Panama, partial or full transit?

[Travel-Nut]

For those of you that have done Panama cruise, I am contemplating the 10 day partial, out of FL or the 15 day full transit. 

Will the 10 day give me enough of the experience? I am travelling with someone who has never cruised, so 15 days might be too much, plus 10 days is $1,000 less $. Looking at January/24

[cr8tiv1]

A full transit on a Panamax ship is the only way to do the canal.  It is more expensive, but it will be a cruise to remember.

 

if you do it on the Coral Princes….best ship.  If you do it on the Island (sister ship), it will be more crowded.

 

if you do it on any other ship, then you might as well do a partial.  
 

I have done both and found the partial to be not very exciting. 

Edited April 29, 2023 by cr8tiv1

[voljeep]

If you do the partial transit - there is an 'excursion' where you board a smaller boat and go thru the rest of the locks - then bused back to meet the ship and returns to where it entered the Canal that morning.  It's a long, long day ... but we did it on the Island, old locks, pre-conversion.

[Travel-Nut]

I was looking at the Emerald and Ruby, they both do the new locks.

Edited April 29, 2023 by Travel-Nut

[donswife]

I did the 10 day on the Caribbean Princess and thought it was a great experience.  We went through the new locks on the ship and through the Culebra cut and the old Pacific locks on the tour boat.  My profile picture is my hand touching the canal lock wall while on the tour boat.

Edited April 29, 2023 by donswife

[cr8tiv1]

5 minutes ago, Travel-Nut said:

I was looking at the Emerald and Ruby, they both do the new locks.

These are both Grand Class ships.  I would just do the partial if you are looking at cruising on either of these two ships.

[geocruiser]

We did a partial transit a coup[le ot times.  Now I wish that I did a B2B full transit.  Or do a full transit and take another cruise from the end port/

[GonzoWCS]

Have done one full (Island) and one partial (Coral).  Full transit is the way to go.

 

Cheers

[jinpasco]

2 hours ago, donswife said:

I did the 10 day on the Caribbean Princess and thought it was a great experience.  We went through the new locks on the ship and through the Culebra cut and the old Pacific locks on the tour boat.  My profile picture is my hand touching the canal lock wall while on the tour boat.

I have that picture too, lol. Taking a smaller tour boat thru the  old locks was a fun and a great experience you don't get watching from the larger ships deck.

[skynight]

Have done both full and partial transits multiple times. The full transit is best if time and funds are not a concern. The sailing that makes a port stop at Fuerte Amador (Panama City) is a good choice. This gives you an extra day to take an excursion in Panama plus enjoy a day sailing the entire canal. In Fuerte Amador anyone can disembark. You can, if you wish, book private excursions at this port. The full transit has more ports, as expected, and includes better west coast ports.

The partial transit enters the Agua Clara locks very early in the morning (6am or so). The ship then anchors in Gatun Lake until the authorities allow it to exit. Those on Princess excursions are tendered ashore in the lake. If you are not on a Princess excursion you are not permitted to disembark. Those on excursions are returned to the ship in Cristobal.

Airfare for the full transit may be a little more expensive as you have to fly to/from different airports.

Bottom line I enjoyed all my P.C. trips. 

 

 

[nini]

We do not regret doing the full transit which was on the Coral so we went through the old locks. We were able to touch the walls of the locks... They were THAT close!

[Rick&Jeannie]

5 hours ago, voljeep said:

If you do the partial transit - there is an 'excursion' where you board a smaller boat and go thru the rest of the locks - then bused back to meet the ship and returns to where it entered the Canal that morning.  It's a long, long day ... but we did it on the Island, old locks, pre-conversion.

Yep! We just did this excursion back in Feb of this year.  It was a VERY long day...but we very much enjoyed it.  We were with another couple who had not done any type of transit.  We had done a full transit on the very last sailing of Pacific Princess before pandemic...and then of course they WENT AND SOLD IT!!!

[donaldsc]

As sort of an aside are you doing the old locks or the new ones.  I have done the old locks several times and have seen videos of the new ones. In my opinion doing an old locks transit is much more interesting and certainly much more historical.  From seeing new lock transit they seem totally boring.

 

DON

[mtnesterz]

19 hours ago, Travel-Nut said:

For those of you that have done Panama cruise, I am contemplating the 10 day partial, out of FL or the 15 day full transit. 

Will the 10 day give me enough of the experience? I am travelling with someone who has never cruised, so 15 days might be too much...

Panama is the most expensive itinerary, tax wise, of any cruise. Even Alasaka. So if you're going to go, make it worth it. You'll pay the same on tax, or just about, for a partial transit, so why miss the other side? Similarly, if you're interested in the history, why go the new locks?

If you're set on Princess, wait for the Island or better still the Coral and do a full transit. 

Yes, two weeks is asking a lot for a new cruiser, but a lot of this comes down to the type of person. Some cannot deal with sea days, some are fine with them. 

Edited April 30, 2023 by mtnesterz

[islandgirlejfan]

While I want to do a full passage in time, we did a partial and LOVED IT!  The extra days have always been an issue for us, but in about four years we will have all the time in the world! 😁 We went in the new locks and booked the shore excursion to go the rest of the way.  We also touched the walls of the locks and had a HUGE container ship behind us which really put a size perspective on your trip.  I think we got a lot of history out of our tour guide, we had a lovely lunch onboard and the drive back to Colon was very interesting.  It is a very long day....I cannot remember being so tired.  We went to Europe last year 22 days on a land and cruise trip and I wasn't half as tired, even with 3 time zone changes as I was on the Panama trip.  We cruised in October and it was hot! 

[BamaVol]

20 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

A full transit on a Panamax ship is the only way to do the canal.  It is more expensive, but it will be a cruise to remember.

