with them for less cost .

Edited May 15, 2016 by Azulann

[dkjretired]

This will be our first Celebrity cruise and we have a LOT of OBC. I would like to know what will be the best way to book an excursion for Colon once on board. I definitely want to see the Panama Canal and it appears that many of the ship's excursions sell out. We will be Elite in a Concierge Class cabin. Should we go to the Shore Excursion person or use a Concierge. If our best option is a Concierge, where do we find them on the Equinox? Thank you.

 

Also, the Celebrity excursion details are sparse and the reviews appear to be unrelated to the excursion (1 of the 3 is for ziplining [emoji35] ). Do you have recommendations for which excursions will have availibility and are a good way to see the canal? I would enjoy seeing as much as possible - not just the canal - and to not be sitting on a bus for hours. Again, thank you for any assistance. Feeling confused because we booked this cruise for the opportunity to see the PC but it is the only port we don't have plans for.

 

Go directly to the shore excursion desk and book your excursion. There are people there to help you with pamphlets for all excursions. I would not bother with Concierge as this is pretty much a fluff perk and is available to everyone on the ship.

[pete_coach]

The only way of booking an excursion on board is to go to the excursion desk, therefore it is the best and fastest way.

We took the train excursion that took us by train to Panama City and back again by bus. We saw the Panama Canal and the sights along the way. We were entertained and sights were very well explained by a guide along the way. There was a small boxed lunch enroute.

We stopped in Panama City for about an hour (off the train and on a bus and into the city). Not enough to see much but it was a good stop. Then back to Colon and the ship by bus.

It was very much worth it in our opinion.

We were told by the Captain not to go into Colon. It was deemed dangerous. If you were not going on an excursion, we were told to stay on board the ship or stay within the confines of the port (ugly industrial port with a small souvenir market on the grounds)

[ClaudiaB]

Some excursions like the one in Colon where you are bused to the Canal and you actually transit two of the locks --- that sells out fast and you might want to book that ahead of time and not use your OBC. It's a good excursion and very subject to being late. We took it and were 2 hours late returning to the ship, about 45 minutes after it was scheduled to leave. We were late along with 5 or 6 other buses of our cruise passengers! Obviously they waited. We still made it to our next port on time - it wasn't that far of a sail.

 

We have over $1000 on our next two cruises and are going to be doing much the same as you. It's just that some are best done ahead of time and paid for because by the time you get on the ship it may be down to "waiting list." If you have in your mind that you want to transit some of the Canal, then I'd book ahead.

 

Down in Panama and Colombia wear plenty of sunscreen, a hat, bug repellent, bring lots of water, wear the coolest things you can, and bring a sense of humor. It also might rain off and on. You just never know. It's hot and humid down there and if you're not used to it (I am, I live in south La.) you will be surprised. I wouldn't have missed that partial transit excursion for anything. I mean, how often am I going to be in Panama?

 

I was rereading your original post and I definitely recommend the partial transit. There are lots of other things to do there too, but I'd save some of those for a second visit. Yes there is about a 60 min. bus ride but it's a good day down at the canal. It's a long day, but a buffet is served (I would caution anything with mayonnaise and just use common sense eating food on a hot boat). We personally felt that if we just went to "see" the canal at some vantage point or did a drive-by, we'd always wish we had actually experienced the lowering and raising of the locks on a ship. Things like the bathroom situation are available but remember it's a 3rd world country and you're not going to have it the same as you do on some other excursions. Just go with it and immerse into life there for a day and you won't regret it.

We knew we wouldn't be seeing much of Panama City or other things that day, but honestly we feel we did the quintessential Panama thing in case we never returned.

Edited May 15, 2016 by ClaudiaB

[Texed]

The only way of booking an excursion on board is to go to the excursion desk, therefore it is the best and fastest way.)

 

I believe you can book excursions on the interactive TV also. :)

[CruisinNole]

This will be our first Celebrity cruise and we have a LOT of OBC. I would like to know what will be the best way to book an excursion for Colon once on board. I definitely want to see the Panama Canal and it appears that many of the ship's excursions sell out.

We were on the Equinox last month and like you, had a lot of OBC. We also wanted to see the Panama Canal so we went to the shore excursion desk as soon as we finished lunch. There was no crowd and we were able to get the excursions we wanted. Took us 5 minutes. I don't remember the name of the excursion we took in Panama, but we took a bus to the old and new canals. We really enjoyed the excursion. The tour guide was excellent. It was fun seeing the canal from a different perspective since we'd transited the canal many years ago. In Cartegena, we took a ship's tour. It was boat ride across the bay to the Old City. Also a good tour.

