happy cruisers 2 Posted January 23 Report Share Posted January 23 We want to do a Panama Canal cruise, FL to CA or vise versa. Am I correct that January through March are the best months for lower rain chances and lower temps/humidity? Any personal experience or preferences of those who have done this cruise will be appreciated. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KristiZ Posted January 23 Report Share Posted January 23 At least with Royal, your Canal choices will be April or October, more or less. They use the canal transit to move ships to and from Alaska for the summer season, rather than a cruise on its own. April tends to be drier, historically. Eyeonhevn 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eyeonhevn Posted January 23 Report Share Posted January 23 Kristi is correct. If you look at the RC website and look at options for canal cruise, you’ll see the options are few. They use the canal for repositioning. KristiZ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FionaMG Posted January 23 Report Share Posted January 23 12 hours ago, happy cruisers 2 said: We want to do a Panama Canal cruise, FL to CA or vise versa. Am I correct that January through March are the best months for lower rain chances and lower temps/humidity? Any personal experience or preferences of those who have done this cruise will be appreciated. Thanks. I don't know if you've seen it already but there is a fantastic blog in the live blogs section of @twangster's sailing through the Panama Canal on Vision OTS a few years ago. Here's the link, in case you haven't: WAAAYTOOO 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twangster Posted January 23 Report Share Posted January 23 I've done the canal transit in October and April. I can't say one was better or worse, I was lucky with weather on both. Rain statistics are great but you can't predict the weather based on prior statistics, rain is always possible in Panama. It is a very wet destination which it needs to be since that is where the water that drives the canal comes from. With the crazy weather patterns around the globe right now I'm not sure any conventional wisdom applies anywhere. If one or the other was less expensive, offered better cabins or better travel on each end I'd go with the one that is better for those reasons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twangster Posted January 23 Report Share Posted January 23 Here is the live trip report from my April canal trip last year: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2931177-live-from-radiance-apr-21-2023-the-panama-canal-canal-au-niveau-de-la-mer/#comment-65212305 Vision class has some appeal since you can walk around the aft of the ship while in the locks, on Radiance class they close the aft due to the cables in this area. Radiance has some appeal because the helipad is public and open to everyone. It was a very popular area. Vision class are showing their age so that may be a factor if one option included a Vision class ship. Radiance class are also showing their age but are newer than Vision class. Eyeonhevn and FionaMG 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happy cruisers 2 Posted January 24 Author Report Share Posted January 24 Very helpful info from each of you who responded. twangster, it's nice to get your perspective. Thanks! FionaMG 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ditchdoc Posted January 24 Report Share Posted January 24 We did it in November, ending up in San Diego for Thanksgiving. Weather was perfect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happy cruisers 2 Posted January 25 Author Report Share Posted January 25 2 hours ago, Ditchdoc said: We did it in November, ending up in San Diego for Thanksgiving. Weather was perfect. I thought it was FL to CA in April and CA to FL in November. No? I realize it depends on which ships are involved and where they're repositioning from and to. Please forgive my ignorance on this. I do appreciate your help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pattycruise Posted January 25 Report Share Posted January 25 2 hours ago, happy cruisers 2 said: I thought it was FL to CA in April and CA to FL in November. No? I realize it depends on which ships are involved and where they're repositioning from and to. Please forgive my ignorance on this. I do appreciate your help. I’m booked October from LA to Tampa. i don’t know the other repositioning cruises. Maybe try a travel agent if you can’t get answers here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FionaMG Posted January 25 Report Share Posted January 25 5 hours ago, happy cruisers 2 said: I thought it was FL to CA in April and CA to FL in November. No? I realize it depends on which ships are involved and where they're repositioning from and to. Please forgive my ignorance on this. I do appreciate your help. That would usually be the case with Royal as they generally use the canal sailings to reposition ships moving seasonally between the Caribbean and Alaska. However, there are some other cruise lines that do regular canal sailings back and forwards several times a year. I know Princess and NCL do; there may well be others. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happy cruisers 2 Posted January 25 Author Report Share Posted January 25 15 hours ago, Ditchdoc said: We did it in November, ending up in San Diego for Thanksgiving. Weather was perfect. I should have looked at your list of past cruises. I see you did that in 2013. Thanks for your info. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ditchdoc Posted January 25 Report Share Posted January 25 17 hours ago, happy cruisers 2 said: I thought it was FL to CA in April and CA to FL in November. No? I realize it depends on which ships are involved and where they're repositioning from and to. Please forgive my ignorance on this. I do appreciate your help. Its been 10 years since we did the canal. Itineraries change. I am not sure about the schedule of current sailings. It seems there are fewer Panama Canal trips currently. But.....if you find one in November, its a good time of year and if San Diego is a choice, I would take it. Its a great place to spend a few days on its own. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pattycruise Posted January 26 Report Share Posted January 26 I am currently onboard and asked next cruise about the 2025.schedule. She believes “at some point in February “. April of 25 are out but suites are sold out. The ships are going from Florida to LA. I would get used to searching for cruises, or incorporate a travel agent in your plans to do this for you. Personally I’d search on my own as I’m not a trusting type. However, if you have a TA lined up and know the cruise you want is open for booking you can “hand them” the booking. the October bookings would be from LA to Florida. You can play on the Royal website. Pick Port: LA. destinations “Panama canal” and the choices show up. Keep in mind that sometimes when the new cruises are loaded the filters are not great so it may not show in the way you do searches. So you might also try LA and October and leave out Panama Canal and maybe select the longer sailings. Their filters can be wonky at times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happy cruisers 2 Posted January 26 Author Report Share Posted January 26 3 hours ago, Pattycruise said: I am currently onboard and asked next cruise about the 2025.schedule. She believes “at some point in February “. Thanks so much for your help, Pattycruise. I'm familiar with the instructions you've included, so will be watching the site daily for what we want. You are a great help! Thanks again, and I hope you're having a wonderful cruise! Pattycruise 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bestcee Posted January 31 Report Share Posted January 31 Don't just check October. We are on Panama this September. It's CA to NOLA. Not Florida. Also, we booked it for this year when on our cruise April 2023. It came out the last day of our cruise. So, it might show up later than others. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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