Hi Wayne,
Thank you for your note and for reading my article. Sorry about the delayed reply. For smaller ships along the lines of Oceania, there’s also Viking Ocean with 900 passengers, Seabourn, Silversea and Regent all have smaller, upscale ships. There’s also Windstar with sailing ships and over-sized yachts. While I still need to cruise aboard the mega-ships for work, I also am leaning more towards smaller ships of the sizes you mentioned. Also, remember there are river cruises in the US with only a few hundred passengers or less. Happy cruising! And thank you again.

Hi Jeffrey,
Thank you for reading my article. That’s a very interesting question and one to which I don’t have an answer. My only guess would be that as long as you’re aboard one of the Panamax ships (the older ships) and not Post-Panamax like Royal Caribbean’s newer ships. The ships also cannot be taller than 201-feet to fit under the Bridge of the Americas. You could probably send an email to the Panama Canal Authority with any questions and they may even have a list of ships slated to use the original canal locks for 2022-23. Basically, the smaller the ship, the more likely it will transit through the old locks.
Last but not least, whatever cruise line you choose, you might be able to reach someone that is knowledgable on which locks a specific ship will use.

Have a wonderful cruise! It’s an amazing experience, for sure. Thank you again for your question.

thanks …

Hi Deb,

Thank you for your wonderful email! It made my day. I will be posting more about my Panama Canal cruise when I’m back on land. Onboard Wifi is good…but still spotty at times. I am not familiar with David McCullough’s book, but it sounds interesting and I’ll look for it on Amazon. Thanks again for listening to Cruise Radio! If you have time, I’m the new host of River Cruise Radio so please listen in!

Sherry