San Juan Del Sur in Nicaragua

I cannot find a cruise critic board for Nicaragua, so I though I would post here. We will be doing a full canal transit on Coral Princess. We are not shoppers or beach people, we like scenery, nature, some sort of activity. Has anyone done the Mombacho Volcano 4WD and Hike that Princess offers? Sounds closest to something that would interest us, though the hiking might be a stretch for me. Also considering Princess Nature Experience, Masaya Volcano, Apoyo Lagoon and Granada. Because the tours are so long and this is a tendered port, I am more inclined to book something with the ship rather than independently. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

There is this good sized thread just down the board:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2570310

and a few others if you look around.

We will also visit this port on a full transit Panama Canal cruise in Jan. 2019 and will watch this thread with interest, since we have the same questions. We very seldom do a ship's excursion, but are thinking of making an exception for this port.

We went on this excursion in October. We didn't think that the hike was too strenuous. There were a lot of stairs but the hike was slow and you could stop and rest for a few minutes if you needed. The trail is very slippery in spots. I did step off the trail to let a group pass going in the opposite direction. I slipped and broke my wrist. The guides were great giving the tour and taking care of my wrist. They were able to wrap it tightly and I continued on the tour and had the wrist taken care of once we were back on the ship. (Just be sure to watch where you are going). We could hear howler monkeys but couldn't see them due to the dense clouds that you are basically walking in. Actually, we didn't really see any animals other than a few birds. Lunch in Granada was delicious. I had the fish and my DH had the beef. He said that the beef was delicious but a little tough. We did a short walk through Granada which was beautiful and there were a lot of locals trying to get you to buy their wares. We couldn't really see the twin volcanoes because they were cloud covered. I would recommend this excursion. How many times are you going to have a chance to hike in a cloud forest on a volcano? Please let me know if you have any questions.

I have only visited these areas on land trips. I dont know what the Mombacha volcano is but I did visit all the places in the other excursion. Granada is a cute colonial town with colourful buildings and beautiful tiled roofs. Masaya volcano is active, off memory not too far to walk to the actual lip of the volcano with its huge open mouth spewing sulfur fumes (enjoyed it) and the lagoon I remember was surrounded by green hills and we found a quiet place on the foreshore and had a swim - so it would give you a nice overview. Along with Lake Nicaragua and Ometepe Island these are the most well known tourist spots in the country so would give a nice overview

Thank you, Indybarb, always good to hear first hand accounts. Sounds like this will be a go for us.

Questions to Astromaid.  What did you decide to do and why?  I looked at the 4WD to Mombacho and while it looked interesting, the three to Masaya looked more comprehensive.  We have a lot of time to decide, not going until next December, but we would like to pick one out in advance.  Since volcanoes seem to the Nicaragua thing, I don't want to be shut out of one that I would like to visit.  Be interested in hearing about you experiences.

1 hour ago, CarolandNate said:

Questions to Astromaid.  What did you decide to do and why?  I looked at the 4WD to Mombacho and while it looked interesting, the three to Masaya looked more comprehensive.  We have a lot of time to decide, not going until next December, but we would like to pick one out in advance.  Since volcanoes seem to the Nicaragua thing, I don't want to be shut out of one that I would like to visit.  Be interested in hearing about you experiences.

 

Astromaid appears to be on the roll call for Jewel of the Seas March 13.2019.  She hasn't posted there since Oct. 20 but maybe you could leave a message there for her.  EM

Question for teamflames.  Saw that you went on land trips to Masaya Volcano in Nicaragua.  We are looking at a couple of volcano option there.  Would like to pick your brain on that.

7 hours ago, CarolandNate said:

Question for teamflames.  Saw that you went on land trips to Masaya Volcano in Nicaragua.  We are looking at a couple of volcano option there.  Would like to pick your brain on that.

Suggestion here.  When you see a post that is older, and that person does not post often on this board, hover your cursor over the username and it will show their basic profile.  Along the bottom of that box is a gray line.  Click on Find Content, and you can see where that person is currently posting.  teamflames seems to hang out on the NCL board for now.  EM

Essiesmom  Being relatively new to this, I was not sure how it works when you want to get to someone in a more direct manner.  In some cases I have asked some with whom I might want to seek out in the future, if they would give me their email address.  Some have and that's great.  But not everyone is going to be so forthcoming.

I have tried to use the message box, thinking that might be a private message to that person, but I keep getting an error message that says I have 0 messages left for the day, try again (or something like that).  Bottom line is that I can't use it.  Is that something to do with my settings?

