Preparing for my recent Panama Canal trip, I read this book by Dr. Lew Deitch called
“Cruising Coast To Coast Through the Panama Canal” which said I was making a big mistake
with what I had booked, which got me worried.
But more importantly, it got me thinking about other mistakes I’ve seen people make on
past Panama Canal trips I’ve been on.
So, I want to talk about all of these because most people will only do the Panama Canal
once in their lifetime, so I want to help them make it perfect.
If you're new here, welcome aboard.
I'm Gary Bembridge and I'm here to make it fun and easy to discover Pan and enjoy unforgettable
cruise vacations.
The first mistake is thinking that it's a canal, despite its name.
The other iconic canal, the Suez Canal is one long, continuous, sea level canal.
The Panama Canal is not.
To pass the 50 miles from one side of Panama to the other, ships are first raised up 85
feet (26 metres) in a series of three locks.
They then sail through the vast man-made Gatun Lake and along a long channel cut into the
countryside, known as the Culebra, or Galliard Cut, before being lowered back to sea level
by another three locks.
The while process takes between 8 and 10 hours.
There is also more than one Panama Canal.
Knowing this is important, as I will explain shortly.
The original was opened in 1914.
It was built by the US after failed attempts by the French.
However, as only around one third of all ships could pass through the old canal, a new one
was opened in 2016 to take bigger ships.
It doubled the capacity of ships able to pass through the canal system and enables many
of the mega container and cruise mega ships to now use it.
It’s key to understand that you will not be going through a canal, but a whole system.
Again, as you will see, this becomes important to avoid further mistakes.
People I’ve met who have been underwhelmed with the Panama Canal cruise made the mistake,
in my view, of choosing the wrong canal.
In my view, the old 1914 canal is THE canal to go through.
It is the most dramatic, visually interesting and has an incredible story to discover.
It has many differences to the modern one.
On the original canal, if you go from the Panama to Caribbean side, as I did on my recent
trip, you first go up through the two-tier Miraflores locks, about a mile through the
Miraflores lake to the one-tier Pedro Miguel lock.
Then through the man-made channel Culebra Cut, also known as Galliard Cut into the vast
Gatun Lake, which supplies the water for the locks.
Then it’s down the impressive three-tiered Gatun Locks down to the Caribbean Sea.
On the new canal going the same way, the wider and longer three-tier the Cocoli Locks take
ships up, they use the same cut and lake, and the equally larger Agua Clara Locks take
them down.
You can see the entrance to the new locks using the old locks, as well as ships sailing
through them.
Why is the old canal a better experience then?
First, cruise ships fit very snuggly in, with often as little as foot each side.
Second, they still use the original angled lock gates that swing open, and thirdly they
use these mechanical mules attached to the ship to keep the ship centred.
They do not pull the ship just keep it from smashing into the lock walls.
On the new canal it’s very wide, tugboats help steer the ships and they have modern
ones that slide in and out.
The old canal is definitely the most dramatic.
And is the one that you should do.
However, even if you choose the right canal, in my view, there is another mistake I see
people making around how they do it.
There are up to 250 cruise ships that pass through the Panama Canal every year.
So, you need understand which is best for you as the different options are designed
for different types of travellers.
There are three main options.
I've done all of them.
And I have thoughts on what their strengths are and who I think that they are best for.
The first and the most obvious one is a full transit.
You can either go from the Caribbean Sea from Colon to the Pacific side, Panama City, or
the other way around.
This is one for the bucket list, the travel geek, or cruisers who want to see every detail
and be able to say they’ve done the full iconic Panama Canal transit.
You also need to time because many of these trips are 10- to 14-day cruises.
They include ships repositioning at the start and the end of the Alaska season to or from
the Caribbean or Europe and pass through the Panama Canal to do that.
There are ships on World Voyages, for example like I did on Queen Victoria that pass through
on their circumnavigation of the globe.
world cruise.
Then there are Panama Cruise dedicated cruises, which go from Los Angeles to Miami or, as
I did on Oceania Marina, from Panama City to Miami.
And, of course vice versa.
The second option, if you want to get a taste of the Panama Canal but mostly want a Southern
and West Caribbean cruise, is to do partial transit cruise out of Florida.
like I did on Holland America Zuiderdam.
