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I'm Gary beverage this is another of my
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cruising tips for travelers I want to
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talk today about the most remarkable
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cruising experience that you will
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probably experience and that is cruising
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the Panama Canal first of all what
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exactly is the Panama Canal the Panama
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Canal was built in a 50-mile stretch
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which basically connects North America
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and South America so it's one of the
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narrowest parts of that whole continent
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between North and South America before
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the canal was built you basically hack
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your way through a railway was
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eventually built but it was a very
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treacherous and difficult thing to do so
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eventually the canal was built to speed
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up that whole process and to save an
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enormous amount of time there are
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actually now two Panama canal's the
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original which opened in 1914 and a much
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wider bigger one to take bigger cruise
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ships would also probably more
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importantly bigger cargo ships which was
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opened in 2016 one of the big miss Nome
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is about the Panama Canal was it's
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actually not just one big long canal
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it's a series of locks on the east side
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a big lake in the middle and a series of
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locks on the west side so if you hit it
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in from the Caribbean side you go
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initially through the gatun locks these
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are a series of three chambers which
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take you up roughly 28 feet each time
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you then head into the gatun lake which
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is a massive big lake which was man-made
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which is also a way of collecting and
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getting all the water that's needed in
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the lock you then pass through the
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Galliard cut which is a very long narrow
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pathway which was built in the kind of
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the rock and the land and you then head
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down to the other side through another
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series of locks first of those is the
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one chamber Pedro Miguel locks and then
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you go through the two chamber
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miraflores locks before heading out to
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the Pacific Ocean around 14,000 ships
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pass through the Panama Canal every year
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and that's around about 250 cruise ships
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every year go through there so what are
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your options for transiting and
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experience in the Panama Canal there's
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probably four key ones that you can do
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the first of those and the most
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magnificent of those is a full transit
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and this is when ships pass from one
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side right the way through to the other
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side so you go through all the locks
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through the lake and through the other
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locks on the other side now these tend
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so they do put a lot of people off so
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they could be part of a world cruise so
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you'll find a lot of the ships that go
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on world cruises they will pass through
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the Panama Canal you'll find often if
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you're going on a cruise with just
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circumnavigating the South America
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continent includes that you'll also find
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you sometimes have cruises which go from
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the West Coast the Pacific side to the
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East Coast the Caribbean side you might
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go from San Francisco Los Angeles to
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Miami or Fort Lauderdale that will pass
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through there as well so those tend to
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be the main options for full transits
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these are best for people who want the
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whole experience people like me who are
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guilty about it and you want the whole
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total experience and experience every
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single last minute and all the locks so
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that's your one option the second option
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which is also a great option though is a
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partial transit and this is easier
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because you often find those cruises
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might be seven days ten days long out of
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Miami or Fort Lauderdale normally that
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includes some of the Caribbean islands
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now the partial transit I often go to
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Costa Rica and then head back the
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partial transit takes you from the
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Caribbean side up through the gatun
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locks those three locks into the lake
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turns around and heads back now what's
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great about partial transit is once you
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get into the lake you then are given the
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choice of either just staying on the
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ship and heading back or doing a number
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of different excursions one of the great
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excursions to do if you want to
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experience the whole thing is you then
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get off the ship and you join a ferry
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which then takes you through the
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Galliard cut and through the other locks
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down to the other side and you basically
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bus back and meet the ship at the start
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another excursion if you want to see the
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Panama Canal but you want to do it a
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slightly different way is to go on the
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railway so the railway line is really
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the original railway reconstructed and
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rebuilt that was built before the canal
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and these are really beautiful
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refurbished carriages lots of scenic
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windows where you can basically then
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travel down to Panama City if going
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through the first set of canals is
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enough use a couple of other great
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excursions so for example one of the
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things that we did the one time is you
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can go to the Gamboa rainforest and you
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can go out on various excursions go on
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little carriage units that take you up
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right into the rainforest right above
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the trees or you can go on other
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and look at butterflies and orchids and
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really experience the rainforest or what
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other people like to do is they want to
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get the perspective of actually watching
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ship's go through the canal and through
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the locks rather than being on the ship
