Puerto Quetzal...Antigua or Lake Atitlan

[SF]

Thinking of either taking Celebrity's tour

 

Lake Atitlan From Another Angle,

 

Colonial Antigua - Past and Present

or

Casa Santo Domingo & Antigua Guatemala.

 

Any thoughts on any of these?

[Cornishpastyman1]

Thinking of either taking Celebrity's tour

 

Lake Atitlan From Another Angle,

 

Colonial Antigua - Past and Present

or

Casa Santo Domingo & Antigua Guatemala.

 

Any thoughts on any of these?

 

I did the last of those

and enjoyed it very much. Food was very good at the Casa Santo Domingo too.

 

All the best

Tony

[SF]

Thanks for the youtube video link. Really enjoyed watching it. We are trying to decide between that tour and the other I mentioned.

 

How much time did you actually get to see Antigua on this tour?

 

What did they serve for lunch at the hotel? Reason I ask is one person in our group is a very "picky" eater?

 

Did you spend most of the time touring Antigua and then have only lunch at the hotel?

 

Is the drive to Antigua a long one?

 

Thanks.:)

[Cornishpastyman1]

Thanks for the youtube video link. Really enjoyed watching it. We are trying to decide between that tour and the other I mentioned.

 

How much time did you actually get to see Antigua on this tour?

 

What did they serve for lunch at the hotel? Reason I ask is one person in our group is a very "picky" eater?

 

Did you spend most of the time touring Antigua and then have only lunch at the hotel?

 

Is the drive to Antigua a long one?

 

Thanks.:)

 

Um... it was over 3 years ago so don't treat this as the absolute gospel but we did see a fair bit of Antigua - I didn't feel shortchanged in that respect. The guide was with us for about 45 minutes then we were on our own for about 30-45 minutes so we could stroll around as we wanted to.

 

The lunch is a buffet but very good one so your friend should be OK. That probably took another hour. The we had about half an hour in the grounds of CSD before going to the Jade factory on the way home. The drive time to Antigua ? Hopefully someone will come on with the accepted time, I'd say another 3/4 hour.

 

Tony

[SF]

Thank you. Sounds like a nice tour. Hopefully someone will post about the other tour we are considering also so we can make a decision soon. :) We still have a few days to decide.

[SF]

Another question:

 

Was the bus used an air conditioned one? If not was it uncomfortable or hot? What kind of condition was the bus in....old or more modern? I don't do well on smaller non air conditioned buses so before booking want to find out as much as possible.

[Cornishpastyman1]

Another question:

 

Was the bus used an air conditioned one? If not was it uncomfortable or hot? What kind of condition was the bus in....old or more modern? I don't do well on smaller non air conditioned buses so before booking want to find out as much as possible.

 

It was on a ship's excursion (HAL) and was a modern coach with a/c. As is often the way with these there was not a lot of leg-room but it was certainly comfortable enough.

[SF]

Thanks... glad to hear the bus was a modern coach with a/c. I really would like to take this tour but can't handle the older type non a/c school bus vans. Think I'll call Celebrity and check with them also.

[Mercruiser]

Thinking of either taking Celebrity's tour

 

Lake Atitlan From Another Angle,

 

Colonial Antigua - Past and Present

or

Casa Santo Domingo & Antigua Guatemala.

 

Any thoughts on any of these?

 

I will be going on the Lake Atitlan tour for the reasons I explain in my blog:

http://mercruiser.wordpress.com/itinerary/puerto-quetzal/

 

However, if I was going to Antigua, I would take the very-inexpensive "Antigua – Self Guided” tour for $39 round-trip. Antigua is very easy to get around on your own. So I don't see the need to be herded around with 40 or so other fellow cruisers. But, if you want a walking tour, you can hire one locally in Antigua.

[SF]

Thanks so much for the link to your blog. Great information and pictures. :) Very informative as you covered everything.

 

Since you have been to these places before could you please give us your opinion on which tour you'd suggest? They are all from Celebrity.

 

In Cartagena we are thinking of taking the Deluxe Cartagena and Fortress Tour.

 

In Colon we haven't decided on anything yet. We have been there before and can't seem to decide on anything. We do know we don't want to take an all day tour here. Any suggestions?

 

Puntarenas still deciding between the Pacific Train, Boat and Bus Adventure or the Monteverdes Trainforest. I think it takes about 2½ hours to get to the rainforest so we aren't too sure about that one even though we'd like to see it as we heard the roads aren't the best there. Don't feel like sitting in a bus getting bumped around for that long. But then again I heard the train does not have A/C and one lady posted she was extremely hot during the 1 hour ride and to make sure you have a window seat.

