Before you cruise, consider reading "The Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal, 1870-1914" be David McCullough. It's a long but excellent read and really helped me appreciate this trip!
I agree completely. I read this and several other books about the canal prior to our full transit in February 2019 (great time for weather!) and the information really added to the experience. HIGHLY RECOMMEND the book and the trip!!
I'm glad you mentioned that, I meant to say that in my comment above. You are absolutely spot on. It is long, but it's a FASCINATING read. As he put it, it was the "moonshot of their time."
Thank you so much. I just checked it out from my library's Overdrive. Looking forward to traveling this summer (again) without leaving my comfy chair. Perhaps we'll be prepared to cruise next spring.
I was on the NCL Gem.....that pulled into New York Feb 14th 2019 just just before they shut the Cruise LInes down,....we went thru the Old Locks.....in Oct of yr before was on the NCL Joy that went thru the New Locks....my preference is there is a lot more to see in the old locks....if you get a chance....they are the best cruises outside of Alaska possibly.
The Panama cruise was my second favorite to Alaska. It was truly fascinating. Along with the mechanics of the canal, the immense size of the freight liners up close boggled my mind. The effort putting the canal in is amazing on its own. Thank you for posting this!
We did a full transit on Celebrity Summit from Ft. Lauderdale to San Diego. The Panama Canal cruise is absolutely amazing. When we started the transit, sailing through the rainforest, we saw hundreds of yellow & purple butterflies. Sitting on our balcony, feet away from a cargo ship, seeing the workings of securing hundreds of 40' stacked containers was also a sight. Watching the mules do their work and the mesmerizing sight of the locks, opening & closing and the force that raised or lowered the ships was truly an amazing experience. This is definitely a bucket list cruise.
I did a 21 night panama canal cruise (San Francisco, CA to New York, NY) on NCL right when covid was starting to make itself known. It was an amazing cruise.
Yes it was an amazing trip! I did a 21 day L.A. To New York in Nov. 2019 on the NCL Bliss and went through the new lock system. Highly recommend doing this if you have a chance. Many years ago we did a Caribbean cruise and did an excursion to the old lock system. I was awestruck how fast the water filled and emptied each lock. There was a cargo ship going through so we saw it in action. The tour guide said we were very lucky as many times there were no ships scheduled to go through. Just amazing!
@@Michael-Bennett knowing what I know now I wish I would have done a back to back new york to new york, 41 day cruise. I am thankful we could squeeze it in because like you said, amazing. Remember the "washy washy oooot ooot" Singing/ dancing crewmember?
We've done 8 transits to the Canal. Four each direction and twice through the new locks. It is our favorite cruise, with east to west topping the list.
I did the full transit in January 2018 from LA to Miami and am now scheduled for Miami to LA in April 2022. This has probably been one of my favorite cruises. I recommend everyone do it at least once. Thank you for the extra information you have provided.
I got to do a full transit on my birthday in January 2014 on our way to ports in Ecuador and Peru and it was amazing. It’s miraculous how the tug boats guide the gigantic ships into the chambers and never touch the sides. It’s interesting to see the cuts that were begun and eventually abandoned. The new channel was well under way but not finished. That was fun to see too.
Doing the Panama Canal cruise in October 2021 from Seattle to Fort Lauderdale (21 days/HAL). This will be our second time going through the canal. Wonderful experience! ❤️
When we did our full transit I started reading David McCullough's book on the history of the canal at the beginning of the cruise.. I wanted to complete it before going through the canal but it is a very long book. I did finish it before the end of the cruise.
We did a partial transit Jan 2011. We were told about flooding in the rainforest of Panama in December 2010, with over 315% of normal rainfall. The raising waters in Lake Gatun were a threat to the locks, and to prevent damage, all the gates were opened for 17 hours allowing un-told millions of gallons of lake water to drain out both sides directly into the oceans.
8:03 remember that sunscreen is a *consumable.* It wears down. Plan to reapply sunscreen every 1-2 hours, especially if you sweat. Not one-and-done with putting it on in the morning once.
Hi Gary, I was fortunate enough to go thru the Panama Canal on a partial transit on the Caribbean Princess in 2017 from the East coast. I loved every minute. It was so fascinating. I took the excursion which takes you through the smaller locks and you wind up on the Pacific coast. Just blew my mind. Highly recommend it. There is a wonderful PBS video that is well worth watching to enhance your journey.
