Panama canal ports of call oct 09

[Lyn Mc]

Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

This was a tender port and we did not make it off the ship. High waves but due mostly to disorganisation. NCL ship was also anchored there, a bit closer to the shore than the Millennium and they did a fantastic job with their tendering. People sat in the Theatre waiting for nearly 3 hours before getting off. When the all clear came that anyone could go ashore via tender at 3.00 p.m the announcement said “have a nice DAY on Cabo” - we all had to be back on board via tender for 5.45 p.m. What day were they referring to - only 2 hours at best !!! People who went ashore said there was not a lot there but that it was very nice. Not sure what we missed really but that’s the problem with a tender port. It’s not the first time we didn’t make it ashore at one.

 

 

Acapulco, Mexico

Heat was up in the 90’s and the humidity about the same. Came out to hassle from taxi drivers all over the place Taxi drivers and Vendors here do not understand “No”. Eventually we agreed on a price $15 each for a tour of old Acapulco and the cliff divers in an air conditioned taxi. Saw the old Casblanca and Flamingo hotels and the morning (cruise) show of the cliff divers. You can chose to pay and see from hotel, viewing place or watch it from the roadside. Then went to the Flea market, prices were not great, leave buying gifts etc until Puntarenas, much better products and prices.

 

 

Huatulco, Mexico

Very small harbour area, not a lot there, small beach with tables/chairs and vendors. Put on bug spray, this is the only place I got bitten. Some people went off to the small town Crucecita for some shopping and sightseeing, only cost $5 for the taxi one way and reports were that it was worth the visit. The people who walked said that it took around 45 mins and they all took the taxis back. Some others went off to the small surrounding bays in what looked very small, unsafe boats but all came back safely. As we were only there until 2.00 p.m. we stayed in the harbour and walked around and then had a bottle of beer sitting on the beach, chilling out looking directly at the ocean/ship. Vendors come around but they do understand ‘No’ there, and the guys selling silver were all regulated with their official badges.

 

 

Puntarenas, Costa Rica

On this day the Infinity was docked next to us, fantastic photo opportunity. Had to be careful which ship you got back on!! She left before us and it was great hearing the salutes from the horns that evening. This place is very poor and there is very little there unless you go out on a tour. We wanted to find the newly-constructed Parque Marino del Pacífico near the cruise terminal but have no idea where this was. There is also supposed to be a museum up the beach with information about the area but we certainly could not find that either.

 

So, we walked up into town & no one seemed to take that much notice of strangers, in fact we felt much safer than we expected. There are supermarkets and shops, they will accept US $. We came back along the sea front via the many handicraft stalls – this was the best shopping of the whole trip. Their speciality is painting feathers and we have two wonderful specimens at home waiting to be framed. The beach is black sand and covered in debris mainly from the surrounding vegetation, it is not the most attractive area but some locals were making use of it.

 

 

Panama Canal

Fantastic day, Captain did not open helipad so best view was aft. We were lucky and had an aft cabin, we were told that people had virtually camped out in the Cosmos lounge to get a good view but you couldn’t see the sides very well from there. Going around the ship was a good idea to get different perspectives but still we thought that aft was the best view and we stayed there all day.

 

 

Colon, Panama

OK. Here the 3 of us took the ships tour – Gatun Locks and Portobelo – Described in the brochure as seeing two forts, customs house, church of the Black Christ and then tender to Gatun Locks for a one hour tour of the locks and back to Christobel Pier. The day we went was 20th October, the day prior to the procession, there were road blocks and the coach took forever. We only say one of the forts and stayed only 10 mins at the other. We then expected to be taken to the tender to cross Gatun Lake to the locks for our one hour tour. Neither of these things happened. We were driven by coach to the locks and left on a viewing gallery to see exactly the same as we had the day before from the ship whilst someone on a PA system spoke to us for 5-10 minutes. There was no tour at all and we were taken back to the coach. We were very disappointed and angry at being so misled that when we got back on the ship we complained to the shore excursion desk and were eventually given the standard 15% discount which is all they can give and told to write to Miami. We have done this and await the outcome. The total misrepresentation of this tour is unforgiveable and I hope that this helps someone else to avoid such disappointment.

 

 

Cartegena, Columbia

This place was much, much safer than we had been led to believe. We took a tour with Dora of cartagenatour.com. We enjoyed this tour and Dora is lovely. However, we thought that it was very expensive ($55 ea for 9) for what we got. We went to La Popa monastery, the Fort but only for a photo stop and did a walking tour of the plazas and the old town. We also thought that we would be going into the Inquisitors Palace (everybody we met said this was really good) but this did not happen, instead we had two shopping stops, one at the dungeons and one at the Shopping Mall (Emeralds). We found out when we got back that others only paid $20 each in a taxi at the Port gates and got a local guide. We did get picked up and taken back to the ship so that was good.

 

 

Orangestad, Aruba

Sunny and around 85 deg. We walked around the town for a while and took photos of the Iguanas on the rocks near to the harbour there. Then we caught the local bus to the beaches. $2.30 return, we went up to Palm beach but this wasn’t for us and we came back to Eagle Beach. This is what we wanted, very few people, blue/green sea and white sands. We went over the road and bought a cool beer at one of the resorts and spent our time on the beach. We caught the bus back and did a bit of shopping on the Pier right next to the ship. Fantastic day

 

Lyn Mc

[MSN-Travelers]

Outstanding report. I wish more people would provide this type of information for the Panama Canal route.

 

Again, thank you.

[mr green]

Strange about Cabo, have been there sooo many times, but never had a rough sea.

 

john