The Panama Canal Cruise: From the Atlantic to the Pacific in 18 Days

There are trips that show you beautiful places. And then there are trips that show you something that changed the world.

The Panama Canal is the second kind. Completed in 1914, it took ten years to build, cost tens of thousands of lives, and connected two oceans that had divided global trade for centuries. Before the canal existed, a ship traveling from New York to San Francisco had to sail around the entire southern tip of South America - an extra 8,000 miles. When the canal opened, it did not just change shipping routes. It permanently changed the map of global commerce.

Watching your ship navigate through those locks - rising and falling as the water levels adjust, the canal walls close on either side, the tropical landscape moving slowly past - is one of the most genuinely remarkable things you can witness from a cruise ship deck. It is the reason this trip exists, and it delivers.

Excite Experiences is offering the Panama Canal Cruise 2027 aboard the Crown Princess on April 3-20, 2027. Here is everything you need to know about why this trip is worth your attention.

The Panama Canal Cruise 2027: Aboard the Crown Princess

The Crown Princess is a Princess Cruises ship carrying approximately 3,000 guests. If you have not cruised with Princess before, the scale of what a modern large cruise ship offers tends to surprise people.

The Crown Princess has multiple restaurants across every dining category - a main dining room, a full buffet, casual dining venues, poolside food service, specialty restaurants for dedicated dining experiences, and 24-hour room service through the ship's OceanNow delivery system that finds you wherever you are on the ship. JJ Bell, who guided a Princess cruise last year, puts it plainly: he had one of the best steaks he has ever eaten in Nebraska on that ship.

There are multiple pools, a full spa and fitness center, a casino, live entertainment every night in the main theater, a comedian series, tribute concerts, movies under the stars on the outdoor screen, dancing, cooking classes, book clubs, wellness talks, yoga, Pilates, and a full daily activity schedule that changes every day for 18 days. Sea days on a ship like this are not days of waiting around - they are days of choosing what to do from a list long enough to fill the time easily.

The ship runs on the Princess Medallion system, a wearable device that unlocks your cabin door as you approach, tracks your reservations, and connects to the Princess app. The app maps the ship in real time, lets you communicate with travel companions anywhere on board, allows you to browse and book shore excursions in advance, and shows the full daily activity schedule. For a ship carrying 3,000 people, navigation is remarkably simple.

Princess tends to attract an adult crowd. JJ noted that during his cruise he rarely encountered young children, which he attributes to the itinerary type and the Princess demographic. For travelers looking for a relaxed atmosphere without the family-resort feel of some other cruise lines, this is worth noting.

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The Route: Atlantic to Pacific

This cruise starts in Fort Lauderdale on Florida's Atlantic coast and ends 18 days later in Los Angeles on the Pacific. In between, it crosses the Caribbean, transits the full Panama Canal, and travels north along the Pacific coasts of Panama, Costa Rica, and Mexico. It is a genuine ocean-to-ocean crossing, and the variety of destinations reflects that.

"Cartagena, Colombia"

The first port is one of the Caribbean's most historically significant cities. Cartagena was Spain's primary gateway for the vast treasures extracted from South America during the colonial era, leaving behind a remarkably well-preserved old city of colonial architecture, colorful buildings, and centuries of layered history. The walled city of Cartagena is a UNESCO World Heritage site and one of the most walkable and visually striking ports on any cruise itinerary. Shore excursions cover the colonial history, the fortifications, and the surrounding coast.

"The Panama Canal Transit"

Day seven is the day the entire cruise builds toward. Over approximately eight hours, the Crown Princess will transit the full Panama Canal - from the Atlantic entrance at Colon through three sets of locks to the Pacific entrance at Panama City.

The locks are the engineering story. The canal does not cross flat ground. It climbs. The locks lift ships 85 feet above sea level to reach Gatun Lake, then lower them back down on the Pacific side. Each lock chamber fills or drains with fresh water, raising or lowering the ship as you watch. The canal walls are close enough to feel the scale from the deck. The tropical forest presses in on both sides. The whole process takes the better part of a day, and there are bars, lounges, and viewing areas throughout the ship designed to make watching comfortable.

The canal was completed in 1914 - a fact that prompts the obvious question of how it was built at all with the technology of that era. The answer involves one of the most ambitious engineering projects in human history: 10 years of construction, a workforce drawn from dozens of countries, the excavation of 268 million cubic yards of earth, and the creation of what was at the time the largest man-made lake in the world. The canal has been operating continuously for over 110 years and remains one of the most important waterways on earth, handling roughly 14,000 ships per year.

There are no shore excursions during the canal transit. The day is spent on board watching it happen. JJ describes it as one of the primary reasons for this cruise, and it is easy to see why.

"Panama City"

After clearing the canal, the ship docks at Panama City on the Pacific side. The causeway connecting the city to four small offshore islands was built using the rock excavated during the canal's construction - a detail that makes the whole area feel like a footnote to the engineering story you just experienced. The waterfront marina district has restaurants, shops, and views back across the water toward the canal entrance. Shore excursions go into the historic Casco Viejo district, the canal visitors' center, and the surrounding city.

