Panama from Galveston

[awestover89]

Put a (refundable) deposit down to lock in the price. Still not sure if we'd want to swap the TA for this to save on airfare and do a TA in a few years.

[twocc's]

Booked inside for $442.00 pp cruise fare today. Really happy.

 

Charles and Connie

[pspercy]

Just a port call at Colon.

 

True, but you don't get charged canal toll$ :)

[internetwhiz]

Booked inside for $442.00 pp cruise fare today. Really happy.

 

 

 

Charles and Connie

 

 

That's a great price.

[pspercy]

Of course RCL website just went on the blink:(

[Hoopster95]

You could not have swerved into a more perfect analogy! lol If you would like to get a taste of the grittiness of Colon, take a look at the beginning of the James Bond movie "Quantum of Solace." The scenes of the movie that depict Port au Prince were actually filmed in Colon.

 

Hah! Yep. Lots of google images of "downtown Colon" or "Quantum of Solace Colon".

Here's one I took out of our tour bus. The entire 1-2 mile core downtown area leading into and out of the pier/port area looks like this....

 

And at that time there was not really a "fenced" area for the pier although that may have changed. I understand at that time one of the buildings close to the pier was being converted to a local souvenir/cruise ship shopping type of area, but I have no clue. Also at that time the gated "Colon Free Zone" was available, but I was not interested in a shopping mall. While my experience in Colon was 2013, I wish to mention again my excursions out of downtown Colon and out to Embara, Gatun Locks, San Lorenzo Fort were outstanding

[internetwhiz]

Hah! Yep. Lots of google images of "downtown Colon" or "Quantum of Solace Colon".

 

Here's one I took out of our tour bus. The entire 1-2 mile core downtown area leading into and out of the pier/port area looks like this....

 

 

 

 

And at that time there was not really a "fenced" area for the pier although that may have changed. I understand at that time one of the buildings close to the pier was being converted to a local souvenir/cruise ship shopping type of area, but I have no clue. Also at that time the gated "Colon Free Zone" was available, but I was not interested in a shopping mall. While my experience in Colon was 2013, I wish to mention again my excursions out of downtown Colon and out to Embara, Gatun Locks, San Lorenzo Fort were outstanding

 

 

I'm sure most folks will want to do an excursion to the Canal and locks.

 

To other posters, the pictures and description are no worse than other ports. Personally I think it's exciting to have a cruise for more than 7 nights going anywhere different from Galveston. Costa Rica is a great addition as well.

[Hoopster95]

To other posters, the pictures and description are no worse than other ports.

In real life, it's much worse than other ports in my experience. You have to go through this to get out of the port area to the Highways and out to the Locks. Have you ever ported there?

 

Personally I think it's exciting to have a cruise for more than 7 nights going anywhere different from Galveston. Costa Rica is a great addition as well.

Absolutely! I actually looked up pricing for myself just to see :cool:

[L454S]

Did this 2 years ago on the Equinox. The tour includes a bus pickup at port, then a long bus ride almost to the Pacific side. You then board an air conditioned ferry boat with buffet lunch and soft drinks and travel back towards the Caribbean through Gatun Lake on the ferry. The ferry then makes the lock transit to the Caribbean and back to your ship in port in Colon.

 

I see the ship gets there at 11AM, I am betting the tour will be there, but cut a bit shorter for the lesser time in port. Don't miss it, this was a great tour. Hoping to get a tour of the new locks, I just booked a balcony on deck 7. The price of the tour was a lot less than the HIGH port taxes on a trans canal.

 

Not to mention....No Air Fares!!!. It's a 4.5 hour drive

[DHADEN]

Just booked Panama from Galveston. Woohoo. Just had to tell someone that would understand.

 

 

Booked mine this morning too! Got a great deal on a balcony and $100 OBC! I have a feeling this one-time 9-day cruise will fill up fast! And it just opened up for bookings two days ago! Love the itinerary! Never been to Panama or Costa Rica! I'm super excited!

 

Thank you to the person who started this thread. I moved from our Liberty cruise in December 2018 to this one. So excited! We have been thru the canal before and have done all these ports but love having the chance to drive to a cruise with a different itenary. We didn't wait but booked quick and got a great cabin. So again thank you!

Since we have been thru the locks that's not a big deal and I'm sure we can find an excursion we will like and we get to stop in Costa Rica again.

 

I also cancelled our fall '18 Liberty cruise in favor of this one. I'm ready to go to some new ports! :D

 

Exciting! LOVE the Enchantment. I've sailed on her both before she was stretched and after. Hoping to book Panama myself in 2018!

 

Put a (refundable) deposit down to lock in the price. Still not sure if we'd want to swap the TA for this to save on airfare and do a TA in a few years.

 

Booked inside for $442.00 pp cruise fare today. Really happy.

Charles and Connie

 

We have also booked this cruise!!

 

Here's the link to the Rollcall I just started:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=259

 

Come join in; I think this is going to be a GREAT cruise out of Galveston!

[pspercy]

Booked:)

 

Ended up calling C&A number, first one barely understandable, said no balconies available! Knew that was wrong so ended call and tried again, all went smoothly. Website still not working here.

 

Wish we were stopping at Cartagena too!

 

Thanks to OP for the alert.

[karen s]

Gotta thank the OP as well....booked this cruise this morning

 

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[L454S]

If a ferry tour is offered(I am betting on it)......

