jmsfla2002

I haven’t taken the bus to San Antonio but I have taken the local public bus from the Santiago airport to the Alameda bus and metro station. The fare for the airport to Alameda leg was more like $3 last year. I paid in pesos; there are atms at the airport. When you buy your tickets to San Antonio at the Alameda stop, you can pay with a credit card. 

If if you don’t speak Spanish, I wouldn’t recommend this mode of travel. The stops aren’t announced. Alameda is a metro station and a bus station so there is a sign and it is large but I couldn’t see the sign from where I was sitting at the back of the bus. If I hadn’t been able to ask the other passengers, I would have missed the stop. 

I'm on a Princess Panama Canal Full Transit Cruise this spring. The Hop on Hop Off Excursion in Cartagena is baffling to me. I don't understand the differences between booking it directly with City Sightseeing vs. a Princess Excursion except that the latter is double the price. It seems a lot of people here have booked the Hop On Hop Off Bus as an excursion so I'm hoping someone can clarify the differences. Thank you in advance!

1) Pick Up Point

If booked as an excursion, the Hop On Hop Off Tour starts at the cruise ship pier or there is a shuttle bus from the ship disembarkation point to the Hop On Hop Off bus.

If booked directly, you must make your way on foot or in a taxi to stop #2 of the Hop On Hop Off bus.

2) Walking Tour

If booked as an excursion, a walking tour of the walled city is included. Does the walking tour start at stop #4, one of the stops immediately after leaving the cruise ship terminal? I ask because I would like to do a walking tour of the walled city but would also like to get off at stop #5 for Castilo San Felipe. If the walking tour is only available for cruise passengers, I would have to make sure that is the first stop we hop off when the bus is still a Princess excursion bus.

If booked directly, the included walking tour of the walled city is only offered at 4pm. This is too late for us as our ship departs at 6pm.

3) Returning to Port

If we book as an excursion and hop off for the walking tour but hop on at the end of the walking tour, presumably we will still be on a "cruise excursion bus" as we will have all remained together. If we hop off again at Castilo San Felipe, when we hop back on, we will hop on whatever bus comes. If isn't a cruise excursion bus but instead a regular hop on, hop off bus doing the circuit, presumably it won't return to the ship. So if we do hop off, are some of the Hop On Hop Off buses labeled as Princess Excursion bus or will we need to make our way from stop #2 to the ship? In other words, is the excursion really just 1 circuit with the option for the walled city walking tour or do the Princess excursion buses run throughout the day, enabling us to get back to the ship.

Thank you!