Cruising to Panama

Here are the choices of types of cruises visiting Panama:

1. Southern Caribbean Cruises that call at Colon or Cristobal, but do not enter the Canal.  Sometimes ships do this that are too large to fit through the Canal.

2. Southern Caribbean Cruises that enter the Canal, generally roundtrip from Florida.  These enter from the Caribbean through Gatun Locks, discharge guests in Miraflores Lake for shore excursions, then retrace their route through Gatun Locks to the port at Colon or Cristobal to pick up guests on shore excursions and allow guests who remained on board a brief stop at the port.  Holland America’s ZUIDERDAM is a good example.

3. New this fall a ship that homeports in Panama. Royal Caribbean’s ENCHANTMENT OF THE SEAS  will sail roundtrip from Colon to Cartagena, Colombia; Santa Marta, Columbia; Oranjestad, Aruba; Willemstad, Curacao; and Kralendijk, Bonaire starting in December 2008. Presumably RCCL guests can book pre or post cruise stays in Panama to see some of the country, although their Website design makes finding this information difficult.

4. Ships that transit the Canal but do not actually stop in Panama allowing their guests to get off and experience Panama.  Most of the Spring and Fall repositioning cruises that move ships from Alaska to the Caribbean just transit the Canal.  Most of the big cruise lines operating in Alaska and the Caribbean have ships doing this itinerary.

5. Ships that stop on the Pacific side of Panama visiting Panama City at the cruise port of Amador.  Amador is a relatively short cab ride from Panama City and the Miraflores locks and visitor center for the Canal.  You can conveniently visit Old Panama (the original city), Casco Viejo (from the French Canal days), or the new booming Panama City with all it’s high rise towers.

6. There’s also a small ship cruise experience with Cruise West: a 10 day cruise between Costa Rica and Panama which includes Portobello, the San Blas Islands, the Canal, Coiba National Park as well as destinations in Costa Rica on a small ship called PACIFIC EXPLORER.  A small ship cruise is a totally different experience focused on natural history.  The ship holds 100 guests compared to the 2000 plus on most major cruise ships.

The ports of Cristobal and Colon (Caribbean side):

Cristobal Pier: I actually prefer Cristobal to Colon 2000 because the pier at Cristobal has more to offer. There are small shops, places to sample Panamanian food, bars, and, best of all, lots of Embera and Kuna Indians selling molas, baskets and carvings.

A few shops with the same stuff you see everywhere, no indigenous folks selling crafts - the highlight of Colon 2000 is that it has a Super 99 grocery store where you can stock up on the junk food you're missing and inexpensive (compared to the ship) soda.

The thing to do in Colon is take a tour and the easiest and most efficient way is to take a ship’s tour.  Colon is not designed for cruise tourism and even Panamanians don’t consider it a safe city in which to wander.  Ships advise that you remain within the confines of the Pier either at Cristobal or Colon 2000.

If the government had it’s tourist act together they would work to get jobs into Colon to raise the standard of living, and to use locals to clean up the place.  Colon could be charming and a real tourist attraction if it were cleaned up.  As it is, the new James Bond movie used it as a Haitian look-a-like.  What kind of “recommendation” is that?

Local government in Colon could start by providing its citizens with decent trash collection.  The lasting memory most cruise visitors have is the horrible “road to hell” connection with Colon and the rest of the country, and heaps of trash along the way.

The Ports of Amador and Balboa (Pacific side):

Amador also known as Fuerte Amador. Ships call at the island in the foreground. Causeway links to rest of Panama City in the background.

Passenger ships can be accommodated on the Pacific side at either Balboa or Amador, both areas of Panama City.  Balboa is a commercial port and there is rarely berthing available for passenger ships so most ships will call at Amador.  Amador is the long causeway running between the Bay of Panama and the Panama Canal. The several islands here were linked during the construction of the Canal with dirt and rock removed to make the Canal.  During the US days it was all forts and military installations.  Today it is a popular area for Panamanians to stroll, jog, bike, walk dogs, and just sit and enjoy spectacular views of the city.  There are bars, clubs, and restaurants and it is a very safe and pleasant area.  You’ll also frequently see the yachts of the beautiful people and rich and famous at Amador.

Port At Balboa

Amador is a brief cab ride from the old Casco Viejo (the old section of Panama City going back to the French days) and the towers, malls and casinos of the current Panama City.  It’s just a little longer ride to the Canal, Miraflores Locks and the Visitor Center at Miraflores.  Also worthwhile is the Old City of Panama, a UNESCO heritage site, where you can see the remains of the city as it was when the pirate Morgan attacked.  There is also a great Embera, Wounaan and Kuna craft market at Old Panama.

“Get off the ship!”

My recommendation when I lecture on cruise ships visiting Panama or going through the Canal is, if at all possible, get off the ship!  See some of Panama!  If you just go through the Canal you really don’t see any of Panama.  It would be a little like sailing under the Golden Gate Bridge, never getting off the ship, and saying you’ve seen San Francisco!

For more on cruising check out Cruise QA and click on these categories – Cruising & Travel, Canal Cruise, Panama Canal and Embera.