Panama Canal: Partial vs. Full Transit???

[TOURMAN857]

We are experienced cruisers (my DW and I). My question is....What are the benefits to a Partial Transit versus a Full Transit of the Panama Canal? We are finally in a position to cross this off of our "bucket list", and would like to know if it is worth it to do the full transit. Is it ok to experience the Canal as a partial, or, if you only have the chance to do it once, is the FULL transit the way to go??? Also, which cruise line is the best for this? :)

[JimAOk1945]

We did the Partial Panama Canal cruise in December 2014 round trip from Port Everglades (Ft Lauderdale) on the Island Princess. We had time constraints or we would have taken the full transit. We had a fantastic cruise and enjoyed every minute of it.

 

There is another place on this website specifically for Panama Canal Cruises where you may post your question and do some further research. I'll insert the link below to take you there.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=89

 

If you have time, you might enjoy visiting my wife's website.

 

Panama Canal Partial Transit Cruise

 

Have a great cruise!

 

Edited November 14, 2016 by JimAOk1945

[SuiteTraveler]

I think either full or partial transit is good. Partial transit you can get off the ship and visit Panama. Full transit is an all day experience on the ship - we just loved it! However, there were many who were on the top deck and got sunburned that day. We were on the Sun Princess and many people took chairs from their cabins and sat up on the top deck - as all the loungers were full - it was like a rock concert up there. We brought a fan along as it was sweltering hot on our balcony.

 

I guess deciding which cruise to take would be a matter of if you want to be able to say you have completely gone through the Panama Canal or not.

[Shorex]

As it happens, CC has published an article about the pros and cons of Partial Transit vs Full Transit.

 

They sum up as:

"Choose a full transit of the Panama Canal if crossing the entire canal is on your bucket list, you want a luxury experience or a broad choice of cruise lines, you don't mind a 14-night or longer sailing with plenty of sea days, you can handle the more complicated travel arrangements and you don't need to spend time exploring Panama by land.

Choose a partial Panama Canal transit if you want a shorter cruise, want easy air or drive-to access to embark/debark ports, are content with a limited selection of ships and want to do some exploring in Panama."

 

Some people are content with the partial transit, others want the full experience. Some people care about shore excursions to Panama itself, others don't care. It's a matter of personal preference.

 

Once aspect I would insist upon is that the ship provide an expert commentator who broadcasts to the outside decks. Additionally, it's very beneficial to do some homework and read "The Path Between the Seas" by David McCullough. It's the story of an amazing triumph of engineering in very adverse circumstances.

 

The cruise line itself doesn't matter much. Pick the full itinerary you prefer on a line that overall meets your needs and expectations.

[Kamloops50]

We are experienced cruisers (my DW and I). My question is....What are the benefits to a Partial Transit versus a Full Transit of the Panama Canal? We are finally in a position to cross this off of our "bucket list", and would like to know if it is worth it to do the full transit. Is it ok to experience the Canal as a partial, or, if you only have the chance to do it once, is the FULL transit the way to go??? Also, which cruise line is the best for this? :)

 

If you have time and your budget can stand it . Take the full transit on Princess that stops for one night and full day near Panama City . This way you'll see the whole canal and get to take a tour as well.

[cb at sea]

We did the partial, because we wanted the same "home port"...and it gave us a GREAT overview of the canal. Something I can say I've done....

If you are some big technical canal person, then you will want the full...otherwise, the partial is fine! As you go thru the 1st 3 sets of locks, there is a navigator giving running commentary....you stop in Lake Gatun, where ship's excursion folks get off...and if you stay on the ship, it's a lovely , non-crowded day! Later that afternoon, you go back out of the same locks...and since most folks are off the ship, you will have your pick of viewing spots...unlike during the entry to the lake, where there are few easily accessible spots at the rails!

[BillB48]

The trouble with a partial transit cruise is you are only seeing about 8 miles of a 50 mile Canal. While it can certainly give you a taste of the Canal, just locking up through Gatun Locks and back down is more like going to the movies and leaving after opening credits. Even though Gatun Locks are the biggest in the system, you don't get to experience Gatun Lake crossing where you follow the path of the Chagres River, Gaillard Cut where the bulk of the excavation took place, the two Pacific Locks, the two (and soon to be 3) bridges that span the Canal and all the great scenery that goes along with it.

