Our day began early. A Panama pilot boarded our ship at 5:45am which is required by all ships that pass through the Panama Canal. My son and I woke up just as we were approaching the Atlantic Bridge. I ordered a Honey Lavender Latte and an orange juice from room service as we prepared for our long day. Once ready for the day and our beverages consumed, we headed to deck seven at the AFT. This is the secret viewing spot on the ship! It normally gives a beautiful view of the wake of the ship, but today we observed the Agua Clara Locks closing behind us.
Our shipped passed through three new locks that were built in 2019. These locks are much larger than the old locks and were built for today’s larger cargo and cruise ships. We rode up three chambers and then ended in Gatun Lake. This is a manmade lake and as far as our cruise ship was going to go through the canal. The only way to see more was with a Princess arranged shore excursion. Each shore excursion for the day was given a group number. We were in group one and were called to exit the ship shortly after entering Gatun Lake.
“Panama Canal & Locks Transit by Boat” was the name of our shore excursion and we were in for a long day of Panama Canal exploration. We were the first group because our tour was the longest and most susceptible for delays. We exited the ship by water taxi, walked onto a platoon boat walkway, and then walked up a ramp to go to land. Our group was broken into six groups by numbered stickers we were given on the ship and each group represented one bus. Upon arriving on land, we immediately boarded the buses.
Elvis was our guide for the day and we began the tour by driving on top of the locks. Those gates that close have roads on top! We got a different perspective of the Panama Canal. We also drove on the Atlantic Bridge and then made the journey to our Ferry.
The Ferry would take us through the older locks all the way to the Pacific Ocean! Halfway to the ferry we made a quick bathroom break at a gas station. They also had food here so we grabbed an early lunch because we knew it was going to be a long day and weren’t sure what the food situation would be like later. We ordered chicken nuggets and fries with fruit cups. The fruit cups had some really nice Papaya and were a step up from typical gas station fruit.
The cost to pass through the Panama Canal is staggering. The price is calculated based on the type of ship such as cargo ship or passenger ship, and then further broken down by occupied and unoccupied cabins on a cruise ship or by passenger count and size of a small ship such as our ferry. The cost for this sailing for the Caribbean Princess was $515,000. The small ferry was $3,000.
The ferry was fairly large and consisted of a lower deck with air conditioning and an upper deck that had a canopy to shield the sun. There were also a few unshaded spots as well. We were in group 5 of the buses which meant we didn’t have first choice of seats. I was excited that a few seats remained right at the front, but then realized they were in the direct sun. Brian claimed a spot here and I took my son further back to a less optimal viewing area, but that was shaded. It was HOT so the shade was better in my opinion.
We arrived at the first lock where we would now go down to meet up with the Pacific Ocean. The money makers of the canal are not the passenger ships, but the large cargo ships. When we arrived to the lock, there wasn’t a cargo ship here yet so we had to wait until one filed in behind us. Our ferry, a very large cargo ship, and a small sailboat would continue on this journey. There was also a cargo ship in front of us so we could watch that ship go through as well.
Finally, all three vessels were loaded in the chamber and things were starting to move! That is until the cargo ship in front of us had an issue. It wasn’t clear what the issue was, but a second tugboat came to help. That first lock took a really long time, but when were were finally lowered it was awesome. Concrete walls rose high above us and for awhile we were enjoying the shade! It was really cool to experience.
The highlight of our journey was a little mishap that happened in one of the chambers. They started to lower the ferry, but there was a small portion that was hanging over the lock. A loud screeching and scrapping noise occurred and we looked at each other thinking, that doesn’t sound right. We walked to the side of the ferry and looked down. Our ferry was on top of the concrete walls! Soon enough several men came out from the buildings on land while they figured out how to free us. The solution was for everyone on board to go to the other side of the ferry to take the weight off of the wall. They were then able to free us and more scraping happened as we slid down the side of the concrete walls. When we were allowed to go back to our seats, we looked over. There were several fresh scrapes. We literally left our mark on the Panama Canal!
It’s pretty rare for Shore Excursions to arrive back to the ship after the intended departure time, but that’s what happened. The delay with waiting for a cargo ship to ride with us, waiting because of the mishap with the other cargo ship, and then of course our little issue each took time. The return time on our ticket was 3pm and the ship was expected to leave Colon at 8pm. Our six buses rolled up to the ship at 8:15pm. There is a reason you can only take a ship-led excursion from the Panama Canal and I definitely recommend only ship-led excursion for this particular port.
We missed our 6:20pm dinner reservations so it was a late dinner at the buffet and then to bed. My son fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow and so did mine!
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