Why Panama Canal cruise ... aboard Disney?

[2Bnºoºt2B]

Just interested in hearing how people enjoyed transiting the Canal aboard Disney ...

 

[marana]

We took ours back in 2005 going from Los Angeles to Cape Canaveral. At the time, we had our 2 year old daughter with us and we loved every minute of the cruise
For us, we got into a routine and still had just enough variation and fun throughout the day to make it incredibly memorable. Between the stage shows and other onboard activities like crafting, ship tours and the pool, we were incredibly happy with the cruise. YMMV.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Just interested in hearing how people enjoyed transiting the Canal aboard Disney ...

Our first DCL cruise (well, first cruise ever) was a Panama Canal cruise. Loved it. So much so that we booked another. Well, the second one was on another line, but the DCL cruise gave a taste of it and we wanted more.

 

[BigJon]

I'm in Cabo right now, on the Disney Wonder (2nd Panama Canal cruise) and it's wonderful, but of course it's very hot. I'm 49 years old, and the cruise has a huge majority of senior citizens, so the goofy pool and Mickey pool are almost empty. Love the sea days.....jonathan

 

[NancyIL]

DCL's Panama Canal itinerary is pretty mediocre, but they do a great job with sea day activities. That would be my reason for booking a PC cruise with Disney - plus it's one of their better cruise values. If I wanted to go on a Panama Canal cruise with a good itinerary - it wouldn't be on DCL.

 

[MinnesotaMouseketeers]

Wife and I loved our Disney Panama Canal cruise. With the new locks we want to do it again and it will be on DCL again. It was a little strange how few kids were on board, there were two other couples seated at our table each evening. And one of the woman commented that we were the young ones on the ship. As was stated in another post there are many more senior citizens on the ship for PC trip. We were never board with the sea days, in fact we really enjoyed them.

 

[CrockettTraveler]

We did the EBPC on Disney Wonder in September 2014 and had a fabulous cruise. Lots of activities on sea days and we shared a table with 3 other couples for dinner each night. There weren't that many school age kids on board. In April 2017 we are doing the WBPC with our daughter and granddaughters on the Wonder. DH can't stop raving about how good the entertainment was each night in the Disney theater. He usually doesn't go to see the entertainment on other cruise lines.

 

[jdb in AZ]

We did the EBPC on Disney Wonder in September 2014 and had a fabulous cruise. Lots of activities on sea days and we shared a table with 3 other couples for dinner each night. There weren't that many school age kids on board. In April 2017 we are doing the WBPC with our daughter and granddaughters on the Wonder. DH can't stop raving about how good the entertainment was each night in the Disney theater. He usually doesn't go to see the entertainment on other cruise lines.

We really enjoyed the evening entertainment on our DCL Panama Canal cruise, and the Hawaiian cruise. DCL really goes over and above the other cruise lines bringing in extra entertainers on their longer cruises.

 

[dclpluto]

yes the ports are weak but you can get 14 nights for the cost of 7 nights.

 

[MickeyEarrings]

I'm in Cabo right now, on the Disney Wonder (2nd Panama Canal cruise) and it's wonderful.....jonathan

We are on the wbpc in April, and I can't wait to see you guys on the webcam on Saturday (if the darned thing is working!)

Wife and I loved our Disney Panama Canal cruise. With the new locks we want to do it again and it will be on DCL again...

We have an awesome cruise group for the wbpc on April 23rd of next year - lots of activities and meet ups in the works. Please consider joining us!

We did the EBPC on Disney Wonder in September 2014 and had a fabulous cruise. Lots of activities on sea days and we shared a table with 3 other couples for dinner each night. There weren't that many school age kids on board. In April 2017 we are doing the WBPC with our daughter and granddaughters on the Wonder...

Have you joined our cruise meet group? (It's so big already I admit I can't keep track of everyone...)


And me? This will be my first PC cruise and my sixth ever cruise. I've only cruised on Disney and will only cruise another line if we were traveling with another family who insisted, or to go through the old locks. I'm too spoiled!

 

[jubjubrsx]

I'll let you know in april

 

[2Bnºoºt2B]

Thanks all for the replies. Never thought there may be fewer kids onboard due to the length and nature of the itinerary ... but then on the other hand I think I would find it a bit "weird" being on a Disney cruise where it felt more adult than family like ... lol

How did people find Cartagena Columbia as a port of call? I'm thinking it would be similar to when we were on a Southern Caribbean cruise and made a visit to Caracas, Venezuela ...on the bus ride into Caracas, it was shocking to see the extreme poverty of the barrios outside the city ... and the groups of well armed police with machine guns patrolling the areas where the tourists are can be an experience to say the least.

As for the rest of the itinerary, have no interest at all in the Mexican ports of call, except for Cabo perhaps. Been there and done that (twice) with PV and CM - just doesn't hold the same allure for us as other Caribbean ports ... now if somehow the PC itinerary included a visit to Castaway Cay ...

BigJon ... hope you're having a great cruise ... how do you find the Wonder ... how's the food/dining ... on our Fantasy cruise last year, I thought the quality of food slipped a bit somewhat ... is the cruise itself pretty full?

 

[jdb in AZ]

Thanks all for the replies. Never thought there may be fewer kids onboard due to the length and nature of the itinerary ... but then on the other hand I think I would find it a bit "weird" being on a Disney cruise where it felt more adult than family like ... lol

On our DCL Panama Canal cruise all the rooms had been sold, but we had 400 fewer kids than usual. It still felt like a family cruise, but it was quieter.