These go from the Caribbean side up through the Gatun Locks, turn around in the Gatun
Lake and come back down.
These usually offer excursions, where you tender off in the lake and go on excursions
and meet the ship back in Colon.
While you’re not going to have the full experience, it works for travellers who are
not bothered about seeing it all or want to see more of Panama.
The excursions offered usually include the Gamboa Aerial Tramway visit to the rainforest,
small boat trips on the Gatun Lake to the islands to see monkeys, birds, and crocodiles
or the historic train ride to Panama City.
But, if anyone in your group does want more of the canal, there will be canal operation
tours to either the new Agua Clara Lock system or Miraflores visitor centre to watch ships
passing through there.
Or you can complete the transit on a much smaller tourist boat and get a coach back
to the ship which waits in Colon for the excursions.
These trips though are usually 10-days long.
The third option, which I did on Oceania Insignia and is shorter, is do a7-night Western Caribbean
cruise that calls into Colon.
From Colon those same excursions were available.
So, it’s great if you have limited time or only one, or a few, of your party wants
to see and experience the Panama Canal as only they can do that excursion.
However, even within those three options, there is another mistake I see people making.
And that's one that I actually discovered on my most recent trip, and that's choosing
the wrong ship.
You want to go on a ship which has many areas and space to do viewings.
When I did the Queen Victoria full transit and Holland America Zuiderdam for the partial
transit, they opened the bow of the ship to get really close the locks and see it.
Both also had full promenade decks deck five or six to get close to see the mules and operations
close up.
I could also go to the rear of the ship.
On Oceania Marina, there were fewer places to view as it lacks a promenade deck, and
the bow wasn't opened as it’s used for the canal operations.
I was lucky enough to be invited to watch from a suite balcony overlooking the bow by
a guest.
Before booking, think about how you want to view the canal.
If you want to get up close, choose a ship where you can do that.
How do you know which will do that?
I've already mentioned some of the lines that do it, but ask your travel agent to check,
or ask the question on CruiseCritic in the group for the line you are considering and
check with past passengers.
Once you’ve got the right canal and the right ship, there are still a few other mistakes
you could make.
There are things you need to do before you go, once you are on board and on the day.
There are three things I recommend before you go.
First, learn about the history and the politics of the canal.
It is fascinating and disturbing.
Like over 22,000 people died in the failed French attempt to build the canal, and the
political lengths the US went to in order to make the Panama Canal happen.
The book most rely on is David McCullough’s “Pathway Between the Seas.
The Creation of the Panama Canal”.
Second thing is packing for the transit.
You're going to be outside for a long time.
It's hot, it's sticky, and you can get very sunburnt and dehydrated.
Take a really good hat with a brim all the way around, good sunglasses, sunscreen, and
clothes suitable for a hot humid day and comfy shoes.
I made the big mistake of not putting it on the back of my neck.
Got really burned in the back of my neck and actually in surprising parts of my arm where
I missed it.
Ask if are you going to want to take lots of photos or videos, and pack accordingly.
If you have a new camera or phone, make sure you know how to use it.
On all my trips I saw people struggling.
Once on board, go to all the ship talks and briefings.
They will explain how the day's going to work, what areas will be open and the time schedule
for the day of when you will be in the different locks.
This helps you plan the day, like when you're going to have lunch, have a rest, whatever.
On the day, if you can be at the front of the ship.
If the bow is open, you’ll need to get there early in the morning, and it turns into a
bit of a bun-fight because everyone wants to be there and in front.
Over the course of the day, numbers reduce and it’s easier to get a good position at
short notice.
During the transit, do move around the ship, see some of the locks closing and watch from
different angles.
When you go through the cut and lake, don't really worry about being out there.
It's interesting, but it's not fascinating.
So, you can downtime, rest and eat.
The one thing that you don't need to worry about as a mistake, which is the one that
I was warned about in that book by Dr. Lew Deitch was about the direction.
He said in his book that the best way to go was from the Caribbean side, through to the
Panama side.
Whichever side you go is incredible.
That is one mistake you don't, in my view, need to worry about.
If want to see in more depth what it’s like to transit the Panama Canal, and all the stages
take a look at this video where you'll see what amazed me most about the transit.
See you over there