 

Puerto Quetzal - I looked at the self guided tour you mentioned but was concerned with walking around by ourselves. Should I be? If we got a tour and added the cost which I think is around 20.00 per person then it would bring us to roughly the cost of the ship tour and the ship's includes lunch. Trying to decide if we do take a tour whether we want to do only Antigua or see the Casa Santa Domingo too.

 

Acapulco - Thinking of taking the Acapulco City Tour and Divers.

 

Cabo San Lucas - Looking at the Coastal Highlights Tour

 

Any thoughts in regards to these tours? Would appreciate any input or suggestions. Usually I book private local tour companies but this time around I don't have the time to research or email back and forth to set everything up.

[Mercruiser]

Thanks so much for the link to your blog. Great information and pictures. :) Very informative as you covered everything.

 

Since you have been to these places before could you please give us your opinion on which tour you'd suggest? They are all from Celebrity.

 

In the interest of full disclosure, I have only been to some of these places before (San Juan, Acapulco, Cabo, San Diego). I've researched the others extensively, but have not been there. So take my advice as "book knowledge", not actual experience.

 

In Cartagena we are thinking of taking the Deluxe Cartagena and Fortress Tour.

It looks like a good tour.

 

In Colon we haven't decided on anything yet. We have been there before and can't seem to decide on anything. We do know we don't want to take an all day tour here. Any suggestions?

For some recommendations, scroll down to the “Get off the Dam ship!” section of Richard Detrich's web page:

http://panamacanalblog.wordpress.com/about-panama-cruises/

I'm going on the "Gatun Lake Safari" tour a mentioned on Richard's web page. We want to see some wildlife.

 

Puntarenas still deciding between the Pacific Train, Boat and Bus Adventure or the Monteverdes Trainforest. I think it takes about 2½ hours to get to the rainforest so we aren't too sure about that one even though we'd like to see it as we heard the roads aren't the best there. Don't feel like sitting in a bus getting bumped around for that long. But then again I heard the train does not have A/C and one lady posted she was extremely hot during the 1 hour ride and to make sure you have a window seat.

I'm not familiar with either of the tours you mention. The port of Puntarenas is pretty remote from Costa Rica's best attractions. So pretty much anything you do is going to involve some distance. The closest in tours are Rio Tárcoles Cruise, Villas Lapas, and Manuel Antonio National Park (closed Mondays).

Puerto Quetzal - I looked at the self guided tour you mentioned but was concerned with walking around by ourselves. Should I be? If we got a tour and added the cost which I think is around 20.00 per person then it would bring us to roughly the cost of the ship tour and the ship's includes lunch. Trying to decide if we do take a tour whether we want to do only Antigua or see the Casa Santa Domingo too.

I would be comfortable walking around Antigua. There will be thousands of tourists there (probably half the ship). But, if you are more comfortable with a guided tour, then by all means go for it.

 

Acapulco - Thinking of taking the Acapulco City Tour and Divers.

Looks fine.

 

Cabo San Lucas - Looking at the Coastal Highlights Tour

The Puerto Paraiso mall and the dockside flea market are within easy walking distance of the tender pier. You don't need a tour for either of these. The drive along the coast sounds nice. I'm not familiar with the Glass Blowing Factory or cactus garden.

 

Any thoughts in regards to these tours? Would appreciate any input or suggestions. Usually I book private local tour companies but this time around I don't have the time to research or email back and forth to set everything up.

One of the real advantages of ships tours is they are easy to set up. In contrast, it was a lot emails back and forth to set up my one local tour (Gatun Lake Safari).

 

Have a great cruise. Which one are you on?

[SF]

Appreciate your input on the ports and tours I mentioned. Can't believe you haven't been to many of the ports as your blog is great plus it's really nice of you to put all that information together. It's so organized too.

 

I'll check out the link you provided to the Gatun Lake tours. The nature one sounds interesting but right now I don't have the time required to email back and forth to set up all the details. We are not interested in the Embera Village Tour and since we've been there before rather not take an in depth tour of the locks. I agree, setting up private tours takes time as that is what we have done on all our other cruises but it took a long time to organize them especially the Mediterranean and Baltic ones. The tour prices on this cruise aren't too bad especially the ones that include a nice lunch and are for 7-8 hours. So this time around I think we're going to take the easy way out and stick to either the ship's transportation or tours.

 

We are booked to sail Celebrity's Century (been on her several times) from Miami to San Diego (15 day). I see you're booked on Millennium.