Are you booked on a Panama Canal cruise?

[golfguyhhi]

If so, you may want to check on the traffic slowdown in the canal right now.  It's due to a serious drought in Panama that has drastically lowered the level of water needed to run the locks.  As of yesterday, there were more then 150 ships backed up and waiting to go through, a backlog that is growing every day as the Canal authority has reduced the number of ships allowed to pass each day.

RCI and Princess have already changed the itineraries of several cruises, removing their canal transits.

I have my TA talking to O today to start the dialog of finding out what O intends to do with it's Canal transits.  I'm on Insignia in December and I'm not making any flight arrangements until I know we're actually cruising.  That cruise, by the way, is the first leg of the ATW cruise, and Insignia needs to get to LA by January 14.

[basenji56]

Who would think that Panama could run out of rain?

[Pandazoo]

Somebody had warned of this a few months ago on this forum.

[FLConnie]

We are Miami to LA in October on Vista and have been watching for any changes. Pls post what you find out. 

[LHT28]

most O cruises are in Oct to Mar

 Hopefully by fall it will rain

 

In the past we have done the Ditch in Jan/Feb & March  with no issues

[Snaefell3]

1 hour ago, FLConnie said:

We are Miami to LA in October on Vista and have been watching for any changes. Pls post what you find out. 

You may wish to monitor Sal Mercogliano's "What's going on with Shipping?" on YouTube for info on what the Canal Authority is doing about the drought.

[LHT28]

They are predicting rain in Sept 

but  who knows

https://www.weather25.com/north-america/panama/colon?page=month&month=September

[Pandazoo]

Shipping cargo gets priority…

[njhorseman]

52 minutes ago, Pandazoo said:

Shipping cargo gets priority…

Absolutely not. 

Cruise ships pay a substantial fee to reserve a time slot for their canal transit.

Most cargo ship transits do not reserve a slot and their transits are on a space-available basis

[golfguyhhi]

Thanks everyone for your input.  Sounds like August 21 is the next date to check on what's happening with the canal.

I just want clarity on my situation in December, so I will follow closely.

[LHT28]

Pray for rain in that area  before the Nov  cruises start

[basor]

6 minutes ago, golfguyhhi said:

Thanks everyone for your input.  Sounds like August 21 is the next date to check on what's happening with the canal.

I just want clarity on my situation in December, so I will follow closely.

The August 21 deadline is to reevaluate the reservation allotment for commercial vessels.  Oceania already has a reservation for your sailing  Also, all of this delay and reservation allotment is for large commercial vessels Panamax, New -Panamax, Neo-Panamax or Post-Panamax.  No cruise ship with a reservation is affected.

 

 Here is a link to the article and if you read the entire article you will see that Oceania R ships are way too small to be involved and have their reservation..

 

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/08/09/panama-canal-shipping-pileup-due-to-drought-reaches-154-vessels.html#:~:text=There are 154 commercial vessels,in effect until August 21.

 

 

 

Edited August 16, 2023 by basor

[Jancruz]

12 minutes ago, basor said:

The August 21 deadline is to reevaluate the reservation allotment for commercial vessels.  Oceania already has a reservation for your sailing  Also, all of this delay and reservation allotment is for large commercial vessels Panamax, New -Panamax, Neo-Panamax or Post-Panamax.  No cruise ship with a reservation is affected.

 

 Here is a link to the article and if you read the entire article you will see that Oceania R ships are way too small to be involved and have their reservation..

 

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/08/09/panama-canal-shipping-pileup-due-to-drought-reaches-154-vessels.html#:~:text=There are 154 commercial vessels,in effect until August 21.

 

 

 

I  am on the OP cruise and I am not the least bit concerned

Jancruz1

[Snaefell3]

3 hours ago, Pandazoo said:

Shipping cargo gets priority…

Uhh... No.

 

"Commercial passenger vessels" get to bid on a reservation slot "[f]rom 730 to 366 days prior to the requested transit date".  Cargo is first-come-first-serve starting day 365.

[Snaefell3]

34 minutes ago, basor said:

The August 21 deadline is to reevaluate the reservation allotment for commercial vessels.  Oceania already has a reservation for your sailing  Also, all of this delay and reservation allotment is for large commercial vessels Panamax, New -Panamax, Neo-Panamax or Post-Panamax.  No cruise ship with a reservation is affected.

Alas, make that "had".  When the PCA declared "Transit Condition 3", the 8 slots in the original locks for "under 91' beam" vessels like the Insignia dropped to only 4.  I have no idea how they choose which 4.

