Jump to content

Question on Panama Canal Excursions.


1midsun
 Share

Recommended Posts

Hello all, I have a question...I guess a few questions....

We are going on the Coral in Feb 2018 (only 194 days away!!!) doing a full transit of the Panama Canal. Ports are as follows:

Oranjestad, Aruba

Cartagena, Columbia

Puntarenas, Costa Rica

San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua

Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

Are there any MUST do's in these ports? What not to miss.

Are there any where it is necessary to do an excursion. (eg. if there is nothing to do at the port area then we would need to do an excursion)

Are there any ports that are good to just walk around?

Any beaches where we don't have to pay to go to? Close to the port?

Thanks for taking the time to respond.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Cabo is walkable. You'll tender to a common dock for all the ships. There are shops, bars, restaurants, tours, kayak rentals, jet ski rentals, boat rentals and a guy with an Iguana within 200 yards of the pier. And then it gets even more interesting.

 

I've also done Cartagena a few times, but have always done paid excursions there.

 

Enjoy the canal. Fascinating trip, done it twice and would go again in a heartbeat.

 

Hello all, I have a question...I guess a few questions....

We are going on the Coral in Feb 2018 (only 194 days away!!!) doing a full transit of the Panama Canal. Ports are as follows:

Oranjestad, Aruba

Cartagena, Columbia

Puntarenas, Costa Rica

San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua

Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

Are there any MUST do's in these ports? What not to miss.

Are there any where it is necessary to do an excursion. (eg. if there is nothing to do at the port area then we would need to do an excursion)

Are there any ports that are good to just walk around?

Any beaches where we don't have to pay to go to? Close to the port?

Thanks for taking the time to respond.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In Cartagena I heartily endorse Dora De Zubiria. We were on a private excursion with others from our roll call. There were 8 of us in an air conditioned van with Dora and a driver. Since we were the first group to book with her we actually had Dora although she has a number of other guides who work for her. We had a really great and personalized tour. She also kept about 99% of the (twelve hundred bazillion) street vendors off our backs. OMG! I thought Mexico had street vendors but I was wrong. Cartagena has sooooooooooo many more!!!

 

Dora was fun and easy to get along with. We (and the others in our group) had a truly great and informative time.

 

http://cartagenatour.com/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hello all, I have a question...I guess a few questions....

We are going on the Coral in Feb 2018 (only 194 days away!!!) doing a full transit of the Panama Canal. Ports are as follows:

Oranjestad, Aruba

Cartagena, Columbia

Puntarenas, Costa Rica

San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua

Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

Are there any MUST do's in these ports? What not to miss.

Are there any where it is necessary to do an excursion. (eg. if there is nothing to do at the port area then we would need to do an excursion)

Are there any ports that are good to just walk around?

Any beaches where we don't have to pay to go to? Close to the port?

Thanks for taking the time to respond.

Every one of these ports has some nice tours. Suggest you work with your roll call for some private excursions. Here are some activities

Puntarenas, Costa Rica - At the end of the dock is a beach area and lots of vendors where you can purchase local foods and some trinkets. We have walked around in this area. Costa Rica also has lots of nice nature tours, all day volcano trips, and river rafting.

San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua - There is nothing at the small tender dock area. There are some nice hotels/beaches on the other side of the bay which have day passes. Grenada is a nice city to visit. It is a long drive.

Oranjestad, Aruba - Standard main street around a mile long with shops and restaurants. Eagle beach is around a 10 min taxi ride. There is also a local bus right across from the pier exit that can take you there. There are lots of local island tours being offered right outside the pier entrance.

Cabo San Lucas, Mexico - The tender brings you to the Marina area. This area has lots of shops, bars and restaurants. It is an easy walk around. You can also exit the marina area and walk downtown. There isn't too much there.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've done several Panama Canal cruises. In Nicaragua and Costa Rica, I would recommend either taking one of the many ship's tours or a private tour. The rain forest in Costa Rica is beautiful. You don't want to miss that. I also enjoyed the volcano and Lake Nicaragua, in Nicaragua.

 

If you want a beach day, Aruba or Cabo is perfect for that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Did these with 90yr old Mom:Cabo-Senor Frogs ( at least 10x in Cabo)

Aruba- Shop around dock.

Puntarenas- Ship canopy tour. OK, mostly birds and trees. Pretty. A lot of I iguanas to feed at visitor center.

