Saturday, April 13, 2024

Panama Canal Cruises: Everything You Need to Know

royal caribbean panama canal cruise

Despite the early start, you'll want to be prepared for the Panama sun, as it can get surprisingly hot while you're out there waiting. Some ships will do their best to make passengers comfortable, offering chilled towels and water, juice and Panama rolls (Danish-like pastries with sweet fruit filling in the center) for a small breakfast alfresco. Tortuguero National Park offers close encounters with the green tortoise, crocodiles, monkeys and exotic birds, all seen at water level on the canals. Heartier souls can try white-water rafting on the Revantazon River. Carnival Cruises has a range of Panama Canal cruises leaving from different ports in the US, including Tampa, New Orleans and Galveston.

Princess Cruises' 10-day Panama Canal with Costa Rica & Caribbean cruise

The cruise line does ask for patience as rebookings are managed, and notes that it may be necessary to temporarily place guests into “Guarantee” stateroom status (GTY) while details are finalized. The third option is an outright cancellation, and guests will receive a full refund of the cruise fare, deposits, and any pre-paid purchases. The refund will be processed back to the original form of payment. If a future cruise credit was used, it will be reinstated at the original terms.

November

royal caribbean panama canal cruise

Plus, this area is also known for diving, as aquatic wildlife frequent the water. The original idea for the Panama Canal dates back to the 16th century. When Spanish explorer Vasco Nunez de Balboa discovered the land bridge in 1513, people began searching for a natural waterway that would link both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

Night Transcanal CruiseDetails

Thanks to a 2016 canal expansion project, a third set of locks can now accommodate larger vessels. It's possible to cruise the Panama Canal on ships of all sizes (from 148 guests to more than 3,000) on itineraries that range from a week in the sun to a six-month world cruise. During your visit, be sure to look for monkeys, sloths, iguanas, blue-footed boobies, capybaras, crocodiles and even manatees on a jungle boat tour along the canal and into Gatun Lake.

And if you're in the mood for the city life, head to Panama City, the Caribbean's most urban cluster that's only an hour away by car. Descend on some of the most exciting travel destinations in Central America during a Panama Canal cruise. Stops in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico; Puntarenas, Costa Rica; and Colón, Panama, means appreciating countless natural landscapes on top of traversing through the famous shortcut itself.

Norwegian Cruise Line's 17-day South America: Peru, Colombia & Chile cruise

Those on "partial crossings" or simply docked at Colon might consider completing the crossing in a smaller boat. This popular shore excursion begins at Gamboa, one of the towns along the Canal. It takes passengers through the remaining two Canal locks, all the way to the Pacific Ocean. A motorcoach ride delivers passengers back to their waiting ships at Colon.

Royal Caribbean International Panama Canal Cruises

While the railing of the balcony can give you a better appreciation for just how tight that squeeze is, being up on the bow is the best way to appreciate the full scope of the process. There are so many fabulous encounters with nature available from this port, you'll have a hard time deciding on a shore excursion. A visit to the Tabacon Resort Hot Springs takes you to the slopes of the active Arenal volcano. The Poas volcano features the amazing sight of a huge crater filled with iridescent blue water.

Windstar Cruises' 7-night Costa Rica & Panama Canal cruise

6 Tips For Romantic Vacations On A Cruise Here are six fun things to try on a cruise during one of your next romantic vacations. She has lived and traveled all over the world and loves to share her experiences. She is the author of The Rainbow Atlas and currently calls London her home. Santa Catalina is a surf town where you can catch some waves, take a horseback tour, or hop in the water for diving or snorkeling. It's there that you can find Isla Coiba, an untouched island with close to 200 bird species, turtles, crocodiles, and snakes.

Carnival Cruise Line's 8-day Panama Canal cruise from Tampa

This area used to be more run down, but Panama City is investing a lot into it. It's an area of Panama City that is full of life no matter what time of day you visit. You can now find boutique hotels, unique shops, cafes and restaurants with incredible food, like Sancocho de Gallina, the signature dish of Panama. This is a chicken stew slow-cooked with corn and root vegetables like yuca and ote and flavored with culantro (similar to cilantro).

The Panama Canal cruise season peaks between October and April, outside of the rainy season that can start as early as mid-March and extend into the fall. With a tropical climate, this region is home to rainforests, incredible biodiversity, lush landscapes, abundant wildlife and beautiful beaches, but the weather can be wet at certain times of the year. Other great shore excursion options include taking the refurbished Panama Railway from the Pacific to the Atlantic. It rides parallel to the Canal and offers a great view in luxuriously paneled railway cars. Another exciting alternative is to take a trek through the rain forest at Gamboa, or visit an authentic Embera Indian Village on the Chagres River (which often takes place by canoe).

Royal Caribbean News Round-Up: August 13, 2023 - Royal Caribbean Blog

Royal Caribbean News Round-Up: August 13, 2023.

Posted: Sun, 13 Aug 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]

And thanks to its relations with the U.S., Panama was the first country outside of the U.S. to sell Coca-Cola. That's right, the beloved soft drink, which you can now buy in every country except for North Korea and Cuba, first made its international debut in Panama in 1906. The plans for a canal connecting the Atlantic and Pacific were around for quite some time, and the U.S. desperately wanted one for both economic and military reasons. Because there was already a French project for a canal in Panama, they decided they would build theirs in Nicaragua.

Transiting the Panama Canal is a once-in-a-lifetime cruise experience for many travelers, and these shorter cruises offering a full transit rather than a partial one were very popular and unique. Pacific Coast (stopping in Victoria, Vancouver, San Francisco and Los Angeles) before heading to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico and Puntarenas, Costa Rica. The ship makes one Atlantic stop in Aruba before passengers disembark in Fort Lauderdale.

Another option is the Rainforest and Aerial Tram tour to the Gamboa Rainforest Resort in the 55,000-acre Soberania National Park. The tram climbs 280 feet through the dense jungle vegetation to reach the tree canopy above. During the ride to the top, keep an eye out for local wildlife, including white-faced capuchin and howler monkeys, sloths, butterflies, iguanas, toucans and frogs. For a rainy-day excursion, ride the Panama Canal Railway, one of the world's great train rides. If you're in Panama City, plan an indoor excursion with a visit to the world's first museum dedicated to biodiversity, the Frank Gehry-designed Biomuseo.

From the ship, you'll get great views of Soberania National Park, a 55,000-acre area of protected rainforest that's home countless species of birds, mammals and reptiles. See if you can catch a glimpse of an orange-chinned parakeet or a white-faced capuchin monkey. A cruise to the Panama Canal is a chance to land on amazing destinations during the same trip.

Brilliance of the Seas will also be making one eastward Panama Canal transit via a 14-night sailing from Los Angeles to New Orleans, departing September 28, 2024. Guests are asked to notify the cruise line or their travel agent no later than August 29, 2023 about their decision, or they will be kept in a like-for-like stateroom on the new adjusted itinerary. Multiple Royal Caribbean cruises aboard Rhapsody of the Seas are impacted and will no longer be sailing through the Panama Canal.

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