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Most people will do a Panama Canal once in their lifetime and, based on the multiple trips I have been fortunate to do, I have theses Do's and Don'ts for cruising the Panama Canal to help make sure you get what you can and should from that trip.
I made many mistakes when I cruised the Panama Canal the first time, and since doing more Panama Canal transits I have seen other cruise passengers making the same mistakes. So, here are my Do's and Don'ts based on all of that.
ABOUT TIPS FOR TRAVELLERS: If you want to get cruising right, Tips For Travellers makes it easy to plan and have the incredible cruise experiences you dream of every time. All my Tips For Travellers advice, tips and tricks tips draw on everything that I have learnt on the 89 cruises I have done to date.
Links mentioned in the video:
- "Cruising Coast To Coast Through The Panama Canal" by Dr Lew Deitch: https://amzn.to/3BY0bUf
- "The Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal" by David McCullough: https://amzn.to/3sqpF9C
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0:00
preparing for the Panama Canal trip that
0:01
I'm actually on now as I record this I
0:03
read a book by Dr Lou de called cruising
0:06
Coast to Coast through the Panama Canal
0:09
he said in that book I was making a
0:11
really big mistake with what I'd booked
0:13
which of course got me worried but more
0:15
importantly it got me thinking about
0:17
other mistakes I've seen people make on
0:19
past Panama Canal trips that I've been
0:21
on so I want to talk to you about the
0:23
dos and don'ts because I know that most
0:25
people will only do the Panama Canal
0:27
once in their lifetime so I want to help
0:29
make it perfect if you're new here by
0:32
the way welcome aboard I'm Gary benridge
0:34
and it's my goal to make it fun and easy
0:36
to discover plan and enjoy Unforgettable
0:39
Cruise vacations and in this case on the
0:42
Panama Canal the first big mistake is
0:44
thinking that it is a canal despite its
0:47
name the other iconic Canal the SE Canal
0:50
is one long continuous sea level Canal
0:53
the Panama Canal is not at all to pass
0:56
the 50 mi from one side of Panama to the
1:00
other side of Panama ships are first
1:01
raised up 85 ft that's 26 M in a series
1:05
of three locks they then sell through a
1:08
vast man-made Gaton Lake and then a long
1:11
long Channel cut into the countryside
1:13
known as the calbra or the gallad cut
1:15
before then being lowed back to sea
1:17
level by another three locks the whole
1:21
process by the way takes between 8 and
1:23
10 hours so a whole day there's also
1:26
more than one Panama Canal now knowing
1:28
this is important as a will explain
1:31
shortly the original Canal was opened in
1:33
1914 it was built by the US after a big
1:37
massive failed attempt by the French
1:40
however as only around onethird of All
1:43
Ships can actually pass through the old
1:44
Canal a new Canal was opened in 2016
1:47
which can take bigger ships it basically
1:49
doubled the capacity of the ships able
1:52
to pass through the canal system and it
1:54
enables many of the big Mega container
1:56
ships and the big Cruise Mega ships to
1:59
now use the the Panama Canal it's really
2:01
key to understand that you will not be
2:04
going through a canal but through a
2:06
whole system again as you will see this
2:09
becomes important to avoid further
2:12
mistakes and a couple of other dos and
2:13
don'ts now people I've met who've been
2:16
underwhelmed with the Panama Canal
2:18
cruise made a key mistake in my view of
2:21
choosing the wrong canal in my view the
2:23
old 1914 Canal is the canal process to
2:28
go through it's the most dramatic
2:30
visually interesting and it has an
2:32
incredible story to discover it has many
2:35
many differences to the new modern 2016
2:37
one on the original Canal if you go from
2:40
the Panama to the Caribbean side as I
2:43
did on this trip now you first go up
2:46
through the two-tier Miraflores locks
2:49
about a mile through the Miraflores Lake
2:51
to a one tier Pedro Miguel lock we then
2:55
sail through the man-made calibra cut
2:57
also as I mentioned earlier known as the
2:59
gallad cut
3:01
then out into the vast Gaton Lake now
3:03
the Gaton Lake supplies the water for
3:04
the locks then we went down the
3:06
impressive three tiered Gat locks to the
3:09
Caribbean Sea and of course if you're
3:11
doing the other way you do it in reverse
3:12
on the new Canal going the same way
3:14
panar to colon the wider and longer
3:17
three tier cokal locks take ships up
3:21
they use the same cut the same Lake and
3:23
the equally larger agac Clara locks take
3:26
you down on the other side to the
3:28
Caribbean Sea and again vice versa if
3:30
you're going the other way you can see
3:31
the entrance by the way to the new locks
3:33
when you're using the old system because
3:35
the ships you know basically sell
3:37
through the same part and you get to see
3:39
the entrances and the exits but why is
3:40
the old Canal a better experience well
3:43
first cruise ships fit very snugly into
3:46
those locks with often as little as a
3:48
foot on each side secondly they still
3:50
use the old lock Gates That Swing open
3:54
and thirdly they use these amazing
