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Help With Nicaragua Shore Excursions


scottam
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Hi Everyone,

I'am looking for your input to help hubby and I choose a Puerto Corinto, Nicaragua shore excursion on our Island Princess Feb, 2009 cruise. Any help is very much appreciated!

 

From what I have read (because of the distances you have to travel to see anything) it's a safer bet to use the ships excursion to make sure you get back to the ship on time. The thing is, I can't tell from the Princess descriptions of the SEs, how long the drive is to any of these places. How long will we be on a bus anyway?

 

Here are a couple of the ships excursions that we would consider, although nothing jumps out at us as a must do. If you have been on any of these and can share your experience and how you liked it, it would help us a great deal. Thank you!

 

A Glimpse Of Nicaragua's History & Culture - A tour to El Viejo town to visit the Menor Basilica, then on to the city of Chinandega and it's church with adjacent park.

 

History & Art Of Leon - A bus trip to the city of León to visit it's Metropolitan Cathedral, the birth house of Ruben Dario, and the "Ortiz Gurdian".

 

Leon Viejo & Colonial Leon With Lunch - A visit to the ruins of León Viejo located near Lake Xolotan and the current colonial city of León for a walking tour, lunch and a visit to the cathedral.

 

Colonial Leon & The Bubbling Mud Pots - A trip to Leon to see the city and the cathedral, then to the Bubbling Mud Pots of San Jacinto.

 

Thanks so much for any help or insight you can provide!

 

Tammy

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I have the same question. We'll be on the Coral Princess in March. We'd like to get off the ship and see some of the local scenery and culture, but I've been checking the boards for months and haven't seen much about this port that's positive. I don't think that this port receives much cruise business and it's probably not ready for prime time.

 

This might be the first time that we just stay on the ship while in port. Not really what we'd like to do on a cruise that has more than a few sea days.

 

Rich

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Hi Islanderman,

I still have found nothing. I've gone ahead and signed us up for "Leon Viejo & Colonial Leon With Lunch" as that's what sounds most interesting. I would really love to know how long the bus ride is to get to Leon Viejo. The description does not say and we don't want to go if it's a really long ride.

 

Let me know if you have found anything and maybe between the two of us, we'll learn something! ;)

 

Note: Found this just after I posted above! It's a posting from 2007. It answers my main question about distance although doesn't indicate amount of time that takes. Maybe you already saw this but if not, hope something here helps you.

 

We booked a private tour in Nicaragua during our 9/07 Princess cruise. Since we don't particularly like ship tours, we booked a privat tour with ToursNicaragua... http://www.toursnicaragua.com - They were recommended on another travel board. Since we haven't taken the tour yet, I can't give you any first-hand information but the owners are ex-pats from the U.S. and their website is very comprehensive. We'll be going to Leon (Nicaragua's 2nd largest city), Leon Viejo (basically ruins) and San Jacinto Hot Springs (to see the bubbling pots). To give you an idea of distances... Puerto Corinto is 65 miles from Leon Viejo and San Jacinto is 35 miles from Puerto Corinto.

 

Also read a travel board account of Puerto Corinto: Puerto Corinto is a very small town. It is Nicaragua's only container port on the Pacific and has exactly one container crane. The town itself is quite "rustic". A typical street corner has very few cars, lots of bicycles & pedicabs. We walked straight down what appeared to be a main drag to the plaza in the center of town. The church was on side & on the side was the "zoo" the park. It consisted of a pen with a crocodile & a bunch of turtles. There was nothing to do or buy in town so we walked back to the ship. There were several vendor stands set up there.

Edited by scottam
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Go over to the Princess main board and under Search this Forum just put in Nicaguara. There is some info there but the port stop is San Del Sur or something like that. I am making this trip but not until next april but on the Coral so it sure helps me a lot. Maybe you might get some ideas from some of the web site the thread provided.

 

Marilyn

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I was starting to get discouraged when I saw the number of views with no replies. Marilyn, thanks for the tip. It was nice to see the positive comments about Leon.

 

Tammy, not sure how long the bus trip is, but we always prefer to experience the local scene. Because of the positive comments about Leon, we may do the same excursion that you booked.

 

Rich

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On the main page under quick links is Shore Excursion. Select it and it will take you to a page where you select Panama Canal, then in the pop-up below put in the port city. A list of tours will show, select the more information link below the brief description. The next page should give you times and a better description.

 

Please be aware that these description are generic and may not be available for your cruise. Once you can purchase shore excursions can you actually see what tours are available for you sailing.

 

Hope this helps.

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These are the tours that are listed on the Princess website. It's an 8.5 hour tour.

Terrierjohn, I think that we're on the same cruise as you on the Coral, leaving from LA on March 9.

