Panama Canal

[KariB]

We are trying to book a Panama Canal Cruise for December. It has come down to Princess on either the Coral for a partial canal or the Regal for a full transit cruise. It would much less expensive to do the partial, but we don't want to regret our once in a lifetime cruise. I cannot find any information on this particular topic. Can somebody please offer their opinions?? I really have learned tons from these boards; everybody is great!!! I am so looking forward to my first cruise--hubby and I and our 3 kids!

 

KAB

[LHT28]

You can find more information in the "ports of call" forums

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=89

[flamomo]

in 2004 and it was fabulous. We were able to take a ship's excursion that had us disembarking the Coral in Gatun Lake, after we had transited the locks on the Caribbean side. We then boarded a smaller ship (The Pacific Queen) that took us the rest of the way thru the Canal, sailed out into the Pacific and around Panama City. We disembarked that ship at Balboa, boarded sightseeing type motorcoaches and were driven back across Panama. We reboarded the Coral at Cristobal. The Coral had gone back thru the eastern locks and was docked at Cristobal.

On the smaller ship, there was very informative narration as we progressed thru the remainder of the Canal. Being on the smaller ship gave us a better sense of the size of the Canal, the locks and lock gates. They also provided us with a box lunch and beverage. We had our photo taken near the end of the transit by an onboard photographer, and it was made into a certificate with the date of our transit. I think we paid $10 for 2 copies. Made a great souvenir.

I think we had the best of both cruise worlds, because we only had to pay the cost of the partial transit cruise, but got to transit the entire Canal. The cost of the excursion was way less than the difference in price of a full transit cruise.

This was such a great experience, We'd happily take this cruise again. The Coral is a lovely ship.