The information on this website is valuable and because we are not traveling until next Dec, we have a lot of time to gather up opnions and make informed decisions when we ultimately go.  I know that winging it is sometimes a good thing, but in general, I like to be more in control when I spend that kind of money. 

Essiesmom  I had actually done that with the find content and yes I saw all of teamflames postings, one as recently as last week. That post had nothing to do with the subject matter at hand, but it was a recent post.  I suppose I could just post my question as irrelevant to that subject that it is and since teamflames was posting as recently as  a week ago, they will likely see it and hopefully answer.  I did not do that because I am guessing that the people who are answer that post are going to say, "why is this person here".  Are saying that is the best way to talk to someone?

Unfortunately, or fortunately as the case may be, there is no way on CC to message someone privately.  I think that has two purposes:  To keep us from telling others what travel agents we use, and because some threads become so vitriolic that they don't want any incidents of people being sent nasty PMs.  Or whatever.  But you could just start a thread on that board, maybe just title it 'A question for teamflames'...EM

I have noticed that there can be some nastiness on these boards.  oh well.  Thanks for the advice and happy travels

On 2/16/2018 at 2:23 PM, konatyme said:

We will also visit this port on a full transit Panama Canal cruise in Jan. 2019 and will watch this thread with interest, since we have the same questions. We very seldom do a ship's excursion, but are thinking of making an exception for this port.

Will be interested to hear about your experience when you get back.  Did you set anything up yet, given that your original post was last February.  As I think volcanoes in Nicaragua are "must see", I don't want to risk not getting any, so I am inclined to do so in advance.  It is just a matter of which one.  There appear to be three through the ship that actually visit volcanoes and they are all the same price.  There are some differences, but nothing major.  If you did choose one already, why did you pick that one?

On 2/19/2018 at 6:46 AM, Astromaid said:

Thank you, Indybarb, always good to hear first hand accounts. Sounds like this will be a go for us.

When did you go to Nic.  Which volcano tour did you choose.  And why did you choose that one.  There are three that are relatively the same.  Want to make an informed decision.

On 2/18/2018 at 2:09 PM, IndyBarb said:

We went on this excursion in October. We didn't think that the hike was too strenuous. There were a lot of stairs but the hike was slow and you could stop and rest for a few minutes if you needed. The trail is very slippery in spots. I did step off the trail to let a group pass going in the opposite direction. I slipped and broke my wrist. The guides were great giving the tour and taking care of my wrist. They were able to wrap it tightly and I continued on the tour and had the wrist taken care of once we were back on the ship. (Just be sure to watch where you are going). We could hear howler monkeys but couldn't see them due to the dense clouds that you are basically walking in. Actually, we didn't really see any animals other than a few birds. Lunch in Granada was delicious. I had the fish and my DH had the beef. He said that the beef was delicious but a little tough. We did a short walk through Granada which was beautiful and there were a lot of locals trying to get you to buy their wares. We couldn't really see the twin volcanoes because they were cloud covered. I would recommend this excursion. How many times are you going to have a chance to hike in a cloud forest on a volcano? Please let me know if you have any questions.

Which was the one you went on in October 2017.  Why did you pick it?  Good that you didn't let the broken wrist take away from it though.

Want to do volcanoes in Nicaragua, when we go in December on a Panama Canal, full transit..  Not finding much on existing boards.  We intend to do so on a ship's tour (Princess).  I have found three, that look interesting and all have some degree of similarity.

Masaya Volcano & Hacienda Los Altos Cultural Experience             7 1/2 $99.95

Nature Experience, Masaya Volcano, Apoyo Lagoon and Granada       8 1/4  $99.95    

Granada, Masaya Market & Volcano, Lunch & Shopping  8 1/2 hours   $99.95        

I have gotten a nice endorsement of the first, but I would like to know if anyone has done the other two.  If so, why did you choose that one.  The prices are the same and the time is fairly close.  I noticed that the second and third have slightly shorter transits to and back.  But the first spends more time at the Masaya Volcano itself.   Thanks to all.         

Hi Carol and Nate. We went on the Mombacho Volcano 4WD and hike. We chose this excursion because it offered a hike through a cloud forest on top of the crater. Please let me know if you have any other questions 

CarolandNate, I jumped ships, Essiesmom is correct. I was to travel on Coral Princess, but I canceled that cruise and am cruising on Jewel of the Seas a week or so later later. So we will not be going to Nicaragua. I was looking forward to cruising the Coral Princess, but after research I paid less money, get an extra day of cruising and an overnight in Cabo San Lucas with Jewel. And I got a full refund on the deposit I had paid on Coral Princess.