What ship is now heading to Panama Canal

[Sea and Me]

Does anyone know what ship is now heading to the Panama Canal and the route it is taking? I think it left Port Canavaral on 4/23.

 

Thanks for your help.

[DCLCrazy]

I believe it's the Wonder.

 

 

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[moki'smommy]

That was scheduled to be the Wonder.....and I haven't heard that anything changed.

[Shmoo here]

Does anyone know what ship is now heading to the Panama Canal and the route it is taking? I think it left Port Canavaral on 4/23.

 

Thanks for your help.

Yes, it's the Wonder. The itinerary (from cruise timetables):

Port Canaveral, Florida (23 Apr d1600);Cozumel, Mexico (25 Apr 0900-1645); Cartagena, Colombia (28 Apr 0630-1445); Panama Canal (Cruising Canal) (29 Apr);Puerto Vallarta, Mexico (04 May 0800-1545); Cabo San Lucas, Mexico (05 May 0800-1530); San Diego, California (07 May a0830)

[DCLCrazy]

Sounds like so much fun. I would do this in a minute if it was round trip. I'm not a fan of flying. Other cruise lines do it RT so that'll probably be the way we go. :(

 

 

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[Shmoo here]

Sounds like so much fun. I would do this in a minute if it was round trip. I'm not a fan of flying. Other cruise lines do it RT so that'll probably be the way we go. :(

 

 

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The difference is the round trip Panama Canal cruises only enter/leave the canal on the same locks/side. It's not a full transit.

[moki'smommy]

Shmoo is right--the lines that do it round trip do a "partial transit," typically with the possibility of an excursion on that day. One common excursion is moving to a smaller boat that will take you the rest of the way thru the canal and return you to the ship...but like most excursions, there is an additional fee for this.

 

We loved our Panama crossing. Unless you live in Florida, you'll be flying no matter which way you do it.

FWIW, it was one of our best vacations ever. We flew to California and did a few days at Disneyland; none of us had been there before. Then we cruised back to Florida.

Edited April 26, 2017 by moki'smommy

[Sea and Me]

Yes, it's the Wonder. The itinerary (from cruise timetables):

Port Canaveral, Florida (23 Apr d1600);Cozumel, Mexico (25 Apr 0900-1645); Cartagena, Colombia (28 Apr 0630-1445); Panama Canal (Cruising Canal) (29 Apr);Puerto Vallarta, Mexico (04 May 0800-1545); Cabo San Lucas, Mexico (05 May 0800-1530); San Diego, California (07 May a0830)

Thanks for the itinerary. My friend has a friend who is on it and now I can tell her exactly where the ship is on each day. Thanks to all who posted. Have a good day.

[moki'smommy]

I don't know the link, but there is a webcam so you can watch the ship go thru the canal...at least some parts of it.

[DCLCrazy]

We do live in Florida, near Tampa. I'm glad you mentioned the smaller boat excursion. Thank you! I didn't know that was an option. I will look out for that next time. We had a PC cruise planned for last October but our daughter needed surgery and we had to cancel it. We opted for Canadian/NE cruise this October. Will probably try again for PC next year. The one we had was round trip Miami, which is only a 4 hour drive for us and went to a lot more places than what the DCL itinerary offered.

 

 

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[PopFla]

I don't know the link' date=' but there is a webcam so you can watch the ship go thru the canal...at least some parts of it.[/quote']

 

http://www.pancanal.com/eng/photo/camera-java.html

 

There are tabs on that page for several different PC webcams.

[Essiesmom]

Unfortunately, you will not be able to watch her going through the canal because she is using the new locks, and there are no cams there:

 

EM

[STHCruising]

My understanding is that the Wonder is the first passenger ship to transit the new canal.

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

My understanding is that the Wonder is the first passenger ship to transit the new canal.

 

 

Yep. http://disneycruiselineblog.com/2017/04/disney-wonder-makes-inaugural-transit-through-the-expanded-panama-canal/

[Essiesmom]

Lots of pictures on the Canal de Panama facebook page:

 

https://www.facebook.com/canaldepanama/

[metairiegal]

**OOPS - I see someone already posted the link.

 

Disney Cruise Line Blog has an article about it and pics.

 

http://disneycruiselineblog.com/2017/04/disney-wonder-makes-inaugural-transit-through-the-expanded-panama-canal/

[BartmanLA]

Yes the Wonder was the first Passenger ship to transit the new locks! We were on board and it was amazing! Lots of fanfare (mostly on the Pacific/Panama City side) Karl Holtz flew down and boarded the Wonder at the Cocoli Locks and exchanged plaque and keys with the Panama Canal Authority officials. The new locks are really nice, the transit was very smooth, the Captain elected to use the new tugs that manage the ships in the locks to keep the ship centered in the lock chamber and not have it be tied up to one side of the lock wall as originally intended. The entire process for each of the 3 chambers took about 30 minutes, although it could have been slowed down by the fact we had a massive MSO Container ship in the locks ahead of us and it seemed to take longer to lock it through.

[tutumomickey]

Also was on the Wonder for that historic voyage. We had previously been through the original locks 5 times on the Wonder. Our personal opinion is that the original lock experience is far more interesting. The mules are more exciting that watching holding tanks drain. You are also much closer to the jungle and can see more wildlife in the original locks. But sadly the Wonder no longer fits. that said, we have the next two Panama transits booked.