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so the 4th excursion that people do is
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they go to the Visitor Center which is
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normally down by the middle floors and
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the Pedro Miguel locks the third option
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you have for transiting the Panama Canal
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is you'll find on much smaller ships
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they normally combine a land and a small
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ship experience so it's they can be
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seven to fourteen days you'll spend some
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time on land and you'll go through the
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actual canal on a much smaller ship so
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that tends to be a much more land
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focused excursion and sometimes they
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actually break up passing through the
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canal into different parts you might do
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some of the locks so you might do the
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cat unlocks first you might spend some
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time on land in the rainforest get back
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experience the other parts of the lock
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if you do want to see the canal but you
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don't have enough time to do the full
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try on set it's worth taking a look at a
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cruise that goes perhaps the 7i cruise
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that is going to curl on because they'll
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spend a long day there and you can get
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to see the canal in those different
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forms as well when is the best time to
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go on at Panama Canal well the real peak
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time for cruising the Panama Canal is
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really from about October to April
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that's really the peak time that's when
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most the cruises are likely to be going
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so it's sort of before the Carribean
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season ends and it's when the world
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cruises are going and it's really the
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peak time and where you're gonna have
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your most options another key thing to
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consider in that time period is the
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rainy season really ends in November
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being a rainforest it does rain an
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enormous amount in this area which is
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why that's also the peak season November
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is sort of when the rainy season tells
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off so it's worth considering going
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after that so how do you make the most
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of your actual transit I have a couple
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of absolutely key things that you really
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need to think about if you are going
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through a Panama Canal first of which is
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prepare prepare prepare there are
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incredible stories lots of documentaries
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about the Panama Canal and some of the
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scary statistics like over 20,000 people
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died building the canal and you'll
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discover all the stories behind why that
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was the failed attempts so really learn
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a lot so you can do that obviously
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but sitting on the ship you'll find that
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often show documentaries that have talks
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and have stuff on the interactive
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television I would really strongly
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recommend you listen to this because
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appreciating the Canal and complexity of
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the canal does make the journey so much
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more interesting the second critical
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thing is get up early you're likely to
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head into the canal from about Hoppus
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five six o'clock in the morning so you
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need to be up early and watch that whole
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experience so it is a very long day
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because going to take up to eight hours
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if you're doing the full transit to get
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through the whole experience so you need
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to sort of pace yourself a bit but you
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do need to get up really early and be
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absolutely ready and raring to go third
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critical tip is you've got to find the
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best spot most of the cruise ships will
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open the bow of the ship so you can head
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out onto the bow and people will get
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there as early as they possibly can but
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you do need to find a good spot what I
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also recommend you do is think about the
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different perspectives you might want to
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take the plan to spend some time on the
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bow of the ship perhaps go to the rear
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of the ship and you also then see
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everything closing behind you and look
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behind you often the ship behind you you
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want to go to the side sometimes to be
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right down onto the promenade deck you
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can get really close and see the Mules
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pulling you along so choose a couple of
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spots and sort of plan where you want to
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go but I would strongly recommend for
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the first part of the trials that get
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onto the bow of the ship and get really
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up close because you remember there's a
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couple of feet other side of these ships
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so you're gonna get a real sense of the
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Magnificent and the amazing things that
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they do to get these ships through my
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fourth tip is get your sunscreen on it's
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like to be very hot so wear a hat get
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lots of sunscreen around on my last
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excursion I put sunscreen on but forgot
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to put it on my upper arms got really
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really burnt really make sure you put on
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cuz gonna be outside for a really long
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time and it's gonna be hot so keep
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hydrating and really be prepared to be
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outside when it's hot sunny and pretty
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sticky of course you're gonna want to
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take a gazillion pictures or videos so
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make sure your phone's charged your
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cameras charge you've got extra SD cards
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I mean we're not been through that I've
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taken hundreds and hundreds of pictures
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and you're going to want to do that so
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make sure you're ready and raring to go
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from that perspective the Panama Canal
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is without a shadow doubt one of the
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most amazing experiences as I've
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mentioned you I've had opportunity
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experience three times I want to do it
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again and again and again it every time
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different experience it's a magnificent
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experience I have loads more videos of
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cruising tips different cruise lines
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different experiences so why don't you
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watch another one of those right now
