Panama Canal
 

DW and I are considering an April HAL cruise San Diego-Ft Lauderdale. Have any of you folks taken that trip? Comments? Alternate considerations?

That is a cruise on my bucket list. I'd love a longer cruise and transiting the canal.

Hi Mickeyd; I've done that cruise twice but I went Westbound, Ft. Lauderdale to Los Angeles, and I went on Princess. But I imagine the experience would be very similar. It is one of the best cruise experiences I've had. The Canal has to be seen up close to be fully appreciated. And it was a chance to see some new ports and countries. I don't know what HAL"s itinerary is; but we saw Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Guatemala, among others.

So yes, it's a cruise that I would recommend to everyone.

I would strongly suggest getting a balcony cabin for this cruise because it can get very crowded at the railings at the points of interest along the Canal. We spent most of the transit on our balcony, taking full advantage of room service.

We are looking at a HAL Panama Canal cruise in April 2012... I expecially like the itineraries - they being more port intensive than other lines we've looked at. Also, they are also less expensive than those others we've look at. We prefer HAL, so it's nice to know that they will fit our needs for this big cruise experience. Please let us know how the April time frame is weather-wise. And good choice...

Thanks for the idea. I can see how a balcony during the day that you cross the PC would be wonderful, but that's only one day out of 14. I'm wondering if it's worth the price increase at any other port or activity? As I recall the difference in price was not cheap.