Transfer to Ship Panama City to Colon

[losercruiser]

Hi,

We are on the Pride for 10 day Panama Canal/Costa Rica - we are flying in the night before and was wondering if its better to get a taxi the next morning to take us to the ship in Colon or take a taxi to the Bristol Hotel (Windstar hotel) and use the Windstar transfer for $75pp.  Has anyone taken taxi from airport area hotel to the ship ?  If so, what was the cost and how long did it take?

 

Thank you

[ridethetide]

We have taken the Windstar transport three times and it always worked out really well. I would guess that a taxi would be really expensive since it is 43 miles one-way.

[Alturia]

We've done this twice and used the Windstar transfer both times for the same reason as Ridethetide - it's along taxi ride to Colon.

[faze41]

Have taken taxi from Airport to Colon, it was $90 for the two of us, plus tip.

[ridethetide]

The Windstar transport has a guide on it so the ride is informative as well.  Also, if you are on the Windstar bus and it is delayed for any reason, the ship will wait for you.  This happened to us once when the bus broke down an hour into the drive.

[Karen13]

We docked in Colon this January and had booked a taxi to Panama City with Amber Moon taxis for $105 for the two of us. Driver was waiting at the pier and journey was fine, took just over an hour.

[CruiseOrLand]

Colon is not attractive and has nothing to do if you arrive early. The Bristol isn’t in that interesting an area but at least it is very safe and you can walk around. We stayed independently at the Bristol, taxied to the old town in the morning, and used Windstar’s bus transfer. It ended up being free because of Windstar ship delays. See my review for the gory details, https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=649163

[Ski Mom 2]

We arrived a few days early into Panama City prior to our Panama Canal Cruise. We stayed in a lovely hotel in the old part of town. We asked our hotel to find us a driver to take the four of us to Colon. Our driver had worked for the US on the Canal and gave us a wonderful history lesson as he drove us. It’s been 4 years since our cruise and there were 4 of us so I don’t remember how much it cost...maybe $125?

[losercruiser]

Thanks for your feedback.  We booked the transfer with Windstar from Bristol Hotel.

[beej210]

So we fly into Panama City at 2pm on Friday and our cruise doesn't leave out of Colon till 5pm Saturday.  Any suggestions on what to do that night in Panama City?  And the following day, is there a guide that could take us somewhere on the way to Colon?  Or are we better off wandering around the city and just taking a taxi to Colon?  Thanks!!

[Chipshot from Michigan]

Does Windstar's bus stop at the locks/museum?  Learning about the canal and seeing ships going through a lock as a prelude to experiencing it onboard would be a nice touch.

[ridethetide]

2 hours ago, Chipshot from Michigan said:

Does Windstar's bus stop at the locks/museum?  Learning about the canal and seeing ships going through a lock as a prelude to experiencing it onboard would be a nice touch.

We have taken the WS bus to Colon three times.  The ride was moderated and interesting, but it did not stop at the museum.

[Chipshot from Michigan]

5 hours ago, ridethetide said:

We have taken the WS bus to Colon three times.  The ride was moderated and interesting, but it did not stop at the museum.

I enjoyed the observation deck's perspective.

[new_cruiser]

Based on a recommendation by sb44, we contacted  Vincent Scott (phone is +50766547771 email vscott03@gmail.com) about transportation from Panama City to Colon. He picked us up from our hotel and drove us to Portobello to see the customs house (the Caribbean end of the route that the Spanish used for moving gold from the Pacific to the Caribbean through Panama), fortifications and church. There was some time left before we needed to be on the ship we took the car ferry to see the land side of the Gatun dam than back on the car ferry to Colon 2000 to board the ship.  The price for the two of us was only slightly more than the Windstar transfer so we felt it was good value.

 

We also did an evening walking tour of Casco Viejo with him the evening before. 

 

Vincent was excellent. 

 

He also does other tours so if there is something that interests you particularly such as visiting the canal visitor center, you could ask about that. For Sb44, he picked them up in Colon and did a tour of Panama City before dropping them at their hotel. 

[new_cruiser]

On 11/16/2019 at 9:42 AM, beej210 said:

So we fly into Panama City at 2pm on Friday and our cruise doesn't leave out of Colon till 5pm Saturday.  Any suggestions on what to do that night in Panama City?  And the following day, is there a guide that could take us somewhere on the way to Colon?  Or are we better off wandering around the city and just taking a taxi to Colon?  Thanks!!

 

I replied above about the guide we used. If it leaves at 5 PM, you can board starting about 1 PM and probably should plan on being aboard by 4 PM. 

[sb44]

On 11/18/2019 at 12:52 PM, new_cruiser said:

Based on a recommendation by sb44, we contacted  Vincent Scott (phone is +50766547771 email vscott03@gmail.com) about transportation from Panama City to Colon. He picked us up from our hotel and drove us to Portobello to see the customs house (the Caribbean end of the route that the Spanish used for moving gold from the Pacific to the Caribbean through Panama), fortifications and church. There was some time left before we needed to be on the ship we took the car ferry to see the land side of the Gatun dam than back on the car ferry to Colon 2000 to board the ship.  The price for the two of us was only slightly more than the Windstar transfer so we felt it was good value.

 

We also did an evening walking tour of Casco Viejo with him the evening before. 

 

Vincent was excellent. 

 

He also does other tours so if there is something that interests you particularly such as visiting the canal visitor center, you could ask about that. For Sb44, he picked them up in Colon and did a tour of Panama City before dropping them at their hotel. 

Thanks for the feedback and happy to hear you enjoyed your time with Vincent. We thought he was great!

[DadainTN]

We arrive at 2 p.m. on Jan. 10th also  -- what does everyone do that afternoon or the morning of the 11th?