Island Princess Panama Canal excursion suggestions

[delgadofam2002]

I will be sailing on the Island 3/25/04 to Panama Canal. I would really appreciate suggestions on which shore excursions to chose. I am familiar w/ Grand Cayman & Cozumel, but the others are all new to me. Thanks.

[jhagen]

We are on the Island princess, 10/27, will post a review. But plan on the Railroad tour to the Pacific.

[tanlamb]

Hi. we are also planning to sail on the Island Princess 3/25/04. We did the western caribbean end of march 03 and loved it! So looking forward to this cruise but also am not sure of which excursions to take in Limon or Cartagena... anyone have any info on these places?

[Lisa]

I am on the 10/27 sailing also - I am booked on the Panama Canal Train Excursion in the deluxe car and on the Pontoon Jungle River excursion in Costa Rica. I will be posting a review when I return.

I was on the Island 10/7. I took the Ocean to Ocean tour. If you really want to see the who canal this is the tour to take. It is a whole day. Goes through the cut and out to the Pacific. Going through the locks in a small ship is amazing. The owner of the small ship is very personable, proud of his ship. They gave us a very nice bag lunch and there was plenty of fresh bottled water. Shop went under bridge of the Americas and into bay of Panama.
I talked to some people who went on the train tour. They thought it was fair. They did not get lunch even though they did not get back to the ship until 4pm. Be aware that the RR is not always along the edge of the canal. So you do not see the cut. I dont think you see the locks on the Pacific side. At any rate you certainly dont go through them.
Even though the bow of the small ship is crowded with people looking at the locks; the O to O is an outstanding side trip and I think far superior to a RR ride.
Just a personal opinion based on my experience and talking to other cruisers/
LL