Princess Cruises to Panama Canal

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Panama Canal History
From Balboa’s historic 1513 crossing of the Isthmus of Panama to the epic effort to build the Canal and right up to today, the Canal continues to have a profound impact on world travel and trade.

The Panama Canal only took ten years, $382 million and a near miracle to complete. From conception to construction, the project changed hands several times over the course of 400 years, resulting in a magnificent final product that over 13,000 ships conveniently pass through each year. Experience a Panama Canal cruise with Princess and you, too, will become a part of history.

Did you know....?

•Prior to the Canal, people crossed the Isthmus of Panama by sailing boats along the Chagres River, then riding mules the rest of the way.
•Up to 50,000 workers at a time helped carve through 51 miles of earth and hard granite to form the Panama Canal.
•Each canal lock measures 110 feet across and 1,050 feet in length, with solid steel gates six feet thick!
•Ships are raised and lowered through the locks using water pulled from Gatun Lake by gravity alone.
•About 52 million gallons of water fill each lock of the Canal.
•A continuous journey through the Panama Canal takes between eight to 10 hours.
•The distance saved by ships sailing from New York to San Francisco through the Panama Canal versus around Cape Horn is almost 8,000 miles.
•Approximately 9,000 people currently depend on the Panama Canal for employment.
•The lowest toll paid was $0.36 US by Richard Halliburton who crossed the Canal swimming in 1928.
•The first Princess cruise ship to pass through the Panama Canal was Princess Italia in 1967.

Panama Canal Cruise Vacations
Princess Cruises offers three distinct ways to experience the Panama Canal, with departures from both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts as well as voyages featuring Princess Signature 2-Day Canal Experiences.

Why Cruise the Panama Canal?
An undisputed travel bucket list destination, the Panama Canal holds both historical and international significance. It’s nearly impossible to grasp its enormity and the amount of work that went into its construction without passing through the canal locks.

From the breathtaking Panama Canal to exotic destinations around the globe, Princess offers

over 330 ports of call on more than 130 itineraries.