Questions on Panama Canal cruise

[FourthQ]

Re-posting this from a different forum as advised.

We are relatively new to cruising (one cruise 10 years ago) and have booked a trans-Panama Canal cruise from Fort Lauderdale to Los Angeles on Emerald Princess. 

We see shore excursions offered by the ship at Cartagena, Fuerte Amador, Puntaarenas, San Juan del Sur, Huatulco and Puerta Vallarta. We have been to Puerta Vallarta twice and know enough to get around on our own. Looking for advise on whether it would be worthwhile to book shore excursions at the other ports through (1) the cruise line, (2) go on our own, or (3) stay on ship. 

Second question- we have booked a Balcony cabin. Princess is offering upgrades. The one which I might consider is an upgrade to Club Class Mini suite which offers Club class benefits. Are club class benefits worth $500/pp upgrade? We will be OK with the amount of space in our current cabin, but looking for advise on the other benefits of an upgrade.

Thanks

[skynight]

The big benefit of Club Class is the dining. Club Class dining is:

Walk in anytime the DR is open and you will be promptly seated

Dinner menu is the same as the MDR with one additional item

Service is greatly improved

Seating is usually tables for two unless your party is larger or you meet someone on board.

DR open for breakfast and dinner each day and lunch on sea days

Club Class Cabin:

The cabin is larger and has a sofa. No sofa in balcony cabins on the Emerald Princess

Balcony is 9ft x 6ft and not covered.

Bathroom is larger than a balcony cat cabin and has a bathtub/shower.

Is this worth the $1,000 (assuming there are two of you).

 

[skynight]

We have been through the PC 5 times and have experienced different tours.

In Fuerte Amador we have taken a highlight tour including a walking tour of some highlights of Panama city. Another time we also went to the native village. Both were interesting. You may be able to book a private tour trough your roll call. We took Princess tours. Really can't just get off the tender and walk around.

Puntarenas: Costa Rica is basically nature. Puntarenas itself is a beach resort town. If you walk to the end of the pier the beach is right there and all the beach side stores and vendors are also there. You could spend a few hours. The beach itself is just ok.

San Juan Del Sur: There is nothing at the port. You have to take a tour or stay on the ship. We went to Grenada on a ship tour.

[FourthQ]

Thank you skynight, appreciate you took the time to read my post and share your knowledge

[Ken the cruiser]

When the ship docks in Cartegena, if you can't find any excursions that catch your fancy, there is a free wildlife reserve at the end of the pier, which we very much enjoy walking around when we stop there. As far as Club Class goes, yes! If the $1,000 is within your budget, it's definitely worth it, especially for that long of a cruise. 

[skynight]

By the way. The best way to view the Panama Canal transit is from the open decks where you can walk around to get 360 views. There are lots of viewing locations around the ship including the bow all the way forward on deck 7 and up the stairs to deck 8. There is lots of time so you can move around. Be prepared for hot, humid and strong sun. If you remain on your balcony you will only get a one sided view. 

[travelin.sisters]

Costa Rica is a lovely country & well worth exploring on an excursion, it is a substantial drive to anything so I would definitely take a Princess excursion there & in Nicaragua as well if you decide to take excursions. I can't actually recommend any excursions as ours were cancelled due to a tropical storm that later became a hurricane, so we were only allowed off the boat in Puntarenas but there were flooding & mud slides, so all tours were cancelled & San Juan del Sur we didn't even enter the harbor...after my BILs bus was in an accident in a Mexican port & the ship waited an hour for them because it was a Princess tour we always do ships tours if we are going any distance

 

 

[suekel]

I've done one partial transit and have a full transit booked.  When we were in Cartegena, we booked a Princess excursion which involved a walking tour of the old town area and a harbor boat ride.  Our tour guide was fantastic.  When the vendors came up, he would tug on his ear to let you know if you were getting a good deal, we had time on our own and the boat ride was so much fun.  Open bar and dance lessons!  

[Grego]

2 hours ago, skynight said:

By the way. The best way to view the Panama Canal transit is from the open decks where you can walk around to get 360 views. There are lots of viewing locations around the ship including the bow all the way forward on deck 7 and up the stairs to deck 8. There is lots of time so you can move around. Be prepared for hot, humid and strong sun. If you remain on your balcony you will only get a one sided view. 

Good and proper responses to the question of taking the upgrade for a mini with Club Class.  We have really loved the CC experience on this ship as well as the others we have been on since the pandemic.  The service was more personalized and they got to know our preferences and they delivered the meals in a more timely manner.  We loved that we could walk right in and get a table right away.

The mini is always a nice cabin especially if you like bathtubs and a little more space.  For $500 a person for that length voyage is a good value when including the CC.

One other really fun place to view the locks passage is all the way aft either on Deck 7 or one of the other decks above Lido.

