Pacific Queen cruises canal
PANAMA CITY -- The 275-passenger Pacific Queen, specifically designed for day cruises, operates short and long trips through the Panama Canal.
The vessel offers departures on Saturdays for a five-hour, partial Panama Canal cruise, which sails through three locks.
Once a month, the Pacific Queen cruises the entire canal. The trip lasts eight to nine hours and includes a cruise through Gatun Lake. Passengers disembark in Colon.
Both partial and full transits depart from the Flamenco Resort & Marina at 7:30 a.m., although arrival times vary due to canal traffic.
The shorter cruise price is $99 per person ($45 for children under age 12); the longer cruise is $149 ($55 for children). Both include transfers to and from Panama City, lunch and snacks, breakfast on the full cruise and the services of a bilingual narrator.
For additional information, visit www.ptymarineadventures.com. -- C.H.
PANAMA CITY --
The Decameron Hotel Group, known for its inclusive resorts in
Panama, Colombia, Mexico and the Caribbean, added its first urban
hotel, the Radisson Decapolis in Panama City.
Located in the
heart of the city on Avenida Balboa, the 300-room Decapolis is a
spiffy-looking property. Its modern interior is particularly
well-done in the lounge and bar area on the ground floor as well as
in the Sushi-Bar and Fusion Cuisine Restaurant.
Rooms have a
contemporary, minimal look: very white, including white tile floors
that could use a friendly rug or two. The hotel adds color with big
photos of native peoples and country scenes.
Each room has a
bath with shower, tub and hair dryer; pay-per-view movies; phone
with voice mail; a broadband Internet connection; a coffee machine;
a minibar; and English and Spanish newspapers delivered
daily.
Hotel facilities
include a pool and pool bar, a business center and a spa. The hotel
is connected via a glass bridge to the Multicentro shopping mall
and the Majestic Casino.
At check-in,
guests receive $25 in match-play coupons for the casino, a $20
daily credit per room to use at any hotel bar and a discount
booklet for shopping.
Through December,
deluxe rooms, single or double, are priced at $165 with a city view
and $175 with an ocean view; rooms on the executive floor cost $185
to $195; and the one- and two-bedroom executive suites range from
$230 to $250. Rates include buffet breakfast but do not cover the
10% tourism tax. For reservations, call
(800) 333-3333 or visit www.radisson.com.
Daniel Taramona,
president of Tara Tours in Miami, liked the new urban hotel so much
that he decided to sell a Beach & City six-night package
combining two nights at the Decapolis with four nights at the
Decamerons all-inclusive seaside property, the Royal Decameron
Beach Resort.
Including air
from Miami, the package with American is priced at $799 per person,
double, to Dec. 6; $1,060 to Dec. 23; and $1,483 to Jan. 2. Sample
add-on fares include $40 from Dallas, $60 from Atlanta, $80 from
New York and $270 from Los Angeles.
The package
includes transfers, a city tour and a visit to the Canals
Miraflores Locks in Panama City as well as an inclusive, four-night
stay at the Royal Decameron, which is 90 minutes from the
capital.
According to
Taramona, the Royal Decameron beach vacation is a key element in
the companys explosive growth in sales to Panama, which has become
one of Tara Tours top-selling Latin American destinations and one
that gets an several repeat bookings.
The Royal
Decameron offers spacious rooms, a choice of eight restaurants with
a variety of international cuisines, unlimited alcoholic and
nonalcoholic beverages, white sands along Playa Blanca beach, water
sports and other activities by day and entertainment at night,
Taramona said.
Motorized water
sports, day excursions and golf at the new and close-by Summit Golf
Course are extra.
Tara Tours offers
a Royal Decameron-only six-night package, priced from $799 with
American. It includes air from Miami, with add-ons available from
some 100 U.S.cities.
The companys
Panama Super Beach Special, priced per person at $664, also
features six nights at the Royal Decameron and air from Miami with
Copa Airlines. Clients add $90 when
flying Copa from Orlando, $250 from Los Angeles and $180 from New
York (when using Copas new daily service from New York).
For more
information, agents can contact Tara Tours at (800) 327-0080 or
visit www.taratours.com.
To contact
reporter Carla Hunt, send e-mail to [email protected].