Panama Canal ?

[Juliadlf]

I've been researching the different cruiselines to see what itineraries they have for going through the Panama Canal in 2008/2009. When I did a search on Carnival,nothing comes up, however it is one of the destination you can select from their drop-down listing.

 

Anyone can tell me if Carnival does sail the Panama Canal? Perhaps the fall 2008/spring 2009 is just not listed yet?

 

Thanks

Julia

[osiebosie]

I don't know the answer to your question. But we've done the PC on Celebrity, and we were adamant about one thing pertaining to the itinerary.

 

Since we live in Tennessee, we wanted to leave from the West coast and arrive on the East side of the Canal (San Juan for us) so that when we flew home, we would gain the hour instead of lose hours. I hate losing hours when I fly. But it is okay to lose then when heading out for a vacation because we are all hyped up.

 

Just a small thought. The Canal cruise is a great cruise. Book a balcony, because it is hot, hot, hot down there.

 

Have fun,

 

Shay

[yst347]

Carnival has regular itineraries that call on Colon Panama. The ships do not transit the canal. The only time Carnival offers a canal transit is when a ship is repositioned from the one ocean to the other.

 

Carnival has announced some itinerary changes that indicate the Carnival Spirit may be coming back to the Atlantic from the Pacific in 2009. That would mean a canal transit. The dates and itinerary have not yet been announced so stay tuned.

[jimbug]

The above poster is correct. We are sailing on the Carnival Liberty next spring when it calls on Colon, Panama. The highlight of the cruise for us will be doing a canal transit on a private yacht. Although it would be pretty cool to transit the canal on the cruise ship, the Liberty sails roundtrip from Fort Lauderdale, so it would probably be difficult to work that into an 8-night itinerary! haha

[*Mach*]

As an aside, you can narrow your search considerably. The Miracle, Spirit, Pride and Legend (think I got 'em all...) are PanaMax ships and are the only ones in the fleet that can transit the canal due to beam.

 

Repositioning the other ships requires a trip around the Horn, ala the Splendor:

 

http://www.carnival.com/Itinerary.aspx?embkCode=BUE&itinCode=SA3&groupInd=&shipCode=SL&durDays=14&subRegionCode=SA

[yst347]

As an aside, you can narrow your search considerably. The Miracle, Spirit, Pride and Legend (think I got 'em all...) are PanaMax ships and are the only ones in the fleet that can transit the canal due to beam.

 

Repositioning the other ships requires a trip around the Horn, ala the Splendor:

 

http://www.carnival.com/Itinerary.aspx?embkCode=BUE&itinCode=SA3&groupInd=&shipCode=SL&durDays=14&subRegionCode=SA

 

The eight Fantasy class ships and two Holiday class ships also fit in the canal. The Elation did a trans-canal repo last year. Only the Destiny/Triumph/Conquest class ships are too large for the canal.....atleast as the canal exists today.

 

The canal is about to be enlarged! But it will be several years before the work is finished.

[jimbug]

As another aside, can the Fantasy-class ships transit the canal? I wasn't paying attention as to how it got there, but the Elation went or is going to San Diego from Port Canaveral....I'm guessing there's a canal transit involved, as I didn't see any exotic itineraries popping up for Elation. :)

[*Mach*]

The eight Fantasy class ships and two Holiday class ships also fit in the canal. The Elation did a trans-canal repo last year. Only the Destiny/Triumph/Conquest class ships are too large for the canal.....atleast as the canal exists today.

 

The canal is about to be enlarged! But it will be several years before the work is finished.

 

Ineed, you're right!

 

The Fantasy class ships are 104 feet in beam, the max allowable for the canal is 106 feet!

[Juliadlf]

. The highlight of the cruise for us will be doing a canal transit on a private yacht. Although it would be pretty cool to transit the canal on the cruise ship, the Liberty sails roundtrip from Fort Lauderdale, so it would probably be difficult to work that into an 8-night itinerary! haha

 

What company are you using for the private yacht cruise of the canal?

Thanks

Julia

[jimbug]

http://www.myfriendmario.com

 

He comes highly recommended on the CruiseCritic Panama board. If we don't do the yacht transit, we will still probably use him for one of his other tours.

[Don Haynes]

Unfortunately, it takes several hours to go through the canal, and getting to the canal makes it too difficult to do this itinerary in a week from our Gulf coast. Carnival also does the shorter cruises, other cruise lines do longer cruises. Plus the fact Carnival does not do a lot of transitional cruises like other cruise lines which move their ships more often. Thus no cruises.

[carqueen1]

Panama Canal was awesome!! Book a balcony because of extreme heat!! Insect repellent will be your best friend!!! Have a great cruise!!

[dms_cruisers04]

I've been researching the different cruiselines to see what itineraries they have for going through the Panama Canal in 2008/2009. When I did a search on Carnival,nothing comes up, however it is one of the destination you can select from their drop-down listing.

 

Anyone can tell me if Carnival does sail the Panama Canal? Perhaps the fall 2008/spring 2009 is just not listed yet?

 

Thanks

Julia

Julia, you need to search under Western Caribbean.

The Freedom, the Liberty and the Miracle all have 8-day itineraries that go to the canal for 2008, 2009.

[luvz2run2000]

As another aside, can the Fantasy-class ships transit the canal? I wasn't paying attention as to how it got there, but the Elation went or is going to San Diego from Port Canaveral....I'm guessing there's a canal transit involved, as I didn't see any exotic itineraries popping up for Elation. :)

 

 

You're right, we were on the Elation in May. Going through the Panama Canal was an incredible experience.

[Juliadlf]

Thanks everyone for the information.

 

Julia

[cruisinisforme]

Im on the liberty too in october, Its a 1 1/2 hour bus ride to get to the canal and the carnival excursion is $175.

[Caliber1]

We did the 2 oceans by rail last year and had a great time.