Panama Canal Cruise Suggestions

[cousins]

We are planning on cruising out of Miami or FT Lauderdale to CAL and fly home....Which Panama Canal Cruise would you suggest? And which cruiseline and ship????

[cousins]

We are planning on cruising out of Miami or FT Lauderdale to CAL and fly home....Which Panama Canal Cruise would you suggest? And which cruiseline and ship????

[f-mattox]

I've done the same cruise twice--Ft. Lauderdale to Los Angeles-- we like to fly first, then just cruise home. Both times on Princess: once on Sea Princess and once on Island Princess. I would highly recommend Princess; but I would also not hesitate to suggest Holland America from Ft. Lauderdale to San Diego.

[Bentnail]

You will enjoy the Panama Canal, on what ever cruise line you choose. We did a west to east from Seattle thru the Canal to Miami in Sept 2008 and are looking to do another when the new locks open.
While you are waiting for your cruise check out the Canal at www.pancanal.com you can watch the ships go thru, our children were able to see our ship in the locks from Seattle.

[cousins]

I think we are going to go from Ft. Lauderdale for 10 days and fly home from Acapulco, Mexico...seems like the 15 day trips that end in CA are just adding a lot more AT SEA days...Any difference between Island Princess and Coral Princess ships?

[f-mattox]

You are right about the Ft. Lauderdale to Los Angeles cruises just adding sea days; but I love sea days, and besides, I live just a short drive from the pier. As you mentioned in another thread, Huatulco is the only additional port you get on a 14 day, and while Huatulco is very nice, unless you really like sea days, you would be better off disembarking in Acapulco.

Except for some minor color scheme differences, Island Princess and Coral Princess are the same ship. I believe Island Princess has "The Sanctuary" now; I don't know when Coral Princess is receiving the upgrade.

[SD Cruiser]

We did the 14 day full transit Ft. Lauderdale to San Diego on Celebrity Mercury in December, and it was a wonderful cruise. The enrichment programs were excellent, and we sometimes even went to two of them a day on sea days.

[cousins]

Thanks for your input....we live in Palm Beach FL so like you Mattox we have as many beach/sea days that we can possibly see right here.....Are these 2 ships about the same age? I'm pretty sure we're going to take your advice. FT Laud to Acapulco and fly home....can't wait. What time of the year would you recommend such a cruise (10 days) would like warm weather (not hurricane season)?????

[f-mattox]

Coral Princess was built in '02 and Island Princess in '03, so there should be very little difference between them. It is my opinion that Princess does a great job of maintaining their ships.

I see that itinerary is available from December through April, so hurricanes would not be an issue. And it is warm year 'round. I might avoid April and the Spring breakers, although they would not be attracted to that kind of cruise. My choice would be February or March.

[cousins]

thanks a ton!