Input wanted for panama canal cruise.

[fud2468]

In our senior years we've managed 3 cruises. The first two were from San Francisco on Dawn Princess to Mexican Riviera and Celebrity Infinity to Alaska from Vancouver. That pretty much finished what cruising there was to be had leaving from left coast ports (and after that long hike through the Vancouver airport we'll never fly there again!).

Our third and last trip was to the Western Caribbean on Ruby Princess. Airport problem again- Ft. Lauderdale was a madhouse for us.

So--we'd now like to find a Panama Canal cruise that goes from San Francisco to an eastern port other than Ft. Lauderdale, or vice versa. I've heard that there may be a chance of Tampa for such a cruise but we'd first like to know if it would be a better port than Ft. Lauderdale.

I don't know if other seniors have the same problem we do with cruising; though we're pretty spry for our ages, just getting to and from ports has been so difficult and exhausting that it makes us think twice about further cruising.

Ray Mac.

[Essiesmom]

I've never heard of a Panama Canal cruise doing a full transit that ended in Tampa. I think it would end either in FLL or MIA. You don't say when you want to cruise, but go to seacruisechat dot com and scroll to the bottom of the page and yu will get the transit schedule for 2009/2010. Then you can check out the itinerary for each cruise line/ship .

EM

[TrentS]

Many do begin and end in Fort Lauderdale, and I agree their airport can be a zoo on winter/spring weekends, but not all Panama Canal cruises that end there end on weekends.

 

It's much more sane through the week, or later in the day. The cruise passengers tend to all get dumped on there at once.

 

Just because you had one bad experience with a place doesn't mean you should give up, just do things differently next time. If say the cruise you choose does end in Fort Lauderdale stay over until Monday and fly out then... Or start your cruise in Fort Lauderdale rather than end it there.

 

I'm in and out of both FLL and MIA frequently and don't have any problems, but I never fly on weekends. ;)

 

As for Vancouver, if the walk was too much just request wheelchairs through your airline... They'll treat you like royalty, my mom is in her 80's and does it all the time.

[BillB48]

RCI's Radiance of the Seas will be going through the Canal, starting from San Diego and ending in Tampa begining Sep 24 '10. As far as which airport/port would be better, I really don't know, but it is hard to beat the proximity of FLL to the port. I've only used FLL to pick up a rental car and have not flown into or out of it. The only time I have gone from the port in Tampa to the airport was to pick up a rental car as well. We were origingally scheduled to dock in FLL but because of Hurricane Katrina the ship was diverted to Tampa. The place was a zoo but under those circumstances I don't think that is a fair estimate.

[ab0si]

RCI's Radiance of the Seas will be going through the Canal, starting from San Diego and ending in Tampa begining Sep 24 '10. As far as which airport/port would be better, I really don't know, but it is hard to beat the proximity of FLL to the port. I've only used FLL to pick up a rental car and have not flown into or out of it. The only time I have gone from the port in Tampa to the airport was to pick up a rental car as well. We were origingally scheduled to dock in FLL but because of Hurricane Katrina the ship was diverted to Tampa. The place was a zoo but under those circumstances I don't think that is a fair estimate.

 

Tampa is a very good airport .. perhaps the best mid-size airport in the US (damning with faint praise).

 

Regardless of which airport you use, there are several things which can make things easier:

 

a) as someone else suggested, request a wheelchair (or two).

 

b) arrive the day before the cruise and stay in a hotel the night you end the cruise.

[jnc411]

HI , most of your full transit Panama Canal cruises, sail from either LA , or San Diego, and both are pretty easy to get to. Usually there is at least one that goes from San Francisco at the end of the Alaska season that is a repositioning cruise , you could check that out. Then I think it is either Miami or Ft Lauderdale. We are seniors and have gone through Ft. Lauderdale many times , we usually book a red eye into Ft. Lauderdale and have a full day to recoupe before the cruise, and going home we book and early afternoon or late afternoon flight out , so we don't have to rush. And it works pretty good, and we are coming from the LA area and go through Long Beach or Orange County airport , so we can avoid the LAX zoo :). Good luck hope you find a cruise you like.

Cori

[Krazy Kruizers]

HAL's Ryndam goes from Vancouver (sorry about that) and goes through the canal each fall. It's final destination is Tampa.

BUT -- you could get on the ship in San Diego.

