Puerto Limon Shore Excursion Suggestions

[GiannaD]

We will have a port call at Puerto Limon in March. We would like suggestions for excursions that do not involve scuba, snorkeling, zip lines, rafting or horseback riding. What are your "must see" and/or "avoid" suggestions?

 

Thanks

[Cruiser 4 Life 66]

Must see: The Tortuguero Canals. They are often called Costa Rica's Amazon. You will see lots of wildlife. I saw a monkey, a sloth, an iguana, a lizard that walks on water, an otter, and many kinds of birds. We also visited a Del Monte banana plantation afterwards. That was also very interesting.

[geoherb]

We took a private excursion (six of us, coordinated by a woman on our roll call thread) with J.J. His website is http://jjcostarica.bravehost.com/. The tour we took was #3, which combines the boat ride through the canals at Tortuguero National Park with a stop at the sloth sanctuary. We had a great time. I was glad we had such a small group and were able to get a personalized tour. One of the things he did at the end was take us to a grocery store. It was nice to have his guidance when buying coffee and other souvenirs.

[EGCruisers]

We also used JJ for a tour when we were in Puerto Limon last week. We had a great tour. We went to the aerial tram in Braullio Carillo reserve, boat ride on the Tortuguero Canal, lunch in a local restaurant, stopped at a banana plantation to see the plants (no time to see the packing, etc. although JJ was able to tell us a lot about the process), a store for coffee shopping. We are a family of 6 adults and 2 young children and everyone enjoyed it. His driver pulled off the road when he saw a sloth hanging from a tree, so we all got a great view of it. My 2 year old grandson really wanted to see an alligator or a crocodile. JJ knew a person who had a lot of unusual pets, so we stopped on our canal cruise and he brought the young man's pet alligator to the boat for our grandson to see. He has a wealth of information about his country.

[GiannaD]

Thanks for the ideas.

[teacherman]

We were there in November. Based on some previous cruisers recommendations, we booked a private tour for the 2 of us with Jorge Ramirez. jorgel.cr@hotmail.com We had planned to go to the Veragua National park, but it was POURING rain that morning. So we agreed on a new price and spent about 3 hours touring the area. He was very prompt in answering my e mails and arranging what we wanted. As you can see, he was also quite flexible. I recommend him to you.

[brandonjordan]

We just got back from the Celebrity Equinox cruise with a stop in Costa Rica. We did the Dole Banana tour as well as the Canal with Eduardo Humphries on Lucky Tours[yourluckytour@gmail.com]. he was wonderful - very accommodating and added more things to our tour than we expected. His van was in great shape and we were very comfortable. He was very knowledgable and had a great sense of humor. He gave us a good price. We ended up with 12 or 14 people. If you want more info, contact me at adele@sircoconsultants.com. Hope you have a great trip. Adele

[dj127]

We did a private tour with Okey Dokey tours. It was excellent. We had a group of 11 people in our van. Clean/well kept van, a/c, drinks in ice chest for us - did the A1 tour - banana plantation, river boat cruise, saw monkeys, held a sloth, tasted some fresh fruit, stopped at a store for shopping, lunch at a restaurant on the beach. Our guide made it personal for us and not rehearsed.

DJ127

[jcjava]

what tour company did you use? thanks for any additional information.

[chrisv348]

I just had the opportunity to spend the last two weeks vacationing in Costa Rica. During this trip I was accompanied by a private guide by the name of Jorge Ramirez Morales. I met Jorge for the first time in April 2011 after I booked a private tour with him to Cahuita National Park and to the Jaguar Rescue Center as a cruise ship passenger. After returning home Jorge and I continued to correspond regularly by email and I inquired about the possibility of hiring him to be my guide for a 2-week stay in Costa Rica. I planned to travel alone for the first week of my trip and to have my teenage daughter fly down and join me during the second week. I felt the security of a guide was essential because I do not speak Spanish, nor did I feel comfortable traveling alone in unknown areas. I customized my trip with Jorge’s assistance to include overnight stays in Limon, Tortuguero and the Arenal Volcano area and a day trip to the Veragua Adventure Park.

I cannot begin to express how pleased I was with the overall experience. Jorge is a kind, caring person with morals and dreams. His overall attention to my safety was amazing and I was completely comfortable in his presence at all times. His knowledge of the English language is excellent and he proved to be so helpful in translating Spanish to English for me. I could go on and on about this experience and our adventures but the bottom line is that Jorge is an exceptional guide. You will not find anyone more dedicated to his profession. I urge anyone interested booking a tour in Costa Rica to contact Jorge. He can be reached at jorgel.cr@hotmail.com. If you have any additional questions feel free to contact me by email at cvoight2@verizon.net

[TWO4THESEA]

Great information on various excursions. Does anyone have any information or feedback on Tour # PL-48 offered by Celebrity Cruise line? It's a combination of Ariel Tram ride and river boat cruise. Choosing an excursion is very confusing. There are so many Pros and cons for each one, not sure which to take.

thanks.

[rusty86]

We have been to Costa Rica previously and done many of the tours mentioned here already. Is there anything we can do right off the ship, maybe grab a cab and explore?

