papa55 - If this is your first cruise to the canal zone I would most heartily recommend crossing the isthmus by rail and taking the canal ferry through the canal since the CCL Freedom does not transit the Canal itself. The CCL tour may seem pricey but it is well worth it for the experience! Other than that I suggest the tour of the port city of Portobello (quite famous in pirate lore) wirh a stop at the Locks - it is less expensive but it is a nice tour.
I will be taking the CCL Freedom in January 2011 on the same itinerary!
Papa, if you enjoy nature and wildlife, taking a tour of the Tortuguero Canals in Costa Rica is a must as far as we are concerned. The boats take you into the rainforest where you can see all sorts of wildlife including monkeys. We booked our tour through RCCL. The tour also included a side trip to a banana plantation and a light meal.
In Panama, I would just add that no matter what excursion you take, be sure it includes a trip through the locks. It is the main reason for going to Panama!
We did the Tortuguero Canals trip with OKEY DOKEY tours it was a great day with lunch at the beach.
charlie puts on a good tour and if you can find other on your ship to join you the price is more reasonable
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Lyn
FORMER CRUISES:
Alexandr Pushkin, Carnival-Holiday, HAL-(old)Westerdam, Orient lines-Marco Polo, Royal Olympic-Olympic, NCL-Dream, Dawn-Princess, ACCL-Grande Caribe, Oceania-Insignia (3), Regatta(4) Marina (1) St Lawrence Cruise Lines-Canadian Empress
Papa, are you talking about the Tortuguero Canals or Panama? The tour of the Tortuguero, you actually take a boat through canals in the rainforest.
The Panama Canal, I'm not sure about the tours. On our first cruise to the Canal, our ship docked at Colon. We took the train ride to Panama City and it was a wonderful trip. Our disappointment was that we never saw the locks. BillyBuzzy's tour suggestions would give you a good overall view of Panama and the Canal.
It sounds like you will have a wonderful cruise. Enjoy the planning!
We stayed on the ship for the Panama Canal our ship did not stop there.
The second trip we stopped in Colon & people did the canal tour by boat ..they were delayed getting through the locks & ended up with a police escort back to the ship
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Lyn
FORMER CRUISES:
Alexandr Pushkin, Carnival-Holiday, HAL-(old)Westerdam, Orient lines-Marco Polo, Royal Olympic-Olympic, NCL-Dream, Dawn-Princess, ACCL-Grande Caribe, Oceania-Insignia (3), Regatta(4) Marina (1) St Lawrence Cruise Lines-Canadian Empress
Thank you so much for sharing your pictures. I'm going to have to put off my Panama Canal cruise until 2011, so that has made me all the more excited about going. Who knows, maybe my luck will change
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