tours for San Juan del Sur- Nicaragua?

[mii]

Gabrielle, thank you very much for this info. I have already reserved the coffee Plantation in guatamala. I am glad to read from you that it is a popular tour and that it was a good one. Again thanks.

 

Marilyn

[Go-Bucks!]

Guess I'll share my experiences on the ship's tours in Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Guatemala. I was on the Coral 12/9/08. I may write a cruise review later, if time allows.

 

Puntarenas, Costa Rica: I took the Costa Rica's Favorites with Lunch. This was an excellent choice. The bus ride to the aerial tram took about 75 minutes. We went up through the rain forest in an aerial tram with a very good guide. He explained the different levels of growth (newer low, middle, and older tall), then pointed out varieties of plants, birds, and animals. He would do different bird calls and the birds would answer him back. After getting back down on the ground, we took a walk through some of the rain forest. He showed us many interesting plants and where mini-sized bats live up in some palm trees. The walk got a bit steep when you got to the snakes in glass enclosures, but they offered walking sticks to anyone who wanted them before we went on the walk. You don't have to go up to the snake area, which is not too interesting anyway. Next was lunch, which was very good. We had chicken, plantains, rice, beans, salad, watermelon, pineapple, and mango. Drinks were water, tamarind juice or soursop juice. There was a place to buy coffee and souvenirs. I got some good Cafe Britt coffee. After lunch, we drove to the Tarcoles River (filled with crocodiles!!) and took a jungle boat ride into the mangrove forest. This was absolutely facinating. The boat driver took us right up to the crocs and to other interesting wildlife - such as Jesus Christ lizards (they walk on the water), macaws, crabs, and many other types of birds/herons. The ride was about 2.5 hrs., but it seemed to go by quickly. Be sure to take binoculars!! I had some, but accidently left them on the ship. When we returned to shore, we were treated to some delicious watermelon, pineapple, bananas, mango, and fruit juice. We watched leaf-cutter ants going up and down a tree and across the yard carrying pieces of leaves about 25 times the size of themselves! They quickly marched along in a straight line as if they were in an "ant army." The guide said they take these leaf pieces back to their home and a fungus grows on the leaves. The ants then eat the fungus.

 

San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua: Today's tour was a huge disappointment and I would NOT recommend it. It was the A Glimpse of Nicaragua's History & Nature. The bus ride to the city of Rivas was about an hour. The guide was very knowledgeable about Nicaraguan history (and I love history) and a nice guy. But when we arrived in the main square in Rivas and parked in front of the cathedral, it was raining. The guide tried to get into the cathedral, but it was closed. There were no stores around this square, so all there was to do for the next hour was wander around the square in the rain or get back on the bus and sit. Most of got on the bus and just sat there for an hour. :rolleyes: When we finally departed Rivas, we went to a place called the La Mar Resort on Lake Nicaragua. The 2 volcanoes were out in the distance, but because of the rain and cloud cover we couldn't see them. We sat out on a windy, rainy covered patio and were served watermelon, cantaloupe, and white pineapple (it was delicious) and fruit juice. We sat there for another hour with nothing to do. Got back on the bus and were taken back to the pier. Needless to say, many of us were upset at having paid $49 for a bowl of fruit and a long bus ride. BTW, our bus was OK. Nothing fancy, but not smelly or dirty. Many people complained to the ship's tour desk and we got a 25% refund for this tour. The best time I had was after the tour! I hopped in a bicycle taxi and went into the city of San Juan del Sur. I had read about a great coffeehouse called El Gato Negro run by an American ex-pat, so the taxi took me there. It was a great little hangout that has the largest English bookstore in Nicaragua. It was sort of a Starbucks/Borders type place, but very laid back. They had swinging chairs and English newspapers. I talked with the owner for quite awhile and had a delicious Nicaraguan cafe latte and homemade Sticky Bun. They make "all-American" foods and the locals love it. The clientele were a mix of American ex-pats (there are 700 of them in this town) and locals. I bought a couple bags of coffee that they had just roasted. He bagged it up fresh. Walked to the local Internet cafe and got on for 50 cents for 30 minutes!!! Sure beats the Princess prices! And it was fast Internet. I saw several Internet cafes in town. Walked to the church and looked around. Wandered back to the ship and enjoyed the town. This town feels safe and is very quaint.

