Best Excursions Panama Canal et al

[Reneekc]

Dear All,

 

Please let us know the best side excursions you have taken anywhere along the Grand Vogage from Ft. Lauderdale through the Panama Canal to LA.

 

There seem to be several Mayan ruins to visit, dolphin encounters, canopy adventures etc., and would love to know your preferences.

 

Thanks,

 

Renee

[Foxberry]

Hi Renee,

My husband and I just got off the Legend for her Caldera-FLL 14 day Panama Canal transit and had a fabulous time as usual on SB :) .

We enjoyed the following excursions, Airboat Adventures & Belize City, Dolphin Encounter and Tabyana Beach, Sloth Sanctuary and canoe adventure, Miraflores Locks Observation Center, The Virtuoso Tour was in Quepos which was a complimentay travel agent tour of guided nature trail, lunch and swimming at a lovely resort, and we did the Granada and "Las Isletas" boat trip.

We went to Costa Rica 4 days before meeting the ship and did the Zipline Canopy tour on our own, it is an experience not to be missed, we highly recommend doing it on one of your days.

The airboat was a fun side trip thru a mangrove grove and we son lots of birds and iguanas, it is very loud, they give you ear protection that is necessary. The bus tour of the city was educational with a guide giving us information but not something I would do again. We talked to people who did the power snorkeling and they really enjoyed the fish and coral they saw. If I were to do it again I would do the Lost World Cave-Canopy- Rappeling tour at this port or the Tale of Two Cities if you want to see the ruins at Altun Ha.

In Roatan you have the Dolphin Encounter that we did along with the transfer to Tabyana beach. Do not do this tour if you want to actually swim with the dolphins, all you get to do is stand waist deep and pet the dolphins on the ship tour. It is very easy to make reservations at the Anthony Key Resort to actually SWIM with the dolphins for $59 less than the tour costs. Their website is www.anthonyskey.com you can easily catch a taxi just at the dock and go to the resort in less than 15 minutes, they will take you to the dolphins by boat and give you a private encounter plus swimming with the dolphins for $80 each. They will call the taxi to come get you or you can ask the driver to return at a set time this should not be a problem. Skip the Tabyana beach altogether, not clean and no goo snorkeling.

Sloth Sanctuary is a great excursion, these people are doing a wonderful thing. Sloth interaction is limited so enjoy the few minutes you get to see them up close in the beginning, the canoe ride is peaceful and very nice, we saw lizards, iguanas, monkeys, lots of birds and sloths, we also had a short nature walk right there at the sanctuary but you are on a busy road and lots of traffic noise and mosquitos, take your repellent or skip the nature walk and enjoy the porch upstairs where you can see the baby sloths (but not touch) and look at the hand crafts in the gift shop.

Others in our group did the Canals of Tortuguero, I think we had the better day, but I am an animal lover and I loved seeing the sloths.

You will have already gone thru the locks before you get to the Fuerte Amador and be educated about the canal, try to get a good spot near a speaker so you can hear the person giving the lock information well, we missed 80% of the info cuz we couldn't hear, don't bother with getting a good spot near the rail, you can see everything easily from lots of different spots on the ship. If you have loved ones that might want to see you on vacation there are cameras at several different spots that broadcast the ship on the web going thru the locks. Someone onboard should have the web address for you and lots of people had cell phones that were calling their kids to "tune in".

The Shaping of Panama is a good tour where you will get to see Old Panama which our friends did and enjoyed.

The Granada and Las Isletas tour was a huge let down for us, not up to SB standards. It is a LONG bumpy bus ride to Granada which a a dirty, not safe town that doesn't have anything to offer, lots of children begging and selling made in China trinkets and cashews. We got no tour of Granada's Colonial houses and had a good tasting lunch but two people at our table never got their food.

The isletas were quite pretty but nothing really fancy or out of the ordinary to see there, our boat ran out of gas and the boy driving the other boat kept spraying us with his engine's spray. Nicaragua is probably a good place to zip line, you will see the country driving in the bus to the canopy tour or just stay on the boat and relax.

If you have any questions please feel free to email me at Foxberry at netzero.com. Have a great time Robbie & Jim Rice

[xplrcrzn]

I would disagree with Foxberry about the merits of the Grenada excursion, based on comments of friends who took the abbreviated Legend cruise. They ranked it among their favorite excursions and took many photos along the way to the town of village life, volcanoes, etc. They said the town was a beautifully restored colonial town and the people friendly. In addition, the NY Times (last weekend) and the Washington Post (this weekend) both had long, favorable stories on the attractions of Grenada as well as San Juan del Sur. I think a lot depends on your interest in the history and culture of the country as distinguished from an interest in the ecology, scenery, animal life, etc.

[Reneekc]

Thank you so much for your replies....these are very helpful comments, and will be useful to us when deciding how to spend our time. Did you find that you wanted to do tours on most stops, or were you happy to have a few trips to just take it easy and see things on your own?

 

The clues to the dolphin encounter are extremely useful, we will for sure do the other trip to swim with the dolphins which you suggested. Thank you for your suggestions.

 

Mayan ruins.....any suggestions for the most interesting ones to see?

 

 

We are so looking forward to this...thank you again for your comments.

 

Renee