sonoma03

Good advice; thanks!

Thanks r&rd! That's very helpful. Yes the transfer service is aware of the correct terminal, since I had originally thought we were embarking at Colon 2000 (that's what it said on the booking confirmation from my travel agent), and had to tell them we actually need to go to Cristobal.

Thanks to all for the comments. One more question for anyone who has done embarkation from Colon. I am booking transportation with Amber Moon Taxi Service, and they asked if there is a shuttle from the port entrance at the Cristobal terminal to the ship so that the driver doesn't have to enter the port area to drop us off. What was your experience?

I booked a private tour of Manuel Antonio National Park with Costa Rica Jade Tours for $95 per person. They offer a less expensive group tour but the pick up time at Marina Pez Vela was at 6:50 am so that is too early. The private tour will pick up nominally at 7:30 am but they are aware that we may be delayed due to the tendering. BTW they also offer an afternoon tour at 12:30 pm, but we wanted a morning tour. The group tours can be booked through Viator if you prefer. Note that the tours are non-refundable just like the Windstar tour to Manuel Antonio.

Thank you r&rd! Appreciate your help.

I am booked on the Wind Star for a Costa Rica and Panama Canal cruise, and the itinerary shows that we are anchored and tendering in every port. Can someone tell me how long I should expect it to take to get to shore in a port? I am considering booking a private tour in Quepos and need to know when I can plan to meet the tour guide. The itinerary says the ship arrives at 7:00 am, and I'm sure that guests on ship excursions will have priority for the first tenders. Do they run more than one boat for tenders? With a max of 148 guests, would it be reasonable to expect that I could be off the tender by 7:30 am, or would 7:45 or 8:00 am be more realistic? Can anyone who has done this cruise confirm that the tenders will drop guests off at Marina Pez Vela in Quepos? Thank you!

I have booked 2 shore excursions for my January 2025 cruise and was able to pay for both of them on the Web site (My Windstar) using a credit card, though it took me quite a few tries before I stumbled on how to pay. I am a first-time cruiser with Windstar so I have no discounts. After I selected the shore excursion and checked the boxes for which guests to book, I clicked the "Save" button on the bottom of the Web page. This brought me back to the "Summary" page (or you can click on "Summary" at the top of the page). I scrolled back to the top of the Summary page, and there was a "Pay Now" button with the amount due for the excursions I just reserved. Clicking on that button allowed me to enter my credit card details to complete the payment.

I am booked on a cruise in January 2025 and I'm wondering if Windstar ever offers discounts on shore excursions. Some other cruise lines run occasional special promotional sales. Does Windstar ever do that, or are prices likely to stay the same so I should just go ahead and book and pay for any excursions that are of interest? Thanks!

I will be visiting Panama City for the first time in January 2025 so I don't know how the hotel will be, but I booked La Isabela Suites which had good reviews on TripAdvisor and the hotel booking sites. I saw a post from someone who recommended Hotel La Compania, but that is outside my budget.

Any issue with prescription medications is usually when you go through customs to enter the country. It would be pretty rare to be randomly stopped or searched for medications while walking around on land.

I just booked the Colon to Puerto Caldera Costa Rica/Panama Canal cruise for January 2025 and have started looking at shore excursions. I would like to consider some independent shore excursions as well as the Windstar ones, but can't find much information about where the ship will be in each port so that I can tell how easy or difficult it might be to meet up with an independent tour. Can anyone tell me where I can find that information, or can you share the information from your past experience? Ports of call will be Balboa and Isla Parida in Panama and Golfo Dulce and Quepos in Costa Rica. I am interested in seeing the wildlife but would prefer not to pay for expensive excursions in every port. If anyone has recommendations on which excursions would be most worthwhile and what there is to do in the ports without booking a tour, that would be really helpful. Thanks!

I just looked again and you're right; they are there. Thanks! Not sure if I just missed them when I looked before or if there was a Web site issue and they weren't showing up previously. The Web site is a bit flaky; I was looking at a cruise tour and for the date that I was interested in, the itinerary only shows the cruise portion and none of the land portion, but if I pick a different date, then I can see the land portion also.