 

[telecruiser]

In real life, it's much worse than other ports in my experience. You have to go through this to get out of the port area to the Highways and out to the Locks. Have you ever ported there?

 

We did a Colon port stop following a full canal transit in 2013. We did the Panama City excursion through the RCI offerings.

I agree that Colon outside of the pier area looked dismal and the tour bus operator warned us not to venture beyond the pier area.

 

Contrast this to Falmouth (2012). We talked to a police woman at the protected area gate and she said we would be fine walking around the actual town. Here are some photos. It was quite nice walking around and we even talked with some locals that were just hanging out by the shops.

 

The following year, when we saw Colon, we said no way. That photo that Hoopster posted was nicer than I remember!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 3, 2017 by telecruiser

[pezie]

Porting at the docks in Colon and not entering the Canal has been SOP for years. It saves the high costs of actually entering the Canal, not to mention the time required...

 

 

Panama cruises have been confusing for years. There are full transits, partial transits, and docking in Colon. There use to be another option, but that version is gone; Christabol.

 

 

 

So, what about the Celebrity Panama Canal cruises? They pass through, correct? Would that be considered a full transit?

 

 

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[CRUISEFAN0001]

So, what about the Celebrity Panama Canal cruises? They pass through, correct? Would that be considered a full transit?

 

 

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Yes.

 

Partial transits go about 1/2 way through...then turn around in Lake Gatun and go back out again. There are several cruise lines that offer this (Princess for example), and they average being a 10-day cruise.

 

Full transits go through the complete canal. Celebrity and other cruise lines do that, and those cruises average 14-16 days.

[pspercy]

Carnival is offering a few 14dy round-trips out of Galveston that do a side trip into the canal, nice itineraries but too $$$$ for us at present.

[kalliekae]

A friend of mine went on a Princess cruise last October that did a full transit. They started in FLL and ended in San Diego. Long cruise but so worth it, she said.

 

We sailed with HAL several years ago and did a partial transit. We spent a couple of days in Costa Rica on HAL excursions before boarding the ship. CR is beautiful! Thank you to the op for posting the cruise on Enchantment. We are interested. I think it would be fun to be on a ferry going through the locks.

[ohyes]

Booked this today....saw mention of it on another site from someone on this forum and in our town. We think this will be a great experience. This is the longest we have ever had to wait and 9 days is the longest cruise we have taken.

 

We are headed toward an adventure. :)

[Hoopster95]

For those of you booking this cruise, it looks like it will be an active roll call.

When I visited Panama I used this company for both Gatun/Miraflores Locks, full Panama city tour, combo San Lorenzo/Embara tour, and transfer to Airport. Always on time, always excellent service

http://www.myfriendmario.com/

Click on their shore excursions.... looks like they offer a Locks + Embara Village combo shore excursion for the day $85pp... top two things to do and see in my humble opinion for an outstanding day :)

.

[BillB48]

Yes.

 

Partial transits go about 1/2 way through...then turn around in Lake Gatun and go back out again. There are several cruise lines that offer this (Princess for example), and they average being a 10-day cruise.

 

Full transits go through the complete canal. Celebrity and other cruise lines do that, and those cruises average 14-16 days.

 

While most partial transits are the 10/11 day variety that round trip out of Florida, sail to the Canal, lock through Gatun Locks, turn around and head back down. You see about 8 miles of the Canal. On the other hand, Princess has a couple of cruises that originate in LA, sail to the Canal and enter on the Pacific side. They then pass through the two Pacific Locks, the Cut and sail to the same spot (near Gatun Locks) where they will offer ship's excursions. After spending the night in Gatun Lake the ship will sail back out the Pacific side ending up in LA. That partial transits provides you with about 42 miles of the Canal... the down side for some is that it is a 19 day round trip.

[Wanna Be Retired]

We were stationed at Howard Air Force Base and want to go back just to see. We are booked on the cruise out of Miama but asked my TA to look at changing. Love the fact we can drive instead of fly. I know you can't ever go back, but it sure would be good to see the canal again.

 

When we were there a rumor was going around that The New Kids On The Blick would be going through the canal on a cruise ship. My daughter nearly died! We went to the canal and stood waiting for this cruise ship. One came through at the right time and she waved so hard I thought her arm would fall off. Who knows if they were on there or not, but I think we could see her heart beating through her clothes!

[DHADEN]

Booked

Ended up calling C&A number, first one barely understandable, said no balconies available! Knew that was wrong so ended call and tried again, all went smoothly. Website still not working here.

Wish we were stopping at Cartagena too!

Thanks to OP for the alert.

 

Gotta thank the OP as well....booked this cruise this morning

 

 

 

Booked this today....saw mention of it on another site from someone on this forum and in our town. We think this will be a great experience. This is the longest we have ever had to wait and 9 days is the longest cruise we have taken.

We are headed toward an adventure.

 

For those of you booking this cruise, it looks like it will be an active roll call.

................

 

Once again, here is the link to our Rollcall:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=53707883&posted=1#post53707883

 

Come on in and introduce yourselves; Hoopster is right - it is going to be a fun Rollcall!;p

[Beeglsruul]

Considering booking this one, but it's a long time until November 2018.

 

 

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[Wanna Be Retired]

We switched our cruise leaving out of Miami to this one! Good thing I got the refundable cabin! I am so excited about this cruise! We have several booked between now and then! I am so happy!