[euro cruiser]

I think, as others have suggested, that you are making your cruise decision unnecessarily difficult by focusing on airports. That problem can be simply solved, as already noted, by taking advantage of the services provided by all airports for senior citizens. My mom travels often - she's 86 - and it took a while for her to overcome her pride and accept a ride. Once she did, however, she realized how much it enhanced her trip and has done so ever since.

 

If you really can't deal with the Ft. Lauderdale airport, you could book out of Palm Beach International. It's about an hour north of Ft. Lauderdale, just off I-95. It's slightly smaller.

 

Tampa is a lovely airport, but it has the same issues. It has a lot of gates and it's busy. And, if I've got it right, Tampa has monorails (like the Orlando airport) that you must take between the gates and the terminals, doesn't it?

 

My point is that all airports have issues - use their services and don't worry about it.

[fud2468]

I'm getting back to this thread for the first time since starting it--sorry to be so tardy in responding, and thanks to all who replied to me.

Regarding flying: to keep things simple I mentioned only our airport experience. We have other issues with having to fly at all.

Clearly (IF we were to fly to a port again) we would now take the steps you have suggested to avoid the problems we have had in the past. When we took our 3 cruises we were locked into the arrangements the TA had made for us. If there's a next time that requires flying we'll do our own scheduling to avoid airport congestion.

For us (and for others this apparently is not a problem) the flying experience is very tiring entirely apart from the airport issues.

I have learned that there are Panama cruises that depart and return to the same port without going all the way through the canal. If there's one that does this from San Francisco we'll go for it. We're 60 miles away and don't have to fly there!

Ray Mac.

P.S.--We may give Vancouver another chance; we flew there from Sacramento and the Air Canada part of it was great!

[cruznjan]

I'm getting back to this thread for the first time since starting it--sorry to be so tardy in responding, and thanks to all who replied to me.

Regarding flying: to keep things simple I mentioned only our airport experience. We have other issues with having to fly at all.

Clearly (IF we were to fly to a port again) we would now take the steps you have suggested to avoid the problems we have had in the past. When we took our 3 cruises we were locked into the arrangements the TA had made for us. If there's a next time that requires flying we'll do our own scheduling to avoid airport congestion.

For us (and for others this apparently is not a problem) the flying experience is very tiring entirely apart from the airport issues.

I have learned that there are Panama cruises that depart and return to the same port without going all the way through the canal. If there's one that does this from San Francisco we'll go for it. We're 60 miles away and don't have to fly there!

Ray Mac.

P.S.--We may give Vancouver another chance; we flew there from Sacramento and the Air Canada part of it was great!

 

Those cruises are from the Caribbean side. The ships go throught the Gatun locks, cruise on Gatun Lake and stop for excursions and then go back though the locks into the Caribbean. I don't know of any from the Pacific side.

[Treven]

Like others who have posted, when my cruise ends at FLL, I stay there for a couple of days before flying out to the Left Coast; or fly out a couple days prior to the cruise.

[ACD5]

This may be lengthly, but hopefully helpful. I did the Panama Cruise out of Fort Lauderdale. I needed the wheelchair because I had twisted my ankle the day before. Because I knew I had to change planes enroute to Ft Lauderdale and didn't want to aggrevate my ankle going from one terminal to the next with a 40 min. time limit - I chose the wheelchair. Dr. I knew I was able to arrange for a wheelchair at checkin and they took me thru security and all gates much faster had I been healthy and standing in line!!! Go for the wheelchair!

 

Someone I know really gets anxious when flying. She is always concerned that she won't be able to figure out where to go, will miss gate change announcements, etc. She is pretty spry for 84, but the anxiety caused her to quit traveling - UNTIL - she began requesting wheelchair assistance. Felt guilty at first because she was basically mobile enough to walk; however, it has made traveling a joy once more for her. She doesn't have to read and figure out if she's going the right way, etc. - they even stop and let her pick up something to eat during a long layover.

[relaxandenjoy]

Another thing I would recommend to simplify the flying process is to hire a Towncar rather than doing rentals or shuttles. This way the driver takes you right to your check in point and can turn your luggage over to the Porters for you. They also meet you right in baggage claim, help you with your luggage, and take you to your destination. They're not too much more expensive than taxi cabs and are well worth the expense.

 

As others have said, booking a nice hotel for the night after the cruise is a great way to relax and unwind before flying home -and miss the extra cruise traffic at the airport. I'm NOT elderly but one time I found the post-cruise night hotel so relaxing and the bed so comfortable, I barely got out of the bed until my flight the next day.

