Next year, Celebrity Cruises will offer its guests more variety than ever before for sailings through the Panama Canal’s famed Gatun Locks. The line’s 2009-10 Panama Canal sailings opened for sale today.

In its late-2009-to-early-2010 season, Celebrity Cruises will offer 18 “open-jaw,” or non-roundtrip, sailings through the Canal – more than it has offered during any previous single season. Highlights include a varied range of 13- to 16-night cruises; the first Panama Canal cruise Celebrity has offered that will depart from Seattle, Washington; and a list of five home ports from which the Canal cruises will depart (Fort Lauderdale and Miami, Florida; San Diego, California; Seattle; and Valparaiso, Chile).

Celebrity Infinity will sail a total of 10 open-jaw Panama Canal voyages between September 2009 and April 2010. After a 16-night Eastbound Panama Canal voyage from Seattle, to Fort Lauderdale, Celebrity Infinity will sail a series of 13- and 14-night voyages between San Diego and Fort Lauderdale before a 15-night Westbound Panama Canal voyage from Fort Lauderdale to San Francisco. Celebrity Infinity also will sail a 15-night voyage from Fort Lauderdale to Valparaiso on December 5, 2009, and a 14-night voyage from Valparaiso to Fort Lauderdale on March 14, 2010; these two sailings will open for sale in a few weeks.

From November 2009 through May 2010, Celebrity Constellation will alternate 13- and 14-night Panama Canal sailings between Miami and San Diego with the long Caribbean sailings it announced in April of this year. Celebrity is offering a 14-night Westbound Panama Canal voyage from Fort Lauderdale to San Diego on Celebrity Mercury in April 2009. Celebrity Mercury also will sail a 14-night Eastbound Panama Canal in October 2009, from San Diego to San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Celebrity Cruises’ 2009-10 Panama Canal sailings offers calls at ports in countries such as Aruba, Colombia, Costa Rica and Mexico. While in port, guests can choose from a range of shore and land excursions. Examples include:

“Best of Cartagena” in Colombia, which includes a visit to the Fort of San Felipe de Barajas, one of the greatest Spanish military engineering constructions in South America.
“Pacific Train, Boat and Bus Adventure” in Costa Rica, where guests board a historical train for a scenic tour and take a boat ride through the regions wildlife-rich mangroves.
“America’s Cup Challenge” in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, which allows guests to be “part of” the racing team or sit back and relax.