 

Rich

 

Yes we are on the March 9th cruise, I notice you've not been posting on the roll call recently, mind you there is very little activity from anyone. Despite the number of sea days on this cruise I think we will be limiting our shore excursions mainly as a consequence of the drop in our exchange rate. My thinking at present is to do our own thing in Huatalco, it's only a half day anyway. In Guatamala I'm thinking colonial Antigua. Puerta Corinto probably a quick look round the port town then back on board for some quiz time! Puntarenas looks the most interesting place, I am leaning towards the Jewels of the Monteverde cloud forest with Princess, but there is a similar half day tour offered by Greenway - http://www.shore-excursion.com/ - which we might opt for. In Cartagena we will take one of the Princess tours of the town but not decided which one yet. Aruba we will do our own thing.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Tammy,

 

Found this on a blog:

 

"Today we booked a tour to Leon, for a Art and History tour. Leon one of the historic cities of Nicaragua, and we boarded our bus for a 1 hour drive there. Our first stop was to Ruben Dario’s house, a famous poet and politician known throughout Central and South America. His home is now a Museum, and he is a very famous Nicaraguan, who died in 1916.

 

Our next visit was to a Art Gallery that had a large collection dating from around the mid 1600’s, including 2 Picasso’s, but what surprised us was that all the paintings were not protected by glass or anything else. Next stop was the city’s Cathedral, but having seen several by now, they are beginning to look all the same. I am sure my family would be in catholic rapture."

 

I've read that it's 65 miles. Must be a very good road if you can make it in an hour. Perhaps somebody can confirm this.

 

Rich

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Tammy,

 

Found this on a blog:

 

"Today we booked a tour to Leon, for a Art and History tour. Leon one of the historic cities of Nicaragua, and we boarded our bus for a 1 hour drive there. Our first stop was to Ruben Dario’s house, a famous poet and politician known throughout Central and South America. His home is now a Museum, and he is a very famous Nicaraguan, who died in 1916.

 

Our next visit was to a Art Gallery that had a large collection dating from around the mid 1600’s, including 2 Picasso’s, but what surprised us was that all the paintings were not protected by glass or anything else. Next stop was the city’s Cathedral, but having seen several by now, they are beginning to look all the same. I am sure my family would be in catholic rapture."

 

I've read that it's 65 miles. Must be a very good road if you can make it in an hour. Perhaps somebody can confirm this.

 

Rich

That sounds like the ship's tour we signed up for. We usually don't take them if we've been to a port before, but this is our first time in Nicaragua.

I recommend going into Antigua if you've never been there. Nancy

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Rich,

Thanks for posting the comment about the Leon Art excursion. I also read in another review that the drive is an hour but, you're right - the roads must be pretty good to be able to go 65 mph.

 

I've also read (in yet another review) that the ride to Leon Viejo is 2 1/2 hours! Yikes! I'm re-thinking our booking of that excursion.

 

Seems like Leon would be nice to see, so we may make another choice that involves a visit there but with less travel time.

 

Nancy, I have heard many great things about Antigua and we definately plan to go there when we are in Guatemala. Thanks!

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Island Princess - last month (14 day Panama Canal) I NEVER take ship tours and always book my own private tours. That being said, I booked a shopping tour to Masaya because I has hears it was the largest market in Central America. it was very large but they have caught onto the cruise market and there were not a lot of uniqiue items there. I wasn't traumatized but did not think it the best representation of the country when I was getting back on the bus and there were three guys on the curb breaking the necks of pigeons and plucking their feathers.

 

Very depressed country when compared to Costa Rica and Guatemala to the north and south. Personally, if I had to do it again, I would have taken an R&R day and skipped this country. Too many things to see and do the day before and after. For a country with an average wage of $1 a day, they value their "crafts" way too much.

 

I also saw a lot of people with uzis (deadly weapons, for those that do not know the word) and couldn't figure out if they were military or just people with uzis.

 

I am not a scare-monger. Virtually all of the ports are as safe, or safer, than your nearest big city. I use local guides and walk around freely in truly "local" areas. That is what I seek when visiting other countries, especially on the short time available on cruise ships. I've been accused of taking my surroundings too lightly but am very aware of where I can "imerse" myself in the local culture and where I can't. This is not the country to do it in.

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Wizard - Yes, I agree and we normally prefer to do things on our own with local guides, as well. But in very poor and undeveloped countries such as Nicaragua and Guatemala, we are more comfortable sticking with a Princess sponsored tour. It's a shame, as we prefer the freedome of designing our own day, but certainly better than staying on the ship. I don't want to waste the opportunity to see a country where we have never been and possibly change our perception - for better or worse - of that country.

 

And Rich, after having read all the Island and Coral reviews from the past, I hadn't been back in that area of the website. Today, though I went looking to see if there was anything new. I suppose it makes sense that there are new reviews as the 08/09 cruise season has begun in PC. Anyway, in case you hadn't been back there in a while, there are some new ones. One in particular, on the Island, gives good info for Guatemala and Nicaragua POCS. Check them out.

