Panama Canal Cruise: What I Wish I Knew Before Going

A full transit takes the ship all the way across the isthmus, ocean to ocean.

You're going to pass through locks on both ends, you're going to cross Gatton Lake, and you're going to continue through the narrow cuts in the middle.

This is the version that most people picture when they say they want to cruise the Panama Canal, but it's also the version that usually requires the most planning.

Full transits often begin and end in different regions.

And that means two different airports, a longer sailing, and usually a larger travel budget before you've even booked a single excursion.

And Panama excursions are not usually cheap.

When crossing from one ocean to the other is the reason for your trip though, that extra planning is just part of the experience and you just have to do it.

A partial transit approaches from the Caribbean side.

It passes through one set of blocks, enters Gatton Lake, spends much of the day inside the canal, and then returns toward the Atlantic.

many of these sailings operate round trip from florida so you can come in and out of the same airport and that's what i did on my panama canal cruise we were on a holland america ship and we cruised out of port everglades so it was nice to depart and return to the same port now my ship was rotterdam and we entered through the expanded locks we rose inside the chamber where they raised that water and then we crossed over into gatton lake And then we kind of sailed around the lake and then we turned back later that afternoon.

I got to watch the gates close around us.

I got to see the ship lift up with the water.

It was a really cool experience.

I still got the physical experience most people imagine when they picture a canal cruise, but I got the benefit of flying in and out of the same home port city.

So that was a nice practical trade-off.

It also tends to be a shorter itinerary.

So for me, having work and family obligations, my kids had no interest in going to the Panama Canal.

So I had to arrange for childcare so I couldn't be gone a really long time.

That partial transit was perfect for my needs.

a third option is just a panama port call your ship stops in cologne or another panamanian port and you leave the ship to do an excursion to go see the canal from a distance you might visit an observation center you might take a smaller boat through part of the waterway you might tour the forts or you can combine several of those experiences but in these cases your ship may never actually enter a lock that can still be an excellent port day it can be an excellent experience you're still learning all about the canals but you're not actually transiting the canal and And sometimes, unfortunately, your itinerary title might not make that distinction clear enough.

So it's really important that if you care about transiting the canal, that you're really checking your itinerary and you're really reading and making sure that you're booking the thing that you think you're booking.

Things that you can do are reading the day-by-day schedule and looking for specific language.

If you want the full transit, you want to look for full transit or ocean to ocean.

If you're okay with the partial transit, which is what I did, which is absolutely more than what I needed, it was totally fine and wonderful, you're gonna look for partial transit or Gatton Lake transit or canal cruising.

And if it's a port day in Cologne that just promises a stop in Cologne, you're usually not going to see anything about ocean to ocean or transit at all.