[ondeckatsea]

We also had a lot of onboard credit due us and waited until we were onboard to book our tours. When we got to the desk on the first day two of the tours we filled completely. The girl at the desk told me not to worry and that she would put us on a waitlist. She winked and told me it would be okay. I think what happens is that they do reserve tour buses for the "early birds" and once they are fully booked they find more buses. Money is money and they make a good profit on these ship tours. We got our tickets by the second day and all was fine.

[bigbenboys]

I believe you can book excursions on the interactive TV also. :)

 

We use the interactive tv as soon as we get to our cabin. Fast and easy, no lines.

[chemmo]

If a specific tour is really important book in advance. We did this, despite having lots of OBC in Alaska for a sea plane trip and are so glad we did. Again in Panama we pre booked the partial transit cruise..

 

If you look at the total cost of your cruise, one excursion isn't that high a percentage....How would you feel if you cruised there and had to 'compromise' on your tour?

 

Lots of other trips and other things to spend your OBC on!

 

Have a wonderful cruise!

[Cruise Raider]

We were also concerned when we did this same itinerary on the Equinox last month and didn't want to miss seeing the canal....which was the main reason for the entire trip.

So, first thing is to determine how much of your onboard credit is non-refundable -- they will use this first. If most of your obc is refundable, then I wouldn't worry about it and just pay for your tour ahead of time to ensure yourself a spot.

If most of your obc is non-refundable, I have heard you can just book the excursion you want and pay for it ahead of time and then cancel it and rebook using your non-refundable obc once onboard. They will refund your money that you paid for with the pre-cruise booking that you made. Be sure to just go to the excursion desk right after you board to make the switch. It essential will just secure your reservation for the tour you want.

 

We did the tour of the Gatun Locks of the canal and Fort San Lorenzo in Panama. I was by far one of the best tours I have ever done and it was reasonably priced. I was very impressed with the fort but the highlight was watching a couple of large ships passing through the canal .... and the entire operation. I have been through the canal before but from the decks of a cruise ship ... this was an entirely different experience and so worth it! I highly recommend it. We did see the new locks (not yet in operation) but wish we'd had a bit more time to see them up close. There is a good thread by deldane (sp?) about the entire transit through the canal on a small boat, complete with pictures, that might be of interest to you. I believe she thought the time waiting to enter the canal was a bit long, just as I read from others that did this tour. It would be interesting, though ... especially if you haven't been through the canal before. I don't especially like tours that are longer than 5 hours or ones where you are on a bus for a long period of time, so the tour we picked just fit the bill and we thought it was worth the entire trip for this tour alone. Our tour guide and driver even looked for wildlife in the jungle area and stopped for a group of very active howler monkeys that were in the trees on the side of the road. That was a nice little addition to our tour.

Our guide explained the same thing as one of the other posts mentioned ... do not venture into the town of Colon itself. We drove through it on the bus and she pointed out some of the areas that proved she was right. She said her husband is a policeman in the area and also warns not to go just to walk around in that area....way too dangerous. There is one little shopping area that claims to be pretty safe for tourists ... for some reason, the name 2000 shopping center comes to mind. This is within walking distance from the ship. Anywhere else is said to be off limits in terms of safety, although we heard of many that ventured out and said it was just scummy....nothing to see.

 

Of note, the guide also told us that area of Panama had no incidence of Zika ... but would still wear bug spray to be on the safe side. We did see mosquitoes. Just because Zika may not be present in that area, there is still Chikungunya (sp?) and Dengue, which are both carried by mosquitoes. I found the deet wipes worked very well.

[NemoCrownie]

Wow, you are all amazing! The Fort Lorenzo and locks tour is one I am considering, I have been avidly following Deldane and Cindy's reviews. Cindy's review made me consider how long was too long and Deldane didn't have a positive experience with Robtab's.

 

Our other ports are all private excursions and are booked. We have the beverage package and gratuities paid and $600 nonrefundable OBC but I would not miss a "must do" excursion because of OBC. It seems that a ship's tour is the best option in Colon so that was why I am wanting information on the best way to book onboard and whether that is even a good option.

 

Again, thank you for all of the responses. You have given me a lot to consider and I especially appreciate the personal experiences.