Puntarenas

[sirrah231]

Been reading a few threads where people felt there is plenty to see/do within walking distance of the ship (only 4-5 blocks to town) that excursions are not necessary in Puntarenas. Have you found that to be the case?

 

We are defintely beyond the port people ... will want to explore culture, history, art, architecture ... and delicious food, of course! We are open to excursions, but this is our first cruise, so I don't know if it makes sense to book through cruise line (Princess) or book our own private excursion. We are not fond of the air-conditioned bus cattle-call type days.

[Appygirl]

Sirrah you may get better responses to this thread and your other threads if you repost them under the shore excursions for each country.

 

As for Puntarenas it is a small town. There is a flea market that sets up along the sidewalk beside the beach when a ship is in dock and there are lot of local crafts and food items for purchase plus your usual assortment of T shirts and other tourist souvenirs.

 

Another couple on our boat took a party bus that drove around Puntarenas for an hour or two and they said it was a lot of fun.

 

For the things you want to see I'd recommend taking an excursion out of Puntarenas. Go over to the Costa Rica board and you'll find lots of information over there.

[sirrah231]

Sorry ... thought Panama Canal was the best place to post them since it's on that cruise. Have been searching the message boards for info and was surprised I couldn't find anything ... now I see I've been looking in the wrong place! I appreciate your help. As I said ... first time cruisers used to doing our own travel planning, but I must say ... I'm finding this entire cruise planning process very overwhelming!

[zoncom]

Richard or anyone? If the Cristbal pier is gone, is there a craft market/outlet for the Indians handmade items? Enjoyed them in the past and was looking forward to them again. Thanks.

[skrufy]

We visited this port 3 years ago. The information we were given was not to wander around town alone. We took a 4x4 excursion up in the mountains which we enjoyed very much.

[LHT28]

We walked up in town to the supermarket for coffee to bring home

Then along the boardwalk on the beach where locals had stalls of things for sale

we did not have any problems just the tour guides (as usual) at the end of the pier

not really a problem

[Richard in Panama]

Puntarenas is a port in Costa Rica, on a lot of Canal itineraries from West Coast US to East Coast US. There is not much to see in town. There is a little, operative word "little", string of flea-market-type craft stalls at the end of the pier. It's not my coffee from Panama, but when I'm in Punatrenas I always buy some. An old gringo like me buys coffee from Tarazzu, high up in the Costa Rican mountains, roasts it the day before the ship comes in, and sells it at a little stand along these craft stalls. It is called "Shade Lady" - not "Shady Lady", since that's a whole different story in Costa Rica! - but it's really good coffee, nice to take home, and a great gift for anyone who loves good coffee. Guys name is John, and tell him I said hello.

 

You want to buy coffee beans. Beans have a shelf-life of almost a year. Ground coffee on the other hand has a shelf life of about 3 months, even if vacuum packaged. Sometimes the folks at the pier selling ground coffee . . . well, let's just say it has been around for a while. Also ground coffee, any ground coffee, is going to contain a lot of imperfect beans, whereas with the roasted whole beans you see the quality of what you are getting.

 

If the ship has a deal on board with Cafe Britt - they are a big and reputable operation. They do have the Tarrazu coffee, and the price includes shipping to your home in the US or Canada. So it's not a bad deal. AND when you get home and fall in love with the coffee, you can reorder on line and they will ship it to you. Mind you, Panama coffee is the best, but Costa Rican coffee - the good stuff - is a very close second.

 

Other than that . . . Puntarenas is a place where you really should take a tour. The really beautiful parts of Costa Rica are inland and you need to take a tour to see them.

 

Colon, on the other hand, is in Panama. And, yes, it is NOT a city to wander around in. The Indian craft area at Cristobal is gone, as is the Cristobal dock. The stores at the other docks, Colon 2000 and Home Port, will have some Indian stuff, but if you really want good stuff, either go on the Authentic Embera Village Tour, either with the ship or Anne Gordon's www.emberavillagetours.com or do one of the tours that goes to Panama City and stops at the Indian Craft Mart behind the YMCA which has a fantastic selection of Embera and Kuna crafts. If you are on a tour that goes into the Casco Viejo ("Colonial Panama") area of Panama City there are some stores there that have a great selection as well.

 

Hope that helps!

 

Regards, Richard

[BillB48]

Richard or anyone? If the Cristbal pier is gone, is there a craft market/outlet for the Indians handmade items? Enjoyed them in the past and was looking forward to them again. Thanks.