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We will be on the Island for the 2/12 Panama cruise with our 2 children and their spouses. They have never done the Panama Canal thus this trip. We have been through the Canal 7 times. Loved it every time.

 

Re Nicaragua tours, we are definitely going to stay with the ship's tours on this one. We often do our own thing, but I think it is not wise here. It looks like we will book the ...History and Art of Leon.... My DH is a a retired architect, and of the tours offered, he felt this was the best option. We are going to book it for if we get onboard and see or hear about something we think is better, they will let us change.

 

We just returned this week from a month at sea traveling from Lisbon to Rio to Buenos Aires. We had never done the northeast corner of South America, so to connect the dots, we did this trip. We had already been around the Horn. We used the ships tours for the underdeveloped ports, and were extremely pleased (We were on Oceania). Others who had not done that were not as happy as we were. Safety first, right?

 

See you all on board the Island.

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Greetings - My wife and I will also be on the Island Princess for the Feb 12 sailing -- I am in the process of building our in port activities for the trip and I also am stumped on what to do in Nicaragua. We are planning on a self guided tour of Antigua during the Guatamala stop and I was thinking about the same for Leon.

 

We're really looking forward to the trip -- this is our fourth cruise in 10 years but first to Pacific coast and central America. We also booked a few nights in Acapulco to check it out as well.

 

Welcome any suggestions and will track the postings.

Rich

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Rich, We are also on the feb 12th island princess cruise. we are looking at Vapues or Julio Cesar for a private tour to the volcano or nature tour plus leon but are waiting to try to get more info about either of them first, otherwise we will just take the princess tour to leon. if you are interested in puntarenas we are booked with Okey Dokey to do ziplining or skywalk plus lunch and beach and some other things. Nancy

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Nancy -- thanks --- I was looking at visiting Leon as well -- we're not big on mass group tours but may just try to get a ride there and just explore. For the Puerto Quetzal stop we're booked on the Colonial Antigua on your own -- i.e., take the princess transportation and do a walk-about.

We haven't settled on what to do in Costa Rica yet -- I gave a quick search on visits to Arenal volcano but seems to be too much travel time. I did see that the day we are in port is the last day of their annual Carnival festival -- so it may be an interesting party day in town -- this is advertised as the biggest carnival festival in Costa Rica.

 

By the way - there is a roll call thread for this cruise as well -- have you seen it -- This is my first experience with cruise critic and it looks like a good way to be in contact with co-travelers.

Rebecca and I are counting down the days --

Rich

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We visited the El Viejo basilica on December 6, 2008. Because it was the date of their national celebration of Lavada de la Plata (Cleaning the silverware), with literally thousands of people from all over Nicaragua attending, Princess did not offer this tour (we were told they were afraid of the anticipated crowds).

So we took a private taxi, and had a time of our lives. Our driver was Wilber R. Chavez (#27 in their Cooperativa, his local phone # 936-8960). He speaks excellent English, and was extremely helpful getting us into the front of the line in the church and through the crowds (which was not easy). He also found a place where we could buy the CD with precisely the singing we heard in the church during the mass.

The taxi ride from Puerto Corinto was less then 1/2 hour each way. Altogether our tour was 4 1/2 hours, and the total cost was US$50.

With our driver/guide, we were feeling very safe - people were friendly, and there was helpful police on every corner.

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Has anyone used either Julio Pineda (JULIO TOURS NICARAGUA) or Armando Díaz (CentralAmerica.Com) for tours to Granada, Nicaragua from San Juan del Sur?

Not sure that either one of them would be our actual tour guides or if they are just answering my email.

If you have used them or know of any information regarding eithe one of them I would apprciate it.

 

Thank You,

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Hi All, We just got back from our Holiday Panama Canal cruise on the Coral.I felt like i needed to respond to your posts because i remember being in your shoes and not knowing what to expect in this particular port. With that being said....don't be afraid to do a tour on your own. I felt safe in Puerto Corinto. We did a kayak, lunch and Leon tour. We were a family of 6, 4 kids ages13-21. We felt a little nervous when we were waiting for our tour guide to show up. We were the only people out ,all the tour busses had left. and the port is surrounded by a tall fence with locked gates. It felt a little akward but our guide showed up and off we went. We booked with VaPues tours. It is very hot and the air was very smokey from trash burning. We went a kayaking first. saw crocodiles in water and out. Many types of birds. went to the office of Vapues which I guess is a restaurant also. Ate there for lunch and had vegetarian food. We had to rush to see the old church building and the square. We ran out of time and had to leave before we could see more. A note here....schedule your tour for as early as possible. The traffic is bad and it does take a long time to get from the port to the city. We were late getting back to the ship! we were the last people to board. All in all we had a good day. The guide was nice and he spoke good english. My kids loved the whole experience and said it was their best tour. If you have any questions i will try to answer them.

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