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Carnival*panama City Tour*your Opinion

Doug&Suzy-Q

By Doug&Suzy-Q,
in Panama Canal

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Doug&Suzy-Q

Doug&Suzy-Q

Posted
Posted

We are on Liberty Sept 29, 2007 and have booked the Panama City Tour for 8 hours.................:eek:

Just like everyone...we would like to include all that we can see during our short time in port...........

Any comments, opinions, good or bad........would appreciated.....

I hope I have not over committed myself for an entire 8 hours with one tour...........by the way...this is the Carnival sponcered tour...

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filmgirl

filmgirl

Posted
Posted

Well I'm back from my cruise! We did the Panama City tour (through Carnival) and LOVED IT! We were split up onto little buses which was nice, and the guide was great, and we went to a REALLY nice restaurant for lunch - We had chicken marsala, and it was as good as anything on the boat! (Some people on other tours said they were given bran muffins!). It was definitely an all day tour, but we saw so much more of the countryside and how people really lived. The canal was fine at the beginning of the day, but the hour we spent there was PLENTY. I would never have wanted to spend a whole tour at the canal.

 

I have a slideshow of photos I took on the tour, although I left out the restaurant and some ruins of old panama we also saw. Feel free to ask me any questions! You can access the slideshow here: http://www.zoe-photography.com/PanamaSlide/

 

Enjoy!

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filmgirl

filmgirl

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Breakdown of tour: 10 minute drive to locks, one hour at locks, one hour drive through countryside to Panama City, lunch at swanky restaurant, drive to museum of panama history with short tour, 5 minute drive to old panama ruins (also shopping next to ruins - you can choose what you would rather look at), then drive through older panama that is very poor and stop at look out over panama, great view, local indian vendors, then drive back! About 4-5 hours are spent out of the bus and about 2-3 on. 75% of the photos I posted above were taken from the window of the bus.

 

Hope this helps!

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cruiser620

cruiser620

Posted
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Just returned from the Carnival Liberty and went on their Panama City tour. There were quite a lot of people on the ship that took this tour, and we were divided up between buses that completed the tour independently. We were on a "shuttle-sized" bus (not sure how many people) -- it was bigger than a 10 passenger van but smaller than a big tour bus. There was no restroom on the bus. We went to the locks first and you could use the restroom there. Then we drove to Panama City which was about a 2 hr. drive. When we got there we got out and walked around the colonial city (with the guide -- we were never given the opportunity to explore independently) and he took us to a store that had restroom facilities.

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schoolmom

schoolmom

Posted
Posted
Well I'm back from my cruise! We did the Panama City tour (through Carnival) and LOVED IT! We were split up onto little buses which was nice, and the guide was great, and we went to a REALLY nice restaurant for lunch - We had chicken marsala, and it was as good as anything on the boat! (Some people on other tours said they were given bran muffins!). It was definitely an all day tour, but we saw so much more of the countryside and how people really lived. The canal was fine at the beginning of the day, but the hour we spent there was PLENTY. I would never have wanted to spend a whole tour at the canal.

 

I have a slideshow of photos I took on the tour, although I left out the restaurant and some ruins of old panama we also saw. Feel free to ask me any questions! You can access the slideshow here: http://www.zoe-photography.com/PanamaSlide/

 

Enjoy!

 

I just have to compliment you on what a wonderful photographer you are. Those photos were outstanding.

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Sandy R

Sandy R

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Enjoyed your photos... we did the Panama Canal cruise on the Island Princess and visited Panama City early October. It was one of the highlights of our cruise. There were 8 of us and we hired a van and English-speaking driver to show us around. It's an amazing city.

 

Sandy

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Sandy R

Sandy R

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Hi Laura...

 

We hired an English-speaking driver and van. He was great, took us to all the major sites, which we were able to see at leisure. He also stopped to let us take photos and took us to a panorama view of the city, the Panama Canal and the Bridge of the Americas. He gave us his contact info: His name is Pedro Chavannia - Tel: 507/6622-2215 - e-mail: pechca@hotmailcom

 

If you happen to be going to Guatemala or Puntarenas, Costa Rica, we booked private tours there, which were wonderful.

 

I have photos of our cruise, which includes our visit to Panama City:

http://community.webshots.com/user/sandyris

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Bookbug53

Bookbug53

Posted
Posted

We are looking at this tour through Carnival and have a couple of questions. Filmgirl says a 1 hour drive to Panama City and Cruiser620 quotes a 2 hour drive....is this two different tours?

Also is the lunch at the 'swanky' restaurant included? Carnival's site says 'you will be served lunch'. Is it a pre-set menu or are you free to choose from a menu?

Do you have any time after to do any shopping at the port?