I still remember my first transit. I was working as the Officer of the Deck on a US navy ship...just cruising through on a modern ship is so much more relaxing! LOL
Another amazing waterway is the Trent in Ontario Canada. 37 locks 2 of the world's tallest hydrologic and one railway system. 387 km long and 7 days to complete. A lot of Americans do this on "The Loop".
I highly recommend the cruise either the half or complete transit. So nice. Got to see a lot of wildlife and also we were in Panama, Colombia, and Costa Rica. Very educational and a lot of fun.
Thanks! You've given me some additional ideas for our April transit. This will be our second. First was LAX to FL through the new locks. April will be FL to LAX via the old locks. The new locks don't use the mules, they use tugs. So April will be different in several ways. Oh, and it'll be on a Seabourn ship as well, so a small ship experience. A hint if you're going through on Princess. Plan to do the balcony breakfast on transit day. We were in a forward suite with gawkers on the observation deck forward of us and above us. It was fun to have them gently teasing us about sharing our beautiful breakfast. The real reason though is to have a great breakfast without having to leave a location with a good canal view. David
I couldn't agree more. I've been cruising for over 20 years, been all over the Caribbean, a cruise to HI, and 2 Alaskan cruises, and my full transit of the Panama Canal was the most interesting experience of them all. In fact, I want to do it again. I've had other cruises where I've enjoyed the company, the dinner companions, and over experience more. But it's the one cruise I'll always remember.
Did a P&O cruise on the Arcadia ages ago and did the complete transit on route to the Pacific. Fantastic experience. Barbeque and deck buffet serving all day so we missed nothing. Loads of people waving to us as we reached the visitor centre! Memories for life!! Excellent tips on this Gary!
If you get a veranda, find out which side of the ship the sun will be on and get the "shady" side. We did that our second transit and were able to sit in the shade all day.
My wife and I did the westbound from San Diego to Galveston on the Disney Wonder. This was so good that we will be planning a Eastbound cruise. One things that we did was we had a balcony cabin that gave us a good view.
I did the canal the first time on Island Princess in 2014 (full transit) and a second time as a passenger on a container ship Spirit of Shanghai in 2016. The cruise ship transit had a docent so there was plenty of information before and during the trip, mostly about construction and history. The container ship transit was more about operation as I had bridge access. I recommend either type of trip added to someone's todo list.
Just did the last Alaska cruise of the season on the Serenade of the Seas and on that cruise, booked the follow up cruise through the Panama Canal. This was a bucket list item for us and it did not disappoint. We were the first cruise ship with passengers since the pandemic started and they scheduled us through the old locks, which was truly fascinating. Each port stop we were the first cruise ship passengers since the pandemic (there were a few start up “bumps”, but still was a great cruise). The passage was epic and the experience worth it. I’ll do this again.
I LOVE this... I was sure I had to go on a world cruise to experience the canal, and I had never heard of the partial crossing into the lake, and then back. Thank you for this... I will now check who is doing these partial cruising's and when.
Been through the Panama Canal twice now, absolutely fabulous. Looking forward to doing again on our 2023 world cruise. As always another interesting video. Thanks Gary 👍
My wife and I had a booked cruise, in 2020 however Covid-19 took over and the cruise got canceled. We have now rebooked after all these years for Feb. 2025 and honestly can't wait again. Hope we picked a good time to go? We are excited and looking forward to the cruise. Thank you, Gary, for your videos and information. The old locks will be very interesting.
We did this cruise on Holland America from Ft Lauderdale to San Diego where we live last Feb to March 1. A week and a half later COVID shut everything down. We were glad to do it then and it was quite enjoyable.
We did a partial transit on HAL's Zuiderdam in 2009. Fabulous, but it rained so much! We did a canopy ride, a train trip, a Panama jungle hotel visit, and walked up to a vantage point where we could see a cruise ship passing through the canal. It was November so we were unlucky with the weather but the trip was memorable.
