Culminates cruise season for the Panama Canal

With the transit of the Panamax cruise ship Pacific Princess, with a capacity of 670 passengers, which took place this Wednesday, May 22, the  Panama Canal closed the 2018-2019 cruise season.

This ship, operated by the Princess Cruises line, sailed from Los Angeles, California, in a 15-day journey that included the expedited passage through the Canal. Its final destination is the port of Fort Lauderdale, in the United States.

During the fiscal year from October 1, 2018 to September 30, 2019, the Panama Canal will register 242 transits of passenger ships with more than 260 thousand passengers, reported Albano Aguilar, leader in International Trade of the Division of Market Analysis of the Canal.

During this fiscal year,  the Canal received seven neopanamax passenger ships with a total of 12 transits of the Norwegian, Princess, Carnival and Disney lines (Norwegian Bliss, Caribbean Princess, Emerald Princess, Carnival Valor, Carnival Freedom, Carnival Triumph and Disney Wonder).

With the closing of the season, renowned cruise lines such as Princess Cruises, Holland America Line, Royal Caribbean Cruises and Norwegian Cruise Line, among others, maintain their proposal to offer itineraries to complete transits and partial transits that include Panama and, in particular , the interoceanic way.

On the other hand, smaller vessels such as the National Geographic Quest and Safari Voyager also contributed to segment traffic. These vessels, with itineraries between 8 and 12 days, respectively, visited ports located on the west coast of the Central American isthmus.

Also transited through the Canal passenger ships that were not anticipated as Sun Princess, Elegant Vidanta, RCGS Resolute, American Song and Celebrity Flora.

Source LaPrensa