 

filmgirl, your slide show is wonderful and it is helping to convince DH to take this tour!

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cruiser620

cruiser620

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I think I posted a longer review of this tour elsewhere. It is a long drive to Panama City. I don't remember now how long it took, but if I posted back then that it was 2 hrs. I guess that's what it was. We were asked on the bus whether we wanted chicken or beef and then the number of people for each was phoned in to the restaurant. I wouldn't call it a "swanky" restaurant. It was fine, but nothing special. We had a big problem on our tour because university students were demonstrating and they had blocked all the roads in the city creating massive gridlock. Our guide said this happens often. The police made no effort to disperse the demonstrators. We sat and sat and sat. Our bus driver finally drove on the wrong side of the road and the wrong way down one way streets to get us out of there, which was a little scarey. We were very late arriving at the restaurant and had to rush and eat quickly. There was no ordering -- it was just brought to us. We were supposed to see more sites after lunch but there was no time. We got back to the ship very very late -- they were holding departure and waiting for us -- so there was no time for any shopping. If you're going all the way to Panama City, I would definately recommend a ship's tour. We usually rent a car or find other transportation, but this time it really saved us since Carnival had to wait for us to return.

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jimbug

jimbug

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I just took this tour on March 20, 2008 through Carnival. Here is that portion of my review that I pulled from my full trip review on the Carnival boards...

 

We had such a busy day planned in Panama, so we woke up bright and early to the sound of room service bringing our breakfast at around 6:00 a.m. We were due to meet our shore excursion group in the Venetian Palace at 7:30, so we had to get moving. (We had booked the Panama City tour through Carnival.) I packed up my camera gear, and Mom, Granny, and I went down to the Venetian at around 7:15. It was absolutely packed and I was starting to wonder whether or not we had made the right decision…I *hate* cattle-call excursions, and was afraid that all 500 people in the theater would be on the excursion with us. I couldn’t have been more wrong – almost all of those 500 people in the theater were going on the Panama Canal excursion with Terry, Liz, Tara, Cody, and Heidi. Oh, poor things. They announced for everyone who booked the Panama Canal tour to get up and move outside, and just about the whole theater emptied out. Those five thought their excursion was interesting, but long, crowded, and hot. It was the excursion where you board a ferry-type boat and have a 8-hour day going through the locks of the canal.

 

Shortly after that tour group left, they announced that the Panama City people could go ahead and proceed outside to the buses. I have no idea how many were actually on the tour, because they had the best set-up ever. I do wish that all cruise line excursions that have a bunch of people would operate this way, because it was great. How it worked is that there were several small buses that held maybe 20 people each, and they were all lined up ready to take us on our tour. However, instead of staying together and ending up being a cattle call anyway, we each had separate guides and we were on our own schedule, more or less. All of the buses did not arrive at each destination at the same time (some did the tour in reverse or mixed-up order), so it worked out really, really nicely! So, we had about a 20-person tour for the price of a cruise line cattle-call, which was fabulous. The three of us got on a bus with Araminta as our guide, and our driver, Junior. Here’s a hint about those buses—they are not made for Americans with wide rear-ends, so unless you and your seat-mate are stick-thin, head for the very back row in the bus…there’s lots more room!

 

Araminta was warm and welcoming and took a special liking to my grandmother. She started out by explaining how the tour would work, and giving us a narrative of everything we were seeing along the way. We started our day at the Gatun Locks of the Panama Canal. Araminta handed us our admission tickets as we exited the bus, which allowed us to bypass the line for tickets. Our hearts sunk for a few minutes when we entered the visitor area and saw about 50 stairs up to the viewing platform and no ramp anywhere. We knew there was no way Granny would be able to climb those stairs, but Araminta came to the rescue! She showed us where a slightly-hidden handicap viewing area was on ground level, and it turned out to be the best vantage point for viewing the boats in the canal anyway! We were literally within maybe 10 feet of the workers on the canal and maybe 20 feet from the canal itself. Too cool! When we first arrived, the Fred Olson Cruise Lines ship “Braemar” was making its way through the locks. The passengers were out in full force on the decks, and I hope to have that experience firsthand someday. After the Braemar came a h-u-g-e container ship, the Evergreen “Ever Gaining.” We got to watch it make its way mostly through the locks when Araminta announced it was time to go. The only unfortunate part about the Gatun Locks was the extremely loud and annoying announcer who was giving a narrative about the locks. His narration was informative, but it was SOOOO loud and obnoxious, and it kind of ruined the moment. Whenever a new person would come up on the viewing platform, he would ask them where they were from, and regardless of where they said, he would say “Oh, [state], home of the [popular college or pro sports team]!”. That would have been fine for one or two people, but he did it about 50 times in the hour we were there! It was really cool to see the Panama Canal up close, and I even got a short, 3-minute video of the Ever Gaining’s transit. Here is the link:

 

Some people may ask if we think we got to see enough of the canal in an hour at Gatun, and I would have to say yes. I wouldn’t have wanted to spend much more time there. I mean, it might be cool to see the Miraflores locks, or to actually ride in a boat making the transit, but really, I felt like I got a good sense of the canal and how it works. It was pretty cool. I’m very glad we didn’t do the excursion with the rest of our family where we were stuck on a boat allllll day long.

