Panamal Canal-Which side of ship?

[Fun Cruiser]

We are planning a cruise on Celebrity out of Galveston for the Panama Transcanal in March 2006. I need advice on which side of the ship is preferred. The rooms we have to choose from are all in the aft on either side, or one that is midship on the Port (left) side. Recommendations please....

[WeBeGone]

I don't think it matters as most people move around the ship and are out on decks for different views instead of viewing the whole passage from their rooms.

[flamomo]

I'm not sure it really matters, at least while you are going thru the Canal. The walls of the Canal are within a few feet of the ship on both sides, so there should'nt be visibility obstructions.

Also, the Canal has "2 lanes". If you are on thru from East to West, you could see the other "lane and any ship that might be transiting in the other direction if your cabin is on the port side.We were starboard, so couldn't see the other "lane".

But we got off the ship in Gatun Lake and boarded a small ship for the transit the rest of the way thru the Canal.

You will enjoy the Canal immensely. It is amazing, especially when you think about technology available when it was built.

If you would be interested, you can go to a website where you can watch ships transiting the Canal.

Go cruisedive.com

on the opening page, on the left side, click on Site map and Search

on that page, on the right side, click on Links to Useful Sites

Click on Web cams- ships and ports

Click on Ports of Call cams

scroll down and click on Panama Canal Miraflores Locks

It is live, so there are not always ships going thru. The picture refreshes about once/minute, so you can watch the progress of the ships

[Big Al B.]

When we went through the locks from the Atlantic side we started out for the left side lock and were changed to the right side one midway. There was another ship going in the same direction that wound up in the left one alongside us. We had a port side balcony but spent the transit on the forward deck and then moving to the aft. We spent a good part of the rest of the transit on our balcony though. It's a roll of the dice which lock you will go through.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Even though you will want to be out on the deck when the ship goes through the various locks, it doesn't really matter where you cabin is.

 

Enjoy the locks - very interesting watching the mules.

[Texas_Diver]

famo,

Are you sure about that site cruisedive.com? I tried it....didn't look right to me.

[RCT]

We are planning a cruise on Celebrity out of Galveston for the Panama Transcanal in March 2006. I need advice on which side of the ship is preferred. The rooms we have to choose from are all in the aft on either side, or one that is midship on the Port (left) side. Recommendations please....

 

We just got back from the Panama Christmas cruise on Galaxy. As others have said, it doesn't make much difference which side of the ship your cabin is located as far as the canal is concerned. You will want to be outside on the deck looking from several locations. Most people tend to go the the front of the ship as you enter the locks, but it's also very interesting to go to the rear of the ship and watch other ships coming in behind you, and its not so crowded.

 

As far as cabin location, I would go with the mid ship cabin, all other things being equal. We had an outside view cabin (8092) that was a little forward of mid ship. Great central location, with less motion than the front and back. The vibration is also more noticable in the rear.

 

You'll have a great cruise. Enjoy!

[lannp]

try www.pancanal.com

This has all sorts of interesting stuff as well as the webcams

[JLC@SD]

We are planning a cruise on Celebrity out of Galveston for the Panama Transcanal in March 2006. I need advice on which side of the ship is preferred. The rooms we have to choose from are all in the aft on either side, or one that is midship on the Port (left) side. Recommendations please....

 

Best views are from the bow area or from the stern.

 

The problem with the side cabins is that the ship can tranist the left or the right canal locks and you won't know which until you enter the locks.