Live from the Caribbean Princess: Panama Canal - Apr 26 to May 14 - SF to FTL

[Ken the cruiser]

Just noticed they also use the ship’s lines, adjusted as needed, to keep us from going side to side.

 

[Ken the cruiser]

We’re now through this set of locks.
 

 

 

Check out the space between the container ship and the walls of this new lock. Imagine if it was one of the super max Evergreen ships!

 

 

Next set of locks will be early in the afternoon! 😁

 

Edited May 9, 2022 by Ken the cruiser

[cltnccruisers]

19 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

We’re now through this set of locks.
 

 

 

Check out the space between the container ship and the walls of this new lock. Imagine if it was one of the super max Evergreen ships!

 

 

Next set of locks will be early in the afternoon! 😁

 

Hope she doesn't get stuck.  Evergreen ships haven't had much luck lately.  😀

[PacnGoNow]

1 hour ago, Ken the cruiser said:

It appears to be a 3 stage lock system and we’re now in the second lock. Sorry, I can’t hear Kerry speaking over the loud system as I’m on our aft balcony. 😁

 

She should be on your TV also, if you can crack the door?

[Ken the cruiser]

21 minutes ago, PacnGoNow said:

She should be on your TV also, if you can crack the door?

She was. My DW was in the cabin watching her on the web cam channel while keeping cool. It’s a little hot and humid outside today, even in the shade. However, sitting on our aft-facing balcony, the ship’s as well as the tug boat’s engine noice kind of drowned her voice out.

 

Now we’re just peacefully cruising through the channel.

 

Edited May 9, 2022 by Ken the cruiser

[GonzoWCS]

13 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

She was. My DW was in the cabin watching her on the web cam channel while keeping cool. It’s a little hot and humid outside today, even in the shade. However, sitting on our aft-facing balcony, the ship’s as well as the tug boat’s engine noice kind of drowned her voice out.

 

Now we’re just peacefully cruising through the channel.

 

Panama Hot!  Did a little time there for Operation Just Cause.  Salute to 23 brothers that didn't make it back with us.

 

Have also passed through it twice since.  

 

Cheers

[Ken the cruiser]

But it’s not all relaxing as we did our walk around the promenade. 
 

 

Sometimes we’ll see a pretty waterfall along the way. 
 

Or one of the entrances into Gatun Lake. 
 

[GonzoWCS]

A true marvel!

 

Cheers

[Ken the cruiser]

Here’s an interesting tidbit.

 

Not commonly known is the fact that the two oceans have different sea levels, and different levels of high tide. At the entrance to the Panama Canal, the Pacific Ocean can rise as much as 20 feet, but 45 miles away, the difference between high tide and low in the Atlantic is just three feet.

 

https://www.yourpanama.com/panama-canal.html

[Ken the cruiser]

This is the first ship we’ve seen heading towards the Pacific. According to Wikipedia in 2017 it took ships approximately 11 hours and 38 minutes to go between the two sets of locks. 
 

Here’s another one passing the ship following us.
 

 

We’re guessing ships enter one side in the morning hours (midnight to noon), hang out in Gutun Lake, if necessary, until it’s their turn to exit out of the Canal through the applicable set of locks in the afternoon hours (noon to midnight). I remember when we did a RT from the Caribbean side awhile back on the HAL Zuiderdam. We went in by way of the Atlantic side locks in the morning, hung around in Gatun Lake until around 1:30 pm, and then headed back through the same Atlantic-side locks we came through earlier.

 

Edited May 9, 2022 by Ken the cruiser

[Essiesmom]

Time to enter the first lock at Cocoli:

 

 

 

Gat beginning to open to middle lock

 

 

Into the third lock

 

 

Out you go

 

 

I don't think you were all the way into the third lock when the cam locked up

 

 

And 20-25 minutes later, it woke up

 

 

Views from the Miraflores cam

 

 

 

View from Cerro Luisa cam at Pedro Miguel locks

 

[cltnccruisers]

55 minutes ago, GonzoWCS said:

A true marvel!

 

Cheers

More than a century old and it still impresses.

[Essiesmom]

1 minute ago, cltnccruisers said:

More than a century old and it still impresses.

Yes, the old locks...But those are the new ones, opened in 2016.  EM

[Ken the cruiser]

6 minutes ago, Essiesmom said:

Time to enter the first lock at Cocoli:

 

 

 

Gat beginning to open to middle lock

 

 

Into the third lock

 

 

Out you go

 

 

I don't think you were all the way into the third lock when the cam locked up

 

 

And 20-25 minutes later, it woke up

 

 

Views from the Miraflores cam

 

 

 

View from Cerro Luisa cam at Pedro Miguel locks

 

Thanks! So according to those time stamps, it took roughly 90 minutes to get through the first set of locks.

[GonzoWCS]

12 minutes ago, Essiesmom said:

Yes, the old locks...But those are the new ones, opened in 2016.  EM

Yeah - SE here understand the timeline

[cltnccruisers]

14 minutes ago, Essiesmom said:

Yes, the old locks...But those are the new ones, opened in 2016.  EM

Were all the old locks replaced or just some?

[GonzoWCS]

11 minutes ago, cltnccruisers said:

Were all the old locks replaced or just some?

Old locks still in placed and being utilized.  New lock built to accommodate PANAMAX+ sized ships.

 

Cheers

[cltnccruisers]

3 minutes ago, GonzoWCS said:

Old locks still in placed and being utilized.  New lock built to accommodate PANAMAX+ sized ships.

 

Cheers

Makes perfect sense.  Thanks.

[Ken the cruiser]

We are approaching the set of locks on the Atlantic side and it looks like the container ship queue is starting to form in Gatun Lake. I counted a total of 7 hanging out waiting for their turn. I guess since we paid the big bucks, we get to go to the head of the line. 😁

 

 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

According to Wikipedia for those wanting more details than they probably care to read. 😂

 

The Panama Canal expansion project (Spanish: ampliación del Canal de Panamá), also called the Third Set of Locks Project, doubled the capacity of the Panama Canal by adding a new lane of traffic allowing for a larger number of ships, and increasing the width and depth of the lanes and locks allowing larger ships to pass. The new ships, called New Panamax, are about one and a half times the previous Panamax size and can carry over twice as much cargo. The expanded canal began commercial operation on 26 June 2016. 

https://www.bing.com/search?q=new+panama+canal+supermax+ships&form=APIPH1&PC=APPL

Edited May 9, 2022 by Ken the cruiser

[rheathslc]

Thank you all for posting the photos and Bridge Cam shots! I'm following along with the Bridge Cam on the Princess website as well. 🙂 I can't wait to do a full-transit cruise next year!

[Ken the cruiser]

OK, Kerry just gave us a price update. It seems the price for us to transit the Panama Canal was only $320,000. It seems you get a better deal if you’re going from the Pacific to the Atlantic. Who knew!! 😂

[Ken the cruiser]

And so it begins again! 
 

[GonzoWCS]

You will love it!!

 

Cheers

[Ken the cruiser]

We’re getting ready to go into the second lock after they dropped the water level 9 meters. 
 

 

Interesting note, even though there is a queue of at least 10 ships waiting to go through these locks, there are no ships either in front of us or behind us!