Day 10 was by far the highlight of the entire cruise, the Panama Canal Transit! This day was what made this cruise so special! There are too many great photos to share on this one page, so instead, I will share them all later. Now going through the canal on a cruise ship is much faster than going through on a cargo ship because passenger ships get priority through the locks. With that said, it still takes a solid 8 hours to transverse the entire canal.

In the morning, a couple of people board the ship. One person navigates through the canal and the other talks about the trip for the passengers. The person talking about the trip also provides some history about the canal. Click here to read some of the canal’s history for yourself. There are many ports throughout the world where a pilot will board the vessel to provide guidance into the port. The Panama Canal is different as the captain of the ship will completely turn over control of the vessel to the pilot. When traveling through the canal, it is easy to see why they do that. At times the edge of the ship is only inches from the walls.

Miraflores Locks

The path for the transit through the canal from the Pacific to the Caribbean goes a bit like this. The pilot boards the ship a little way outside the first lock near the Bridge of The Americas. The pilot then takes control of the ship and heads to the first set of locks (the Miraflores Locks), where they tie the ship up to the mules. The mules are powerful cars traveling along a track that keep tension on some lines to make sure the ship stays in the center of the lock to avoid damaging the ship.

After the ship is in place for the first lock, the gates will close, and water will be added into the lock to raise the ship. The water is fed into the lock through gravity and can raise a ship 28 feet in a matter of only 8 minutes! It is incredible to watch. After 8 minutes have passed and the lock is full, the front gates will open, and the ship will pass through to the next lock. The process will then repeat, but this time when the front gates open, the ship will travel through the Miraflores Lake before reaching the next gate.

Pedro Miguel Locks

The transit through Miraflores Lake is relatively quick, and before long, the ship arrives at Pedro Miguel Locks. The Pedro Miguel Locks is really just one lock to pass through. This lock was my favorite for one huge reason. From the lowest open deck on the ship, we were able to reach out and touch the wall of the canal. The process through this lock is mostly the same as going through the last set expect there is only one lock instead of two locks. After passing through, the scenery begins to change. The ship passes under another bridge, Puente Centenario (Centennial Bridge). This bridge provides for some beautiful photos, and you can see it below.

After the bridge, you head into Gatun Lake. You can quickly tell that you are, in fact, in a rain forest with the way the scenery looks and since it is incredibly likely that you will encounter some rain. This rain is a great thing since rain filling up the lake is what makes it possible for the locks to work and continue to allow ships to pass through. The passage from Pedro Miguel Locks through Gatun Lake takes quite a few hours. But it is a great time to enjoy the scenery of Panama.

Gatun Locks

After passing through the lake, you come to the last set of locks, the Gatun Locks. This section is a set of 3 locks. It is also the only locks cruise ships pass through when they are only doing a partial transit. The process is mostly the same, except this time, the ship is going down instead of going up. Since there were three locks, I decided to be in a different location for each lock. The first lock I watched from a lower deck. I watched the second from the back of the ship. The third and last one, I watched from the front of the ship. I felt like it was the perfect way to do the final set, as you can see it from almost any perspective.

Another intriguing sight that I saw on the last lock from the front of the ship was a tiny bridge that crosses the canal at the water level. The bridge is open only when both sides of the canal are clear. Cars often have to wait long periods before they can finally cross the bridge. After the last lock, it is a simple transit out into the Caribbean Sea.