Panama Canal Partial Transit and Ferry

[riddle]

Not having much luck on the Panama Canal thread so I thought I would ask it here.  We are taking a partial transit through Panama Canal on Jade soon.  We want to see more of the canal so are taking the ferry.  I had heard pretty good reviews of it but have one question which is very important to us.  My husband has bladder cancer (which is well controlled) but I am concerned if the bus to the ferry has a bathroom.  Also, (I know I said one question) I have read varying times for the bus trip to the ferry from one to three hours.  I know it can vary due to traffic but anyone who has done this, approximately how long is this bus ride?

[jdvmd]

8 minutes ago, riddle said:

Not having much luck on the Panama Canal thread so I thought I would ask it here.  We are taking a partial transit through Panama Canal on Jade soon.  We want to see more of the canal so are taking the ferry.  I had heard pretty good reviews of it but have one question which is very important to us.  My husband has bladder cancer (which is well controlled) but I am concerned if the bus to the ferry has a bathroom.  Also, (I know I said one question) I have read varying times for the bus trip to the ferry from one to three hours.  I know it can vary due to traffic but anyone who has done this, approximately how long is this bus ride?

Are you saying you plan to get off the ship and do a ferry at one of the ports?

[AllyG47]

I did the Panama Canal ferry excursion in 2016 during my partial transit on the NCL Pearl. The ferry does have a bathroom. It's located at the back of the ferry where you board. The bus ride getting to the ferry isn't very long. I'd say 15-30 minutes. Coming back, however, took a very long time. We got stuck in rush hour traffic in Panama City and it took hours to get back. I almost peed my pants (I didn't go to the bathroom on the ferry before we left - I probably should have) and ran for the bathroom as soon as we got off the bus. Even though our excursion was late getting back, we still beat the ship back to Colon so we had to wait in the terminal with thousands of other people for over an hour until it pulled in and we could board. There are bathrooms in the terminal (the ones I ran for after getting off the bus) and a few stores so we weren't completely bored or hungry. Overall, it was a fun excursion. My avatar is a pic of me taken on the ferry with the Panama Canal behind me - you'll get close enough that you can touch the walls of the canal. So cool!

Edited November 18, 2018 by AllyG47

[colleenanddoug]

Hi. 
We just got off of the Jade's trip to Panama and Central America. We did not do the ferry but the bus to the "dome" train. There may have been a bathroom on it but just for "#1" per host for the day. The trains have bathrooms in them, but would definitely not recommend the extra money for the dome car- rip off! It is the same train as the others

[10XCruiser]

Just got back a couple of days ago from 11 day Panama Canal on Jade.  The bus did have a bathroom (only urine/no poop).  Our ship was delayed getting into the canal so everything got a bit backed up.  We were on the bus going to the ferry about 45 mins to an hour.  Bathroom facilities on the ferry are fine. 2 women and 2 men.  They are located on bottom deck only.  There are a total of 3 decks. Unfortunately, due to our late arrival, our transit got delayed since we had to go through the locks with another ship since we missed our scheduled partner ship.  Therefore, our 4 hour ferry portion tuned into 7 hours with a good amount of waiting time for the large ship to catch up with us.  The total time of the whole excursion should have been 7 hours but was actually 10 hours!  It was a very long day and we got back on the ship around 7:30pm or so.  We were pretty exhausted but never regretted booking the excursion.  After all, I took the cruise for the Panama Canal and I got plenty of time on it!!!

I would like to think that the delay we experienced is not normal.  Have a great time and don't worry about the "potty" issue.