[fud2468]

Thanks again. Great suggestions!

Ray Mac.

[kitty9]

You're not going to find a Panama Canal cruise that starts and finishes in San Francisco. You might find a cruise that is repositioning from Alaska to the Caribbean, but it won't go back to SFO. In 2011, Crystal is doing a repo cruise that starts in SFO, transits the Canal and goes up to NYC. But you're not going to find a round trip SFO that does the Canal.

[lais]

I'm getting back to this thread for the first time since starting it--sorry to be so tardy in responding, and thanks to all who replied to me.

Regarding flying: to keep things simple I mentioned only our airport experience. We have other issues with having to fly at all.

Clearly (IF we were to fly to a port again) we would now take the steps you have suggested to avoid the problems we have had in the past. When we took our 3 cruises we were locked into the arrangements the TA had made for us. If there's a next time that requires flying we'll do our own scheduling to avoid airport congestion.

For us (and for others this apparently is not a problem) the flying experience is very tiring entirely apart from the airport issues.

I have learned that there are Panama cruises that depart and return to the same port without going all the way through the canal. If there's one that does this from San Francisco we'll go for it. We're 60 miles away and don't have to fly there!

Ray Mac.

P.S.--We may give Vancouver another chance; we flew there from Sacramento and the Air Canada part of it was great!

 

Princess Cruises has one from Los Angeles. 18 days. Panama Canal round trip. You could take the train to LA. or just a quick flight.

[EGG]

Another thing I would recommend to simplify the flying process is to hire a Towncar rather than doing rentals or shuttles. This way the driver takes you right to your check in point and can turn your luggage over to the Porters for you. They also meet you right in baggage claim, help you with your luggage, and take you to your destination. They're not too much more expensive than taxi cabs and are well worth the expense.

 

As others have said, booking a nice hotel for the night after the cruise is a great way to relax and unwind before flying home -and miss the extra cruise traffic at the airport. I'm NOT elderly but one time I found the post-cruise night hotel so relaxing and the bed so comfortable, I barely got out of the bed until my flight the next day.

 

I was also going to suggest a taxi or town car. For a taxi, have a porter help you with bags and walk you to the taxi stand. The taxi will drop you off right in front of the terminal entrance for your airline. Grab a porter there. The wheelchair might work - I've never tried it.

 

A few of the airlines/cruiselines have a program where your luggage is sent direct to the airline for a small fee.

 

I was also going to suggest cruising from the east coast to the west coast and getting in the day before to get over the jet lag. That way you take a taxi to the hotel and a taxi to the cruiseport. Since everything is so close the taxi prices are relatively inexpensive. We avoid the free hotel shuttles because of the wait, stop at each hotel, lack of personal attention. And you make up the 3 hours you lost on the cruise ship on your way back to CA - often one of those hours is the last morning.

 

And don't forget there are also cruises to Hawaii from west coast ports, but not from San Francisco. I did find round trip cruises San Francisco on Sea Princess to Alaska and on Norwegian Sun and Star Princess to Mexico. If you don't know how to search on the internet for cruises leaving from SF, maybe someone else can help since I know we can't post the site name. But you can go to the individual cruise lines and search for cruises leaving from SF and look for ones that return there.

 

I hate to recommend an airline, I've only taken Virgin America twice from LA to Seattle, but maybe if you go with that smaller airline (if it flies the route you want on the west coast) you won't have that crazy zoo feeling.

[momofmeg]

In our senior years we've managed 3 cruises. The first two were from San Francisco on Dawn Princess to Mexican Riviera and Celebrity Infinity to Alaska from Vancouver. That pretty much finished what cruising there was to be had leaving from left coast ports (and after that long hike through the Vancouver airport we'll never fly there again!).

Our third and last trip was to the Western Caribbean on Ruby Princess. Airport problem again- Ft. Lauderdale was a madhouse for us.

So--we'd now like to find a Panama Canal cruise that goes from San Francisco to an eastern port other than Ft. Lauderdale, or vice versa. I've heard that there may be a chance of Tampa for such a cruise but we'd first like to know if it would be a better port than Ft. Lauderdale.

I don't know if other seniors have the same problem we do with cruising; though we're pretty spry for our ages, just getting to and from ports has been so difficult and exhausting that it makes us think twice about further cruising.

Ray Mac.

 

The Cunard Queen Victoria is doing one in January 2011-from NY to Los Angles-and then in March( I think) the reverse itinerary, as it heads back to Europe.