Preparing for my recent Panama Canal trip,
I read this book by Dr. Lew Deitch called “Cruising Coast To Coast Through the Panama
Canal” which said I was making a big mistake with what I had booked, which got me worried. But more importantly, it got me thinking about
other mistakes I’ve seen people make on past Panama Canal trips I’ve been on. So, I want to talk about all of these because
most people will only do the Panama Canal once in their lifetime, so I want to help
them make it perfect. If you're new here, welcome aboard. I'm Gary Bembridge and I'm here to make it
fun and easy to discover Pan and enjoy unforgettable cruise vacations. The first mistake is thinking that it's a
canal, despite its name. The other iconic canal, the Suez Canal is
one long, continuous, sea level canal. The Panama Canal is not. To pass the 50 miles from one side of Panama
to the other, ships are first raised up 85 feet (26 metres) in a series of three locks. They then sail through the vast man-made Gatun
Lake and along a long channel cut into the countryside, known as the Culebra, or Galliard
Cut, before being lowered back to sea level by another three locks. The while process takes between 8 and 10 hours. There is also more than one Panama Canal. Knowing this is important, as I will explain
shortly. The original was opened in 1914. It was built by the US after failed attempts
by the French. However, as only around one third of all ships
could pass through the old canal, a new one was opened in 2016 to take bigger ships. It doubled the capacity of ships able to pass
through the canal system and enables many of the mega container and cruise mega ships
to now use it. It’s key to understand that you will not
be going through a canal, but a whole system. Again, as you will see, this becomes important
to avoid further mistakes. People I’ve met who have been underwhelmed
with the Panama Canal cruise made the mistake, in my view, of choosing the wrong canal. In my view, the old 1914 canal is THE canal
to go through. It is the most dramatic, visually interesting
and has an incredible story to discover. It has many differences to the modern one. On the original canal, if you go from the
Panama to Caribbean side, as I did on my recent trip, you first go up through the two-tier
Miraflores locks, about a mile through the Miraflores lake to the one-tier Pedro Miguel
lock. Then through the man-made channel Culebra
Cut, also known as Galliard Cut into the vast Gatun Lake, which supplies the water for the
locks. Then it’s down the impressive three-tiered
Gatun Locks down to the Caribbean Sea. On the new canal going the same way, the wider
and longer three-tier the Cocoli Locks take ships up, they use the same cut and lake,
and the equally larger Agua Clara Locks take them down. You can see the entrance to the new locks
using the old locks, as well as ships sailing through them. Why is the old canal a better experience then? First, cruise ships fit very snuggly in, with
often as little as foot each side. Second, they still use the original angled
lock gates that swing open, and thirdly they use these mechanical mules attached to the
ship to keep the ship centred. They do not pull the ship just keep it from
smashing into the lock walls. On the new canal it’s very wide, tugboats
help steer the ships and they have modern ones that slide in and out. The old canal is definitely the most dramatic. And is the one that you should do. However, even if you choose the right canal,
in my view, there is another mistake I see people making around how they do it. There are up to 250 cruise ships that pass
through the Panama Canal every year. So, you need understand which is best for
you as the different options are designed for different types of travellers. There are three main options. I've done all of them. And I have thoughts on what their strengths
are and who I think that they are best for. The first and the most obvious one is a full
transit. You can either go from the Caribbean Sea from
Colon to the Pacific side, Panama City, or the other way around. This is one for the bucket list, the travel
geek, or cruisers who want to see every detail and be able to say they’ve done the full
iconic Panama Canal transit. You also need to time because many of these
trips are 10- to 14-day cruises. They include ships repositioning at the start
and the end of the Alaska season to or from the Caribbean or Europe and pass through the
Panama Canal to do that. There are ships on World Voyages, for example
like I did on Queen Victoria that pass through on their circumnavigation of the globe. world cruise. Then there are Panama Cruise dedicated cruises,
which go from Los Angeles to Miami or, as I did on Oceania Marina, from Panama City
to Miami. And, of course vice versa. The second option, if you want to get a taste
of the Panama Canal but mostly want a Southern and West Caribbean cruise, is to do partial
transit cruise out of Florida. like I did on Holland America Zuiderdam. These go from the Caribbean side up through
