Panama Canal (Cruise Into Canal) Port Reviews

It was very exciting to go through the Panama Canal, and it was the whole point of the trip, of course. The canal workers waved to us and yelled "Welcome to Panama!" as we sat on our balconies passing through.

This was an amazing experience and the highlight of the trip. Once on land, we had an excellent tour guide and saw some highlight of Panama City. We definitely want to go back and spend more time in Panama based on this experience.

Know your excursions because you can get a great experience or a horrible excursion

The entering and departing the locks to enter Gatun Lake was a spectacular experience! Our aft-facing VS gave us a bird’s eye view of raising, and then lowering and lock operations. Rotterdam is neo-Panamax, so we had to use the new locks, so no “mules” (small diesel locomotives that kept ships in place in the old locks)! We were supposed to cruise Gatun Lake and disembark for a ferry excursion through the Pacific locks and back, but political unrest in Panama resulted in cancellation of tours and port call in Colon. The Canal Authority curtailed our Gatun Lake experience to entry, turn around, and exit due to traffic. The ship had no recourse, but the lock(s) experience was worth it!

Awesome expect!!!

We stayed on the ship and watched canal traffic.

Would be nice if the cruise ship circled the lake while waiting to exit the canal.

Absolutely beautiful!

very interesting, Too much time though just hanging around the lake after entry. Another ship there had water shuttles to land. Since we didn't stop in Costa Rica is was a long time to do nothing

It was a great experience.