First, a little history about one of the greatest engineering wonders of this world: the Panama Canal. The Panama Railroad was built and completed in 1855. Before this time, the explorers of Panama had to trek through the jungles and over the mountains by canoe, by foot and/or pack animal. To make it somewhat easier, a herd of camels were imported into Panama to help the explorers travel through Panama. The Panama Canal was dreamed up as a short cut for ships to pass from the Atlantic to the Pacific, a journey which necessitated sailing around Cape Horn to get to the ocean on the other side, a 3,000 mile journey.
The Panama Canal had been a dream of men and explorers for over 400 years. The French were the first to attempt to build a Canal, spending about $300 million on this venture and building only 10 miles of the Canal. In May of 1904, they gave the keys of the Panama Canal to the Americans. On August 14, 1914, only ten years later, the first ship, the S.S. Ancon passed through the Panama Canal. There was an extremely high human cost to the building of the Canal. Many workers died from diseases caught in the swampland as the Canal was dug and constructed. The Panama Canal has officially existed and remained operational since that time. Today, the Panama Canal is undergoing an expansion project which began in 2007 and is hoped to be completed around 2014.
On a daily basis, approximately 40 ships a day have sailed through the Panama Canal. The Panama Canal consists of massive locks which take about eight to nine hours to pass through to get from the Atlantic to the Pacific ocean. As far as measurements go, for those interested, the Panama Canal’s locks are 110 feet wide, 1,000 feet long, and 83 feet deep. The weight of each lock gates weights between 390 and 730 tons. No pumps are used for the locks. Instead, the water is drawn by gravity from Gatu
n Lake.Since the opening of the Panama Canal, a million ships have passed through the Canal. The Panama Canal from the Atlantic to the Pacific is 50 miles long. The entire journey takes eight to nine hours. The ship is lifted 85 feet by the Gatun locks into Gatun Lake and then sails through the narrow Gaillard Cut to the Pedro Miguel lock and then the and Miraflores locks. At the Miraflores locks, the cruise ship is lowered down to the level of the Pacific Ocean.
When you take one of the available cruises through the Panama Canal, you will cross through the Canal in a cruise ship built for it. A cruise to the Panama Canal is one of the most sought after destinations. There are many cruise lines to choose from to traverse the Panama Canal, including the Carnival Cruise line, the Princess Cruise line and the Royal Caribbean Cruise line.
Offering many different deals for a cruise to Panama, the Carnival Cruise Line has a 14 day Panama Canal Cruise from $1,179. It departs from Los Angeles and cruises to the following places Manzanillo, Mexico, Puntarenas, Costa Rica, makes the Panama Canal transit, then on to Cartagena, Colombia, Ocho Rios, Jamaica ; Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands and finishes in Miami, Florida.
The Princess Cruise line’s cruises through the Panama Canal include round trip sailing from Los Angeles or between Fort Lauderdale and Los Angeles.
The Royal Caribbean is another cruise line which offers cruises to Panama.
A Panama Canal cruise can be taken in either direction from west to east or east to west. From east to west is the favourite because you will experience crossing under the magnificent Bridge of the Americas to the Pacific Ocean.
There are cruise ports to stop at on your Panama Canal cruise, including Colon, Balboa and Cristobal. While at these ports, have some of the wonderful coffee which is grown in the shade of trees in the mountains of Panama. At Colon, you can actually go for a walk through a rainforest. Do a little shopping too, where you can buy duty-free jewellery and native handicrafts, a look around and try watching a ship from the land as it passes through the locks. You will be able to find some travel tours which offer excursions of the locks of the Panama Canal. If you have the time and opportunity, a side trip to Panama City would be well worth it to visit the old quarter of Casco Viejo and Casco Antiguo.
Panama Canal cruises can be somewhat expensive, but if you are on a budget, you can take a partial Panama Canal cruise which will take you from the Caribbean side to Lake Gatun.
Check out the websites of the individual cruise lines already mentioned in this article to obtain exact information on Princess Cruise Lines, Royal Caribbean or the Carnival Cruise line for cruises through the Panama Canal. Experiencing one of the many cruises to Panama will be a once in a life time experience when you traverse this Canal between two oceans.