This is one of our favorite cruises. We have done twice. Partial and full. We will do again. Either one. The onboard speakers/historians made it also. Princess do a fantastic job. We preferred them to the other line we used. Highly recommend 👍👊
Another option is repositioning cruises. Cruiselines reposition in spring from the Caribbean to the West coast and Alaska and back in autumn. We did this twice with Disney. Once each way. First time through the old locks and second time through the new locks. The old locks transit was our favorite.
I always thought the only way to see the Panama Canal was on a large and expensive cruise ship package. I finally made a full passage on a small day trip boat out of Panama City. About $100 including bis return from Colón to Panama City. No extended cruise necessary. As nd MUCH lower cost to have this incredible experience. They off 1/2 canal trips weekly and full padsage once a month.
I've done a repositioning Disney cruise through the canal and it was fantastic. It rained and The Wonder scraped the canal causing some cosmetic damage, but it was very memorable. We had a canal expert on board that gave seminars throughout the cruise which made it even more enjoyable.
My aunt took me on a Norwegian cruise montevi bay cartegena the San blas island then two stops in coasts rica then Acapulco when I was pregnant with twins. Amazing cruise lovely brilliant people fun expeditions. Many engineers on board and people celebrating 25 th and 50 th anniversaries. One woman was celebrating their 40 th and not waiting. She was smart.
Thank you for the video. We're going from Ft Lauderdale to LA next April 2023. We just got off a 2 week Caribbean cruise, but the canal is something I've always wanted to do. We got a balcony room so we can spend the day enjoying it. Looks fascinating!
Gary, one thing to consider is Panama Canal cruise that leaves out of Long Beach (Los Angeles) CA close to but after January 1, that way your cruiser can go up to Pasadena and watch the Tournament of Roses parade.
I did this more than 10 years ago, a 16 day trip from LA to Tampa on the NCL Star with a forward facing suite. Worth every penny. Amazing trip. Great weather.
We watched from our aft balcony. The ship channel. We could watch the bow. Our balcony was on the working side it was great watching the transit in action and we could see the gates closing and cars using the temporary crossing. Loved it and will go again
This trip is STILL on my bucket list with my cruising partner (girlfriend from university) and now that she^s retired WILL be able to do the Nov-April time frame and do the coast to coast option….I`ve been to Colon on a Caribbean cruise and we chose the excursion to the canal visitor`s center - so interesting! Got to experience going through locks last fall on our Duoro river cruise and that was alot of fun!!!
Our most recent cruise (January 2020) was a Panama cruise with Princess. We used the newer Agua Clara Locks, but our excursion was a tour that also included the old locks and the remnants of the canal the French dug. Very interesting and I highly recommend it.
We did a full transit from New York to San Francisco in January of 2020, 21 days. The canal is quite impressive and the experience of sailing through the lake was worthwhile. Don’t know when we will cruise again….
Was stationed in Panama with the US Army in the late 80s on the Atlantic side of the canal. At our base we could see the ships sailing by heading to the Gatun locks. Have also transited the canal on US Army landing craft.
This is a timely topic. We're doing our first northbound transit in October, 2021 on the Nieuw Amsterdam. We've done 3 southbound transits and each was magnificent. Your tips are spot on.
It sounds boring to me, but all these comments saying how great it was surprised me. I am just looking at starting taking cruises, I'm 56. I've travelled the world, so I want to make my first cruise awesome without breaking the bank. I'm not rich, so maybe 6k total for 2 people.
My wife and I are doing the Miami to Seattle on Carnival in April 2022 with our daughter her husband and our 16 YO granddaughter.It's their first cruise I am hoping things are ironed out by then and also I hope this isn't too long for them as it's their first. Never been on Carnival only have done HAL in the past which we loved as we are Seniors but the cost difference for a cruise of that length is significant and figured there would be more to do for them on Carnival.
This was a 'bucket list' cruise for me, but my wife wasn't looking forward to "watching water go up and down". She even ended up loving it. And yes, best advise was lots of sunscreen because you lose track of all the time you are spending watching the water go up and down. We both will do it again (and again).
We’ve done the partial twice, both on the eastern side . Its great but the ship is so large your lose the perspective of the the enormity of the canal. Most of the newer ships are built to barely fit in the locks and they diminish the size of the canal. Still all in all a great trip. Thanks for sharing enjoyed your wonderful video.
