Shore Excursions on 12-18-06 Lirica

[Mz. Charlie]

Is anyone doing it on their own in Santa Marta or Cartagena?

 

We are booked with Diana for Roatan Islands, read good reviews.

 

In the process of setting up something concrete for Puerto Limon by tomorrow.

 

Anybody have ideas for Cristobal and Grand Cayman?

 

My girls aren't into many nature oriented excursions and nothing too adventurous either so it would be a waste of money to do alot of the ships excursions.

 

This is our first time cruising, does the ship stick to the timeframes for the ports that are listed on the itinerary?

 

We're getting really excited, can't wait to get onboard and start having fun!

[coachsoftball]

I think we will probably do a beach day in Santa Marta on our own.

 

Ships tour in Cartegena, the city tour one

 

Ships tour in Panama or stay on the ship. You can only get off in Panama if you are on a ships excursion.

 

Tour with Evangaline in Costa Rico. The national park that has white and black sand beaches

 

Fishing in Roatan with Subway watersports

 

Island tour in Cayman and then time on the beach. I forget who I reserved with.

[Mz. Charlie]

Hi Coach,

 

Thanks so much for the reply.

 

I called MSC about Panama the agent fidn't know anyhting about not being able to get off in the ship in Panama. What's that about? I didn't see any travel restrictions for the state department.

 

 

Thanks for all your info, it's really helping a first time cruiser like myself!

 

Charlie

[coachsoftball]

I think that I found out the information on Panama from the Cruiseclues website. They had alot of menus and daily activity stuff on there.

 

I will be talking to my brother at Thanksgiving about the 2 Colombian ports. He spent a year in Columbia as an exchange student and I know that he visited Cartegena while he was there. I will share whatever useful information that I get from him later.

[UNCBlue4Us]

Hi All,

 

My wife and are booked on the Lirica for Dec. 18th as well and looking forward to the trip, and hopefully meeting yawl (guess what part of the US we are from :) ). This is our first cruise too. I think it's great that we can share info here, in advance of our trip. Here are our plans, so far, based on our research. We would love to hear what you have found out too. If any here are interested in sharing taxis/transportation, please let us know. I speak passable Spanish.

 

Santa Marta, Colombia: From what I can learn, it's fairly small, but quite friendly. The central city is about 14 blocks long and 2.5 blocks wide. Great beaches nearby. Tayrona Park is about 45 minutes away. From what we hear, Tayrona is one of those "don't miss" sights. We plan to bypass the ship excursion and look at hiring a taxi for Tayrona.

 

Cartagena, Colombia: Probably the city I most want to see. From all reports, very safe and impressive. Lots of history. One travel reporter from the NY Times said it is the best port city in South America. We plan to take a taxi downtown and hike around. I have a map of a walking tour of the old city as well a some restaurant recommendations. I wish we had two days in Cartagena.

 

Cristobal (Colon) Panama: We definitely will do a tour booked on the Lirica. Colon is a huge port city. Few attractions, and, from what I understand, potentially dangerous. I was in Panama in 1989. Beautiful country and the canal locks are truely a wonder of the world. We plan to book through MSC on this one. I contacted an independent tour operator who replied that a tour of the locks and Panama City was impossible with our ship schedule. Panama City is loaded with traffic so close to Christmas and he couldn't return us to our ship on time for departure.

 

Puerto Limon, Costa Rica: I looked at several tour operators. We have booked a 6 hour tour with Charlie Soto. If you are interested in his contact info, let me know. Charlie is a great guy to deal with.

 

Roatan, Honduras: We will book a tour with Juan Carlos at IslanderTours. Around the island minus the zip-line experience.

 

Grand Cayman: Many, many options. We decided on combination tours with Captain Marvin. Sting Ray City/ Reef Snorkel and Island Hell/Turtle Farm tour.

 

We're looking forward to meeting you.

 

Sandy and Tammy

[rey68]

Sandy and Tammy

 

Are you doing the ziplining with Charlie Soto in Costa Rica? I was just preparing to book with him and have been corresponding the past few months.

[UNCBlue4Us]

We decided to pass on the zip-line. Our tour with Charlie (total about six hours) includes the Tortuguero canal boat ride, Chiquita banana plantation, Sanchi tropical farm, Bonita beach, tour of city, and a visit to a local market grocery store.

[Fanny2]

Thank you for the great information. Self and 2 other family members will be on the Dec 18th cruise to help mother celebrate her 90th birthday. (She's still the first on up and last to bed, game for bridge and dancing if any equally agile gent can keep up!) I checked the cruise website, but shore excursions not listed. Links to contacts would be appreciated.

[wwwmarge]

Have you gone to the PORTS board most of them give you a clue who to contact or the website. I hope your cruise has dancing male hosts. :)

 

Marge

 

 

 

 

Thank you for the great information. Self and 2 other family members will be on the Dec 18th cruise to help mother celebrate her 90th birthday. (She's still the first on up and last to bed, game for bridge and dancing if any equally agile gent can keep up!) I checked the cruise website, but shore excursions not listed. Links to contacts would be appreciated.

[Mz. Charlie]

Hi All,

 

In between anxious and panic at the moment. Just read a review about the recent MSC Cruise. Feeling like I may have made a mistake. My girls are really fussy eaters. Should I pack them some Chef Boyardee, if down to the burgers suck? Also we're in our mid 30's, they post made it seem as though this is for the oldie goldies (no disrepect intended). :confused:

[wwwmarge]

Mz Charlie, Well what can I say to ease your mind? I've heard people that have been on the same ship at the same time as us and you have to ask your What are they talking about? .....Will the kids of like Carnival, Disney better? Maybe?

