Might be a bit too late with this answer - in which case, apologies.

However, the canal transit was good. Not exactly a white knuckle ride but interesting. I got picked up from the hotel about 5.30am by a bus which eventually amassed about 20 passengers. We went to a pretty chaotic check-in facility on the Amador causeway. The boat was much better organised than the check in. Clean restrooms. Breakfast, lunch and afternoon cake. All the coffee and soft drinks you could drink (help yourself). Plenty of seats inside and out (inside became important when it chucked it down with rain).

Lots of people did the partial transit and got off after lunch. I got the impression most of them were doing another tour in the afternoon. Not much happened going across the lake apart from the rain though there were a few massive ships to admire. The locks were interesting and I was glad i did both sets. Decent narration in Spanish and English. There was also German but I think the German narrator had come with a particular group.

There were buses waiting at the end to take us back to Panama City. That was a a complete shambles. The bus driver had no idea of which hotels he should take people to but luckily the narrator was on our bus and collected hotel names and then figured out a route with the driver. I think I got back to the hotel about 8pm.

Hope this isn't too late to be useful.