3:55
mechanical mules which are attached to
3:57
the ship to keep the ship centered and
3:59
they are fascinating
4:00
by the way the mules don't pull the ship
4:02
through they just keep the ships from
4:03
smashing into the lock walls on the new
4:06
Canal it's very wide there's lots of
4:08
space tugboats help steer the ships they
4:11
have modern Gates that slide in and out
4:13
the old Canal is definitely the more
4:16
dramatic and in my view it's the one
4:18
that you absolutely should do however
4:21
even if you choose the right Canal the
4:23
old one in my view there's another big
4:25
mistake I see people making around how
4:28
they do it and so I have a whole bunch
4:30
of dos and don'ts around that there are
4:32
around 250 cruise ships that pass
4:35
through the Panama Canal every single
4:36
year so you need to understand which is
4:39
the best for you because they're
4:41
different options and they are designed
4:43
in my view for different types of
4:44
Travelers there are three main options
4:47
I've done all three of them and I've got
4:49
some very clear thoughts on what their
4:51
strengths are and who I think they're
4:53
best for so who should do them and who
4:55
shouldn't do them the first and the most
4:57
obvious one is a full trans it you can
5:00
go either from the Caribbean Sea from
5:02
colon to the Pacific side Panama City or
5:06
the other way around Panama City to
5:07
colon this is one for the bucket list
5:11
the travel geek or Cruisers like me who
5:14
want to see every single detail and be
5:16
able to say they've done the full iconic
5:19
Panama Canal Transit you also by the way
5:22
need time because many of these trips
5:23
are 10 to 14-day cruises to do that
5:26
these includes ships repositioning at
5:28
the start and end of the Alaska season
5:30
when they're heading then either to be
5:32
based in the Caribbean or they're
5:33
heading even further to Europe they pass
5:35
through the Panama Canal to and from
5:37
Alaska basically there are also ships on
5:39
world voyages for example the very first
5:41
time I did it was on Queen Victoria it
5:43
was on a world voyage and it passed
5:45
through the Panama Canal as part of its
5:47
circum navigation of the globe then
5:49
there are Cruisers specifically designed
5:52
with the Panama Canal as its feature and
5:54
so many of these cruises will go from
5:56
Los Angeles to Miami or as I did on
5:59
Ocean Mar actually from Panama City to
6:01
Miami and of course vice versa now the
6:04
second option is if you just want to get
6:06
a taste of the Panama Canal and you
6:08
mostly want to do more of a Caribbean
6:10
southern Western Caribbean cruise you
6:12
can do a partial Transit cruise out of
6:14
Florida I did one of these on Holland
6:16
America zadam now these go from the
6:19
Caribbean side of the Pena Canal up
6:22
through the Gaton Lakes they turn around
6:24
in the Gatson Lake and they come back
6:26
down now these usually offer excursions
6:29
so you Contender off in the lake and you
6:32
then go on various excursions and you
6:33
meet the ship back in Colon once it's
6:35
gone back down the Gaton locks so why
6:38
you're not going to have the full
6:39
experience it works for travelers who
6:41
not bothered about seeing the whole
6:43
Panama Canal or perhaps want to see a
6:45
bit of the Panama Canal and more of
6:46
Panama the excursions offered usually
6:48
include the Gamboa aerial Tramway it's a
6:50
visit to the rainforest fantastic small
6:52
boat trips on the Gat and Lake to see
6:54
the islands where you can see monkeys
6:56
Birds crocodiles or even to take the
6:58
historic train ride to Panama City but
7:02
if anyone in your group actually wants
7:04
more of the canal there are other
7:05
options you can go on Canal operation
7:07
tours to either the new AGA Clara lock
7:09
system or to the Mira Flores Visitor
7:12
Center and watch ships passing through
7:14
the old locks or you can actually
7:16
complete the transit on a small tourist
7:18
boat which will take you through the
7:20
rest of the pan canal and you then get a
7:21
coach back to the ship which waits as I
7:24
mentioned earlier in Colon for all the
7:25
different excursions now these trips
7:27
though are also around about 10 days
7:30
long now the third option which I did on
7:33
Oceania Insignia and is a much shorter
7:36
option is a seven night Western
7:38
Caribbean cruise that calls into colon
7:40
from colon those very same excursions I
7:42
mentioned were available so it's great
7:44
if you have limited time for your trip
7:47
or perhaps only one or two of you on
7:49
your party wants to actually see and
7:50
experience the Panama Canal because
7:52
those lock can go off on the panamal
7:53
canal Excursion the others can head to
7:55
the rainforest or wherever however even
7:58
Within These these three key options
8:01
there's another do and don't that I see
8:03
people making mistakes on and that's one
8:06
I discovered on my most recent trip and
8:09
that's around the ship that you choose
8:12
to do it on you want to go on a ship
8:15
which has many many areas and space to
8:17
do viewings of the Panama Canal when I
8:20
did the Queen Victoria full transit in
8:22
fact the Holland America Zeta Dam
8:24
partial Transit they opened the bow of
8:26
