Panama Canal Cruise

The Panama Canal is a bucket list destination for many cruisers, and for good reason—it's historic, important, and something you just need to experience on a ship. We came away with some points that we wish we knew before.

Overview  

Panama sits at the southern end of Central America, between Costa Rica and Colombia. The canal is a man-made waterway, a feat of human engineering connecting the Atlantic and Pacific trade routes by cutting across the Isthmus of Panama. It’s 50 miles (80 km) long and takes roughly 8 to 10 hours to cross. 

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Five Key Points to Keep in Mind 

1. Attend the Lecture 

Going through the canal is expensive. Port fees here are the highest in the world. Given that, it’s important to appreciate the experience by learning about its history. On our ship, we had excellent lectures about the canal’s history, political importance (especially to the United States), the challenges of maintaining the canal, and its current role in the world economy. While there are commentators on the day of your visit, much of your time will be spent observing on your own since you can’t always hear or understand the running commentary. Get informed and appreciate the canal at your pace. 

2. Be Early for the Viewing Experience 

Many ships offer an early morning observation party on the day you approach the canal. For us, sailing with Holland America Zuiderdam, it was 6 AM on the usually restricted fourth-level front deck. Although still dark, people were already grabbing positions ahead of time. Before the first hour was up, all the side vantage points were taken. You need to find a spot and stay put, or have someone with you so you can grab the available coffee and pastry. You can even have a cocktail or buy binoculars. Of course, if you have a front-facing suite, you get the best seat in the house. 

Although being early is advised, since it does get crowded, you don’t necessarily need to be directly in front. Side views are perfectly fine and provide a decent vantage of the locks. Getting here later just means peering over people’s heads or sneaking in a view from a friendly passenger. If that’s not important to you, your balcony view or even the promenade deck can provide similar views of the action—sometimes better. 

3. Expect a Slow Trip 

Bringing ships safely across the locks is a necessarily slow and careful process. Water rises in controlled sections at a particular pace. Think of it like a water elevator, but lifting 200,000 tons of ship. The draining and filling process on the original locks are all done by gravity, with no pumps. The Isthmus of Panama is above sea level at its center, so a series of locks is necessary to lift a ship over a hump from one side and back down to the other side. 

Rail cars tether cables to the ship to make sure it doesn’t slam against the walls. All of this is executed with precision and safety in mind, so the trip will take longer than you might expect. This is why context matters—the more you appreciate the marvel of engineering and maintenance, the less likely you’ll tune out from the long intervals. 

4. This Is NOT a DIY Day 

You really don’t have the option to find your own local tours or anything on foot. You have to take a tender to a pre-arranged tour bus. Due to Panama regulations, you must carry your physical passport with you if you leave the ship for any excursion. The whole area is secured, so there are no outside local tour companies or neighborhoods to wander on your own. 

We were doing a partial passing, anchoring at Gatun Lake, running the tenders, then docking at Colon City to wait for the tours to return. Our choices were to stay on the ship and dock at Colon City, which boasts a shopping mall but not much else (the area is considered too risky to venture beyond the mall), or take a ship-organized tour. We chose to tour deeper into the canal, ending on the Pacific side. 

We had to take a one-hour bus trip to board a much smaller ship. But the experience was more intimate. The dock workers carried lines right onto our ship, and the walls of the locks pressed right alongside us. We were always in the thick of it, especially with the elements. Plan for the weather, by the way. All that rain is needed to keep the canal working with fresh water for the locks! The guides are always ready to answer questions, and that’s probably what you SHOULD do. 

For a deep dive experience, you can’t compare it to the relatively distant observation from your cruise ship. So it was worth the time and money. You’re even part of the show for other tourists. You just have to give up independence for a day. Think of it like a field trip rather than an excursion—there’s no other way to experience it. 

5. Ship Size Matters 

The newer mega ships have access to the canal, thanks to a recent expansion that added wider and bigger locks. However, these newer locks do not provide the same quality of experience. If you want a sense of the original canal and all its history, you’ll need to see the older, narrower originals. This limits you to smaller ships, like Zuiderdam, which allows you to see the original canal up close. This experience is amplified on a separate tour using even smaller expedition-style boats. 

If you’re on a mega ship and have the chance to go on a separate canal tour to the original locks, do so. And if you can, book a smaller ship or at least a small tour. 

Final Thoughts 

Experiencing the Panama Canal firsthand is an unforgettable trip and truly expanded our perspective of the world. Whether you're cruising through or taking a dedicated tour, the experience is rich with history and engineering marvels that will leave a lasting impression.