Any suggestions? I am leaning towards the kayaking.

Im curious as well!

My family is leaning toward going on the Ferry through the locks.  It has gotten really good reviews.

I did the Panama Canal Tour last time I was there. Exepensive, but well worth it if you've never done it.  Absolutely amazing, but be aware that this tour will use ALL the time you're in port.  You may have a half hour to shop in the port shops if you're lucky. 

Jeff

I am glad to hear another good review about the Canal Ferry. I read the other one on CruiseCritic. I will be traveling on the Freedon to Panama and am continually looking for reviews on line at CruiseCritic and Cruisemates

We jsut got back from there on Miracle. We did the Panama Canal Ferry. It was a long but very interesting day. In the Atlantic in the morning, Pacific in the afternoon and back. Definitely book through Carnval on this one as we arrived back very late. We had friends who did the kayaking and others that did panama city. both enjoyed there excursions as well. I would not worry about too much shopping Panama. Look for some local coffee and you will be set.

We are looking into excursions there too.  Has anyone ever taken the train to the old canal zone?  It is the one we are looking into.  We lived in Panama in the 90's and want our 2 kids to see the areas we lived when they were born there.  I kinda want to know how much of the old canal zone this trip visits.

If you like to see animals in the wild any of the ecological trips like kyaking would be amazing.  The jungle is full of animals most people have never seen in the wild.  learning more about the canal would be nice too.

P.S.  has anyone found a cruise that goes through the canal and stops at Colon?

Hi we just got back from the Miracle & went to Colon. We had an amazaing excursion with Myfriendmario.com. Our guide was Laurie and she knew everything about the area. We went to the locks & got to see a ship go through & then we left to go to an Indian Village where they cooked us lunch and danced & sang for us & showed us how they live. It was amazing how they opened up their village to us. Laurie answered any questions we had, she stopped & bought us empanadas & fruit and had snacks & water,beer & soft drinks whenever you wanted. The advantage was there were  only 14 people on our excursion. we will never go on one of the cruise line excursion again as long as we can help it. You get to experience so much more when you book off the boat. They are also licensed with the tourism board in Panama & they make sure you are on time back to the boat. I highly recommend them to anyone going to panama!

 Thanks for the info, our group is going next year and I was wondering about tours.  Do you remember seeing any ATV tours?

hiker dood:

If you dont mind me asking and all about your panama canal shore excursions Id be greatly appreciative.

let me first off by saying that I have booked a cruise aboard the Miracle for November 12tyh-20th of this year and am contemplating the panama canal shore excursions. My question is what your advice is amongst the various sightseeing excursions (ie the Panama City tour, train ride along the canal zone itself and so forth).

My major hangup (as you mentioned in your entry online was about the time duration and that, admittedly so is my major hangup as Im not sure Im wanting to do an 5-8 hour excursion.

Incidentally I found you while doing various SEARCHes at this site for shore excursions and such..

again thank you for whatever assistance you can provide

 noiseinill

I saw your bit about colon/ panama canal shore excusions and was just wanting to get a feeling for the different shore excursions. AS you mentioned about the canal tour I am leaning towards yet the wifes not to enthralled about and EIGHT HOUR shore excursion. Was wondering incidentally too about any knowledge of the Panama City tour?

Any informaton youd be able to provide be most welcome. We will be taking our first Carnival cruise on the Miracle november 12th.

In that case you may want to do the best of Panama tour.  That's the one I did last time and it was really great.  You do get to go to the big ditch (the Gantun Locks I think) as well as some other sights including the Embera Indian village.  I found it to be a good excursion and takes abour 5 hours as I remember.  I got some great pictures including a monkey hanging from his tail stuffing leaves into his mouth.

Hope this helps.

 http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k115/jsovelove/Cruise%202008%202/Cruise2008402.jpg

The Hiker Dood!

I have been to Panama once in 2003 for 8 weeks on a humanitarian aid project. My best advice to all of you is: Take a cruise-line excursion! The attractions in Panama are far apart, and usually require a full-day excursion. In order to assure that you get back to the cruise ship port on time, especially if you are a first-timer in Panama - give yourself the peace of mind of a Carnival excursion. Also, pray for a busy canal day when you are there. The first time I visited the Canal, it was hopelessly boring because there wasn't a single ship in sight for miles! haha. Panama has beautiful jungle and truly wonderful native Indians. Make an effort to see those two elements as well.

I was considering this cruise because of Panama.  The rainforests look awesome but as you stated the excursions mention a 2 hour bus ride each way.  It sure is a full day.  If you book one of these you've got to hope that the driver is interesting and the ride to and from have some pretty scenery.