Princess sets trips into new Panama Canal locks

Princess Cruises has become the first major cruise line to schedule sailings through the massive new locks at the Panama Canal.

The company this week said the 3,080-passenger Caribbean Princess would operate partial transits of the canal using the new locks at its Atlantic entrance starting in late 2017.

The experience will be part of 10-day Panama Canal cruises out of Fort Lauderdale, Fla. scheduled through the winter of 2017-18.

There are two new sets of locks at the Panama Canal, one each on the Atlantic and Pacific sides. The locks were added as part of a massive canal expansion project that also included excavating channels to the new lock and expanding existing channels.

Under construction for nearly a decade, the new locks are scheduled to open later this month. The locks will allow bigger ships to transit the 48-mile-long waterway, a boon to world trade. It's the first major expansion of the canal since it opened in 1914.

Three other Princess ships -- Coral Princess, Island Princess and Pacific Princess -- will operate Panama Canal sailings for the winter of 2017-18 using the canal's original, smaller locks.

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