 

After Gatun, we had about an hour and a half ride into Panama City. The entire way, Araminta was telling us so much about her home country of Panama, and we really were learning lot, but dang, it was early in the morning. I guess more than one of us were starting to drift off, so Araminta gave us a 10-minute “sleeping break.” It was much needed, because she really was interesting, and I didn’t want to miss her talk, but we were all so sleepy! Junior drove like a bat out of hell, and I was just hoping the brakes on the bus were in good working order. The speed limits and stop lights/signs in Panama seem to be suggestions only, and on more than one occasion, I wondered how in the world we avoided an accident.

 

Once we arrived in Panama City, we immediately saw the vast difference between the poverty and the wealth that co-exist in the city. Huge, new high-rise condos are going up everywhere, and Donald Trump is even building a new hotel downtown. However, homeless people and the impoverished live all over the city, as well, in conditions that most of us could not even imagine. There is just such a huge gap between the two walks of life there, but not much seems to be getting done about correcting it. Our first stop in the city was at a museum. I forget the name of it, but its actual draw was its beautiful vantage point out to the Pacific Ocean and the Bridge of the Americas, rather than the museum itself. Araminta did take us inside through part of the museum, where we got a bit of Panamanian history and culture, but truthfully, that part was a tad boring.

 

Next up were the ruins from way back in the day. I’d like to pretend I remember the time period these ruins are from, but I don’t…I just know that they were really, really old. It was actually pretty amazing how so many parts of these ruins were still intact, and UNESCO has named it a world heritage site. According to Araminta, UNESCO will soon require Panama City to close down and tear up the road that goes through the site, but it’s sort of a main thoroughfare, and Araminta didn’t know what they were going to if it had to be closed. Junior parked the bus and we all got out and walked around the ruins a little bit. Actually, Granny stayed in the bus because she wasn’t sure about the uneven terrain, but we now know she would have been just fine. There were benches everywhere for someone to stop and rest if needed. We followed Araminta through about half of the ruins, then decided to turn back and go through the little arts and crafts shops back by the bus. I wanted to be sure I got a souvenir or two from Panama, and I knew we probably wouldn’t have much (if any) time later in the day. They had a lot of beautiful, handmade items, and I ended up settling on just a magnet at this time. Right outside the shopping area was a little stand selling some sort of fruity juice concoction. The woman working there spoke zero English at all, and since I’m not entirely comfortable with my Spanish, I was grateful to see Junior, our driver, enjoying a beverage there. I asked him what to get, so he ordered for me. I ended up with a cantaloupe “milk shake”, which is a ton of fresh cantaloupe blended with ice, evaporated milk, nutmeg, and sugar. It was unique, but quite delicious. There were other fruit flavors, as well, but Junior insisted that the melon was the best. It was only $1.50, and by the time I got mine, several others from our bus decided they needed one, too!

 

We got back in the bus and headed for downtown and colonial Panama. Since it was almost the Easter holiday, most businesses closed at noon on this Thursday, and traffic was horrendous with everyone trying to head out of the city. It took a little longer than planned, but we still got to see everything. We started out at a cathedral, which didn’t look like much from the outside, but the inside was the most ornate and beautiful building I have ever seen. I’ve been to some pretty nice cathedrals in northern Europe, but I have to say that this one takes the cake. I can’t remember the name of it, but I’m sure an internet search would turn it up pretty quickly. After viewing the cathedral for a few minutes, Araminta took us on a short walking tour around the colonial section. She pointed out features of some of the buildings, and showed us how they are restoring most of the run-down buildings to their original glory, but turning them into high-dollar condos. The restored buildings do look really nice, and the area will be just great when they are finished.

 

We hopped back in the bus for another short ride down to different section in the colonial district. This turned out to be just a photo-op, shopping stop, and bathroom break. Here I found a beautiful original watercolor-and-pen painting of the Miraflores locks at the canal, and I purchased it for only $15. There were lots of really nice ones to choose from, and I can’t wait to get a frame for it and hang it on a wall in my house. Panama hats were popular here, and most of them could be had for $12-$15 each.

