Thread: Panama Canal: Have You Been? Do You Want to Go?

Not been but it is on my must do list. Note as easy for us on this side of the pond as it involves a long flight at least one way. Unless I win the Lotto and go through on a world cruise.

now we've been and seen it. well worth doing.
it rains 260 days a year there!!!!

Originally Posted by smitty

now we've been and seen it. well worth doing.
it rains 260 days a year there!!!!

Davy, what did you do there? Give us details!

I was staioned there in the late 60's and early 70's TDY for several months at a time. I'm going back in about 60 days
on Miracle with a stop in Colon.

Originally Posted by reggierail

I was staioned there in the late 60's and early 70's TDY for several months at a time. I'm going back in about 60 days
on Miracle with a stop in Colon.

GREAT!

We'll be looking forward to your report!

I am doing the Carnival Miracle 11-12-09 and would appreciate any info concerning independant tours. I found the ship tour of the canal quite expensive but realize that it may be "shaky" to do on our own. I am travelling with a group of people of all ages, sexes and mental capacities, LOL

Hi Law! If you ship actually goes into the canal, that would probably be enough of an excursion without having to plan anything else.

We did do both a Full Transit of the Panama Canal on the QE2 a longtime ago and last year we did a Partial from Colon and a Bus Trip to the Pacific end with the Train Ride back to Colon.

The trip several years ago on the QE2 was a very long and interesting day.

We started on the west side at about 5:30AM and reached the first locks (west side) around 8AM and then reached the final lock (on the east side) around 1:30PM.

It was very hot to stay on deck to view the full canal experience. Lots of water had to drink and also sunscreen applied about every 15 minutes. Had to go inside each once in awhile to cool down. The ship staff was very nice to go around the open decks and pass out water so you did not have to miss anything.

There were some people that did not follow the guidelines suggested by the staff onboard several days before, and had to go to Medical Department for treatment for heat effects.

Enjoyed the experience very much.

The crusie last year on the QM2 was from Colon side. We started the tour around 8:30PM with the bus trip from the pierside and showed us many parts of Colon, Panama City westside.

We did go to one of the locks to view from the rooftop of the observation deck an actual transit.

By the beginning of the afternoon, we arrived at the westside and boarded the Panama Canal Train. What a wonderful experience and very comfortable. We arrived on the eastside around 4PM and was bused back to the pier in about 1/2 hour ride.

We did thnk the tour was well worth it and interesting.

It is worth seeing the Panama Canal with either option. What a experience.

Make sure you have plenty of film and video.

We did the partial to Gatun Lake, where we also took a tour to see the workings of the locks from the land perspective. It poured like crazy while we were going through the locks, but it was worth getting wet for. No rain on the return trip, but by then it was dark. Now it looks like we'll be going again next year, to Colon, so I'm debating what excursion to take. So far, it looks like I might do the train, but I have lots of time to decide.

See for a website about our Panama Canal cruise:
Cruise 2005

It was nice!