 

if you do it on the Coral Princes….best ship.  If you do it on the Island (sister ship), it will be more crowded.

 

if you do it on any other ship, then you might as well do a partial.  
 

I have done both and found the partial to be not very exciting. 

We did a partial on the Caribbean Princess. Frankly I was bored after 30 minutes. How is a full transit not twice as boring?

[JStar]

We have done partial 3 times and full once. All were great. The canal experience is fascinating to me and well worth doing any way you can.

[mnocket]

If your interest is primarily the locks, then a partial transit will do.  However, if your interested in the amazing engineering feat that is the canal itself (excellently detailed in the book "The Path Between the Seas") then a full transit is a must imho.

[donaldsc]

1 hour ago, BamaVol said:

We did a partial on the Caribbean Princess. Frankly I was bored after 30 minutes. How is a full transit not twice as boring?

 

You get a lot more mechanical action in the old locks as compared to the new ones.  You also get to appreciate how well 120 year  purely mechanical technology still works.  Who want to bet with me that 120 years from now the new locks will still be working.  As I said in my response - I do think that the new locks will be totally boring.

 

DON

[DCThunder]

1 hour ago, BamaVol said:

We did a partial on the Caribbean Princess. Frankly I was bored after 30 minutes. How is a full transit not twice as boring?

I did a full transit earlier this month on Oosterdam on HAL.  We did the old locks.  I loved going through the locks and seeing how they worked, but my description to a friend back home was that they were "fascinating, but tedious". The lock operation was fascinating the first time, but then there are five more locks before you get to the other end, so by the last one, you've seen how it works five times. So as I said, I'd describe it as tedious, but not boring.

 

We had an excellent narrator who provided great commentary on the history of the Canal, how it operated, navigational challenges by the pilots who helped guide the ship, and so much more.  His commentary was broadcast to the open decks at the bow as well as over one of the TV channels so you could watch from the bow camera and here the narration.

 

Cruising the full length of Gatun Lake and through the Culebra Cut and seeing the dredges in action keeping the channel at the proper depth was very interesting as was the narrowness of the Cut and how the sides were terraced to keep the landslides somewhat at bay.  We sailed past the prison where former Panamanian president Manuel Antonio Noriega was held captive.

 

IMHO, a full transit it the way to go, but I understand the reasons why a partial might be a better option for some.  And I echo the recommendation of reading "The Path Between the Seas" by David McCollough before you go.

[BamaVol]

2 hours ago, DCThunder said:

I did a full transit earlier this month on Oosterdam on HAL.  We did the old locks.  I loved going through the locks and seeing how they worked, but my description to a friend back home was that they were "fascinating, but tedious". The lock operation was fascinating the first time, but then there are five more locks before you get to the other end, so by the last one, you've seen how it works five times. So as I said, I'd describe it as tedious, but not boring.

 

We had an excellent narrator who provided great commentary on the history of the Canal, how it operated, navigational challenges by the pilots who helped guide the ship, and so much more.  His commentary was broadcast to the open decks at the bow as well as over one of the TV channels so you could watch from the bow camera and here the narration.

 

Cruising the full length of Gatun Lake and through the Culebra Cut and seeing the dredges in action keeping the channel at the proper depth was very interesting as was the narrowness of the Cut and how the sides were terraced to keep the landslides somewhat at bay.  We sailed past the prison where former Panamanian president Manuel Antonio Noriega was held captive.

 

IMHO, a full transit it the way to go, but I understand the reasons why a partial might be a better option for some.  And I echo the recommendation of reading "The Path Between the Seas" by David McCollough before you go.

I read the book, finishing a couple days before embarkation.  On our partial, the narrator (CD) appeared to be reading excerpts from it.

[cr8tiv1]

4 hours ago, BamaVol said:

We did a partial on the Caribbean Princess. Frankly I was bored after 30 minutes. How is a full transit not twice as boring?

 

You did it on the Caribbean Princess with tug boats.  Not the same if you are on a Panamax ship using the mules.  Everyone has their own preferences for entertainment.  Yes I was bored on the Caribbean Princess but fascinated on the Coral Princess.  

[Ken the cruiser]

If your budget can handle it, book the full cruise in an aft-facing cabin! We’ve done it 3 times and the views are awesome, regardless of which set of locks you’re going through, as well as when you’re leaving all of the ports you’ll be stopping at before and after! 😁

[Bwana Tom]

On 4/29/2023 at 6:54 PM, donaldsc said:

As sort of an aside are you doing the old locks or the new ones.  I have done the old locks several times and have seen videos of the new ones. In my opinion doing an old locks transit is much more interesting and certainly much more historical.  From seeing new lock transit they seem totally boring.

 

DON

Don, I agree fully. Have done both and also found the new canal totally uneventful. I would recommend  looking for a different and smaller cruise ship and do the full transit through the old canal that has the history behind it.

[bjkTX]

On 4/30/2023 at 10:46 AM, BamaVol said:

We did a partial on the Caribbean Princess. Frankly I was bored after 30 minutes. How is a full transit not twice as boring?

We did full transit of the old locks several years ago on the Coral Princess and it was fascinating.  But unless you are somewhat of a history buff I have to agree with you - after going through one set of locks and seeing how they work I don't know that I would have missed doing it two more times.  But it did entitle us to the t-shirt!  And the best memory was we passed our twin ship (Island Princess) while we were in Gatun Lake which caused a lot of excitement on both ships.

 

We are booked on the 10 day partial on the Emerald Princess in November because I want to see the new locks.  I considered another full transit but since most of the ports are sketchy at best AND we have done them before the 10 day seemed like a better option for us.