What you can do on a Panama Canal cruise
While the ship is in the canal, you are on deck. These cruises usually stop in Cartagena.
A full transit goes from one ocean to the other. A partial transit enters Gatun Lake and comes back out the same locks. The comparison is on the Panama Canal region page.
The canal
You stay on the ship during the transit.
You watch the transit from the deck as the ship moves through the locks and the Culebra Cut. A full transit goes from one ocean to the other. A partial transit enters Gatun Lake through the Caribbean locks, then returns the same way.
Cartagena
Ships dock at the cruise terminal, a 15- to 20-minute taxi or shuttle ride from the historic center.
Once you are inside the stone walls, the colored streets, the plazas, and the fort are a walk.
Colón and Panama City
Some itineraries dock at Colón, on the Caribbean side.
Panama City is across the isthmus. The ride takes about an hour and a half. Miraflores is the visitor center beside the locks on that side. Many canal cruises never dock here. They only pass through.
The ends of the voyage
You board in one city and, on a full transit, leave the ship in another.
Florida to California is the common pair. It is worth spending a few days in Miami or Fort Lauderdale before you sail, or in Los Angeles or San Diego after you arrive. On those nights you are in the city. The cruise has not started, or it is over.
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