Gatun lake excursion

[ssadie]

I want to book a 5 hour excursion on my partial Panama canal cruise, but I hear we will have to wait hours in the hot sun waiting for the ship to arrive/ What has been your experience/

[stones902]

11 hours ago, ssadie said:

I want to book a 5 hour excursion on my partial Panama canal cruise, but I hear we will have to wait hours in the hot sun waiting for the ship to arrive/ What has been your experience/

Honestly, I wouldn’t do that in Panama. Stick with the ships excursion. You don’t want to hang around the port area in A small group. 

[Arizona Wildcat]

Not worth doing.  With the widening of the canal little to see on the lake.  Tour better from Caribbean side as Colon is a town.  Pacific side is a grim port.

[njguy_south]

Need some further info. Is it a ship’s tour or a private tour?

[ssadie]

It is a ship tour for 5 hours

[Turtles06]

10 hours ago, Arizona Wildcat said:

Not worth doing.  With the widening of the canal little to see on the lake.  Tour better from Caribbean side as Colon is a town.  Pacific side is a grim port.

 

The Canal experts over in the Panama Canal forum all report that Colon is a fairly unsafe place and that cruise ship pax should not wander out of the immediate, gated area where the ship docks.    Panama City, a real city, is on the Pacific side.   

 

Gatun Lake is not the point of the small-boat tour on a partial transit.  The point is to go through locks that you haven't gone through.  (And this would be especially interesting for pax on a ship that uses the new locks.)

Edited March 7, 2023 by Turtles06

[Turtles06]

26 minutes ago, ssadie said:

It is a ship tour for 5 hours

 

Please head over to the Panama Canal forum, where these tours are discussed all the time.  (For purposes of reading and inquiring in that forum, it doesn't matter that this is a ship-sponsored tour, as the cruise lines use the same providers for these tours, and they are very similar.)  Also, when you inquire there, please post Celebrity's title and description of the tour.

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/54-panama-canal/

[Charles4515]

2 hours ago, ssadie said:

It is a ship tour for 5 hours

Do the ships tour on the small boat that goes through the locks to the Pacific.  You will be fine I don't think you can do private tours from Gatun. The one to village I have heard positve about. Same with Panama City I have heard positve. Don't do the train tour. You won't see that much.You will be retuned to the ship on any of the tours. I think the baot through the locks is best unless you have done the canal before.The only negative to the small boat is that it can be hot on the top outside deck.  I did it twice. The train was a mistake.

Edited March 7, 2023 by Charles4515