I am considering booking the Colon to Puerto Caldera cruise for January 2025 and I was wondering if there is any way to see what shore excursions are available and how much they cost before I book. I couldn't find a way to do so on the Windstar Web site. It would be helpful to get an idea of how much to budget for the excursions. Also has anyone done the 4-night Monteverde land tour that's offered from Puerto Caldera? I am really interested in wildlife viewing opportunities, and I was wondering if you felt that the land tour gave you enough time in the cloud forest and Curi-Cancha Reserve and Mistico Park, or do they rush you along. I am a photographer so I want to have time to take photos when I travel. Thanks for any information!

Thanks to everyone for your replies!

I will be boarding my first Cunard cruise on my birthday, and I was wondering if Cunard does anything special (complimentary, not a birthday package we have to order) for a birthday. On my previous cruises on other cruise lines, the waiter would bring a special dessert if you were celebrating a birthday or anniversary, although sometimes the special dessert wasn't as good as the desserts on the regular dining room menu. Just curious if Cunard does something like that or not.

Chiming in late here; just found this thread. I've been on a number of cruise ships on Princess, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, NCL, HAL, and Carnival over the past 20 years, and I'm booked for my first Cunard cruise next month. I've found that while some ships definitely have more suitable space for dancing than others, all of the cruise lines have greatly reduced the opportunities to do partner dancing by scheduling other events in the rooms with dance floors and/or putting bands playing unsuitable music there. In the past I enjoyed dancing on Princess ships, especially in the Wheelhouse, Explorer, and Club Fusion lounges. But on my most recent Princess cruise last year, they frequently had performers that didn't play danceable music in Wheelhouse, and they used Club Fusion for game shows and trivia contests, so there wasn't much dancing there. I was on Celebrity Edge earlier this year, and the few danceable bands played in the Grand Plaza which has a very small dance floor that is also used as a walkway to get from one side of the room to the other, so it was very difficult to dance with more than a few couples on the floor. Music was conducive to swing, cha cha, NC 2-step, maybe rumba. Certainly no room for waltz/foxtrot. There was a nice small dance floor in Eden but only my husband and I danced there.

I would choose based on whether you have more interest in spending some extra time in Seattle vs. SF, and which ship or itinerary you prefer. I think only Princess and Carnival have ships sailing to Alaska from SF, while there is a bigger choice of cruise lines and ships sailing from Seattle.

On my last Alaska cruise in June 2018, we saw grizzlies twice. We saw one right along the road while riding the bus back from Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau. We saw multiple bears along the river bank while on a Chilkat River jet boat tour in Haines.

If you're interested in the dance hosts, please note that they are not on every cruise. Cunard has really cut down on providing dance hosts, so you may want to check whether they will be on your cruise or not. I think they are usually available on the transatlantic cruises, but they are not on the 10-night Alaska cruise that I have booked, which is very disappointing. Customer Service can tell you if they will be on a particular cruise or not.

You can find more information about the cruise ship terminal and shuttle here: https://www.sitkadock.com/

On my last Alaska trip in June 2018, we saw a bear along the side of the road (within 6 feet) while riding the public bus back to town from Mendenhall Glacier. We also took a jet boat adventure tour to the Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve in Haines from our port of Skagway (took a ferry from Skagway to Haines), and we saw 8 bears foraging on the banks along the river, including a mother with 2 cubs. That was an unexpected surprise.

Also the packages like Princess Plus offer a discount compared to separately paying for the gratuities, WiFi package, and drinks package. But if you aren't going to make use of all the benefits, you are probably better off paying for things separately. I did the math on the last 10-night cruise that I took on Princess, and since my husband and I don't drink alcohol, it was far cheaper for us to just pay the gratuities and buy one WiFi package to share, and pay for any drinks individually if we actually wanted one.

My TA was able to book the Americas Sale fare and provide $250 OBC per cabin for an obstructed oceanview cabin for an Alaska cruise on QE this summer. Definitely worth it for me to book with the TA instead of directly with Cunard.

Thanks everyone, and thanks to bluemarble for the suggestion to wait until the second day to buy the package; that's a great idea.

I am booked on the QE for an Alaska cruise in August, and I intend to buy the Essential Internet plan for $18/day, but was wondering if they ever put it on sale. Is there any benefit to buying it before sailing vs. buying it on board? If I buy on board I can use my OBC which would be preferable. Thanks!