Best Panama Canal Cruise to Take

[snowdrft]

Hi All,
I am very interested in taking a cruise the Panama Canal, one which goes
through during the day. Any suggestions on the best cruise line/tour to
take and time of the year. Is it best to leave from Miami are or the west
coast?

Thanks for your suggestions.

[Go Fig]

Some thoughts;

Canal cruises are generally 10+ days... so an older crowd.
If the ships itinerary is doing one-way's from say Fl to Costa Rica, much of the
food will be provisioned in FL.
On these one way cruises the air fare can be tricky $$.
Stay an extra 3+ days in Costa Rica.
In march and april you have the least rain.

As for ships... for me its HAL... for their great staff and the best outdoor
viewing of any ship. The (2) shots (below links) show The Massdam's bow while we
were going through the canal... I cant think of another line ship that you can go
all the way to the bow... and of course with HAL, they covered the sides with
awnings and had beverages and snacks.

HALs private island.. half moon cay is REALLY nice to wake up to your first day
out of FL.

The pics of HALs bow

http://homepage.mac.com/gofig/.Pictures/Panama/can_maasdam_bow.jpg

http://homepage.mac.com/gofig/.Pictures/Panama/can_promdeck.jpg

and my favorite shot of the trip:

http://homepage.mac.com/gofig/.Pictures/Panama/can_shipsbell.jpg

If you have DSL or Cable you can look at my imovie of my canal transit here:

http://homepage.mac.com/gofigimovie/imovie1.html

jay
Sun, Jun 24, 2001
mailto:go...@mac.com

--

Legend insists that as he finished his abject...
Galileo muttered under his breath: "Nevertheless, it does move."

[GP]

WOW!
Great video - Thanks

"Go Fig" <go...@mac.com> wrote in message
news:gofig-162BF1....@lsnewsr3.we.mediaone.net...

[Carole Dunham]

I took HAL's new Amsterdam on a 10 day canal cruise last spring. The ships
are provisioned from the US regardless of an east or westbound sailing. We
came from Costa Rica. The food was wonderful. Never felt a twinge of
sickness. While I saw that the ship and the Philipino/Indonesian crew was
fabulous, the onboard management was awful, a reflection of shoreside
management I imagine. We were without a functional toilet for about 80% of
the cruise. HAL only made half hearted attempts to fix the problem and
dismissed it. They said this had never happened before but when I posted the
information when I returned home, I received many e-mails telling me the
problem existed on many HAL ships. there was even another couple onboard
Amsterdam who'd had it happen to them TWICE. Although I loved everything
else about the ship, I won't sail HAL again until their current management
retires.

Carole
cruz...@cruisemates.com

"Go Fig" <go...@mac.com> wrote in message
news:gofig-162BF1....@lsnewsr3.we.mediaone.net...

[Go Fig]

In article <MwrZ6.23343$2w.40...@news02.optonline.net>,
"GP" <coac...@optonline.net> wrote:

> WOW!
> Great video - Thanks

Thanx.. but a lot of the credit goes to Apple Macintosh...'The Power To Be Your
Best...'