 

Back in the bus again, this time on our way to the restaurant for the lunch that was included with the tour. We didn’t get to eat lunch until almost 2:00 p.m., so I would recommend bringing some snacks along with you if you think you might get hungry for them. On the way to the restaurant, Araminta pointed out one of the government buildings that currently being used to shoot the newest James Bond movie. They weren’t filming that day because of the holiday, but it was funny because this government building had “Andean Hotel” canopies and signs on it for the movie. We also made a short photo-taking stop at a plaza where there were some beautiful REALLY old buildings from the 1600s and where some of the Panamanian Indians were protesting something to do with the river on their land. Araminta explained what was going on, but to be honest, I don’t really remember.

 

We finally made it to the restaurant, which was called The Greenhouse, and was located downtown near all the big, swanky hotels. The restaurant itself was lacking in ambience, and the waitstaff paid us little attention. They basically just delivered the food that we had pre-ordered with Araminta (beef, chicken, or vegetarian entrée plus a salad), and brought a regular Coke to everyone (no refills). Heaven forbid someone might have wanted to drink water instead or not have been able to drink regular soda…there was not even an opportunity to ask. The food itself was pretty good—we had a lettuce salad with pico de gallo on top of it, which was tasty. Mom and I both had the chicken entrée, which was a grilled chicken breast spiced with curry and cumin, I believe, plus a pile of rice and beans, both of which were good. Granny had the vegetarian entrée, which was spaghetti with a lot of grilled vegetables on it with a creamy alfredo-like sauce. She said it was very good, and it actually looked a lot better than what we were served. (Hint: go for the vegetarian.)

 

We were the only tour group in the restaurant. Someone in the group asked Araminta if all of the buses on our excursion went to this restaurant for lunch, and she replied that they did not. I think we just got the unlucky end of the deal, because in a different review of this excursion, someone said they went to a fancy, waterfront restaurant and were served a chicken marsala that was better than anything on the cruise ship! They definitely didn’t go to the Greenhouse, that’s for sure. I guess I shouldn’t complain too much—at least lunch was included, and it’s not like the food was terrible. It’s just that the service was lacking and the fact that we couldn’t get something different to drink sort of irritated me. When we left the restaurant and got back in the bus, we discovered that some cars had parked behind us and blocked Junior in. Junior located the driver of one of the vehicles, but not the other. We thought we were just stuck there and started to worry, but never fear—Junior is a master driver, and somehow (who knows how!), he managed to get that bus back out on the road without hitting anything. It was amazing, because I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have been able to do it in a small car, let alone a giant tour bus!

 

Our tour was essentially over at that point, and we had approximately an hour and a half or so ride back to Colon. Araminta wasn’t finished talking, though, and her narrative about Panama and the sights we saw continued. I really learned a lot from her about Panamanian politics, culture, history, current events, life in Panama, and the native people. We took a slightly different route on the way back and we went over Gatun Lake and got to see the large dam. That was a pretty neat sight to see.

 

I’ll talk here for a bit about Panama and Colon in general. Judging from the reviews I had read on CruiseCritic before sailing, I was certain that I would be scared in Colon and that it would appear to be a very dangerous place. Truthfully, it didn’t look that bad to me. I’ve certainly been in parts of U.S. cities where I’ve felt less comfortable. That said, I wouldn’t set out on foot and try to explore it by myself. If you have a decent taxi driver or a guide, let them show you their country and enjoy it. In fact, I wish that we had a few more hours there (and that it wasn’t a holiday), because there is a HUGE (second-largest in the world, next to the one in Hong Kong) duty-free shopping mall there. Every store you can think of, including Apple Computers and Columbia Sportswear were there, and I would have loved to have gotten some shopping time in. If I ever return to Colon, I will simply take a taxi to the duty-free area (or the zona libre, as it’s called in Spanish), and spend a day at the mall. Araminta also showed us where Macy’s is moving all of its warehouse and distribution operations to Panama and creating a bunch of new jobs.

 

Colon also has a very nice, new shopping area set up at the pier. However, because ours (and everyone else’s) tour was a little late getting back, we had to board the ship right away and we didn’t get a chance to shop. Plus, Araminta said that most of the shops would be closed anyway because of the holiday. We had a great day in Panama, but were definitely looking forward to the two days at sea that were ahead of us.

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CuplACruzrs

CuplACruzrs

Posted
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Great review Jimbug! The video was great and really supported what you said about the announcer.

 

Thanks for the warning about the meeting place that would have freaked me out too! I DO NOT want to be touring with 500 people or even 200 people!

 

It sounds like you get a great commentary on the country and the city from the tour guides. We are history nuts so this is right up our alley.

 

I'm glad we chose this excursion and cant wait to go in 2 weeks!

 

Thanks again

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