Panama Canal Cruise
I am considering taking this trip in February 2024.There are no current reviews or comments on the 2023 trip.Would someone who took this trip in 2023 please give their opinion on it.Would a person with slight mobility problems have trouble getting in and out of the small boats?.Thanks
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I am not sure there were any Tauck Panama Canal tours in 2023. I have taken the tour. I cannot say not knowing what a person with a ‘slight mobility issue’ might be able to cope with without seeing them. I do I think recall we had to step out of the small tender into the water to get to one island.
What about walking, getting around the ship if it is gets choppy. What does your doctor advise?
Not too worried about mobility problem,(can handle most situations),more curious about overall enjoyment of trip.This would be my eleventh Tauck trip.There is just not much commentary on this trip to go by as opposed to most others.
Objectives and expectations. I had been to Panama, and Costa Rica, but I had never transited the Panama Canal from one end to the other … I wanted to do that. We did that, so our objectives and expectations were met. Ponant does a nice job. This, however, is not exploring the Douro. You will be largely in third world locations. They are ancient, but they have few antiquities. If you expect museums and castles, forget about it. If you want to transit the Panama Canal, and would like to see a few interesting places, it is a nice trip. The excursions are different than what we had in 2019, so I cannot address that other than to say after British’s and my reviews, I expect they are better than before. One couple we met on the tour that we hung out with was impaired by a torn achilles tendon and a cane. He did fine. He’s a tough guy.
We did the Panama canal with tauck just before Covid hit . It was a great tour but there is a lot of getting on and off Buses. And there are a few Zodiac landings but if I remember there were steps to get off. Going thru canal is awesome. But Costa Rica left a lot to be desired. San Jose is a 3rd world city with very little to see or do. Ship was Ponant and wonderful.
When we took the Panama Canal tour, it was new I think, or had been rejigger, the Costa Rica part of the tour was very poor, we made comments to Tauck about that as we have been with Tauck to Costa Rica maybe three times and the tour choices for Costa Rica on the Panama Canal tour were really poor and second rate to what we had experienced before. As it happened, SeaLord went on the following tour and I think he had the same experiences as we did. We both by coincidence contacted Tauck about it, this is something I had never done before and gave my feedback, for which Tauck was grateful. I understood the tour was improved. Our favorite part was having the BBC naturalist on the tour, he was excellent and in addressing of course that is where I was filmed and got the moniker the Tauck swimsuit model 😂😂😂
I have reviewed this tour and our pictures and activities. I think the key is determining whether you want to “transit” the Panama Canal. A couple stops with the native people were quite intersting, and we always enjoy a week on Ponant. On hotel choices, I would recommend the Marriott Resort in San Jose, and the Intercontinental in Panama City. The Marriott is a nice stand alone resort, and the Intercontinental is on the water not far from the old town.
San Jose has a fantastic Gold Museum and a gorgeous world class Opera House if you are interested in those kind of things. It depends what you meant by a third world city, we enjoyed it and don’t forget Costa Rica has some great doctors, most trained in the US. And I love the PURA VIDA attitude. Three of our favorite Tauck Tour Directors are from Costa Rica.
Bernjunior- dig deeper. I did a review here after our January trip in 2023. Look under Costa Rica/Panama Canal. It's there. Or go to my profile page and look under discussions.😀
Going on the Panama Canal and Costa Rica tour Jan 2024 --- Should I add an additional day -- in Panama City? -- also Costa Rica? have prenight -- arriving night before with gift of time. transferred to this tour from Israel Red Sea and Petra canceled tour.
We did the Panama Canal with another company. It was okay - I just wanted to do the Panama Canal. We did some landings at a few places that I don't even remember. I wouldn't go again.
Here's the part of our blog that covers the Panama Canal - https://www.mikeandjudytravel.com/2016PanamaCanal-04.htm
I included some information about the building of the canal, and asked (and answered) the question of why there are three locks on each side of the canal and not one lock, or five locks.
We took the tour when it was fairly new. We began in Panama City so had our gift of time there and enjoyed the city. We had been to Costa Rica several times before with Tauck and found the trips to stops there very inferior to the ones we had enjoyed with Tauck in the past. We were so disappointed that I it was one of the few times we called to say so. Another problem was that there were no listening devices, so it was hard to hear the local guides with the bigger group. Tauck appreciated my feedback and I believe gave us a credit..SeaLord went just after and had similar issues.
I actually really enjoyed the passage throughout the canal! One of our favorite stops was with the Embera people.
When we went it was a special departure in that there was a BBC wildlife expert on the tour, Tim Martin, a delightful guy who gave some interesting lectures. He was very friendly and mixed with the passengers. We had lunch with him several times. He has the same geeky enthusiasm for wildlife as my husband.
There were also two video and photographers documenting the tour for Tauck publicity, which is why I get teased on the forum because if the video is still promoting the tour, that’s me swimming in tje ship’s pool! 😀
I would certainly do the tour again if the stops in Costa Rica were better ones.
Whoops it looks like I commented exactly the same above!
We have done this as a 16 day cruise from Florida to San Diego. It’s a great way to spend leisure time and to see a magnificent engineering marvel. The ports are boring. We sometimes stay on board and enjoy the ship without everyone else. I will tell you that sailing the Pacific coast is very cold in February. You will need some warm clothes. It is a contrast from the heat and humidity of the canal . We were there in January and it was 40 degrees when we docked in San Diego. On the plus side , we had a great cheap direct flight back to Orlando.
The Tauck tour starts in Panama. JANUARY weather was beautiful, definitely not cold, the Embera people were almost naked and of course I was swimming outside in the ship’s pool. You can’t really compare these tours.
Upcoming tours start in Costa Rica. They must have changed since you went, British.
You could choose which way to start when we did the tour. Surely it must be the same
Nope
The web site does not show any departures in 2024 for Panama to Costa Rica, but it does show one departure (January 18) in that direction in 2025.
That's from a quick look at the webpage.