This IS an Italian line and they are not the same as U.S. lines. I hope things will go alright for you. MSC is a little different (we really didn’t have any complaints) and I hope the kids will look at this as an adventure. Maybe if nothing is said they might not notice that this isn’t mom’s cooking or McD’s.

If not much has changed the entertainment and games are non-stop during the day by the pool. Wish you the best of cruising. And please let us know how it goes. :cool:

[LiricaBound]

Coincidentally, I had called my TA about shore excursions and he said, "Well MSC seems to have trouble with their site and posting the excursions. I guess because they are in Europe. You should call them directly...here is their number". I decided to check their web site one more time and lo and behold, the shore excursions for the December 18th Lirica cruise are posted, YAY!

 

Mz. Charlie, I agree with Marge; maybe if you just ignore that it's different they will love it as much as you do. I did this with my very picky daughter (age 11) the other day. I can't even remember what it was I was eating, but it had spinach in it. As soon as she saw something green, she was like, "EWWWWW" but I went on and on about how good it was and she tried it and loved it. Just like when a kid gets hurt, they don't usually realize it until the parents freak out. :D

 

I for one am getting really excited. Was freaking out about formal clothes and shoes and everything else but have let it all go and am realizing this is a VACATION. I shouldn't worry -- just be happy!

 

Can't wait...looking forward to hopefully meeting some of y'all, too!

[Mz. Charlie]

I knew I could count on you'll to put my mind at ease, Thanks so MUCH! After I was on the verge of having a panic attack after reading the review I said to heck with it. I figure we can always pack the girls some snack food and check out some local eats during our shore visits. We're from Miami so the girls are very familiar with hispanic food.

 

I've taken the idea that hey, for the price and for 11 nights away from (dishes, laundry, cooking, homework, WORK) I'm in heaven already just thinking about it.:D

 

I too am having an issue with the formal attire (not for me for my big guy) he hates dressing up. Is formal night "really" tux/suit & tie? The girls and I have so many dressy items as most women do. At least he's decided to pack at the least 2 pant suits I hope he can get by.;)

 

Can't wait to meet you'll!

[LiricaBound]

I knew I could count on you'll to put my mind at ease, Thanks so MUCH! After I was on the verge of having a panic attack after reading the review I said to heck with it. I figure we can always pack the girls some snack food and check out some local eats during our shore visits. We're from Miami so the girls are very familiar with hispanic food.

 

I've taken the idea that hey, for the price and for 11 nights away from (dishes, laundry, cooking, homework, WORK) I'm in heaven already just thinking about it.:D

 

I too am having an issue with the formal attire (not for me for my big guy) he hates dressing up. Is formal night "really" tux/suit & tie? The girls and I have so many dressy items as most women do. At least he's decided to pack at the least 2 pant suits I hope he can get by.;)

 

Can't wait to meet you'll!

 

I've heard a dark suit will be fine for formal nights. I believe tuxes can be rented; DH may do this one night as one of my dresses is long and rather formal. I bought it on a whim thinking it was a "must have" for the cruise, then realized from other posters it's not as big a deal as I was making it. Like most things :p .

 

I did, however, purchase a couple of new shirts/ties for him from Overstock.com. He rarely wears these types of clothes and the ones he had were outdated. He was like, "What? There's nothing wrong with this tie..." Puh-leeeeeze! Yeah, they were fine maybe in 1982! HA!

[Mz. Charlie]

anybody hear about the Totumo Volcano just outside Cartagena where you can take mud baths? It looks interesting, thinking about checking it out but scared about safety issues? Any opinions? Are the taxis a safe bet in Cartagena?

[UNCBlue4Us]

From what I have learned, from reading and emailing folks in Cartagena, it is a safe, large city. But, with any city, have to use some common sense. We live near Charlotte, NC and there are many places there I wouldn't visit in the daylight.

 

We are going on our own in Cartagena. Taxi to central city and a walking tour of the "centro viejo" (the old city). I have downloaded several walking tour suggetions. So, we plan to take a taxi to the tourist office, grab a few free maps and suggetions, and then do some walking in the old city. The taxis, from what I understand, are fixed price, safe and inexpensive.

 

Hope we can all meet up aboard the Lirica. This is our first cruise. We're more excited each day.

[SpEyE]

Can you let us know if you have to take a ships tourin Panama or in order to get off the ship or if you can do your own thing? Thanks

[UNCBlue4Us]

We have booked an independent tour in Panama. Part of the price was some kind of $20 fee/person to leave the port. I have no idea what that was about.

 

In the US, I teach English as a secondary language. and I have three Panamanian students in my class. They all say Colon is "muy peligoroso" (very dangerous). But, they tell me, the western side of Panama, e.g., Panama City is great and safe. I have been there and would agree.

[Xantiah]

Hi All,

Just found out this forum. My husband and I and 3 kids (17-15-11, b-b-g) are booked on the Lirica for Dec. 18th as well and looking forward to the trip. We live in Norway.

This is our first cruise and everything is "new". After recommendations from this forum i contacted Charlie Soto and booked a tour with him.

Nothing realy decided yet on the other tours. Would love to go to Tayrona national park, but have been reading so much warnings online that it scares me a bit. Will there be a board online where people can meet when they would like to travel together?

We leave tomorrow so not much time left :)

Looking forward to meet you all.

 

Pia