Cruise Through the Panama Canal

A cruise through the Panama Canal has been on my bucket list, and over the holidays, I was able to check it off my list.

Full Transit vs Partial Transit Cruise Through the Panama Canal

There are two types of cruises you can do to experience the Panama Canal – a full transit or a partial transit. The full transit is as you would expect, you sail through the entirety of the Panama Canal. A partial transit Panama Canal Cruise is a roundtrip cruise that starts and ends at the same port, usually Fort Lauderdale or Miami. The ship will transit the Gatun or Agua Clara locks into Lake Gatun. Once in the lake, passengers with ship excursions will disembark on tenders and those who don’t will remain on the ship to turn around and head back through the Gatun or Agua Clara locks. Passengers on excursions will re-join the ship at the Colon port.

Because I wanted the complete bucket-list experience, I chose a full transit. You can read all about my route and the ports we visited in my 16-Day Panama Canal Trip Report.

Eastbound vs Westbound Cruise Through the Panama Canal

If you’re doing a full transit of the Panama Canal, you can either go from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean or the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean. Either way provides the full Panama Canal cruise experience of the ship being raised to the level of Gatun Lake and then lowered back down to sea level. If your cruise starts in the east, most likely Miami or Ft. Lauderdale, and ends in California, you will gain three hours of time over the course of the cruise. If you travel eastbound, you will gradually lose three hours over the course of the cruise. Panama remains in Eastern Standard Time year-round.

Original Locks vs Expansion Locks

The original locks (Gatun, Pedro Miguel, and Miraflores) were all built 1000 ft in length by 110 ft in width and were built in pairs to allow traffic to flow in both directions. Ships that fit into these locks are known as Panamax.

Due to a desire for more traffic and bigger ships through the canal, the expansion project began in 2006 and in 2016, a third set of locks (Agua Clara and Cocoli) were opened that were 1400 ft long and 180 ft wide. These locks allow for ships known as New Panamax or NeoPanamax to transit the canal and have increased overall capacity.

Cruise Lines and Ships that sail the Panama Canal

Most major cruise lines have Panama Canal itineraries available with cruise lengths around 16 nights for cruises that leave from either coast of the US and end on the other coast. On Princess Cruises, the Coral and Island Princess are the only ships small enough to use the original locks. Celebrity currently has Panama Canal cruises on the Ascent, which uses the expansion locks, while the Summit uses the original locks. If you have a strong preference of which locks you transit, be sure to do your research before booking. Be prepared for the ships that use the original locks to be smaller, older, and have fewer amenities.

I went on a Panama Canal Cruise on the Coral Princess from Los Angeles, CA to Fort Lauderdale, FL. Check out the daily Princess Patters for more details on my cruise.