 

If a partial transit is all that you can swing at this time, it is a great alternate choice and there is the partial transit of the Pacific Locks/Gaillard Cut shore excursion you can select that will help fill in the blanks left by only locking through Gatun Locks

 

Disclaimer: Princess is offering a partial transit with a roundtrip from California... this is a great partial! OK, you don't lock through Gatun Locks, but you do go through the Pacific Locks, Gaillard Cut and cross Gatun Lake. At this point you can take ship sponsored tours and then spend the night in Gatun Lake and then retrace your route back through the Canal. You practically get two complete transits!

[Krazy Kruizers]

We have done several partial and quite a few full transits of the canal.

We much prefer to do the full transit.

[marco]

We've done the full once, partial 3X. I'd recommend partial. For us anyway, the point of doing this cruise is to experience the locks. You go in through 3, float around the lake, go out through 3. If you do the full, you go in through 3 from the Pacific and out through 3 into the Caribbean. Either way, you experience 6 "ups and downs". We're snow birds, so to/from FLL means no flying. Depending where you are from, it could mean a transcontinental flight and the expense thereof (for us, a BIG negative) the couple of west coast Mexican ports we stopped at prior to the canal were a big disappointment. Doing the partial, you go to a few Caribbean ports, as well which we much more prefer. Doing the full, you cruise up a river. It's hot, humid, the air is stagnant and you see tropical jungle on your left and right. On our sailing anyway, it was much too uncomfortable to stay out by the pool or pretty much anywhere else outside while transiting. If you must to the full to say you've done it...then do it, otherwise I'd go with the partial.

[JimAOk1945]

The trouble with a partial transit cruise is you are only seeing about 8 miles of a 50 mile Canal. While it can certainly give you a taste of the Canal, just locking up through Gatun Locks and back down is more like going to the movies and leaving after opening credits. Even though Gatun Locks are the biggest in the system, you don't get to experience Gatun Lake crossing where you follow the path of the Chagres River, Gaillard Cut where the bulk of the excavation took place, the two Pacific Locks, the two (and soon to be 3) bridges that span the Canal and all the great scenery that goes along with it.

 

If a partial transit is all that you can swing at this time, it is a great alternate choice and there is the partial transit of the Pacific Locks/Gaillard Cut shore excursion you can select that will help fill in the blanks left by only locking through Gatun Locks

 

Disclaimer: Princess is offering a partial transit with a roundtrip from California... this is a great partial! OK, you don't lock through Gatun Locks, but you do go through the Pacific Locks, Gaillard Cut and cross Gatun Lake. At this point you can take ship sponsored tours and then spend the night in Gatun Lake and then retrace your route back through the Canal. You practically get two complete transits!

I looked for the partial transit round trip from California on the Princess website and don't see it anywhere. I wonder if it's all booked up?!? :(

[Flatbush Flyer]

Full transit (SF-NY) with extra land stay at each end. Also important is what lectures/education accompanies the trip.

Recently we did the SF to NY canal cruise on Oceania, which featured the most wonderful lectures by a retired Fresno State U archeologist whose PhD research was on (you guessed it) canals! He really added tremendous dimensions to the experience with wide ranging discussions meshing engineering with history, culture, economics, etc.

[BillB48]

I looked for the partial transit round trip from California on the Princess website and don't see it anywhere. I wonder if it's all booked up?!? :(

 

I went looking for it too and the only thing I found for that sailing was no cabins available and a number to call. Since it was supposed to sail somewhere around the 16th of November for 19 days and they have other sailings offered in November... makes you wonder if they cancelled it??

 

They offered that cruise a few years ago but had dropped it... can't believe the cruise this year would not have been a good seller.

[Cuervosar]

We are experienced cruisers (my DW and I). My question is....What are the benefits to a Partial Transit versus a Full Transit of the Panama Canal? We are finally in a position to cross this off of our "bucket list", and would like to know if it is worth it to do the full transit. Is it ok to experience the Canal as a partial, or, if you only have the chance to do it once, is the FULL transit the way to go??? Also, which cruise line is the best for this? :)

 

I would recommend the full transit. If you're looking for the benefit of it, I guess it would be the ability to say "I've been through the Panama Canal" instead of "I've been in the Panama Canal." But kidding aside, when you do the complete transit, it is an all day experience and for some reason there is a bit of adventure to it.