 

 

Pier 6 is no more:mad:. Take a look at the following link, post #22 an entry by Richard. Somewhere on this board I think Richard also mentioned the Embara Indians have not made it over to the Colon pier as yet.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=26862112&highlight=cristobal+pier#post26862112

[konatyme]

We were on the Island Princess Dec.5-20, 2010, and had a wonderful tour in Costa Rica with Odyssey Tours. We went to Manuel Antonio National Park and saw 3 kinds of monkeys, lots of sloths, birds (including a scarlet macaw on the way back, because our guide searched for one for us!), agoutis, a coatimundi, & crocodiles. It was a small group tour, set up by one of members of our Roll Call. We had a great time!

[moom]

How long was the drive to Manuel Antonio?

[Horizon36LD]

How long was the drive to Manuel Antonio?

 

We did the zip line/canopy with Charlie Soto. Oldest member of our tour was 78 and had a great time--highly recommended. Oh, saw a lot of wildlife too. Also included lunch and was 7 hrs-$79.

Have fun

Richard

[marigail]

We are booked thru Princess on the Carara National Park with lunch at the Villa Calletas while in Costa Rica. It is being described as a new tour, and it is a bit more expensive than we normally pay. Has anyone had experience with either the park or this hotel restaurant? We took a Caravan tour to CR a few years ago and most of the tours duplicate things we've seen so we wanted to try something different. Any thoughts?

[KJTRAVELS]

We booked a tour with OkeyDokeyTours prior to arriving in Puntarenas, Costa Rica on the Island Princess. We were a group of 12 and had the most fantastic tour. First we went and fed the Cappuchin monkeys and then tasted some of the local fresh fruits and then did the most FANTASTIC canopy (zipline) tour. We did a canopy tour with 14 platforms. This was absolutely FANTASTIC!!!! Definitely the highlight of our cruise!!!! We then had lunch a local open air restaurant near the beach....food was great!!!!

George was very professional and was very very informative. I would definitely recommend OkeyDokeyTours. This was a Fantastic Tour!! got to see and do so much more than what Princess could offer in a single tour for a much less price!!!! George and Charlie were great!!!!

[cruisingbarb]

We were on the Coral Princess in February and booked a tour with Odessey Tours. Diego was our guide. He was standing at the end of the pier with a sign with my name on it. Our group of 4 piled into his van and took off to see some of Costa Rica. We stopped to feed the monkeys. Our next stop was to do the Crocodile Man tour which we loved. It was so peaceful motoring down the river and we saw a lot of birds and several large crocodiles. Diego then stopped by the beach so we could get our feet wet (we're ex Californians and miss the beach). We made a stop for lunch at a local restauant and then a brief stop at a shop to buy souvenirs and coffee. He dropped us off at the pier and we had time to do some more shopping at the local market. All in all, it was a great day, Diego was very personable and we felt we got our money's worth. You can go to their website at odesseytourscr.com for more information.

[trackies]

We just went through the Panama Canal on the Amsterdam. We booked a tour of Puntarenas via Okey Dokey tours. We requested a small group and offered to pay for a private because we wanted some flexibility within the agenda and a more indepth experience. We loved it - great tour. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Charlie Soto and his company. He was right at the end of the dock waiting for us, had cold drinks - the guide was knowledgable. We fed the little capuchin monkeys (quite the sweet experience), visited a small organic farm and tasted their fruit and saw how they processed sugar cane for juice, enjoyed the countryside, had an amazing trip with the crocodile man - birds, crocs, lush jungle and mangrove forests, lunch where we were clearly the only non locals and great food, and went to the beach and saw the macaws. We stopped off in one touristy shopping place. I have lovely memories of this tour and do recommend Okey Dokey - thanks to cruise critic folks for the recommendations. Liz

[seveneleven]

Sounds great but zip lining maybe out for some in our group. What are your thoughts on canopy tour? Is it secure and fairly easy to walk on. Several in group are unsteady on feet.

[CruisingChronicler]

You definitely have to do a tour in Puntarenas! I was a crew member on the Celeb Infinity, and we went to Puntarenas numerous times... the first visit I didn't go on a tour and went to walk around 'town', and never did it again. Just some little huts with souvenirs you can find anywhere, very seedy town, nothing else to do.

Costa Rica was my all-time favorite destination to do tours in, there are SO many and all of them are amazing. I've gone to the volcanoes, visited the Baldi Hot Springs Resort at the base of the volcano (recommend this times 1000!), gone to a coffee plantation (Cafe Britt, wonderful company and experience), visited an Eco Center, went on a jungle cruise to see crocodiles, monkeys, and birds, done zip-lining... I recommend ALL of them, anything you book you will love.

Please do not waste your day in Costa Rica in Puntarenas, CR is just too beautiful to miss!

[VikkiGarcia]

I agree that this is a port that you MUST do a tour because the port "town" is not pretty or has much to see. That being said when we were there a few vendors set up "pop up tents" along the concrete walkway a few yards down from the cruiseship passenger gate. They sold handmade amazing stuff fairly cheap. The few passengers that managed to wander over there were gobbling everything up. I was glad that after being dropped off from our tour we did not follow the stream of people right back onto the ship.

