Panama Canal Cruises
We offer you here all Repositioning Cruises Panama Canal 2014-2015 Spring and Fall transits. Compare all lines, ships, destinations and dates. Learn how to discern the regular one-way Panama Canal transition cruises from the authentic relocation cruises through Panama Canal.
Panama Canal Repositioning Cruises
Panama Canal cruise ships relocation
When talking about repositioning cruises through Panama Canal, the predicament here is that most of the Panama Canal cruises are transits (crossings with one-way itineraries). Panama Canal cruise ships are usually departing either from Florida or California ports. Their transition cruises usually last for about 2-weeks.
These are two special “Panama Canal relocation cruise ships” hints for you (serving almost like shortcuts): the always funny one is “follow the money”, and the not so funny one is “mind the season”.
- Destination. Panama Canal cruise ship relocation is very often in the category of long Coast to Coast cruises (Florida-California and California-Florida, and New York to California and California to New York). And some itineraries start in South America to end in Florida, Boston or NYC, New York (and the reverse).
- Season. It all happens in Spring (April and May) and Fall (September) when all Panama Canal repositioning cruise ships relocate (to and from) Alaska according to their summer Alaskan season schedule. Repositioning cruises on ships passing through Panama Canal with itineraries to/from South America usually start in some of the Winter months.
As to the money part, you’ll know the Panama Canal relocation cruises by their tickets prices. They will vary greatly (depending on line, ship and cabin category), but always with pleasantly low rates which could be easily defined as “top-luxury inexpensive to really really cheap”.
Panama Canal cruise ship transition – facts and statistics
- Total length of the Panama Canal is 77,1 km (48 ml).
- Locks size. Panama Canal’s lock chambers determine the max size of a ship to be able to pass through. Most cruise ships are built to the max lock size allowed (Panamax ships). Larger size ships belong to the group of Post-Panamax ships. The length of each lock is 320 m (1,050 ft), their walls thickness range from bottom (15 m / 49 ft) to top (3 m / 9,8 ft).
- The longest ship transiting the Panama Canal was a bulk-carrier – length 296,6 m (973 ft), width 32,3 m (106 ft).
- Draft restrictions (max 12,6 m / 41,2 ft). Since draft is determined by the ship’s weight, Panamax ships (able to pass through the canal) have cargo weight restrictions to ~52,500 t.
- Panama Canal cruise ship transition tolls are based on the ship’s size (vessel type and cargo type for freighter ships). Cruise ships through Panama Canal pay rates based on their passenger capacity (number of berths/beds). The current Panama Canal cruise ship fee (for bigger ships) is US$92 for unoccupied and US$115 for occupied bed. Panama Canal cruise ships of less than 30,000 t or less than 33 t per passenger are charged as the same per-ton fees as cargo ships. These tolls are (in USD) $3,90 per ton (first 10000 t), US$3,19 pt (second 10000 t), US$3,82 pt (third 10000 t) and US$3,76 pt thereafter.
- The most expensive Panama Canal cruise ship transition toll was charged to the NCL Pearl cruise ship on its westbound repositioning cruise in Spring 2010 (passing on April 14th). NCL Pearl paid US$375,600 (for comparison, the average fee is ~US$55,000).
- There are also priority passing fees – the highest was paid in 2006 (US$220,300) by a tanker ship bypassing 90 other ships waiting to move through the canal. The cargo ship avoided a 7-day delay by paying the regular toll 16 times (the normal fee was only US$13,400).
These are two interesting Panama Canal reading links. For all things Panama-related – the Republic of Panama official website VisitPanama.com. For all history-technology-facts stuff – see this Wikipedia link. For details on itinerary and to compare prices (indicative rates) follow the line-links from the table below.
Panama Canal Repositioning Cruises 2014-2015 ships relocation (one way transition)
| lines/ships | Fall 2014 | Spring 2015 | Fall 2015 |
| Holland America | |||
| ms Amsterdam |
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| ms Noordam |
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| ms Veendam |
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| ms Westerdam |
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| ms Zaandam |
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| ms Zuiderdam |
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| NCL Norwegian | |||
| Norwegian Jewel |
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| Norwegian Pearl |
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| Norwegian Star |
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| Norwegian Sun |
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| Norwegian Sun |
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| Princess Cruises | |||
| Coral Princess |
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| Island Princess |
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| Pacific Princess |
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| Costa / Cunard / Disney / Carnival / Celebrity / Royal Caribbean Panama Canal cruise ships | |||
| Carnival Legend |
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| Celebrity Infinity |
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| CUNARD Queen Victoria |
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| Disney Wonder |
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| Jewel of the Seas |
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| Legend of the Seas |
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small and luxury Panama Canal cruise ships (mostly with all-inclusive deals) |
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| Crystal Symphony |
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| Phoenix Reisen ms Albatros |
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| OCEANIA Marina |
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| OCEANIA Regatta |
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It appears, our Panama Canal repositioning cruises are not so many, huh? Indeed, but this is all them cruise lines got on this destination. Know that with time prices on repositioning cruise deals (including on transition through Panama Canal) usually go down. But the economic law of “Supply And Demand” will always rule – cruise lines will price cruises and cabin categories accordingly. So good luck with those, and happy Panama Canal reposition sailings!