11 night ultimate carribean cruise--questions

hi all, hope someone can help me make some choices: we are looking for private tours in cartegena, colon, panama and puerto limon, costa rica.

we are interested in history, culture, the panama canal, the rainforest and a little shopping. for activities, we want to go ziplining in the rain forest, and go to gatun lake and see the canal in panama.

this will be in january, and we are also wondering what the climate is like then.

thanks in advance,

MATravelbug

Check out the ROLL CALL for your cruise to see what fellow CC members have planned. Check out the Ports of Call boards for ideas from locals. EM

Since you're interested in the Panama Canal, you may want to have a look at the ships excursion that takes you through the canal by ferry. We took it a few years ago and found it very interesting.

In Cartagena we joined others on our roll call for a tour with Dora:

http://cartagenatour.com/

hi all, hope someone can help me make some choices: we are looking for private tours in cartegena, colon, panama and puerto limon, costa rica.

we are interested in history, culture, the panama canal, the rainforest and a little shopping. for activities, we want to go ziplining in the rain forest, and go to gatun lake and see the canal in panama.

this will be in january, and we are also wondering what the climate is like then.

thanks in advance,

MATravelbug

We did a similiar itinerary a few years back. We went in January, and sailed out of Fort Lauderdale. It was unseasonably cool in Florida that year, and it stayed cool until we were south of Cozumel, and then, it was hot. Beautiful, but hot.

We went zip-lining in Costa Rica, and it is one of my favorite excursions that I have ever done. We were high up in the trees, and above the canopy at times. It was wonderful.

All I can say about Panama, is take an excursion, because the port area, is industrial, so there really isn't anywhere to walk around. We didn't do anything in Panama, because I wasn't feeling well that day so we just took it easy. I was sad that I didn't take the locks tour... but now I will just have to take a cruise through the canal. :D

You can also check out the port pages, and ask specific questions there. Have a great time.

Agree with Essiesmom, check out your roll call as there are probably already private group tours being organised for some of your port stops. We did a few on the same itinerary as yours and had a super time e.g. Dora's tour. The 'Ports of Call' board is where to find specific feedback on particular excursions/tours - great for info on the canal experience. We took an 'Old & New Locks' X tour and it was very enjoyable.

We booked this through X as we had lots of OBC and were aware the time margins between returning to the ship and setting sail were minimal....Following an afternoon downpoor (and I believe small landslide) we were slightly late getting back. The ship did stay in port an extra hour or so as minibuses were screeching back in but we are aware a couple of independent tours did miss the ship.

Whilst I am not one of those cruisers who will not use independent tour companies 'in case they get left behind' when there is such a long day and poor roads for part of the journey if we were to visit again I think we would go with X for this tour.

We did this Equinox sailing in 2014. We did the CO26 Ferry thru all the locks

In Panama. Ours was over 2 hours late returning. As the ship was pushed away 2 people were coming down the pier waving. They did a ferry thru the canal too, but with a private company. Their transportation for the hour plus ride back was not waiting as promised.

In CR do not use Charlie with Okie Dokie Tours, very poor service.

Panama is one stop where I would do ship tours only. There's too many variables there that can affect your return to the ship.

On our stop there some ship tours got severely delayed. The ship waited for them, and we left port hours after we were supposed to.

We were delayed in Panama for 3 hours waiting for 7 busses with Celebrity excursion goers to return. Any time I see a long excursion that has the potential for delay I pass on it.

There is an excellent review of this cruise by deladane entitled "Detailed Photo Review of 3/14/16 Celebrity Equinox 11 Night Cruise.". You can search for it on the Celebrity board. This is possibly the best, most detailed review I have ever read. If I recall correctly, all or most of her excursions were done by private companies.

Since you're interested in the Panama Canal, you may want to have a look at the ships excursion that takes you through the canal by ferry. We took it a few years ago and found it very interesting.

 

In Cartagena we joined others on our roll call for a tour with Dora:

 

http://cartagenatour.com/

This is a great tour and one you don't do on your own. One reason is that the Canal is first-come-first-served, and you can wait in line awhile while other ships go through. When we did it, it was a very very long day. Several big buses drove from the ship at the port down to the ferry and we went through two locks. It was great, but don't expect it to be plush. Old buses without bathrooms or air conditioning. A ferry which was ok, but you go for the experience of traveling through the Canal so close you can just touch it as you go along. It's HOT and I live in south Louisiana and it was astonishingly hot to me and I am used to it!! They have water but bring more. We were about 2-1/2 hours late returning to the ship. There were hundreds of us late so of course they waited.

In Cartagena we did a private tour with Lee Miles who is "Mr. Emerald". Saw a lot of stuff in a small taxi and on foot, maybe 6 of us. Great tour. Also hot, but we were able to circumvent the big buses. We asked for a private tour and we got it!! We asked the driver to take us to a nice lunch somewhere that was quintessential Cartegena. He drove way into the depths of the city and found a place that looked like a "dive" on the outside but was beautiful and wonderful inside. We bought his meal and got a chance to learn more about the city and the people and his life, in a way that wasn't possible on a big tour. We also asked not to be taken to Mr. Miles' emerald store and that was ok with him too.

We did this same cruise last November and enjoyed it very much. We took a tour in Columbia and went to the Panama Canal and the Expansion however, the tour we took in Costa Rica was AMAZING!!! We were trying to decide if we wanted to do the 6 hour bus, boat and train tour or the 9 hour tour with the canopy tour also. Well the couple we went with thought the 6 hour was plenty and boy were we wrong! Our tour was great but it seemed like it ended too soon. Try the 9 hour tour and I'm sure you won't be disappointed. It was worth every penny to us. Cheers!:D