Panama Canal

[Beevcruise]

I see that some of Norwegian’s Panama Canal cruises are only partial crossings.

 

How far into the Panama canal do they go?

 

Has anyone here been on one of these cruises and willing to comment on the experience?

 

Thank you

 

 

 

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[esm54687]

Highly recommend doing this trip once....... via a balcony. Remarkable to experience and learn the history and amazing people who built this. Partial means the cruise ship passes through the canal and turns around in Gatun Lake for the reverse trip. Typically the ship will hang out in the lake while people take excursions.

[www3traveler]

I have a friend who did this. He did an excursion where he tendered in the middle Gatun Lake to it and then the ship picked them up several hours later in Colon, Panama. He did a train ride booked through Norwegian and loved it.

[Mikel1733]

Highly recommend doing this trip once....... via a balcony. Remarkable to experience and learn the history and amazing people who built this. Partial means the cruise ship passes through the canal and turns around in Gatun Lake for the reverse trip. Typically the ship will hang out in the lake while people take excursions.

 

 

We've done the full transit, but have an upcoming partial transit early December. From what I've read our ship begins the transit at 5:00am and sails to Gatun Lake where tours depart from the ship. From what I read it looks like all tours meet the ship in Colon. If so, those on tours would not get to pass thru the locks a second time on the ship. As our ships transit begins at 5:00am it will be dark as sunrise is slated at 6:17am. So I'm not certain we will book excursions there.

[herdingdogmom]

We've done the full transit, but have an upcoming partial transit early December. From what I've read our ship begins the transit at 5:00am and sails to Gatun Lake where tours depart from the ship. From what I read it looks like all tours meet the ship in Colon. If so, those on tours would not get to pass thru the locks a second time on the ship. As our ships transit begins at 5:00am it will be dark as sunrise is slated at 6:17am. So I'm not certain we will book excursions there.

Except the excursions that go through the other locks to the pacific in small boats.

[casofilia]

We have done the full transit from the Pacific to the Atlantic, a wonderful experience. Next year we are doing the partial and the train journey.

[Oldgoat61]

We have done both the partial transit, and the full transit (2). The partial is a great cruise. NCL gives you many options of ships, ports of call, and the length of cruise. We are going again (partial) in Dec. of 2019. Pick the right ship, and itinerary that best fits what you want. You will enjoy whichever you choose.:D

[kitkat343]

I did the partial transit on Princess. Honestly, if you look at the reviews of the experience in the Canal, some people are utterly fascinated and love going through the whole transit on an excursion from a partial transit cruise. They love to experience the engineering marvel. Others have seen enough of the canal as the cruise ship goes through 3 or 4 locks, and they did not like the full transit excursion). Honestly, for me personally I liked the canal a lot, but thought that Cartagena was the highlight of this trip for me (my husband loved the canal so I was really glad we did this cruise). It's ultimately a question of if you are on the east coast (a roundtrip partial transit from florida is much more convenient) plus if you have the extra time to take a full transit. If you can't, the partial transit is a great cruise and you can still get all the way through the canal on an excursion, as was mentioned above.

[Beevcruise]

Thank you so much for all of the comments. We just booked the partial from Miami for February 2020!

 

 

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[Beevcruise]

Question.

 

Have those of you whom have done the Panama canal cruise and visited the nearby countries, gotten any medical shots to offer protection from disease/pests in those areas?

 

 

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[Turtles06]

Question.

 

Have those of you whom have done the Panama canal cruise and visited the nearby countries, gotten any medical shots to offer protection from disease/pests in those areas?

 

 

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We did a full transit of the Canal a couple of years ago, and visited our travel clinic well in advance in order to determine whether there were any immunizations we needed based on our specific itinerary and what we would be doing ashore. There were none (we'd already had Hep A, which is so prevalent world wide that it's a good idea to have anyway), but you really need to have your question answered based on where you specifically are going and what you'll be doing there.

 

We did take (and use) plenty of mosquito repellent (you'll want a good one containing either DEET or Picaridin) but never saw a single mosquito.

 

Also, I wanted to recommend to you the Ports of Call/Panama Canal forum, which is a great source of information for your trip. And do read "The Path Between the Seas." :D

 

The Canal is fascinating. Enjoy your trip!

[Beevcruise]

We did a full transit of the Canal a couple of years ago, and visited our travel clinic well in advance in order to determine whether there were any immunizations we needed based on our specific itinerary and what we would be doing ashore. There were none (we'd already had Hep A, which is so prevalent world wide that it's a good idea to have anyway), but you really need to have your question answered based on where you specifically are going and what you'll be doing there.

 

 

 

We did take (and use) plenty of mosquito repellent (you'll want a good one containing either DEET or Picaridin) but never saw a single mosquito.

 

 

 

Also, I wanted to recommend to you the Ports of Call/Panama Canal forum, which is a great source of information for your trip. And do read "The Path Between the Seas." :D

 

 

 

The Canal is fascinating. Enjoy your trip!

 

 

 

Great advice. Thank you very much.

 

 

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[kskelley40]

We did the partial transit with NCL in 2016 it was a Christmas cruise. Loved It! We had a forward facing penthouse so we had the perfect view.

They open up the bow of the ship, normally a crew area" early in the morning for eveybody. Yes, it starts the transit early in the morning, but there were plenty of lights before the sun came up. We enjoyed it so much that we have booked a full transit this January.

 

You go through the set of locks at Gatun and then go into Gatun Lake. The ship anchors there and those who have excursions are tendered away.

We stayed on the ship and enjoyed every minute of a partially empty ship. After a couple of hours, the ship will turn around and go through the locks again. After that, the ship will dock in Colon. Anyone can get off here for a couple of hours. It is a small port, but there was an area to get some local food, shop and hang out with the locals. This is where those who had excursions get back on the ship.

 

Talking with some who had done excursions, they loved them. But there was a long wait for the ship to come back.

 

There are several documentaries on Youtube about the making of the canal...highly recommend those and reading the book mentioned earlier before you go. You will have a better appreciation of the canal.

 

Happy Cruising!

[barb65]

We did a partial transit two years ago on NCL Pearl. I had a weekly pass to the Mandara Spa, which is located in the front of the ship, so on the return transit, I went to the spa and sat on a lounger and had a front row seat to enjoy the return transit. Only one other passenger was in the spa with me. Guess no one else thought to do this.