Cruising Through the Panama Canal

Considering a cruise through the Panama Canal? Let’s take a photo tour of my Princess Cruise Panama Canal experience.

I am excited to share with you some experiences from my recent Panama Canal cruise with Princess Cruises. This was a hosted event. All opinions, photos, and recipes are my own.

First thing’s first- wake up early! Be sure to get some good rest the night before because we were approaching the Panama Canal before 6:00 am. It’s a slow and steady process to get such a large ship through the old locks.

As incredible as it was to pass through the 3 sets of locks aboard our cruise ship the Coral Princess we also booked an excursion to take a day-long ferry tour through the whole length of the Panama Canal. First we disembarked the ship and made a quick boat trip to land.

Next it was a long bus ride to our ferry, but there were snacks and breaks. The tour guides are friendly, helpful, and pretty entertaining.

We started our Panama Canal transit at Gatun Locks in Colon, Panama and spent the whole day riding through to Miraflores Locks in Panama City where we met up with our cruise ship. Along the way there were so many incredible things to experience.

We even passed under the Bridge of the Americas and the Centennial Bridge.

The Bridge of the Americas is a road bridge in Panama, which spans the Pacific entrance to the Panama Canal.

Panama’s Centennial Bridge is a major bridge crossing the Panama Canal. It was built to supplement the overcrowded Bridge of the Americas and to replace it as the carrier of the Pan-American Highway. When we passed through each set of locks it was a tight fit!

You could even reach out and touch the historic locks. Once in a lifetime experience!!

On board our ferry we spent most of the day just taking in the beautiful scenery and enjoying some Panamanian sodas and treats.

Each time went through the 3 sets of locks it was just inspiring. If the Panama Canal is on your bucket list I suggest a Panama Canal cruise as an incredible way to experience it.

Upon returning the Coral Princess chefs had prepared this gorgeous dessert version of the Panama Canal! I wish I had gotten some better photos of it but I had filled my camera with hundreds and hundreds of photos from the day that I only had time to snap a few quick cell phone pics.

I would be happy to answer any questions you may have about traveling through the Panama Canal. Just leave me a comment!