The Panama Canal: Trek & Cruise Private Tour

Highly recommended

Absolutely brilliant. John was an excellent guide. He was on time and it was worth leaving early to catch some of the wildlife on the trail. The boat trip around the islands was also brilliant. Doing this as a private tour is ideal as you can go at your own pace and enjoy the experience. He even made breakfast after the hike, which was very nice. I think this was the best trip I did while in Panama.

via Viator

My Best Decision was booking this tour!

John picked the 4 of us up from our hotel promptly at 6am. He was patient with us while we got our act together with two trips back to our rooms. I didn’t realize that we would be the only ones on this tour, given the reasonable price. We had coffee and then took an hour or two jungle hike spotting howler monkeys and other wildlife which was just right for a heavy 65 year old. The path was clear and wide. When we got back to the car John whipped out a table and four camping chairs and transformed into caterer. We ate fruit and sandwiches. Leaving the rainforest we realized why we started so early. The place was filling up at 9:30 and I bet all the people would keep the wildlife hiding in the jungle. Next we took an enjoyable boat ride in the canal lake and circled around Monkey Island where we saw more Howlers, Terapins and white faced monkeys. Throughout the day John availed a ton of knowledge he acquired over his 11 years as a guide. He’s the kind of guy you want to hang out with. We ended at 12:30 as promised and John got us back to the hotel where we grabbed our luggage and headed to our Windstar cruise. Whether you’re vacationing in Panama or spending a half day like us, don’t pass up this tour.

via Tripadvisor

Oceania Panama Cruise

The snipe we sailed on was Sirena. Small capacity. 600+ people. Staff 400+ staff. Staff was amazing.friendly ,and helpful. Ship was immaculate, clean and beautiful. Restaurants were lovely, but only two that reservations were required for. Food was delicious and my husband and I are picky eaters. The excursions were disappointing. The wine tastings on board were 5 star. We had a Penthouse suite. Lovely. Our favorite part of the day was sitting on our deck enjoying beautiful views and a cocktail. Our butler, Kavita was amazing! My suggestion would be to read the excursion descriptions very carefully These are not run by Oceania. We were expecting a more sophisticated approach but ended up in some less than desirable locations and we complained. We were not looking for compensation, just wanted Oceania to know that they needed to be more definitive with the descriptions of the excursions. We cancelled our last excursion due to the others being subpar. They were very gracious and refunded one of them which we cancelled last minute and we’re not expecting any refund. Extremely organized as far as departure and embarkation. Fitness center and spa were lovely. Overall, a wonderful experience.

Response from the operator: Hello you reviewed the wrong experience. The Trek & Cruise Tour DOES NOT contain none of these experiences that you've mentioned. I recommend you read what this tour is about and search for the right experience or attraction.

via Tripadvisor

Very good cruise experience with excellent staff.

Our trip on the Viking Sky from Fort Lauderdale to LA via the Panama Canal was overall excellent. The staff in particular were extremely helpful, considerate and friendly. The food was excellent. The ship itself was beautiful and our cabin was comfortable. There were many enrichment lectures -- some rather dry -- and activities to enjoy. Some of the days at sea dragged a little, but I think this might be true of any extended voyage. The trip through the Canal with commentary was just great. The port excursions did not really live up to expectations, with one exception -- a river cruise in Costa Rica, where the guides made a real effort to show us birds and wildlife. Most of the excursions were long bus rides, one stop at an interesting place, followed by one stop at a shopping area. The guides varied greatly in expertise. I understand that Viking has to depend on local contractors for these excursions. Addressing some issues that have been mentioned in previous reviews -- one of the 4 washers in our laundry room was out of service and if 2 had not been working, this would have been a real problem. It did not seem there was any plan to fix it before the ship got to London (this was the first leg of a world cruise). The toilet occasionally stopped flushing, but the issue resolved itself before it became a crisis. There was a medical center on board and one guest who had an injury reported good care. A number of passengers, including myself, had mobility issues, but it seemed all I had to to was put out an arm and a sturdy crewman was there to assist me.

via Tripadvisor

Private nature experience with excellent guide

John is an amazing bilingual guide - personable and very knowledgeable about history and culture as well as the wildlife. It was worth it to start our tour at 530am so we could experience the rainforest by ourselves. We hiked for about two hours and four miles (some flat and some moderate), but as this is a private tour I think you could be modified depending on your interest and ability. John had lots of different snack and drink options for us and made us a lovely picnic breakfast. Afterwards we enjoyed a 1.5 hour boat ride on Gatun lake. We requested a drop off at the Mirador locks so we could watch the IMAX movie and explore the locks on our own. This tour is priced similarly to other group tours and was a really special experience. We highly recommend this tour and any tour with John.

via Tripadvisor