 

[RedSox68]

We did it on the Magic in 2005 - LA to PC. We had never done PC at all so had nothing to compare it with, but we loved sailing with Disney. My daughter was finally old enough to go in the adult pool and I just remember my husband running around taking pictures and us lounging in the pool and watching the land go by on both sides -- it was extraordinary. Disney had an afternoon BBQ on deck and a narrator came onboard. I'd love to do another PC cruise -- but will probably do it on a different ship just because of pricing.

 

[BigJon]

Thanks all for the replies. Never thought there may be fewer kids onboard due to the length and nature of the itinerary ... but then on the other hand I think I would find it a bit "weird" being on a Disney cruise where it felt more adult than family like ... lol

How did people find Cartagena Columbia as a port of call? I'm thinking it would be similar to when we were on a Southern Caribbean cruise and made a visit to Caracas, Venezuela ...on the bus ride into Caracas, it was shocking to see the extreme poverty of the barrios outside the city ... and the groups of well armed police with machine guns patrolling the areas where the tourists are can be an experience to say the least.

As for the rest of the itinerary, have no interest at all in the Mexican ports of call, except for Cabo perhaps. Been there and done that (twice) with PV and CM - just doesn't hold the same allure for us as other Caribbean ports ... now if somehow the PC itinerary included a visit to Castaway Cay ...

BigJon ... hope you're having a great cruise ... how do you find the Wonder ... how's the food/dining ... on our Fantasy cruise last year, I thought the quality of food slipped a bit somewhat ... is the cruise itself pretty full?

I think the Wonder Looks good. Food has been good. Personally, I like the new "paper" menu for brunch at Palo. One cast member told us they had 1,800 guests on board....jonathan

 

[MickeyEarrings]

I think the Wonder Looks good. Food has been good. Personally, I like the new "paper" menu for brunch at Palo. One cast member told us they had 1,800 guests on board....jonathan

1800?! That's awesome!!!!

 

[SillyInventor]

We did this year's WBPC in May and all rooms were sold out, but we had 1,861 guest onboard, around 300 of whom were kids. On a real family cruise the ship is packed with 2,500 guest, including 900-1,000 kids. Imagine the difference.
The main draws of a PC cruise are of course passing the PC (which is a real event) and all the days to spend on the ship. As others have stated ports are ok, but not the main thing. For DCL the main thing is getting the ship from the East coast to the West coast without losing to much on it.
So if you are in it to explore ports it's not for you, but if the Ship is your destination there is no better value for money. Compared to the other long DCL cruises (trans atlantic) the weather will be hot and good for swimming, while crossing the Atlantic may be pretty cold and stormy.

 

[jrabbit]

2 weeks, NO Cell Phones or E-Mails (my Co is to cheep to pay for those for me while on a cruise

Only about 1800 guests, most older than me

Since not to many kids, I get to go to the kids clubs sometimes

Plenty of activities throughout the day to keep me as busy as I want - and even with all of those days, not enough time to hit a movie in the BV or WD Theaters.

Different menu every night
Lots of great entertainers brought onboard

Cruise Director Jimmy is Great on these cruises

and as "eeyore" above points out ... there "might" be better itineraries on other lines, but DCL's works for me

Someone asked about Cartagena Colombia - we really enjoyed our walking tour of old town!! yes there are street vendors, NO DCL cannot get them out of town for us!

and with two weeks and lots of sea days, we get to know an make friends with our table mates!!

 

[2Bnºoºt2B]

Still undecided on what cruise itinerary we will be going on for our Anniversary next year ... but yesterday I went and placed a deposit on the EB Panama Canal Cruise aboard the Wonder for next fall ... it'll be one of several choices we will be looking at over the next little while.

When I started thinking about starting off the PC cruise with a stay at Anaheim, we started to get a wee bit excited. Not only would we celebrate Halloween just once, aboard the Wonder on Oct 31st .. and not just twice by staying at Disneyland for their Mickey's Halloween Party ... but three times if we also go to Universal Hollywood for Halloween Horror Nights. I know, it's isn't it - lol

 

[DisneySince1967]

We took DCL's EBPC cruise in 2015 and loved it so much we're going again in 2017! There are people that take this cruise every year and others take it each way. Like other posters mentioned, it isn't about the ports of call. The PC, repositioning cruises cost less per day than other DCL cruises and the ship is more like a floating resort with few children. DCL plans more shipboard activities than on the shorter cruises. One hit was the series of slideshow presentations on Disney history given by Stacia Martin; they were filled to capacity even after changing the venue to accommodate interest that exploded through word of mouth. Extrovert or introvert...you can get to know other cruisers if you like or keep to yourselves. My DH and I, both working FT, slept a lot for the first two days and happily watched movies and read inbetween scheduled fun. You also have a genuine opportunity to know the staff, who are from around the world. We found them delightful. After the first week, my DH and I looked at each other and said, "Just think! We have another whole week of vacation left!"

The OP's question was about transiting the PC on a Disney ship, though. DCL brought in a retired PC pilot to give a series of lectures about the history of the Panama Canal and his experiences, prior to actually going through the Canal. He was quite a character. On the day of the transit, they onboarded an expatriate, who gave a real time, monologue description of what we were seeing and a lot of background. It was really interesting. Additionally, one could watch the transit, which takes all day, in the air-conditioned comfort of your room via the "bridge cam." It sounds cheesy, until you experience the heat, humidity and crowding of people anxious for their first glimpse. Our stateroom was on Deck 2, with an outside view. My view was better and more informed, listening to the monologue and watching the action on the bridge cam and out the window, than if I had remained on deck all day. The Wonder is so big that it clears the locks by just a few inches on each side and if my porthole opened I could have touched the locks. (In fact, at our next port staff were outside touching up paint.) They also throw a lunchtime deck party which we missed last time, but want to enjoy on our next trip. Our appreciation of what we saw was increased by watching several documentaries on the PC at home, before departing.