Panama Canal Transit

Today was the big day. We went though the Panama Canal. What an amazing experience! We saw so many cargo ships waiting in the ocean to get through the canal. We also got to see Panama City as we passed it by.

We woke up at 5am to ensure that we saw everything possible. We were entering on the Pacific side therefore the Bridge of the Americans was going to be early however we did not know how early. Baby and I did not like getting up so early but we did it. We got ready and were on the top deck by 5:30am before sunrise. Many other people also got up early too, although we certainly beat the crowds. We weren’t scheduled to reach the first lock until 8am.

Last night we scoped things out and knew exactly where we wanted to get our picture taken with the bridge in the background. However that plan was ruined because they had that part of the deck closed due to ropes needing to be there to help get us through the canal. We had to find another spot. We decided on the upper deck near the food station where there were tables and chairs. I actually really liked this spot because I had food and a place to sit down. Brian ran around the ship all morning taking pictures and making sure our spot was good enough. I just continued to sit at my table and enjoy the scenery.

We finally reached the Bridge of the Americas at 7:30am. Again it was another spectacular sight. Just thinking about the construction of the canal in the early 1900’s and going through it really makes you realize how impressive this really is. They made an announcement describing the canal transit including what Norweign had to pay. Our ship cost $375,000 to go through the canal today. Yes, I really did type that number right! Wow! They said that this passage was a record. Info we printed from wikipedia before the trip confirms this reporting that the previous record toll was $331,200 in May 2008 to the Disney Magic cruise ship.

We read a lot on the canal from Wikipedia. I don’t remember learning much on the Panama Canal in school but after reading up on it I have a new appreciation for it. Around 27,500 people died during the construction. We had 3 Panama Canal pilots on board our ship to help us get through the canal. We reached the first set of locks at 8am (Miraflores and Pedro Miguel locks). We were finished with them around 11am. These locks had raised our ship 85 feet above sea level. Around 3pm we dropped back down to sea level into the Atlantic at the 3 stage Gatun locks. Interestingly, the Pacific side sea level is 8 inches higher than the Atlantic due to weather and water differences. The locks are 110 feet wide and our ship barely fit with minimal room on either side as the photo above shows.

We went everywhere on the ship while we went through the locks. We were on our balcony, upper deck, lower deck... you name it we were there. We forgot to wear our pedometer but we really walked a lot (probably at least 4-5 miles)! Brian’s legs were even tired too.

During our panama canal transit, we also saw construction. They are building a third set of locks that can accommodate even larger ships. We saw this construction as well as continuous dredging done to maintain the canal. It was funny because the backhoe operators paused for a few seconds to wave to the ship as we passed. They scooped and threw water and then used then waved the claw like a hand as if to say hello. We saw it a couple of times. It was very cute.

We were really lucky again with the weather since rain was forecast (this is their wet season). It was nice this morning. Then it started to rain for a while however we were able to get shelter. It did not rain too long. Just as we finished the last lock of the day it started to rain again. We could not believe how lucky we were.

At 2:30pm, we went to a Cruise Critics member’s stateroom for a watch the canal party. We met them online before we came aboard. They had a suite with a room in the front of the ship directly below the captain’s bridge. There were about 30 people there. It was kind of funny because we were suppose to bring a dish. How do you bring a dish while on a cruise ship? You go to the buffet and get a plate full of food while everyone looks at you like you are a crazy pig. We got a plate full of banana bread.

It was nice of this couple to invite us over to watch going through the canals. We got a different perspective of the canals since for most of the day we were either on the side of the ship or in the back (the front was simply too crowded on the top deck and only accessible to crew on the lower front deck). We were there for about 2 hours. After we had passed the final canal from our perspective at the front of the ship, we left and went back to our stateroom to be surprised that we still had some more to go back there (our room is in the back of the ship). So we got to do some of the canal twice. Sometimes we forget how big our ship is.

After we were completely though the canal, we came back to our room. We decided to take a nap before dinner. It was really a busy day. It was a lot of fun watching us go through the canal. It really is cool to experience it.

While in Panama, the ship had photographers get off the ship to take pictures. We bought a few shots. They also took pictures of people on the decks and their balconies. They told us they were going to do this. We briefly looked at those. In one photo, there was a man in his underwear on his balcony. It was unbelievable that they really took, printed, and posted the picture. It was later taken down.



Tomorrow we are in Cartagena. I asked Brian if we could have a sea day tomorrow so I could rest. He said no. The captain is sticking to the original schedule. We will go to Cartagena then we will have two days at sea before our vacation is over. This trip has gone by really fast.