[Ombud]

4 hours ago, FourthQ said:

Puntaarenas

I went with Thumbs-up Tours & highly recommended their 7-in-1 tour / small group / pay driver directly after the tour

[FourthQ]

Thanks to all who replied. Your help makes us feel more comfortable with this cruise plan.

[Tedferg]

In Cartagena we used Dora Cartagena Tour excellent small group.

[Thrak]

1 hour ago, Tedferg said:

In Cartagena we used Dora Cartagena Tour excellent small group.

 

Beat me to it. We had an excellent tour with Dora. (We were the first to book on that trip so actually had Dora rather than one of her employees.) The 400 Bazillion street vendors in Cartagena took one look at our guide and 99% of them just backed off and left us alone. It was great. Dora was very knowledgeable and an excellent guide. I have recommended this company to all who inquire about things to do in Cartagena. Get together with a few folks from your Roll Call and book with Dora here:

 

http://cartagenatour.com/

 

[MichiganFisherman]

3 hours ago, Tedferg said:

In Cartagena we used Dora Cartagena Tour excellent small group.

The best ..... used her on my NCL Panama Canal cruise and Dora Tours are unbeatable. I even had two kids with me. She's amazing and so is the tour. 

[Arizona Wildcat]

About a 99% chance port stop in San Juan del Sur will be cancelled.   Nicaragua and US having political issues and the country having rampant violence.  To date all scheduled port calls cancelled including Emerald Princess on the prior cruises.

[FourthQ]

6 minutes ago, Arizona Wildcat said:

About a 99% chance port stop in San Juan del Sur will be cancelled.   Nicaragua and US having political issues and the country having rampant violence.  To date all scheduled port calls cancelled including Emerald Princess on the prior cruises.

Well, that would be a shame, as we look to learn about countries not represented in our daily "news" outlets. Thanks for the heads-up.

[curmudgeon98]

In Punta Arenas we book a tour from one of the licensed guides on the dock.  16 passenger van, so less of a zoo than the big busses of the ship excursion.  $25 for transport.  Add $5 for the monkey stop, $30 for the river/crocodile tour.  Also stopped at the standard gift shop/cafe where most tours stop, and did a drive through of the town.  Had a great trip with "Jimmy".

 

In Huatulco we walked through the pleasant harborside resort area, then took the nicely laid out "corredor turistico" walkway over the hill into the La Crucecita town.  We wandered around for a while and had a great lunch (El Sabor de Oaxaca) before heading back.  Taxi is an option if it is rainy or you don't want the walk.

 

It can be worth spending some time looking at satellite view on Google maps (or street view) to get a feel for the areas.

[jagoffee]

1 hour ago, Arizona Wildcat said:

About a 99% chance port stop in San Juan del Sur will be cancelled.   Nicaragua and US having political issues and the country having rampant violence.  To date all scheduled port calls cancelled including Emerald Princess on the prior cruises.

Thanks for the info as this stop is on our Emerald Princess cruise scheduled for January 17.  Are they changing ports or just making it a sea day?

[marden1970]

It's kind of strange - we're doing a B2B Panama Canal leaving LA on 12/18/22 - the stop at San Juan del Sur was cancelled and changed to a sea day. It shows as an itinerary change on travel summary.  On the return leg, (1/2/23)  the port is still showing and nothing mentioned on the summary.  Guess we'll just wait and see. 

[Essiesmom]

I am going to post some pictures and 'advice' about your canal transit day.  You will be going through the new locks, and though having a balcony is great for the cruise, it is not always the best place to observe the transit through the locks.  This first picture is Emerald Princess in the Agua Clara Locks, those on the Atlantic/Caribbean side of the canal.

 

 

In front of the ship are the lock gates, and I don't believe you can observe them opening from your balcony on the side of the ship.  (On an aft balcony, you would see them close.)  In the next pic you can see the gates opening:

 

 

Sometimes the weather is less than ideal.  These next pics are from the partial transit of Caribbean Princess on Tuesday.  First is the entrance to the Agua Clara Locks from the bridgecam:

 

 

 

 

 

If your weather is regrettable, the best viewing area might be on the promenade deck on the bow, which is covered.  The Grand class ships of Princess have a wraparound promenade deck, deck 8, although to get to the bow part you have to go up some stairs.  This deck is what looks like a dark stripe around the pointy end.

  There also is an observation area above the bridge which is totally open to the elements.  On Tuesday, there were a few hardy souls braving the elements there:

 

 

You will notice retention ponds on the starboard side of the ship/locks here.  Those same ponds will be on the port side when you get to the Cocoli Locks on the Pacific side.  

     I hope this has given you some idea of what is ahead.  EM

[FourthQ]

Great photos and commentary, thanks! I will be referring back to these closer to the cruise.

[BritRet]

On 11/9/2022 at 11:01 AM, Ombud said:

I went with Thumbs-up Tours & highly recommended their 7-in-1 tour / small group / pay driver directly after the tour

We also took this tour with Thumbs-up and highly recommend!