"Punta Arenas, Costa Rica"

Costa Rica has been called the Switzerland of the Americas - a country that punches dramatically above its size in biodiversity and natural landscape. Punta Arenas is the Pacific gateway to the capital San Jose and to some of the most extraordinary natural environments in Central America. The cloud forest at Monteverde is accessible as an excursion, as are beach clubs on Costa Rica's renowned Pacific coast, jungle wildlife tours, and city experiences in San Jose. The mountains of the interior rise to over 13,000 feet. The beaches are consistently ranked among the best in Central America. This is a port that rewards whatever level of activity you bring to it.

"Punta Chiapas, Mexico"

The southernmost Mexican port on the itinerary sits at the edge of the Sierra Madre mountains in a region known for coffee plantations, tropical flowers, and some of the most biodiverse rainforest in North America. It is a less-traveled destination by most cruise standards, which is part of the appeal.

"Huatulco, Mexico"

Huatulco is nine bays and dozens of beaches spread across a stretch of Pacific coast surrounded by rainforest-covered mountains and a protected ecological reserve. It is calmer and less developed than the major Mexican resort destinations, with crystal clear water and a pace that lends itself to a beach day. Princess operates a resort facility at select ports and the shore excursion list for Huatulco covers everything from snorkeling and sailing to guided ecological tours of the reserve.

"Puerto Vallarta, Mexico"

JJ visits Puerto Vallarta almost every year and describes it with genuine enthusiasm - the food, the people, the setting of the Sierra Madre rising behind the city, the mile-long stretch of palm-lined beach along the malecon. Puerto Vallarta became internationally known when director John Huston chose it as the filming location for The Night of the Iguana in 1963. Today it has excellent shopping, remarkable dining, and an Old Town district that JJ specifically recommends - a neighborhood of cobblestone streets and local restaurants that he compares to Omaha's Old Market. The city also fires off fireworks from the pier at night. It is, by most accounts, the most celebratory port on the itinerary and a fitting way to end the stops before the final sea days to Los Angeles.

Sea Days: More Than You Might Expect

Seven of the eighteen days on this cruise are sea days - days spent entirely on the ship while traveling between ports or crossing open ocean. On a cruise of this type, that is not a drawback. It is part of the design.

Sea days on the Crown Princess mean choosing between the pool, the spa, the fitness center, the casino, shore excursion planning, specialty dining, live entertainment, cooking classes, educational lectures, wellness programming, reading on your balcony with room service ordered to your table, or simply watching the Pacific go by from the deck. JJ describes working from his balcony with the door open and the ocean passing by as one of the genuinely pleasurable memories of his cruise. He also won at the casino on both nights he played, which he notes is not guaranteed.

What Is Included

Flights from your home city to Fort Lauderdale and from Los Angeles home, included in the tour price

One pre-cruise hotel night in Fort Lauderdale

Private charter transfer from hotel to cruise terminal

Cruise accommodations for 17 nights aboard the Crown Princess

All main dining room meals

Buffet and casual dining throughout

Private group transfer in Los Angeles upon disembarkation

Excite Experiences guide for the duration of the trip

Not included in the base price: specialty restaurant dining, alcoholic beverages, Wi-Fi, shore excursions, gratuities, and spa services. These can be bundled through Princess Plus ($65 per day per person) or Princess Premier ($100 per day per person) packages, which cover drinks, casual and specialty dining, room service, Wi-Fi, and, in the Premier package, a $300 shore excursion credit per guest. JJ's recommendation based on his own experience: if you plan to eat at specialty restaurants regularly and want Wi-Fi throughout, the Premier package pays for itself. Details on the Excite Experiences Payment Protection Plan and TripMate travel insurance are available at excitemytravel.com/payment-protect-program-travel-insurance.

Pricing and How to Book

Ocean view stateroom: $4,199 per person, airfare included

Balcony stateroom: $5,499 per person, airfare included

Upgrades to mini-suites and suites available on request

Deposit: $1,000 per person. Passport information required at time of booking. Have questions before committing? Visit our frequently asked questions page at excitemytravel.com/contact#FAQ.

The tour has already begun filling from word of mouth alone - roughly 10 guests and 15 rooms confirmed before any public promotion. Cabin selection is first-come, first-served.

Departures available from Nebraska, Iowa, and South Dakota (excitemytravel.com/nebraska) and Kansas and Missouri (excitemytravel.com/kansas). To book or ask questions, call 402-293-9282 or email info@excitemytravel.com.

Why This Trip

Most people who add the Panama Canal to their bucket list do so because they have heard it is impressive. What they underestimate is what it actually feels like to be on a ship navigating through it - the sense of scale, the engineering reality made physical, the movement through something that took a decade and tens of thousands of people to build.

Add to that Cartagena's colonial history, Costa Rica's extraordinary natural landscape, Puerto Vallarta's food and culture, and 18 days on a ship that offers more to do than most people can get to, and the case for this trip becomes clear.

It crosses two oceans. It stops on three coasts. And at the center of it is one of the most remarkable things humans have ever built. April 3-20, 2027.

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Call 402-293-9282 or visit https://www.excitemytravel.com/tour/panama%20-canal-cruise-2027-2137808976 to reserve your spot.