the ship so you could get out really
8:28
close to the lock and see it really
8:31
really close up both also have full
8:33
prominade decks on Deck five or deck six
8:35
so you can then get really close you can
8:37
watch the mules and the operations
8:38
really close up you could also of course
8:40
go to the rear of the ship high up and
8:42
so on however on Ocean Marina there were
8:44
much fewer places to view it because
8:46
they don't have a full prominar deck the
8:47
bow wasn't open because that was being
8:49
used for the various Canal operations
8:51
now I was actually lucky enough to be
8:52
invited to watch from a sweet balcony
8:54
overlooking the Bow by guest but there
8:56
was much fewer opportunities to see the
8:59
canal so before booking think about how
9:01
you want to view the canal if you want
9:03
to get up close choose a ship where you
9:06
know you're going to be able to do that
9:08
now how do you know which will let you
9:09
do that I've already mentioned some of
9:11
the lines that do it but ask your travel
9:13
agent or even better check by asking the
9:16
question on Cruise Critic in the group
9:18
for the cruise line you're considering
9:20
ask with past passengers what were the
9:22
viewing options on your particular ship
9:25
now once you've got the right canal and
9:27
the right ship there are a few other
9:29
mistake still believe it or not that you
9:31
could make so here's a couple more dos
9:33
and don'ts there are things you need to
9:35
do before you go once you're on board
9:39
and on the very day of the transit there
9:41
are actually three things that I
9:43
recommend you do before you go really
9:45
important ones first of all learn about
9:48
the history and the politics of the
9:49
canal it's fascinating and to be honest
9:52
a little bit disturbing you'll discover
9:54
things like 22,000 people died in the
9:57
failed French attempt before the
9:59
Americans actually finished building it
10:01
the political lens the US went to in
10:04
order to get to be able to make and
10:06
build the Panama Canal is quite
10:08
remarkable the book most people rely on
10:11
is David mccullas pathway between the
10:13
Seas the creation of the Panama Canal
10:16
the second thing is packing for the
10:18
transit you're going to be outside for a
10:20
long time it's hot it's sticky and you
10:23
can get very sunburnt and dehydrated so
10:26
take a really good hat with a nice brim
10:28
all the way around good sunglasses good
10:31
sunscreen and clothes that are going to
10:33
be suitable for a hot humid sweaty day
10:35
and probably comfy shoes because you're
10:36
going to be walking around a lot now I
10:39
made the mistake for example of not
10:41
putting enough sunscreen on the back of
10:42
my neck I got really burnt on the back
10:44
of my neck and in sort of various parts
10:46
of my arms where I missed the sunscreen
10:48
but so really important be prepared also
10:51
if you think you're going to take lots
10:53
of photos or videos pack accordingly if
10:56
you've got a new camera or new phone
10:58
make sure you know how to use it on all
11:00
my trips I've seen people with new
11:01
cameras and phones struggling to take
11:03
the pictures they wanted to take now
11:05
once I'm board go to all the ship talks
11:07
and briefings they will explain how the
11:09
days going to work really important what
11:12
areas will be opened really important
11:14
and then the time schedule for the day
11:16
of when you will be in the different
11:18
locks now this helps to plan the day
11:21
because you can figure out when you're
11:22
going to have lunch when you're going to
11:23
rest or whatever on the day if you can
11:26
be in the front of the ship if the bow
11:28
is open get there early in the morning
11:31
it turns into a bit of a bunfight
11:33
everyone wants to be there they want to
11:34
be in front the good news is over the
11:36
course of the day numbers reduce the
11:38
novelty diminishes and it's easier to
11:40
get a good position at short notice but
11:42
if you want to be in the front get up
11:43
early and get right out there and claim
11:46
your spot now during the transit I
11:48
recommend move around the ship see some
11:50
of the locks closing watch them from
11:53
different angles watch them from the
11:54
rear of the ship when you go through the
11:57
cut and the lake don't worry about being
11:59
being out on Deck it's it's interesting
12:01
it's not fascinating so that's the
12:03
downtime when you can rest and eat so
12:05
that's what I said understand the
12:06
schedule for the day make sure you
12:07
really understand that the one thing
12:09
that you do not need to worry about as a
12:11
mistake as a do and a don't is the one
12:14
that I was warned about in that book by
12:16
Dr Lou deck he said Direction he said
12:19
the best way to go was from the
12:21
Caribbean side through to the Panama
12:23
side not the way that I was going I
12:25
don't think that's true whichever side
12:27
you go is incredible if you want to see
12:29
in more depth what it's like to Transit
12:31
the Panama Canal and all the stages take
12:33
a look at this video where you'll see
12:35
what amazed me most about the transit
12:38
see you over there
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