train or mario In Panama?

[garbagemancjc]

As much fun as the train sounds, the CL0007 tour to the Embera indian village + Chagres river + Gatun lock tour from myfriendmario tour group sounds like more fun for all, including the 12 and 13 year olds. Wife is concerned with safety with private tour company. Any imput would be greatly appreciated.

[nybumpkin]

We did the beach break and Gatun lock tour with Mario in February, and it was a great tour. Mario and his folks met us right at the bottom of the escalator from the walkway - It's a bit confusing, but when you exit the ship you have to take an escalator up to a walkway across the road, then down another. That's where Mario met us. He had a good number of employees with him and divided us into our respective tours. I didn't have any worries about safety (we were on the Carnival Liberty cruise that had the "incident" in Costa Rica). Both the pick-up and drop-offs were in safe places. The lock tour was just the right length for our kids - once they saw a ship lock through, I think they'd have been bored silly with anything else.

 

Some friends of ours did the Indian village tour and enjoyed it, but were concerned because the tour got them back to the ship later than they'd like (they returned right at sailing time). Just make sure Mario knows you want to be back at least 1 hour before you're scheduled to set sail.

[kathleencruiser]

Hi there I read your review of the Mario Excursion in Panama. We are going on the Legend at the end of this month. How did you book that cruise and communicate with that group. Also did you think the beach was nice and :) was good for teens?

[nybumpkin]

Hi there I read your review of the Mario Excursion in Panama. We are going on the Legend at the end of this month. How did you book that cruise and communicate with that group. Also did you think the beach was nice and :) was good for teens?

We booked the tour through Mario's website (www.myfriendmario.com) and communicated with Mario by e-mail. The group was largely people from our roll call board here on Cruise Critic - we began discussing it here, and before you knew it we had a number of folks who wanted to do this tour. Each then booked individually with Mario (although he knew we were all Cruise Critic posters). We liked the beach - it was clean and well cared for. My 15 YO son had a great time. If you've seen posts about places like Paradise Beach in Cozumel, this isn't Paradise Beach - there aren't any trampolines, icebergs, kayaks, etc. No lounge chairs. However, there are nice picnic tables under palapas and there's an outdoor seating area for the bar/restaurant. Here's a photo:

[Another Cruise]

Kathleencruiser,

If you are the Legend on the 24th, check out our Roll Call for this cruise. There is a large group talking back and forth about the cruise and a lot of them have their kids going with them. Many of us are booked with Mario, but for different tours. We are going to the locks and then to a beach. Some are going to the Rain forest and some are dong the Embera Indian trip. Click on this link for ideas of what other families are doing. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=330

[kathleencruiser]

Thanks for the great info. I will try to email Mario again. My girls 10,16 and 13 will be with me. Picture was very helpful as well. I am new to this site What is roll call? I am clueless!

[nybumpkin]

Thanks for the great info. I will try to email Mario again. My girls 10,16 and 13 will be with me. Picture was very helpful as well. I am new to this site What is roll call? I am clueless!

It's the board here on Cruise Critic where other people sailing with you post. You can arrange get-togethers with these folks on board, discuss travel arrangements, etc. The link Another Cruise posted is your sailing's roll call.

[Randy & Kathy]

My DW and I were just in Colon, Panama this past Nov.19th and took the CL007 tour with Mario. We very much enjoyed all three of the destinations of the tour and have wonderful memories and photos of our day there (see some of our photos in the smugmug link below our signature). Do not worry about getting back to the ship on time, the guides are watching the time all day and will have you back OK. It was a fantastic tour and a day that we shall never forget.

Some other folks on the ship decided to take the train tour that day and said that they were bored stiff, the scenery was the same for most of the day and that they felt that they had pretty much wasted their time and money choosing that tour option. They are returning to Panama again soon and are going to take the CL007 tour with Mario this time after hearing from so many of us that took it previously.

Here is a hint, if you are planning on going to view the water falls be sure to put your water shoes on before you enter the canoe. You will be getting out of the canoe later and wading in the river for about 100 yards to get to the falls. Also, wear shorts or something that won't bother you to have it get wet, some places that you will be wading will be as much as 2' deep plus you will be stepping over, and climbing over, boulders in the river. It is not difficult, the Indians will be there with you to offer assistance to you in getting to the falls. Once there you may swim, photograph or just lounge around if you like, a very scenic and tranquil place.

The Indian village was a very special place to us and provided many great memories and photo opportunities, as well as a great place to buy some souvenirs to help us to remember our visit there. The locks was also a very special part of the trip, it was great learning all of the information about the operation of the locks and then being up so close and watching the ships slowly pass through there. Again, more wonderful memories and great photo ops. Lori and Ricardo were our tour guides and made the tour even better, gave us a lot of information and answered all of our questions, what a great day it was for us.

Randy

[raggedyann6]

Hi Randy,

How many hours was your tour with Mario? I want to go on that tour but we are in port from 7am-4pm (CST)and the tour does not start until 8:30 and is suppose to return at 3:30 which is cutting a bit close I think. Did they give you the local time which is CST or do they use the ships local time? Our ship leaves from Tampa,FL so it is EST. Thanks for any info.

Dale

[Randy & Kathy]

Hi Randy,

How many hours was your tour with Mario? I want to go on that tour but we are in port from 7am-4pm (CST)and the tour does not start until 8:30 and is suppose to return at 3:30 which is cutting a bit close I think. Did they give you the local time which is CST or do they use the ships local time? Our ship leaves from Tampa,FL so it is EST. Thanks for any info.

Dale

 

Dale,

We were in port from 7am-5pm but they got us back at 4:30pm, plenty of time to board the ship. The cruise lines make a lot of money by instilling the "you might miss the ship" fear into so many people. I think that everybody has concerns about missing the ship but the tour folks watch the time closely and will just adjust the tour schedule if running late. The time was the same for us, ship on eastern and all Central American countries on central time. We just had to remember that the local time was an hour earlier than the ship time.

If they were to cause people to miss the ship due to being late they would soon be out of business. You will really enjoy this tour, go ahead and just enjoy your day there and leave the time concerns to them. Be sure to take pictures/camcorder footage as you will want to remember what a wonderful day that you had there, we certainly do.

Randy

[Cruzman]

OK, can someone please tell me what Mario's e-mail addy is. Thanks!

[Randy & Kathy]

OK, can someone please tell me what Mario's e-mail addy is. Thanks!

 

Just go to myfriendmario dot com and his website will have information as well as his email address. He got right back to me when I notified him, everything went very well for us, he provided a wonderful day there that we shall never forget.

Randy

[leavnofingerprints]

We took the domed car train last year and it was by far the worst and most expensive tour we've ever done in more than 9 cruises. I cannot in good faith recommend that excursion to anyone.

 

LNF