Panama Canal transit excursion help

[Larrydano]

Sharon and I will be on the Island Princess for a full Panama Canal transit Acapulco to Fort Lauderdale sailing 2/28/10.

I would like some excursion suggestions/comments for the following ports we will be visiting.

Huatulco, Mexico 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM

Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala 09:00 AM to 7:00 PM

San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua 12:00 PM to 07:00 PM

Puntarenas, Costa Rica 08:00 AM to 08:00PM

Any suggestions/comments for these ports of call would be greatly appreciated.

Larry

[Cruisin Sal]

Come and join our Roll Call. There are lots of suggestions for excursions on it, plus our Meet and Greets.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=927445

[maddiesky]

Check out the roll call....sorry I dont know how to post the link,,,,,we are on the same sailing

[Go-Bucks!]

Sharon and I will be on the Island Princess for a full Panama Canal transit Acapulco to Fort Lauderdale sailing 2/28/10.

 

I would like some excursion suggestions/comments for the following ports we will be visiting.

 

Huatulco, Mexico 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM

Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala 09:00 AM to 7:00 PM

San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua 12:00 PM to 07:00 PM

Puntarenas, Costa Rica 08:00 AM to 08:00PM

 

Any suggestions/comments for these ports of call would be greatly appreciated.

 

Larry

 

I visited all these ports on my last cruise, so maybe I can help a little.

 

Huatulco - I didn't like the excursion we did here (sailboat to a deserted beach) cuz the boat didn't dock - just anchored out from the beach and if you wanted to go lie out on the beach you had to swim to it. Well, I wanted my towel and beach bag, so it was impossible. I stayed on the boat and was incredibly bored. Wish I would have just toured the town.

 

Puerto Quetzal - We went to the Philadelphia Coffee Plantation and the nearby city of Antigua; this was my very favorite excursion on the whole cruise!! After a tour of the entire coffee making process (from seedling plant to packing it for sale), we had a fabulous lunch on the veranda of the plantation house. The city of Antigua is lovely, but unfortunately we didn't have as much time there as I would have liked. But it was really a fun day. We were very close to the 2 volcanoes, Fuego and Aqua, and Fuego was belching tons of ash into the sky every few minutes. It was interesting to watch it. Great excursion.

 

San Juan Del Sur - Our excursion went to the city of Rivas and a privately owned "resort." The tour was so bad that Princess refunded us 25% of the cost. Nicaragua's infrastructure and experience with tourism is far more limited than the other Central American countries and it showed. Hopefully they'll get better organized in the future. Luckily we still had time to go into the little town of San Juan Del Sur and it was very nice. We especially enjoyed a small American-owned cafe called the El Gato Negro bookstore and cafe. The owner talked with us for awhile - he's one of the many American expats who lives there. A self guided walking tour of the town and the market at the dock were much more fun than the excursion. The beach wasn't very crowded, but it looked kinda dirty.

 

Puntarenas - We took an aerial tram ride up through the rain forest and had lunch there too. It was a very good experience and the lunch was yummy. Then we took a ride down a crocodile infested river in a mangrove forest that was also excellent. Our tourguide was very knowledgable. We were so close to those crocs that it made me a bit nervous. The different birds and wildlife was great. Really glad I did these excursions.

 

Hope that helps a little. Of course, these are just my opinions. Others will likely have different ones. ;) You'll really enjoy this itinerary - it was one of the best and most diverse cruises I've done.

[Pam in CA]

Huatulco - I didn't like the excursion we did here (sailboat to a deserted beach) cuz the boat didn't dock - just anchored out from the beach and if you wanted to go lie out on the beach you had to swim to it. Well, I wanted my towel and beach bag, so it was impossible. I stayed on the boat and was incredibly bored. Wish I would have just toured the town.

 

Puntarenas - We took an aerial tram ride up through the rain forest and had lunch there too. It was a very good experience and the lunch was yummy. Then we took a ride down a crocodile infested river in a mangrove forest that was also excellent. Our tourguide was very knowledgable. We were so close to those crocs that it made me a bit nervous. The different birds and wildlife was great. Really glad I did these excursions.

On our recent Coral cruise, I chose not to take an excursion in Huatulco. Instead, I got off the ship after the rush, walked through the town (which is charming), and shopped a little.

 

In Puntarenas, we too took the aerial tram ride (but not with the river cruise) which was a complete bust. Didn't see much of anything. Each tram has a guide to point out the trees, birds, etc. Our guide knew almost nothing and barely spoke. It was very crowded and there were very long lines for everything; it was an hour's wait, mostly in the sun, just to board the aerial tram. When we went into lunch, it was almost 2pm so someone in our group joked about there being any food left. The lunch was miserable: we were served a tablespoon of macaroni salad, a few barely cooked carrots, beans (which I opted not to get), a little rice, and a small slice each of watermelon and melon. That was it. We hung around the dining area for a while before boarding our bus back to the ship. Just before boarding, I noticed people with large pieces of chicken and other food, so I asked them where they got it. They'd gotten it from the same "buffet" we'd been at. Obviously, they'd run out of food and never told us there would be more even when we asked. I found this tour very disappointing and when I (and others on our bus who had the same miserable lunch) contacted the tour desk as soon as we boarded, they told us they'd contact the tour operator. Never heard from them. It was one of the worst tours I've taken with Princess. Definitely not as described or promised. If it'd been a $59 tour I wouldn't have complained but it was something like $159/pp (or more... can't remember.)

