Cartagena Hop On Hop Off through Princess

[CarolandNate]

Has anyone out there used the Princess HoHo for Cartagena.  We are inclined to use it, but there appears to be ambiguity on the Personaliser and the details with regard to returning.  What I do know is that they use the same vendor, City Sightseeing as pretty much everyone uses, like Viator.  Because it is booked through the ship, the excursion begins at the ship and it get  you to the starting point.  They also get you back.  If one books directly or through Viator, you have to get to said starting point on your own and back to the ship.  So when it comes to price, the cost for the excursion and the cab fare is pretty much the same as doing it through the ship.  You could walk to and back and then you save money.  On the personaliser there are about 12 or so series of times, each with four hour blocks, starting at 8:30-12:30, etc

 

My question is: Are you locked into a four hour span, so if you start at 8:30, are you required to take the 12:30 back to the ship, meaning be at the pick up point by that time.  Or can you return at any of the designated pick up times, thus giving yourself more time.  The last leaves at 3:30, so if you did that, it would give you seven hours.  That would be the way a true HOHo works.  They mention spending as much time as you like, stopping to eat, etc, but they also say that you should be at the pick up point at the (not a) designated time. 

 

The way I see it, one has several options. 1) A structured tour that is X number of hours and you do what they have you do, be it from the ship where you will have transportation from the ship and no worries about getting back in time.  Or there private tours and you are responsible for getting to their designated spot.  That means cab.  Dora the Explorer is one that a lot of people talk about and she does pick up at the ship.  2) A semi structured tour, which would be HoHo,  where the number of hours are your decision.  Leave at 8;30 and if you want to habg around a little longer, just make sure you are done in time to get back to the ship or walk back.  3) An unstructured  tour meaning that you are on your own.  Take a cab (or walk) in.  Walk around and stay as long as you want.  Then cab (or walk) back.

 

Any thoughts as to how the Princess HoHo works with that schedule online?

 

 

 

And if you book through the ship, there about 12 or so times over the course of the day, each one with a four hour trip

[BEFdoc]

Not experienced with HOHO in Cartegena.  However, used them in multiple cities in Europe and US and have some general advice.   Some cities seem better organized or arranged for HOHOs and some don't.  There are multiple reasons, but some include traffic congestion, poor scheduling of drivers and buses,  too few buses, how many tourists and ships in port, etc.

 

Checking Trip Advisor (sister company of CC) there might be a problem with scheduled stops in Cartegena.  In other words, you might be waiting a long time for a bus when you could be seeing the sights.  This is critical for us as cruisers as our time is limited in port.  We opted not to use the HOHO in Cartegena and went with a tour instead. 

 

I hope this helps shed some light on the HOHO issue.

Happy Cruising

[phoenixx]

On 5/23/2019 at 6:21 PM, BEFdoc said:

Checking Trip Advisor (sister company of CC) there might be a problem with scheduled stops in Cartegena.

Do you have a link to this discussion please?

[wildcats40]

We are signed up for the HOHO bus through Princess in a few weeks.  Did you end up going on this tour?  We are thinking we would just ride the bus for the entire route without getting off hoping we can get an overview of the area.  I'm not sure how long the ride would be or if that is a good plan.  We've also had good and bad experiences on HOHO buses in different locations.  Interested in any feedback on Cartagena HOHO.