Rusty

[elcuchio24]

Whatever you do: get out of Puerto Limon. It's not a very attractive area, but if you take a tour into the countryside whatever you do you'll be able to see more of the lovely scenery!:)

[travel_lady]

We did a private tour with Okey Dokey tours. It was excellent. We had a group of 11 people in our van. Clean/well kept van, a/c, drinks in ice chest for us - did the A1 tour - banana plantation, river boat cruise, saw monkeys, held a sloth, tasted some fresh fruit, stopped at a store for shopping, lunch at a restaurant on the beach. Our guide made it personal for us and not rehearsed.

DJ127

 

We also just returned last week from a cruise that stopped at Puerto Limon and used Oke Dokey tours. Great experience. Arranged all with Charlie, who answered all emails when making arrangements in record speed. He gives a discount if u are a Cruise Critic follower! Did the same tour as above, but we also did ziplining. We were a group of 8, and 2 chose not to zipline (and had a reduced fee). The lunch was very good at an open air restaurant and had free beer or soft drinks to boot. Carlos our guide was very accommodating to our group as well as an excellent driver. All 8 loved the tour. You can reach Charlie at Okey Dokey Tours at okeydokeytours@hotmail.com and the website is: http://www.okeydokeytours.com/

[VaTraveler]

We were in Puerto Limon last week, also, and used Tortuego-Wildlife tours. I had not been able to find much information on this board about them, but they turned out to be wonderful. Their website lists several tour options, but he was very willing to customize our tour for us. We did the ziplining, banana plantation, Tortuguero Canal, and several random stops including a stop at a grocery store to buy coffee at less than half the price of the shops in port. Ten of us from our roll call went, and we were very, very pleased with the whole tour.

[Colorado Kat]

We took a tour (our 3, with a family of 3) that brought us to The Tortuguero Canals on a boat-ride, a banana plantation (fascinating), and the sloth sanctuary. Had some time in town to shop, and grab coffee.

 

We really enjoyed the day, and saw a lot of wildlife when we were out on the canals.

[Portas]

. We did the ziplining, banana plantation, Tortuguero Canal, and several random stops including a stop at a grocery store to buy coffee at less than half the price of the shops in port. Ten of us from our roll call went, and we were very, very pleased with the whole tour.

 

We have booked a ziplining excursion through Hal for our April cruise. I would love to hear about your experience. Was it enjoyable and 'safe'? I've looked through everything 'ziplining' I could find on these boards ~ some good, some bad ~ :confused: so, now I'm a bit apprehensive.

[VaTraveler]

. We did the ziplining, banana plantation, Tortuguero Canal, and several random stops including a stop at a grocery store to buy coffee at less than half the price of the shops in port. Ten of us from our roll call went, and we were very, very pleased with the whole tour.

 

We have booked a ziplining excursion through Hal for our April cruise. I would love to hear about your experience. Was it enjoyable and 'safe'? I've looked through everything 'ziplining' I could find on these boards ~ some good, some bad ~ :confused: so, now I'm a bit apprehensive.

Very, very safe. I know there are several different ziplining outfits in Costa Rica. With William and Luis (tortuego-wildlife) we went to Jungle Breeze. Since it was a private tour and there were only ten of us, we received a good bit of individual attention. I like that when ziplining. We were there well before the cruise ship excursions got there.;)

[WVU_Neal]

We also just returned last week from a cruise that stopped at Puerto Limon and used Oke Dokey tours. Great experience. Arranged all with Charlie, who answered all emails when making arrangements in record speed. He gives a discount if u are a Cruise Critic follower! You can reach Charlie at Okey Dokey Tours at okeydokeytours@hotmail.com and the website is: http://www.okeydokeytours.com/

 

We also used Charlie Soto at Okey Dokey Tours while in Port Limon. It was a fun and excellent tour, and exactly as promised. We stopped at a small fruit stand to sample bananas, visited a banana plantation where Charlie explained how they were grown and harvested. We took a boat tour of the Tortuguera Canals, and had lunch at a pleasant restaurant near Playa Bonita.

 

What a pleasant tour!

 

As for the comment that "there is nothing to see" in Puerto Limon, not accurate. It depends on what you are looking for. The main street of town, a 5 minute walk from the ship, is busy with lots of stores and businesses. There was a Central Market, mainly for locals, featuring food, clothing and stuff. A nice visit to see how others live. I spent an enjoyable few hours walking around before the ship left.

[blbennett32]

. We did the ziplining, banana plantation, Tortuguero Canal, and several random stops including a stop at a grocery store to buy coffee at less than half the price of the shops in port. Ten of us from our roll call went, and we were very, very pleased with the whole tour.

 

We have booked a ziplining excursion through Hal for our April cruise. I would love to hear about your experience. Was it enjoyable and 'safe'? I've looked through everything 'ziplining' I could find on these boards ~ some good, some bad ~ :confused: so, now I'm a bit apprehensive.

 

I am not sure what all you get with the HAL tour you booked, but we just used okey dokey tours in March and they (Charlie and George) were great. I would highly recommended them. They took us to jungle breeze ziplines which were extremely safe. They have automatic brakes which was really nice. A couple members of our group were a little aprehensive, but by the second platform they were all smiles. We had a blast. In addition to zipling we went to a local fruit market to sample the fruit, saw some howler monkeys that they spotted as we were driving, the banana plantation, the tortuga canals and lunch. We had a 7hour tour for less than what the ship was charging for the zipline alone. Costa Rica was our favorite stop onthe cruise......I would go back in a heartbeat.