[basor]

4 minutes ago, Snaefell3 said:

Alas, make that "had".  When the PCA declared "Transit Condition 3", the 8 slots in the original locks for "under 91' beam" vessels like the Insignia dropped to only 4.  I have no idea how they choose which 4.

According to this it is for "new bookings" not reservations already held:

 

We informed our customers that effective August 8, a new Booking Condition, namely Condition 3, came into effect for the utilisation of the Panamax locks. The standard offering of reservations comprises 23 booking slots for these locks. Under Condition 2, in scenarios involving a substantial reduction in capacity (such as lane closures for maintenance), the allocation is reduced to 16 booking slots. Meanwhile, under Condition 3, as currently being implemented, the booking slots are limited to 14 in total (comprising 10 slots for super-sized vessels and 4 slots for regular-sized vessels).  To this day, reservations for the Neopanamax locks remain unaffected.”

[Snaefell3]

31 minutes ago, basor said:

According to this it is for "new bookings" not reservations already held:

 

We informed our customers that effective August 8, a new Booking Condition, namely Condition 3, came into effect for the utilisation of the Panamax locks. The standard offering of reservations comprises 23 booking slots for these locks. Under Condition 2, in scenarios involving a substantial reduction in capacity (such as lane closures for maintenance), the allocation is reduced to 16 booking slots. Meanwhile, under Condition 3, as currently being implemented, the booking slots are limited to 14 in total (comprising 10 slots for super-sized vessels and 4 slots for regular-sized vessels).  To this day, reservations for the Neopanamax locks remain unaffected.”

I like your interpretation of Article 22, Paragraph 15 (https://pancanal.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/N07-2021.pdf, pg 8-9) better than mine, but not enough to put deposit money on it.

[basor]

Just now, Snaefell3 said:

I like your interpretation of Article 22, Paragraph 15 (https://pancanal.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/N07-2021.pdf, pg 8-9) better than mine, but not enough to put deposit money on it.

I would and have ....if a cruise ship currently has a reservation for transiting the canal it will be honored but it will become increasingly difficult in the future for them to battle for the fewer available spots.  The OP was asking about a cruise in 4 1/2 months being canceled due to the headlines read.....

[alcpa1]

Oh how ironic because one week ago O changed our Sirena Cartagena to Miami embarkation to Panama City to Miami through the canal. 

With the length of time it takes to book a transit reservation one would think (not anyone at O) that the altered itinerary would have been announced months ago. Gone are our days in Cartagena's walled city and one of our ports and an added sea day...........oh well.

[basor]

48 minutes ago, alcpa1 said:

Oh how ironic because one week ago O changed our Sirena Cartagena to Miami embarkation to Panama City to Miami through the canal. 

With the length of time it takes to book a transit reservation one would think (not anyone at O) that the altered itinerary would have been announced months ago. Gone are our days in Cartagena's walled city and one of our ports and an added sea day...........oh well.

So your original itinerary did not include any Panama Canal transit?

[LHT28]

1 hour ago, alcpa1 said:

Oh how ironic because one week ago O changed our Sirena Cartagena to Miami embarkation to Panama City to Miami through the canal. 

With the length of time it takes to book a transit reservation one would think (not anyone at O) that the altered itinerary would have been announced months ago. Gone are our days in Cartagena's walled city and one of our ports and an added sea day...........oh well.

also this to consider

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel/International-Travel-Country-Information-Pages/Colombia.html#/

Level 3 now  so who knows by March

At least you have time to make changes

 

You are before final payment  just cancel & book a cruise that leaves for Columbia

RCCL Silversea & Explora   Journeys have  cruises embarking in Cartagena

[alcpa1]

Thanks for the suggestions.

The original itinerary did not include the canal zone. Actually we were just there on the Marina in 21. We were scheduled to be on the Sirena which to our glee, was changed to the Marina.

We are traveling with friends who, while not cruise noobies, have never sailed on Oceania. We wanted them to experience O. They are already balking at the cost of the cruise anyway. As cruise planner, I didn't check Explora. They would not be comfortable on any Silversea sailing. It's going to be hard enough to keep them out of jeans as it is. We are way past RCCL.....been there, done that. We earned our loyalty + rating more than fifteen years ago. Oceania is a better fit for us.

Again much appreciate your responses.

[Pandazoo]

@Snaefell3 Will see what takes priority Natural Gas or cruises….