San Juan Del Sur- Long bus ride to Managua. Pretty, good info. Lunch good.

Cartagena- Ship your. History, shopping, walking tour of parts of city( difficult with transport chair) VENDORS<VENDORS<VENDORS. Tour guide even stops to let "his" group surround you and pitch.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hello all, I have a question...I guess a few questions....

We are going on the Coral in Feb 2018 (only 194 days away!!!) doing a full transit of the Panama Canal. Ports are as follows:

Oranjestad, Aruba

Cartagena, Columbia

Puntarenas, Costa Rica

San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua

Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

Are there any MUST do's in these ports? What not to miss.

Are there any where it is necessary to do an excursion. (eg. if there is nothing to do at the port area then we would need to do an excursion)

Are there any ports that are good to just walk around?

Any beaches where we don't have to pay to go to? Close to the port?

Thanks for taking the time to respond.

 

 

Welcome - excellent choice for a first princess cruise! Come and join our roll call here: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2359238

 

Lisa

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have looked at doing this voyage for years and will eventually get around to it. One thing I do not understand about it is the limited time that is consistently available on all princess Panama Canal cruises. It is 6 hours on every route and I mean every one I've seen. The r/t ones from Fort Lauderdale and the full transit versions all stay just 6 hours. It seems odd to me. It appears there would be more to see and do there than one can do in a short stop.

I've seen other stops that are sometimes short, even shorter than this, but this particular port is always 6 hours it seems.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have looked at doing this voyage for years and will eventually get around to it. One thing I do not understand about it is the limited time that is consistently available on all princess Panama Canal cruises. It is 6 hours on every route and I mean every one I've seen. The r/t ones from Fort Lauderdale and the full transit versions all stay just 6 hours. It seems odd to me. It appears there would be more to see and do there than one can do in a short stop.

I've seen other stops that are sometimes short, even shorter than this, but this particular port is always 6 hours it seems.

 

The full transit cruises don't stop at all; they go straight through the Canal. There are no excursions available. The r/t cruises have many excursions available from the ship while it stops in Lake Gatun. Tenders take you to the meeting points and then you rejoin the ship in Colon. There are no excursions available from Colon but there is a flea market dockside--there is always a flea market dockside ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For Cartagena, it is also very easy to do "on your own". We did this in February, as have many others. See this post on the Ports of Call / Colombia board:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2301106

 

If you do nothing else in Cartagena....at least get off the ship and go to the port store area. They have a really nice little 'zoo' area with many birds flying around and monkeys... :cool: You can also get WiFi there for a few dollars and sit and have a cold beverage while you use it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you do nothing else in Cartagena....at least get off the ship and go to the port store area. They have a really nice little 'zoo' area with many birds flying around and monkeys... :cool: You can also get WiFi there for a few dollars and sit and have a cold beverage while you use it.

 

When I was in Cartagena in February, they stopped selling wifi passes because it was so slow and so overburdened. Don't count on good wifi at the port store area!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Our group met on the weekend, and I just wanted to thank everyone for the ideas and suggestions.

We like to book through the cruise line as we feel more comfortable doing that.

Just thought I would share what we chose to do.

We are really looking forward to our cruise!!!

Aruba - California Lighthouse, Ostrich Attraction and shopping

Cartagena - Canoe Tour of Mangrove Tunnels & Old City Stroll

Puntarenas - Scenic Train Ride and River Cruise

San Juan del Sur - Granada, Masaya Market & Volcano, Lunch & Shopping

Cabo San Lucas - Luxury Day Sail.

Thanks again for all of the input :cool:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Puntarenas, Costa Rica

 

I've been to Costa Rica 3 times while on a cruise and once for a 10 day land tour. We looked at all the private tours and pricing / group sizes and decided on the following through Princess:

 

Scarlet Macaw Sanctuary, Boat Tour & Country Drive - this was totally amazing, small group, great guide, got to see so many wonderful areas, that sanctuary was great. The boat tour was relaxing and they also had time for a nice snack. We were a group of about 20, all of us loved it. Our tour returned much later than planned due to traffic and the ship waited for us, we were the last ones on the ship. So, you never know, there was a small accident on this one lane road and that was the only way back to the ship. Costa Rica lacks a lot in roads. So if you plan on a private tour, make sure you're back 2 hours before the ship departs, we were 2 hours late.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share

  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...