Gary, I don’t think the “mules” pull the ships through. The ships travel with their own power. The purpose of of the mules is to center the ship in the canal. Since they are moving so slowly the rudder control in not good. So the cables from the mules function to keep the ship from hitting the walls.
I went through the Canal in 2011 and was always under the impression that the Mules pulled you. Your post made me research and you are absolutely right! Ships do use their own power and the mules are there to guide the ship and prevent it damaging the canal.
@@hobsonp67 they are mostly to prevent damaging the ship. The concrete of the locks will live, but the ship’s paint is ruined when scratching the concrete.
My wife and I booked a 21-day Celebrity Cruise in 2012 for our 10-year anniversary. This included a full west-to-east transit through Panama Canal. It was a truly fantastic eye-opening trip and would do again!! One advice I would pass along is this: if you have shore excursions during your full transit cruise which includes the Panama Canal, consider going east-to-west instead. This way, time zone changes are later going east-to-west which will make getting up in the morning easier for your excursions.
Many years ago, we did a partial transit before going on to S.A. countries and Aruba. This was 1980's. Unfortunately, they had no options while in the lake to do anything off ship. Also, Cruise ships were secondary to freight ships, so we had to wait a long time before we could make our way out. The delay meant we were forced to skip Aruba, but did Ocho Rios, Jamaica instead. Great trip.
We had booked Ft Lauderdale to Los Angeles twice in 2020 (50th anniv in spring) & wife’s birthday (in fall). Booked same Princess cruise in Spring (51st. Anniv.) We are currently booked on Island Princess in May, Los Angeles to Ft. Lauderdale. Hope 4th time is the charm.
We have an Oceania Cruise scheduled for Feb 1. Leaves from Panama City, does the full transit, then goes up the Central American coast to arrive in Miami. 10 day cruise with full transit.
We did the Panama canal twice and it was awesome. We were inside on an upper deck and we were able to see all Hopefully I will be able to experience it again
We did the Canal on HAL last March, I think we were the very last USA sailing that completed a full cruise before everything went nuts. Fantastic trip, the canal was way better than I had expected, would definitely recommend.
My first cruise was a Panama Canal cruise with Holland America. Looking forward to another one as my first post pandemic cruise in April 2022. Thanks for another great video.
I really enjoyed going through the canal on a PanMax ship (Coral Princess) a few years before Panama Canal 2 opened. I did the excursion on the ferry to go through the Pacific side locks. It was totally worth it; going through on a ferry is much different than on the ship. Fortunately, it only started pouring rain just when we were getting to the transport to take us back to the ship. Oh, and the 100 meters or so between where they dropped us off to the ship... that put me on the blood donor ineligibility list for a year. Not the canal. Not Panama City. The docking point where the ship awaited shore excursion passengers.
I learned something from this video……….I’m a geek……..I wanted to, and we did the full transit in 2019 on Coral Princess……..I would just love to do it again….
Actually they do pull the ship, while keeping the ship centered. My father designed the "mules" locomotives that pull the ships through the canal back in 1964. I lived there from the age of 3 to 19. On the new canal there are no mules, they use tug boats, which actually hasn't worked as well as they thought it would.
@@grooveman222 Agreed - the mules both center and pull. When we made passage in the late 70's were we directed by the pilot to leave our main engine running but it was to remain out of gear unless directed otherwise.
We were not told, and you did not mention, that ships carrying hazardous materials have priority in using the canal during daylight hours. Consequently, our cruise was delayed into almost dusk, and our passage through the canal occurred almost entirely at night.
In a brochure from cruise company a few years ago advertised a " repositioning cruise " that ships move from carribbean to Alaska and the reverse. They must not be having passengers anymore.
I went through on NCL STAR. Coral Princess went through each lock at the same time. Don't forget to take some funny signs or steaners to flash at the other cruise line. One sign of Coral Princess said 'Help, my wife kidnapped me to cruise'. Enjoy I have done Suez as well.
I was supposed to transit (fort Lauderdale to Lima) on Silver Moon Nov 20 (Covid victim)... Rebooked on Silver Dawn for Jan 22 ..... Which I'm fairly sure has no chance of happening either.
A balcony cabin seems to be a no-brainer for this kind of trip, especially if you're not into crowding with other people for hours on end. Would you recommend that?