 

The slow cruise from Lake Gatun to the Pacific side (or reverse I guess) is an amazing experience. You're on this gargantuan vessel just skimming through the jungle and at times the shoreline is just yards away. Add that to going in, up, and down through all of the locks, and watching all the activity that goes along with that, and it becomes a very memorable day and trip.

 

I've actually been through twice now. Both times with X and would recommend that line if they suit your tastes.

 

I was told that if I only had the chance to do it once, do the full. I did, and we were so amazed we did it again. Now I want to do it for a third time, but this time West to East and using the new locks.

[Cuervosar]

We've done the full once, partial 3X. I'd recommend partial. For us anyway, the point of doing this cruise is to experience the locks. You go in through 3, float around the lake, go out through 3. If you do the full, you go in through 3 from the Pacific and out through 3 into the Caribbean. Either way, you experience 6 "ups and downs". We're snow birds, so to/from FLL means no flying. Depending where you are from, it could mean a transcontinental flight and the expense thereof (for us, a BIG negative) the couple of west coast Mexican ports we stopped at prior to the canal were a big disappointment. Doing the partial, you go to a few Caribbean ports, as well which we much more prefer. Doing the full, you cruise up a river. It's hot, humid, the air is stagnant and you see tropical jungle on your left and right. On our sailing anyway, it was much too uncomfortable to stay out by the pool or pretty much anywhere else outside while transiting. If you must to the full to say you've done it...then do it, otherwise I'd go with the partial.

 

You have a valid point on the Mexican ports, and here I think you need to look at itineraries closely. If you do the full, chances are you are stopping in Mexico somewhere, but I've noticed that instead of 3 stops in Mexico, many are now doing 1 or 2 and adding in Costa Rica, Honduras, or something else.

 

Cabo is not a bad stop, we actually kind of enjoy it. Our next favorite is Puerto Vallarta but we've been here many times and have found some off the track restaurants that we keep to ourselves.

 

Our all time favorite Mexican port however is Huatulco. We relentlessly made fun of this stop on one of our trips because we a: couldn't pronounce it, and b: had never heard of it. Turned out to be one of the best port calls we have ever had. Did a bit of snorkeling and exploring, and had the best guide you could ever hope for. It was a perfect day.

 

Huatulco doesn't seem to come up in many itineraries, but if it does, don't fear it. On our next trip through that area we will actually search out a line that stops there or we won't go. It was that good for us.

Edited November 15, 2016 by Cuervosar

[packedandready]

We did a partial. Like has been posted, on the partial you have the opportunity to get off the ship for excursions. Our excursion was getting on a much smaller boat and completing the transit. That way we did get to see the full locks from the perspective of both a large ship and a much smaller one. We were bused back to the ship after the excursion.

[Markanddonna]

If you have time and can swing the expense, do the full. Going under the Bridge of the Americas was great. That said, the two engineer guys in our travel group LOVED every minute of the experience. We stopped at Acapulco (scary with all the POLICE presence), Huatulco, which was lovely except we witnessed people with binder of "girls" soliciting for them on the beach, a Cabo which was lovely and our favorite. I'm not a fan of any of these Mexican Ports, so they certainly aren't a must reason for a full transit. Ours was 19 days and the best ports were those on the western coast: Astoria, San Francisco, Victoria CA and then Seattle.

 

The big deal is experiencing a lock. I read someone described it as watching paint dry...not too far off.

[geoherb]

We had a great time on our partial transit cruise. We were on the Island Princess (before the refurb). At the time, we did not have a choice. A full transit cruise was too long for me to get off from work. I'll be retired early next year and ready to go back for a full transit. We also want to take some trans-Atlantic cruises and Hawaiian and South Pacific ones. Plus I want to go back to Alaska next summer, maybe sailing northbound, touring on our own, then southbound on a different ship. It's going to be nice not to have to worry about vacation schedules anymore.

[skrufy]

We did the full transit a few years ago and would not do it any other way. Going thru both sets of locks and thru the cut was amazing. Ill pass up a stop in Panama to sit on deck and look at a marvelous piece of engineering pass before me.