[TKS]

I have sent off questions to Odessy Tours and Arenas Travel, both well reviewed on Trip Advisor. I see some additional recommendations of Odessy in this thread. Has anyone used Arenas Travel, and if so what are your thoughts? Does anyone else have recommendations for other tour operators for a small group (7-12)? Thanks! Can't wait. CR seems like an amazing country!:) Kay

[pthardy]

Are there any nice beaches that are reasonably close to Puntarenas that we could get to easily? We are there for 12 hours.

 

Thanks

[BillB48]

There is a long strip of beach right at the foot of the pier where the ship docks. Now we can discuss the definition of nice;):D. Seriously it is used by the locals, the sand is very dark to black and the bay is a little on the murky side owing to the fact it is shallow and tidal action keeps the water stirred up. I do not know if there is anything else within a short drive that would be a bit more attractive.

[pilotdane]

Honestly, not every port is a good place to go to the beach. Puntarenas is probably a good port to consider taking an excursion. If you really do want to go to a beach I would either go easy and just use the beach at the base of the pier. If you want something nicer you can rent a car or hire a driver and head south. You could be down in Punta Leona, Herradura or Jaco in about an hour. If you want something a bit closer, on the way south to the other more well known beaches the paved road passes close to Playa Tarcoles about 7km after you cross over the Tarcoles river bridge when heading south. There are no facilities but it should be quieter and less crowded than the other beaches. None of the beaches get really crowded though except for peak days & times.

[pthardy]

Thanks for the info regarding beaches, we will have to decide what we want to see and do while in Puntarenas, maybe a tour is the answer.

 

Alison

[nathand95]

I have not been on a cruise to Puntarenas, but in early June I spent 9 days there with a school trip and I have a few suggestions.

 

1.) Someone had previously mentioned Manuel Antonio National Park. I HIGHLY recommend this place. There are miles of hiking and there are numerous species of wildlife. On a short one mile hike we saw several types of monkeys, macaws, sloths, and various other types of birds. Also, there are several beaches within the park. I do not know if the beach we went to had a name, but it was gorgeous! Pretty much every place you go in CR will be jaw-dropping!

 

2.) Baldi Hot Springs

This was one of my favorite places on the entire trip. There are several different hot spring pools that you can have fun in. The hottest pool I saw was 113 degrees, but I know there is one hotter than that. There is also a very large pool near the front that is at a comfortable temp with 2 smaller pools within that that are kept cool. Also, at the back there is a large pool with several waterfalls and 3 waterslides. The waterslides are not to be missed. There are that are pretty tame, but the 3rd is completely insane! I got air-time inside the tube! It was exhilirating! There are also changing rooms on the premesis. The cost is $5 for a locker. There are also towels for rent. The cost is $10, but if you bring the towel back you get your money back. That prevents from having to lug the ship towel around. Also, there is a swim up bar and a restaurant. I did not see any of the food, but it smelled wonderful. I really hope to return here one day.

 

3.) Lake Arenal

I am not 100% certain if this is within driving distance from the port. If you have a lot of time then possibly. It is a beautiful lake! It is surounded by mountains all around. There are kayaks for rental if you are into that. We were planning on going kayaking, but the weather took a turn for the worst.

 

Sidebar-if you go to Puntarenas in the summer, that is the rainy season. The weather can take a turn for the worst in a matter of minutes. Be prepared to get wet.

 

4.)Monteverde

Again, I am not quite sure if this is within driving distance for a port day, but if you have awhile, then you should check this town out. You almost want to be in this town when the weather goes south. The town can completely disappear in cloud cover very quickly. There are numerous shops to buy souvenirs and a wonderful ice cream parlor (I reccomend Guanabana. I forget the English translation, but it is amazing!). There are also numerous zip lining places. We went to the Aventura zip lining. They were great! The staff spoke very good English and I felt safe the entire time. They have a total of 11 lines and a couple stretch across a vast canyon. There is a also a "Tarzan Swing". It is very similar to bungee jumping. It was also exhilirating and I highly recomend it for those thrill seekers! Also with Aventura, we went horseback riding. It as quite enjoyable as well. We went on a road and also through some trails in the forest. Great experience.

 

I think that is it, but if anyone has anymore questions regarding the places I mentioned,feel free to ask. I hope I was able to help. I think once you visit CR by ship, you will want to take a land vacation there. It is a remarkable destination.

[themnms]

We have booked the Manuel Antonio tour with Odyssey tours for our stop in Puntareras....We dock at 8am and leave at 5pm. Should I be nervous on the time we have?

 

thanks in advance