Panama Canal & Central America Expedition Cruises Reviews

Overall this cruise was great. Our cruise was at the end of December/beginning of January and most people on the cruise were traveling as members of various multi-generational families. There is little in the way of onboard activities but the expeditions and naturalist team are great! Before the trip we were picked up at the airport and taken via shuttle to the ship, during the bus journey a ...

This review is primarily for people contemplating Viking Expeditions Panama and Scenic South America cruise. This is only my opinion. We are frequent cruisers and habitual Viking Ocean customers (1 river and 7 Viking Ocean cruises). We booked this one as it was relatively inexpensive for a lot of days (18) on a new Expedition class ship. We wanted to experience it and decide if we would invest in ...

We wanted to see Maya sites and wanted to try Ponant. We have sailed on Cunard, Celebrity, Oceania, Windstar, Seabourn, Holland America and Viking - 20+ cruises in all, 6 on Seabourn. I would say 80-90 percent of the passengers spoke French as their primary language. We enjoyed that. The officers are French, the staff Indonesian or Filipino. We were rather taken aback to see the captain ...

We have been on a couple other Viking cruises, and they ran like a Swiss watch. This trip was not like that. Weather forced many changes to excursion schedules. The excursion planners did not get this info to the front desk team in a timely or consistent manner. They also chose to go "paperless" on the Viking Daily that week. The front desk team did not know how to tell passengers where to find ...

My husband and I have been strong advocates of Viking and I have personally been so pleased that Viking Cruises has been able to launch its seasons with new and tried and true itineraries. Sadly, however we were disappointment with the Octantis sailing that commenced on November 5th from Rio de Janeiro. We expected a more seamless adventure given the cost of the cruise and our high expectations ...

Hubby & I chose the cruise because we wanted a short cruise that included a Panama Canal crossing. This cruise was an expedition cruise focusing on national parks in Costa Rica & Panama. Started in Puerto Caldera, Costa Rica and ended I. Panama City, including a Pacific to Atlantic crossing of the Panamá Canal. We’re not naturalists but thought it may be an interesting experience. This review is ...

I chose this cruise because I have traveled with NG/Lindblad before and wanted to see Costa Rica with this group of naturalists etc. The timing was right for my daughter and I to travel together. we were looking forward to seeing the wildlife primarily. Unfortunately, the brochure which specifically promotes seeing sloths in the wild was a total misrepresentation. I was told by the naturalists ...

We went on the Panama Canal/Costa Rica cruise in January, 2019. We love watching wildlife and thought this cruise would be a good way to do it. We have been to Costa Rica before - on a small bus tour on the Caribbean side so this was different. We like being with like-minded people and under 100 passengers seemed manageable. We had 87 people on our cruise. The captain, officers and all of the ...

My wife and I did an Alaska cruise with the company last year and really enjoyed it. The expedition leader for this trip said upfront to not compare ships or cruises as each is so unique. That is hard to do when expectations are made so high from a prior adventure. The ship was great. Great food, our cabin was comfortable and everything worked well though other guest apparently had some problems. ...

We choose this cruise primarily because of the transit of the Panama Canal. However, the overall theme of 'adventure' was an important aspect. The ship seemed perfectly suited to the type of cruise, but was somewhat basic. Having been on a Mekong small ship Cruise last year we had probably been spoiled!! Cabin was small with wash basin within main cabin area, but just about adequate. ...