NCL Panama Canal

[bonvoyagie]

We were on the Gem in Jan 2020 going from SF to NYC over 21 days. We overnighted outside Panama City to get the required "light fuel" for the passage and entered the canal around 6:00AM the next morning. We had a lecturer onboard that talked about all of the sights in the canal. For a great perspective on the history of the old locks and the canal in general reading A Path Between the Seas is highly reccommend. I finished my copy while on the cruise. I also remember several lectures around the ship on the sea days prior to the canal. I also found many videos on YouTube relating to the building of the new locks - BTW they are visable from the old locks. Enjoy your trip.

[lax19]

2 hours ago, Trueblueky said:

Has anyone taken an NCL cruise that starts and ends in Panama?  They begin in Panama City and end ten days later in Colon.  How does one get back to Panama City?

 

2 hours ago, Indyopie said:

We are using the NCL transfers, not much more than what a taxi would be from what I've read.

We, too are using the NCL transfer both from Tocumen airport (PTY) to the ship and then from Colon back to PTY.

[bonvoyagie]

There is a Railroad that parallels the canal I am not sure if they operate passenger service.  But it would be an interesting way to travel between Panama City and Colon.

[don't-use-real-name]

19 minutes ago, bonvoyagie said:

There is a Railroad that parallels the canal I am not sure if they operate passenger service.  But it would be an interesting way to travel between Panama City and Colon.

Panama Canal Passenger Railroad:

 

PANAMA CANAL PASSENGER RAILROAD - Bing

[bonvoyagie]

1 hour ago, don't-use-real-name said:

Panama Canal Passenger Railroad:

 

PANAMA CANAL PASSENGER RAILROAD - Bing

Thanks for the update DURN. I saw freight trains on our passage, but no passenger trains. Should have googled it 🙂

[nina_930]

If you can get it on demand, the History Channel did a documentary that was very interesting.  The Engineering that Built the World:  Panama Canal.

[fstuff1]

On 11/30/2021 at 9:07 PM, Trueblueky said:

Has anyone taken an NCL cruise that starts and ends in Panama?  They begin in Panama City and end ten days later in Colon.  How does one get back to Panama City?

interesting... did not know ncl had cruises that started in panama.

 

and even more interesting:

it's only 1 cruise (9day) and ends in colon.

next cruise (12day) is from colon through the panama canal to California.

 

thats just an odd intinery.

 

edit:

it looks like the Jewel's 1st cruise since covid will be in 2022 and starts at Panama. 😮

i'm assuming it's been docked there for 2 years because Covid.

thus why it's starting at Panama?

 

Edited December 2, 2021 by fstuff1

[don't-use-real-name]

NCL JEWEL present position Marseille France:

 

MarineTraffic: Global Ship Tracking Intelligence | AIS Marine Traffic

 

Looks like a transatlantic cruise to put her in sequence for the Panama Canal.

Colombia ABC islands before during the Mexican Rivera then a San Diego to

Alaska ship positioning and then resuming the scheduled Alaska north-south

trips Vancouver Seward (Anchorage)

[Rob_H]

14 hours ago, fstuff1 said:

interesting... did not know ncl had cruises that started in panama.

 

and even more interesting:

it's only 1 cruise (9day) and ends in colon.

next cruise (12day) is from colon through the panama canal to California.

 

thats just an odd intinery.

 

 

 

A whole season of Panama cruises was planned for the Jewel in early 2022, starting with a reposition in January from San Diego, some ABC islands cruises starting from Panama, a round trip to NY, more ABC Islands from Panama, then back to San Diego.  We were booked on many of them.  At the time, it seemed likely that cruising from ports outside the US could start first.

 

NCL started cancelling part of the season in May 2021 (the San Diego to Panama), then cancelling more of it in the following months, until there's almost nothing left (and no reason to be in Panama).  Maybe they'll keep these two remaining Panamas to ease the ship back into service, but I think it more likely they'll eventually be cancelled as well.

[don't-use-real-name]

2 hours ago, Rob_H said:

 

A whole season of Panama cruises was planned for the Jewel in early 2022, starting with a reposition in January from San Diego, some ABC islands cruises starting from Panama, a round trip to NY, more ABC Islands from Panama, then back to San Diego.  We were booked on many of them.  At the time, it seemed likely that cruising from ports outside the US could start first.

 

NCL started cancelling part of the season in May 2021 (the San Diego to Panama), then cancelling more of it in the following months, until there's almost nothing left (and no reason to be in Panama).  Maybe they'll keep these two remaining Panamas to ease the ship back into service, but I think it more likely they'll eventually be cancelled as well.

The JEWEL is in France as I noted above - and would do a transatlantic trip then these two stints

to do a ship positioning cruise up the Pacific coast to San Diego and Alaska.

I am booked on the JEWEL in May northbound from Vancouver - 20 some days from 

decision time final payment or bust cancel out - and then that test vaccination mask thing ?

[greatestvalue]

On 5/24/2021 at 10:45 AM, davencl said:

On our trip Feb. of 2020 there was a humanities professor on board giving numerous lectures.  Was very informative.  Also read the book mentioned.  A must read.

I realize this is an old post but if you dont mind - What ship did you travel through the canal on?

[davencl]

1 minute ago, greatestvalue said:

I realize this is an old post but if you dont mind - What ship did you travel through the canal on?

We were on the Joy in Feb. of 2020.  Missed the covid disaster by that much...  2 weeks later and we would have been stuck somewhere.

[lorif]

On 12/2/2021 at 12:58 PM, Rob_H said:

 

A whole season of Panama cruises was planned for the Jewel in early 2022, starting with a reposition in January from San Diego, some ABC islands cruises starting from Panama, a round trip to NY, more ABC Islands from Panama, then back to San Diego.  We were booked on many of them.  At the time, it seemed likely that cruising from ports outside the US could start first.

 

NCL started cancelling part of the season in May 2021 (the San Diego to Panama), then cancelling more of it in the following months, until there's almost nothing left (and no reason to be in Panama).  Maybe they'll keep these two remaining Panamas to ease the ship back into service, but I think it more likely they'll eventually be cancelled as well.

We are booked on one of the Panama cruises for 2023, hopefully those cruises go ahead.  A 9 or 10 day, with a full transit and the ABC islands fits in well with the time we have.

[Middleager]

After several cancelled cruises this year, we are finally going on the first Jewel sailing on 2022/3/29, from Colon, Panama to San Diego.  We had also booked the 3/20 Panama city to Colon and Caribbeans including ABC islands, but that was also cancelled.

 

At least many of us are looking forward to this first sailing of the Jewel on 3/29 since the pandemic. 

[fox02554]

2 hours ago, lorif said:

We are booked on one of the Panama cruises for 2023, hopefully those cruises go ahead.  A 9 or 10 day, with a full transit and the ABC islands fits in well with the time we have.

we're looking at the 02/2023 Jewel 9 day , full east bound transit with ABC islands , flights at $ 224 & $100 transfer 

[lorif]

43 minutes ago, fox02554 said:

we're looking at the 02/2023 Jewel 9 day , full east bound transit with ABC islands , flights at $ 224 & $100 transfer 

We are 9 day sailing on the 13th - same one?

[fox02554]

2 hours ago, lorif said:

We are 9 day sailing on the 13th - same one?

no 😞 ours is actually a 10 day 02/22/23- 03/05/23 , looks like she bounces back and forth east bound / west bound

 

 

Edited March 27, 2022 by fox02554