Need help with tours from Limon

[itzmered]

I am looking at 2 of the Princess excursions the Jungle River Eco adventure and the Highlights of Costa Rica. From what I can tell the difference is the Highlights one you go to the rainforest for an aerial tram ride. What we are mainly interested in seeing is wildlife and doing a little shopping. Is it worth the extra dollars and time to do the one to the rain forest? Will we see a lot of wildlife on the aerial tram or will we be disappointed that we were on a whole day tour and never got any time to shop at the port?

[grandbanksguy]

I am looking at 2 of the Princess excursions the Jungle River Eco adventure and the Highlights of Costa Rica. From what I can tell the difference is the Highlights one you go to the rainforest for an aerial tram ride. What we are mainly interested in seeing is wildlife and doing a little shopping. Is it worth the extra dollars and time to do the one to the rain forest? Will we see a lot of wildlife on the aerial tram or will we be disappointed that we were on a whole day tour and never got any time to shop at the port?

 

Below is an exerpt from my review of my 11/5/10-11/15/10 Panama Canal cruise aboard the Coral princess:

 

Visiting the Costa Rican rainforest was the primary reason that we had selected this cruise itinerary in the first place. To get the full experience we had signed up for Princess’ Costa Rica’s Favorites with lunch which took up the entire day ashore. After a 2-hour bus ride we arrived at the rainforest where we took an 80 min ride in an open-air gondola car. The cars accommodated 6 passengers plus a guide and traveled as high as 120 ft high in the canopy. The views through the canopy were fabulous and the guide was extremely knowledgeable. His ability to locate and point out wildlife and plant species was absolutely amazing. After the tram ride we were served a very good Costa Rican lunch buffet and then went on a short, guided nature walk. We felt very fortunate that we saw so much wildlife including howler monkeys, toucans and humming birds and the ubiquitous leafcutter ants. Then it was back on the bus for another hour to the Tortuguero Canals where we took a 2 hour cruise on a small covered boat. Again, we had a very experienced guide who located and pointed out all kinds of creatures including more howlers, two and three toed sloths, iguanas and water birds. As we had been backtracking since leaving the tram ride, it was only about a half hour ride to Limon and the ship.

[geoherb]

There's not much shopping in the port. We were there last week and took a private tour with J.J. One of the members of our roll call did all of the organizing and we just joined her and her husband and a couple they were traveling with. J.J.'s website is http://jjcostarica.bravehost.com/.

 

We did his tour #3, which included the cruise on a small boat in Tortuguero National Park and time at the sloth sanctuary.

 

We also stopped for lunch at a beachside restaurant and ate delicious Costa Rican dishes. The cost of lunch was extra, but overall we ended up being able to do a lot and avoid the crowds. Two of our tablemates showed up at the sloth sanctuary with the Princess excursion. They were in a group of 50 or more people. We had a great personal tour of the sloth nursery and the places where adults were kept. I can't imagine being able to hear and see well with a group of 50.