the Gatun Locks, turn around in the Gatun Lake and come back down. These usually offer excursions, where you
tender off in the lake and go on excursions and meet the ship back in Colon. While you’re not going to have the full
experience, it works for travellers who are not bothered about seeing it all or want to
see more of Panama. The excursions offered usually include the
Gamboa Aerial Tramway visit to the rainforest, small boat trips on the Gatun Lake to the
islands to see monkeys, birds, and crocodiles or the historic train ride to Panama City. But, if anyone in your group does want more
of the canal, there will be canal operation tours to either the new Agua Clara Lock system
or Miraflores visitor centre to watch ships passing through there. Or you can complete the transit on a much
smaller tourist boat and get a coach back to the ship which waits in Colon for the excursions. These trips though are usually 10-days long. The third option, which I did on Oceania Insignia
and is shorter, is do a7-night Western Caribbean cruise that calls into Colon. From Colon those same excursions were available. So, it’s great if you have limited time
or only one, or a few, of your party wants to see and experience the Panama Canal as
only they can do that excursion. However, even within those three options,
there is another mistake I see people making. And that's one that I actually discovered
on my most recent trip, and that's choosing the wrong ship. You want to go on a ship which has many areas
and space to do viewings. When I did the Queen Victoria full transit
and Holland America Zuiderdam for the partial transit, they opened the bow of the ship to
get really close the locks and see it. Both also had full promenade decks deck five
or six to get close to see the mules and operations close up. I could also go to the rear of the ship. On Oceania Marina, there were fewer places
to view as it lacks a promenade deck, and the bow wasn't opened as it’s used for the
canal operations. I was lucky enough to be invited to watch
from a suite balcony overlooking the bow by a guest. Before booking, think about how you want to
view the canal. If you want to get up close, choose a ship
where you can do that. How do you know which will do that? I've already mentioned some of the lines that
do it, but ask your travel agent to check, or ask the question on CruiseCritic in the
group for the line you are considering and check with past passengers. Once you’ve got the right canal and the
right ship, there are still a few other mistakes you could make. There are things you need to do before you
go, once you are on board and on the day. There are three things I recommend before
you go. First, learn about the history and the politics
of the canal. It is fascinating and disturbing. Like over 22,000 people died in the failed
French attempt to build the canal, and the political lengths the US went to in order
to make the Panama Canal happen. The book most rely on is David McCullough’s
“Pathway Between the Seas. The Creation of the Panama Canal”. Second thing is packing for the transit. You're going to be outside for a long time. It's hot, it's sticky, and you can get very
sunburnt and dehydrated. Take a really good hat with a brim all the
way around, good sunglasses, sunscreen, and clothes suitable for a hot humid day and comfy
shoes. I made the big mistake of not putting it on
the back of my neck. Got really burned in the back of my neck and
actually in surprising parts of my arm where I missed it. Ask if are you going to want to take lots
of photos or videos, and pack accordingly. If you have a new camera or phone, make sure
you know how to use it. On all my trips I saw people struggling. Once on board, go to all the ship talks and
briefings. They will explain how the day's going to work,
what areas will be open and the time schedule for the day of when you will be in the different
locks. This helps you plan the day, like when you're
going to have lunch, have a rest, whatever. On the day, if you can be at the front of
the ship. If the bow is open, you’ll need to get there
early in the morning, and it turns into a bit of a bun-fight because everyone wants
to be there and in front. Over the course of the day, numbers reduce
and it’s easier to get a good position at short notice. During the transit, do move around the ship,
see some of the locks closing and watch from different angles. When you go through the cut and lake, don't
really worry about being out there. It's interesting, but it's not fascinating. So, you can downtime, rest and eat. The one thing that you don't need to worry
about as a mistake, which is the one that I was warned about in that book by Dr. Lew
Deitch was about the direction. He said in his book that the best way to go
was from the Caribbean side, through to the Panama side. Whichever side you go is incredible. That is one mistake you don't, in my view,
need to worry about. If want to see in more depth what it’s like
to transit the Panama Canal, and all the stages take a look at this video where you'll see
what amazed me most about the transit. See you over there
