Breathtaking Panama Canal celebrates 100 years

This was supposed to be a joyous year for the Panama Canal. Its 100th birthday and the ensuing celebration was going to be centred around the opening of an expansion and new locks.

Well, the celebration will probably go ahead but the expansion and new locks will not be available until 2015 — or later if a current dispute between the country and the builders is not resolved soon.

However, you don’t have to wait until 2015 or 2016 to see this engineering wonder that I know is on a lot of bucket lists as a must-make cruise.

In 1914, it cost close to $400 million US to unlock a route that would save many days and about 13,000 kilometres of travel for ships starting and ending their journey north of Panama — for instance, travelling from New York to California.

The last time I travelled the canal was in 2010, on board Holland America’s Zuiderdam. The ship headed into the locks around 7:30 a.m. on the Atlantic side, sailing out the Pacific side late that afternoon.

The cruise lines have experienced commentators who join the ship upon entering the canal and keep up a running commentary for the entire journey.

I was luckier than most, having been invited to spend the day on the bridge by the ship’s captain Christopher Turner, who described navigating the canal this way: “Think about it as Disney’s Jungle Cruise in real life.”

Looking into the rainforest from the ship, I thought if I ventured into it I would be swallowed up quickly. On the other hand, the forest offered some incredible beauty. The guayacan trees turn yellow for just one week, and throughout the cruise we could spot them at many points along the shore.

The locks are fascinating. They lift a ship up 26 metres (and down again) through a series of locks at both ends. Many cruise lines offer a variety of journeys through the locks — Princess and Holland America are the most active, with plenty of trips from Southern California to South Florida. During the Alaska season, longer journeys continue north to Vancouver and Seattle for the start of the Alaska cruise season. You can even make a partial transit with Princess.

One piece of advice: Take binoculars and find a spot on the ship where you can spend the day taking in everything this engineering wonder and its landscape has to offer.

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