Panama Canal Question

[Captain Cosmo]

Hi - in planning an upcoming cruise that takes us from west to east through the Panama Canal I noticed all the shore excursions that are available. I had assumed that we would stay onboard to see the canal itself but it looks like there are a lot of other options. If one takes a short excursion (3 - 4 hours) does the tour end back at the ship? Do you get tendered back out to the ship while its moving or ??? We've never been through the Canal so we were looking forward to that part of the trip - do we need to take shore excursions at all? Any advice will be appreciated. Thanks!

[wallingf]

We did a Panama Canal cruise last year (west to east). Although we did not have the option of any excursions (Panama was not a stop of our cruise), I would not have taken one anyway. When we do the canal again (yes, I enjoyed it that much), we will not take an excursion, if the opportunity is there.

 

The day going through the canal was one of the most enjoyable of the trip. It is like a free excursion in itself (ok, it's not exactly free, but you get my drift :) ). We were fortunate, as it was not as hot as it usually is, so we were able to sit out on deck all day and enjoy the scenery. But regardless, I would not have missed one minute of it for anything. The locks, the lake, the cut, is all pretty neat.

 

I have no idea how excursions work and where you pick up the ship again, but I believe there are some posts about that somewhere. Just my 2 cents, but I would definitely stay on the ship and enjoy the best part of the cruise.

[JWFogg]

We did the canal last May. East to West...or north to south (look at it on a map!) There was an escorted tour in Panama to the visitors center/museum that some passangers took and enjoyed. i also understand that on sonme cruises youcan get off the ship and take a train the length of the canal or something like that. The cruise line recommended you do not go into panama city. Not a fiendly place. Something about 14 year olds running around with machine guns!!!

 

I would do the canal avgain in a haeartbeat. It was fascinating and like the previous poster said the whole day is somewhat of an excursion.

[bobnsandi]

Hi - in planning an upcoming cruise that takes us from west to east through the Panama Canal I noticed all the shore excursions that are available.

 

On the west-to-east we took, they ran through the canal to Gatun Lake, and stopped. The passengers taking excursions were then tendered off to a shore facility with busses. The ship then went through the final locks and docked at Cristobol Pier. There were various vendors (and even bars!) inside the pier facility (all in bond, so passengers can't leave). The excursion folks were returned to the pier by their tour outfits, so they could get back aboard. We left that night.

 

We loved the Canal so much we took it again in the other direction.

 

Our photos from the cruise:

 

http://swansongrp.com/panama/panama_canal.html