Radisson Hotel Panama Canal

Humidity was my main issue during my five days here. When I first entered the room, the AC was set to freezing. I turned it off and understood why: the room instantly got soaking wet, with condensation dripping down the walls. I tried setting the AC to heat to dry things out, but it only blew colder. Opening the balcony door and letting in the warm outside air cleared the damp quickly, so I left the AC off for the rest of the night. When I came back, the maid had set it to the Alaska setting again, and I had to air out the room the same way. Every day I also had to ask for water bottles, since housekeeping never left any after cleaning. There’s a coffee maker above the fridge, but using the bottle on the tray would mean paying the mini-bar’s “only” $6 for it. The snacks and drinks there are far too expensive. There’s no restaurant of its own, just breakfast. The continental breakfast has the basics and is okay, but sometimes only one person is serving, so you can wait a long time for coffee. You’ll need to eat elsewhere, which I recommend. Fridays is in the adjacent building with an indoor entrance, but hotel guests get no discount, and the air conditioning there is set to Alaska too. Canal-House was much cozier, with a palapa style, outdoor seating, a bar, good food and a nice atmosphere. They have live performances every evening. The pool didn’t appeal much to me. I hardly saw anyone there, except for three people on Sunday. It’s shallow and split into three small pools, more like a children’s play pool than one for adults. There’s also a bubbly pool, but that wasn’t very inviting either. You have to ask where the gym is or you could be searching long enough to lose weight. It’s down the hall to the right before the pool, behind a glass door that needs your room key. Don’t expect much, just a few basic pieces of equipment. They do offer an airport shuttle, but don’t be surprised if they still call a taxi for you. That service is only for groups of

Watching the bay and ships go by was the reason we picked this hotel, so it was disappointing to find no outdoor seating available. The pool was scheduled for maintenance on our last full day, and we only learned about it afterward. If you book, ask for tower 1 with an ocean view.

We'd booked this place for a swim each morning before heading to the expo, but the pool stayed closed for maintenance throughout our entire week. They said the notice had been on their website, though it wasn't there when we reserved months earlier, and no one contacted us about it. When we asked for some compensation, they said nothing could be done. Even a single breakfast on the house was apparently too much, despite the week without a pool we'd paid for.

The canal location is great, but the hotel feels old and could use remodeling. Breakfast was very average, and we were given the opposite side from the Canal/Ocean view we'd paid for. There was also a problem finding our third-party reservation. The receptionist wasn't helpful and asked us to make a new booking, so we asked for the manager. He sorted it out and was quite helpful, though the receptionist never apologized.