Panama Canal with Holland America
12 Day Partial Transit Panama Canal Cruise
13 Days | February-March
Starting At $CUSTOM
The construction of the Panama Canal is one of those epic tales from the past, an old-school feat of engineering, ambition and courage. A cruise along it today is a journey through the centuries, from the Spanish fortifications near Limón Bay to the glittering skyline of Panama City, not to mention the canal itself.
Highlights
Price Includes:
|
Ports of Call:
|
Call For Pricing. Airfare Prices Can Be Quoted Upon Request.
Passports are Required For This Sailing.
Itinerary
Day 1 – Arrive Ft Lauderdale, FL
Today arrive into Ft Lauderdale and check in to your hotel for your overnight stay.
Day 2 – Transfer to Port, Board the Eurodam
After breakfast this morning, take a short transfer to the Port of Ft Lauderdale and board the Eurodam. Holland America Line’s first Signature-class ship, Eurodam has recently received many exciting updates. Guests cruising on this graceful ship can enjoy the full Music Walk experience, including Lincoln Center Stage, B.B. King’s Blues Club and Billboard Onboard. Explore onboard at BBC Earth Experiences. Enjoy regional cooking demonstrations and food and wine tastings with EXC Port to Table programming.
Day 3 – Half Moon Cay, Bahamas
All Bahama Islands are full of tropical wonders and sun-kissed beaches. But Half Moon Cay, Holland America Line’s private island in the Bahamas is an absolute stunner. We’re not the only ones enamored with our crescent-shaped slice of heaven—Half Moon Cay is the highest-rated Bahamas private island. It has won Porthole Cruise Magazine’s Best Private Island award consecutively for 20 years and garnered the best in Travel Weekly’s Readers’ Choice Awards. When you feel the sugar-white sand on your toes or see its brilliant blue lagoon, you’ll understand why cruise travelers love Half Moon Cay. True bucket-list excursions, secluded cabanas, and stunning beaches make it ideal for any type of vacation.
Day 4 – Day at Sea
Today is a full day spent at sea.
Day 5 – Oranjestad, Aruba
It’s hard to find a more beautiful vacation destination than the Southern Caribbean, and on our cruises to Aruba, you’re the star of that perfect snapshot. Splash and play your way across this sparkling corner of the Caribbean, or simply relax on a sun-baked beach on one of Carnival’s cruises to Aruba. The locals call it the “happy island,” and they prove it — Aruba cheerily welcomes visitors to picture-perfect strips of beach, swaths of exotic blooms, and some of the Caribbean’s top shopping and nightlife locales. Celebrate the year-round Caribbean spirit, or simply unwind to the island’s bewitching and relaxing tempo. It’s easy to find your own tropical beat when you cruise Aruba-style.
Day 6 – Day at Sea
Today is a full day spent at sea.
Day 7 – Cartagena, Columbia
Its official name is Cartagena de Indias—or ‘Cartagena of the Indies’—but call it Cartagena for short. The formal name hints at this Colombian city’s colonial relationship with Spain; it was founded in 1533 and named after the mother country’s Cartagena. Colombia declared independence in 1810, but there’s plenty about its fifth-largest city that evokes old Spain, including the impressive fort of Castillo San Felipe de Barajas, and the wall that encloses the old town, one of the few intact structures of its kind in the Americas. Both were considered important enough to inscribe on UNESCO’s list of World Heritage Sites in 1984. They may be historical artifacts, but the fortress and wall aren’t merely tourist attractions; they are central to daily life here. Take a stroll and you’ll see couples sitting atop the wall, locked in passionate embraces; parents watching their children walk it like a balance beam; and friends chatting while enjoying the Caribbean breeze. Along with history, there’s cultural and culinary intrigue here, too. This colorful city was a muse of the late Nobel Prize–winning writer Gabriel García Márquez, and is increasingly being recognized outside Colombia for its cuisine, which takes many cues from Caribbean ingredients. (Don’t leave without trying the coconut rice.)
Day 8 – Panama Canal Partial Transit/Gatun Lake/Colon, Panama
Think of the Panama Canal, and the image that may come to mind is of the world’s huge tankers and cruise ships passing through a series of locks. That, however, reflects only one aspect of this part of the world. As ships travel from the Atlantic to the Pacific, they also pass colonial towns, historic fortresses and manmade lakes that are today home to sanctuaries for hundreds of different animal and plant species. At the Atlantic entrance to the Panama Canal, Colón evokes the old Panama of yesteryear, with its historic buildings gradually being restored. Some 77 kilometers (48 miles) to the south, at the canal’s Pacific entrance, Panama City’s glittering skyline of office towers and condominiums reflects the country’s dynamic present and future. Traveling between these two cities, an epic tale unfolds before you—an old-school feat of engineering, ambition and courage. As David McCullough recounts in his sweeping history The Path Between the Seas, it was a combination of sheer human might and engineering prowess that today allows ships to cross the Panama isthmus, saving sailors from making the dangerous, almost 13,000-kilometer (8,000-mile) journey around the tip of South America.
At the center of one of the world’s greatest engineering projects is a place where nature has been given a space to flourish—the vast Gatún Lake. The lake includes some 33 kilometers (20 miles) of the 77-kilometer (48-mile) route that ships follow through the Panama Canal. While a passenger gazing at its forested shores may assume they are looking at a landscape that predates the canal, the lake is as much a manmade creation as the various locks. It was formed in 1912, with the damming of the Chagres River, and the islands that dot the lake were once the peaks of hills.
The surface of the lake sits at an elevation of between 25 and 27 meters (82 and 87 feet) above sea level. At its Caribbean end, the Gatún Locks raise ships traveling towards the Pacific to the level of the lake; at its other end, the Pedro Miguel and then the Miraflores Locks lower them back to sea level. In addition to opportunities to see the infrastructure of the canal, created at the expense of millions of dollars and thousands of lives, Gatún Lake is fascinating for its remarkable biodiversity. More than 100 species each of mammals and reptiles, as well as some 500 different birds, thrive in the nature reserves in and near the lake.
Day 10 – Day at Sea
Today is a full day spent at sea.
Day 11 – Georgetown, Grand Cayman
A cruise to the Cayman Islands has everything you would want from a Caribbean destination—warm breezes, clear seas and a laid-back attitude—but the archipelago also has something you might not expect: an exciting culinary scene. Between the celebrity chefs who’ve set up shop on Grand Cayman and the 135 or so resident nationalities that have helped season the island’s giant melting pot, this is, hands down, one of the best places to eat in the Caribbean. In and around George Town, the Cayman Islands’ capital, you’ll find such an amazing array of culinary offerings, you’ll fear for the future of any buttons, snaps or hooks on your waistband.
And that’s where the island’s other chief pleasures come in: There’s enough walking (whether along the fabled Seven Mile Beach, around historic sites or through lush gardens) as well as stunning swimming, snorkeling and diving to be done to counter the effects of . . . So. Much. Good. Food. Or at least you can begin to. Oh, and one warning: Should you wind up at Rum Point—Grand Cayman’s castaway beach imago—there’s a good chance your ship is, by your own design, sailing without you. Regardless of what you do, our Cayman Islands cruises are sure to have something relaxing and enjoyable for you to experience and remember.
Day 12 – Day at Sea
Today is a full day spent at sea
Day 13 – Arrive Ft Lauderdale
This morning arrive back into Ft Lauderdale and start your journey home.