Questions for Panama Canal veterans

[GoldenBelle]

We are going on the Panama Canal cruise in October and had a few questions. Does the ship turn off the Cellular at Sea service the entire time ship is passing through the canal? We have 3 Mexican ports, should we bring pesos? What kind of weather should we expect in October?

 

[PrincessShmoo]

We are going on the Panama Canal cruise in October and had a few questions. Does the ship turn off the Cellular at Sea service the entire time ship is passing through the canal? We have 3 Mexican ports, should we bring pesos? What kind of weather should we expect in October?

Could be quite humid and/or rainy in October. We had spectacular light shows during dinner most nights on our Panama Canal cruise in October once. That is the lightning from the storms.

 

[DisneYE]

I don't think they turn off cellular at sea while on the PC - but the experience of crossing the Panama Canal is so amazing I don't remember using my phone for anything other than taking pictures/video.
No need to convert to Mexican pesos, like, ever - In Mexico they would very much rather take USD than pesos, pretty much anywhere in the country, any day of the week.

 

[IrishEye]

We are going on the Panama Canal cruise in October and had a few questions. Does the ship turn off the Cellular at Sea service the entire time ship is passing through the canal? We have 3 Mexican ports, should we bring pesos? What kind of weather should we expect in October?

Greetings GoldenBelle,
We too are on this cruise. Our last panama canal was eastbound which would have been in october, it did rain but not all day and only in the canal. it never rained hard enough to drive us back inside however, mostly a misty rain with a few shots of light shower.

 

[GoldenBelle]

I don't think they turn off cellular at sea while on the PC - but the experience of crossing the Panama Canal is so amazing I don't remember using my phone for anything other than taking pictures/video.
No need to convert to Mexican pesos, like, ever - In Mexico they would very much rather take USD than pesos, pretty much anywhere in the country, any day of the week.

We have Panama on our ATT plan but I’m wondering if we will be able to pick up land cell towers if shop’s cell service is on. I thought that maybe they were required to turn it off like they are when they are in ports

 

[GoldenBelle]

Greetings GoldenBelle,
We too are on this cruise. Our last panama canal was eastbound which would have been in october, it did rain but not all day and only in the canal. it never rained hard enough to drive us back inside however, mostly a misty rain with a few shots of light shower.

Glad to hear you will also be on this cruise! We can’t wait to til October gets here. We were booked on the cruise that got cancelled due to Covid. Finally able to make it up! A little rain won’t bother us from enjoying PC

 

[happycamper47]

Their rainy season is May to January so anything is possible. Oct 21 was the most rain we've encountered in 4 trips, but it didn't ruin the adventure. We'll have to see what this year brings, we're on board too.

 

[msmama]

We did the PC (but I think ours was in November). They tell you it will rain at some point during the Panama crossing. It did. So weather was pretty hot and humid.

Of all the cruises I've been on, the internet was the worst on the PC cruise (and that includes several in Europe and TA). I don't think they turned it off, it just didn't work due to the positioning of the satellite or something (that's what they said, anyway). I didn't use any of the pay packages, just the free stuff, but I remember everyone mentioning it, and even the ship computers (guest services, port adventures) were having problems. I was able to connect to Panama cell service during the crossing with my Verizon travel pass.

American dollars are fine. Though with my incredibly limited Spanish, I did try to get pesos out of an ATM. I ended up with enough to buy like a candy bar and bottle of water and used American dollars the rest of the time.

 

[jennifermcb]

We are considering the October PC cruise. My concern is the recent news of the drought in the area and so many vessels having to wait days/ weeks to cross. Also Royal Carribean has cancelled their PC crossing cruises for the foreseeable future. Should Disney change the itinerary to remove the crossing, would they allow for a refund? Our main intent in this cruise would be the crossing; we have visited all of the remaining ports of call in previous cruises.

 

[o&smom]

We are considering the October PC cruise. My concern is the recent news of the drought in the area and so many vessels having to wait days/ weeks to cross. Also Royal Carribean has cancelled their PC crossing cruises for the foreseeable future. Should Disney change the itinerary to remove the crossing, would they allow for a refund? Our main intent in this cruise would be the crossing; we have visited all of the remaining ports of call in previous cruises.

We are on this cruise. I do not believe Disney would cancel because they are repositioning to the west coast for some Mexico cruises. RC was able to cancel since their cruises were going back and forth through the canal. They were not doing any west coast cruises after the transit. The next cruise just transmitted back. The itineraries were just changed to stay on the east coast. Fingers crossed all goes well.

 

[auntlynne]

A lot of the places where you will spend money in Mexico will have the prices listed in both Pesos and US$. Take smaller US bills, so you don’t get a bunch of pesos back in change.

Credit cards work great for larger $ amounts.

 

[happycamper47]

We are considering the October PC cruise. My concern is the recent news of the drought in the area and so many vessels having to wait days/ weeks to cross. Also Royal Carribean has cancelled their PC crossing cruises for the foreseeable future. Should Disney change the itinerary to remove the crossing, would they allow for a refund? Our main intent in this cruise would be the crossing; we have visited all of the remaining ports of call in previous cruises.

The RCL cruises were 7 day PC cruises that started in Colon and ended in Panama City and then reversed. The DCL is quite different since it is a transition cruise for the Magic which doesn't return until December.

Since they are using the new locks it definitely is not as awe inspiring as transiting the old locks. The 100 year old engineering feat that is still operational is really something to see. The new locks are designed and operated completely differently. As to the weather it can be rainy, you are in the rain forest, that is what allowed the canal to be built since it uses approximately 50,000,000 gallons per ship that is not recaptured. The new locks do recapture the water and that is why DCL will probably still make the crossing. Temperature wise, to quote our guide in Cartagena, "we have two seasons, hot and hotter".

 

[lilsonicfan]

A few things I loved about our PC cruise:

* it did rain on the PC day itself, but as our family was on the top deck at the time, we all received ponchos, which was very fun
* they also brought out strawberry frozen treat bars as it was insanely hot that day
* watching most of the transit from our balcony (so crowded on the outside decks!)
* Cartagena has been one of my fave ports, we did a city tour here on our own and it was amazing.

I don't think we brought any pesos. We did bring US cash.

 

[CM Dad]

We are considering the October PC cruise. My concern is the recent news of the drought in the area and so many vessels having to wait days/ weeks to cross. Also Royal Carribean has cancelled their PC crossing cruises for the foreseeable future. Should Disney change the itinerary to remove the crossing, would they allow for a refund? Our main intent in this cruise would be the crossing; we have visited all of the remaining ports of call in previous cruises.

Not all Royal Caribbean Panama Canal crossings have been cancelled. My wife and I are booked on the Radiance of the Seas for a 14 night cruise from Tampa to LA next April. I had seen reports of the 7 night crossings on the Rhapsody of the Seas being cancelled, so today I verified with RCL that our cruise was still scheduled.

 

[disneyfaninaz]

For what it's worth, DCL pays for a reservation to go through the canal. A lot of the cargo ships do not, as it is quite expensive. Most likely than not, the cargo ships are the ones who have to wait for an opening to go through.

We went through the EB canal in October of 2018. We did have some rain going through the canal, but otherwise everybody said that it was one of the best days they ever saw going through. We did, however, have to skirt a hurricane going down the coast of Mexico.