[capriccio]

Larry - we did the full transit on the Island two years ago. It is a fabulous trip!

 

We did Princess excursions in each port (of course the offerings could have changed in the past 2 years):

 

Huatulco – we went on the Huatulco River Float. There is more rafting than floating involved but the nine rapids are small (the guide said class 1.5 to 2 but that must be in the rainy season). It was great fun and we saw lots of birds (which the guide described), locals on the river banks fishing and doing laundry, etc. It ended when we reached the Pacific Ocean and beached the zodiacs.

 

Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala – we went on the Best of Colonial Antigua with Lunch tour. It included a lovely drive through the countryside – we even saw smoke issuing from one of the active volcanoes. We wish more time was spent on the historical buildings in Antigua. Instead the bus would take us just a few blocks from one location to the next which was time-consuming and left little time for exploring. The highlight of the tour (and one of the highlights of the trip) was lunch at Casa Santa Domingo – a sightseeing stop in its own right since it is a convent founded in 1642 with beautiful ruins, gardens, a museum, etc. A ‘typical’, tasty (best guacamole ever tasted by anyone at our table), and elegant lunch buffet was held in one of the gardens. The last stop was at a jade factory and shop.

 

Puerto Corinto, Nicaragua – there were only a couple of tours offered so we decided to treat this as a sea day.

 

Puntarenas, Costa Rica – we went on the Costa Rica’s Favorites with Lunch tour that included an aerial tram (think ski lift with open gondola that has a floor and roof), short hike (saw an anteater in a tree), lunch (good but not great like in Guatemala), then a 2 hour boat ride where we saw crocodiles and over 16 species of birds. The guides were top notch – all botany, environmental science graduates/grad students.

 

Whatever you chose, enjoy!

[Fun2Bwith]

review of a super animal viewing excursion in Puntarenas Our next stop, after a day at sea, on Friday, 1/29/10, was Puntarenas, Costa Rica. We had booked a tour with Odyssey Tours of Costa Rica, dealing with Diego and Alvaro who are brothers. They were waiting for us right off the dock. Diego was going to look for another tour, so we went to the A/C van and met the driver. Alvaro then gave us an overview of our tour. We had requested a tour to see as many animals as possible.

 

We started our drive along the highway with Alvaro describing the area. He then stopped on the side of a hill and got out and looked for monkeys in the trees. There were none, so we continued on to the entrance to the Carara National Park. Alvaro paid for us and then we drove back about 2 miles to another entrance. A gated dirt road was the path—the road went to an Indian village about 40 km inland. We went here to avoid the tour bus crowds which would make seeing animals unlikely.

 

The hike was about 2 km each way. It was an easy hike along the dirt road. About 1 kilometer in we came on a group of 4 capuchin monkeys frolicking in the trees along the road. We got pictures and one of the monkeys jumped across the road. Alvaro had a single lens scope—very nice—which he trained on the monkeys. For all of the animal we would see he would do this, and after we viewed it, he would take our cameras and take pictures of the animals through his scope—very nice.

 

We also came on some beautiful large iridescent butterflies. About 1 ½ km in we came on a pair of scarlet macaws. One was sitting in branches, and the other was eating dates. We then came on our goal, the lagoon area. Here we saw a small crocodile, Jesus Christ lizards, boat-beaked heron, and an Aracari. Alvaro got us some great pictures of the latter with his scope. On the hike back we saw the macaws and an iguana.

 

We next drove to a road that went to a colonial village resort and went beyond its entrance to get a great view of the ocean and a beautiful waterfall. We then visited the resort and its shops. Next we drove to the seashore and a small village where we viewed some more scarlet macaws. We then went into a little. Local restaurant and had plates of wonderful fresh fruits and drinks (included in price). We started back and stopped at a bridge over a river where we saw several dozen large crocodiles sunning themselves on the bank.

 

We then went to the village of Orotina to view the sloths the villagers had put in the trees in the park to discourage the Grackles from nesting there. Besides the sloths, we got a great view of a large gray owl. Then we went to a small house in the village that had souvenirs for sale. Then we proceeded to the town super market and purchased Costa Rican coffee for gifts—price was very cheap, and Alvaro even used his super market loyalty card to get a discount. We then drove back to the pier.

 

The tour was great. We saw lots of animals, Alvaro was doing everything he could so we could see more. He brought his scope everywhere which really enhanced the viewing. The lunch was very nice. Alvaro and the driver were both personable and did whatever it took to make the tour comfortable and enjoyable. Diego and Alvaro can be reached through www.odysseytourscr.com. They were excellent at communicating, provided everything they promised and more, and were very reasonable.

__________________

Fun2BWithpair@yahoo.com