Early on Saturday morning, the Disney Wonder began her inaugural and historic transit as the first passenger vessel through the expanded Panama Canal.
As you can see in the following view there is plenty of space for the Magic class to easily transit, which is good after last year’s cruise ship equivalent of having your car keyed by the original locks.
The Panama Canal was all over the transit via their twitter account, sharing a bunch of awesome views of the Disney Wonder in near real time.
Welcome #DisneyWonder. The first cruise on the #ExpandedPanamaCanal. pic.twitter.com/GjbLdHtxVR
— The Panama Canal (@thepanamacanal) April 29, 2017
Buenos días ! Damos la bienvenida a crucero de Disney Primer buque de pasajeros por esclusas Neo Panamax. Ingresando al Canal por Agua Clara pic.twitter.com/ntpc7EEkBs
— Jorge Luis Quijano (@jorgelquijano) April 29, 2017
El crucero #DisneyWonder, primero en transitar el #CanalAmpliado, tiene una capacidad de 2,713 pasajeros y fue restaurado a finales del 2016 pic.twitter.com/HygfA4kY2E
— Canal de Panamá (@canaldepanama) April 29, 2017
The #DisneyWonder begins its transit through the #ExpandedCanal at Agua Clara Locks. pic.twitter.com/Hhh3MKQM3Y
— The Panama Canal (@thepanamacanal) April 29, 2017
A few shots from our exciting morning! First passenger ship to go through the new Panama Canal locks! #DisneyWonderWBPC pic.twitter.com/wAI4mY42eE
— Farrah Rochon (@FarrahRochon) April 29, 2017
Mickey and Minnie take a look at the #ExpandedPanamaCanal. #DisneyWonder pic.twitter.com/U0cyl7GMag
— The Panama Canal (@thepanamacanal) April 29, 2017
Here is the Disney Wonder going through the Cocoli Locks of the #ExpandedPanamaCanal pic.twitter.com/IwfftLolPE
— The Panama Canal (@thepanamacanal) April 29, 2017
DCL’s Karl Holz was on hand to take part in the festivities.
The #PanamaCanal's Deputy Administrador, Manuel Benitez, and the President of @DisneyCruise Line, Karl Holz, with the #DisneyWonder. pic.twitter.com/FVnd0ANv5z
— The Panama Canal (@thepanamacanal) April 29, 2017
The recognition for being the 1st passenger ship to transit the #ExpandedPanamaCanal was given to #DisneyWonder from @DisneyCruise Lines. pic.twitter.com/TsrC2nPLc5
— The Panama Canal (@thepanamacanal) April 29, 2017
The Disney Wonder is sailing a 14-night Westbound Panama Canal Cruise that will end next Sunday in San Diego.
Once in San Diego, the Disney Wonder will sail on two Baja voyages before continuing north to her summer home port of Vancouver for her Alaskan cruises.
I can’t wait to do one of these cruises through the canals one day!
We haven’t make it through, yet. We are heading for the Pacific side and should reach the locks shortly. We were supposed to lay against the side wall and be tied up during the lock filling process. The Captain made the call to just hold her steady in the center during the 3 lock process. It went flawlessly and her paint is still intact. Here’s hoping for the same in the final set!
Awesome to hear! I just updated the post mentioning the extra space and last year’s hull scrape.
I can’t tell you how sad we are to not be going back to Alaska on the Wonder this year. I’ll be jealous seeing all the tweets and posts!
I was wondering who that old guy was. When he came aboard everyone was trying to get a photo with him while he was trying to escape to the ceremony.
We all got a personalized certificate on our bed at turndown and I had that and 3 photos from the studio signed by Captain Robert. Pretty cool!