MSC Divina Panama Canal Tours

[potsie57]

We are booked for a cruise on the Divina on Jan. 2020 going to the Panama Canal.  I am looking at the Panama Canal tour for 159.00 per person, guess it is an 8 hour tour.  Is it really worth the money?  Is there any other tour to see some of the canal that is not as long?  I also was looking at the train tour that goes to Panama City but I don't know how much of the Canal you will see.  Any tips would be appreciated!  Thanks

[rbv58]

The train tour was okay, but you don't see much of the canal, just glimpses here and there.  And, only part of the tour is on the train.  The second half is on a tour bus.  The bus is quite nice, but the entire tour is not on the train.  Others in our party took the canal cruise tour and loved it.  That is what we have booked for our excursion this time.

[potsie57]

Thank you so much for the reply!!

[Cruisergal1208]

We have done the locks by ferry tour and it was a good experience. See how  it really  works. 

[sptrout]

I have been on five cruises that visited Panama, but not on MSC. Therefore I cannot comment directly about tours offered for your cruise. First I am assuming that you have not been to Panama before. With that in mind my thoughts are:

1. You will be docking in Colon. You will not see any of the Canal while in this port. There is not much of anything at the port within safe walking distance except for a few stores. There is nothing to see in the city and you should not walk beyond the view of your ship. Colon is an industrial port city, not your typical Carabean port of call.

2. To actually see the Canal you must take a tour. You may be able to find a private tour, but I would not take one unless someone can recommend one here on CC.

3. As previously mentioned the train is a one-way train ride with a bus return. If you dig deep enough within CC you may find reviews that say that the train trip is round trip. That was the way it was when we took this tour, it was excellent. BTW - this is a real working passenger train between Colon and Panama City when not carrying tourists. 

4. The ferry tour is popular because it puts you into the Canal. Some have complained in the past that it is too long.

5. Tours to native Indian tribes are also popular. We did this a few years ago and it was very interesting. A good way to see some of the jungle.

 

Panama is a beautiful country with a lot of history connected to the US. Do not miss out on the opportunity by staying on or near the ship.

[gtaylor]

We cruised on the Divina in November of 2016, with a call at Colon, Panama.

We booked an MSC excursion, and glad that we did.

Boarded a bus just off the gangway and headed out.

Horrible traffic from even getting out of the port area, worse outside.

We were supposed to visit a canal lock on the way to the train, but the traffic was so bad that we had to skip it.

Got to the train and boarded. The ride was fairly comfortable and there were many glimpses of the canal and the lake, but not like you got to experience it. Wife got free coffee and I sprang for a Panama Beer, cause I just had to for a few bucks. They had sodas, beer and sandwiches and snacks for sale.

At the end of the train ride we departed into the terminal (souvenir shop) before we boarded another bus.

Received our 'lunch' and a bottle of water as we boarded. Sandwich was a stale roll and a single very thin slice of turkey or something that was absolutely inedible.

The bus took us through Balboa City and out to a crowded tourist trap gift shop/restaurant/food court spot with a nice view across the bay to Downtown Panama City and Trump Tower (at the time).

Heading back to the ship there wasn't too much traffic, but still heavy.

The tour guide announced that he had contacted the ship and we would be able to divert to experience one of the locks of the new canal and the bus literally cheered.

To get there we drove over a 'bridge' on one of the closed old locks.

It was a great experience to see both canals and we happened to see a HUGE mega cargo ship navigating the canal with literally 18" to spare on each side. Saw the water levels rising gates opening, etc. It was awesome.

Back onto the bus and headed back to the ship.

WE WERE THREE HOURS LATE AND THE SHIP WAITED FOR US. HUNDREDS (?) OF PEOPLE ON BOARD CHEERED AS WE GOT OFF THE BUS (IN THE RAIN).

If you are considering a Panama excursion, I'd advise that you book through the ship.

gary

[SailBreakaway]

Anyone know if MSC might be arranging canal passages with the ships in the future? I know they have to reserve them really far in advance with the canal authority and it isn’t cheap to make a reservation. Thx!

[sverigecruiser]

On 7/4/2019 at 10:57 PM, potsie57 said:

We are booked for a cruise on the Divina on Jan. 2020 going to the Panama Canal.  I am looking at the Panama Canal tour for 159.00 per person, guess it is an 8 hour tour.  Is it really worth the money?  Is there any other tour to see some of the canal that is not as long?  I also was looking at the train tour that goes to Panama City but I don't know how much of the Canal you will see.  Any tips would be appreciated!  Thanks

 

We were on Divina in February. We did not took a tour going through any locks but lots of people did. One tour, I'm not sure if it was the same you are looking at, was extremely late back to the ship so they had a really long day. The delay was caused by traffic on the streets back to the ship. That's something worth consider.  

[GOLDENBONNY]

We took Embera village tour with MSC .It was most amazing tour we ever had. We did not see Canal on this tour but we did not care at all.