 

Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala: This was my favorite country. It was much cleaner and more modern than others. Their portion of the PanAmerican highway was nicely paved. I took the Filadelfia Coffee Estate & Antigua with Lunch tour. This was a fantastic tour. As the bus took us to the coffee plantation, we were climbing in altitude. We drove past several volcanoes; the main ones being Agua and Fuego. Fuego is active and belched thick smoke about every 15-20 minutes. Quite spectacular. The weather was nicely warm and dry. What a nice change! At the coffee plantation, we went out into the fields and watched the Indian people harvesting the beans. We were shown how the entire process goes from growing little plants, harvesting, taking the skins off, drying, roasting, and packaging. Of course, I bought some of their coffee (which is my favorite of all the bags I got in all countries). Next we were served a gourmet-quality lunch on the outside verandah of the main plantation house. The tables were set so lovely and we watched the volcanoes while eating. Lunch started with freshly-made, thick, warm, soft tortillas with salsa and guacamole to top them with. Next was a cilantro soup, tortilla chips, black refried beans, more guacamole, rice, and hot freshly-grilled steak and chicken. Dessert was a coffee flavored whipped cream mousse with a cup of their own coffee. Back on the bus, we drove just a short way to the city of Antigua. This is a lovely, interesting city but, unfortunately, we didn't have much time there. I would love to return someday. We got out in the main square and did some shopping and then just sat on benches in the square. Indian ladies with little children tried to sell us things, but were easily turned away with a polite "No, gracias." The children were so beautiful and I was able to talk to them in my baby-Spanish. How shocking to see a Burger King and McDonald's while driving through this city. :(

 

Hope that helps anyone trying to figure out what to do in those countries. I didn't hear many people who really enjoyed the tours in Nicaragua. Some people liked Granada, but it was a long bus ride! If I went again, I'd just hang out in San Juan del Sur. The beach near the pier looked fairly decent too. Happy traveling!! :D

[mii]

Beach, thanks alot for the review of the coffee plantation and combo Antigua. That is the one that I have signed up for and I really do appreciate your description. Again thanks.

 

Marilyn

[davidnsteph]

Beachyfe,

 

Thanks a lot for taking the time to tell us your impressions about these ports and tours. Very helpful.

 

DavidnSteph

[Swabbie]

Has anybody done the Horseback ride at San Juan del Sur or heard about anyone who had. That is one of the options we are looking at.

[Gabrielle R.]

The horseback tour was cancelled on our visit. I'm not sure why. I thought it might be a fun tour! Hope someone who has been on it can help you out! I would think that they would have a very pretty area to ride in. I always noticed that so many horses in Central America look very small/ thin in Central America- guess our horses are just way better fed. I had three horses and they were fat and sassy!;) Well, at least compared to the horses I saw.

[Swabbie]

The horseback tour was cancelled on our visit. I'm not sure why. I thought it might be a fun tour! Hope someone who has been on it can help you out! I would think that they would have a very pretty area to ride in. I always noticed that so many horses in Central America look very small/ thin in Central America- guess our horses are just way better fed. I had three horses and they were fat and sassy!;) Well, at least compared to the horses I saw.

 

We have 1 horse and he is a little fat now:rolleyes:, but we are working on that. We use him for light jumping. (English). Thanks for the update. I will keep looking. I really have not seen any comments on the riding there on any boards. I know it's just school riding anyway, but I did like the experience in both Jamacia and Alaska.

[CarolRoy]

we are going on the coral full transit feb 23 , 14 day as well. i have private tours booked for the ports but had trouble with nicaragua. so another cruiser oon the rollcall found this tour company, which we have a tour booked, you can take a look www.nicaragua-travel.info

We will be on the Coral Princess for full transit March 23, 2009. Can you tell me what private tours you planned for the ports. Would be most helpful. Thanks Carol

[OCruisers]

:cool: WOW!

 

This thread is totally loaded with HELPFUL information!

 

Thanks EVERYONE! :)

[davidnsteph]

We just returned from a Panama Canal cruise on the Coral Princess. We really liked SJDS. We went for a walk through this resort port. There were nice hotels and B&B's. There was also an old wooden Catholic church. We enjoyed our hike up to Pelican Eyes Resort on a hill a few blocks from the port. The staircase had maybe 40 steps. There were excellent views of the ship and the town from here. The resort does a lot of community service, and was entertaining a large group of senior citizens that day, with lunch, music and dancing. There is also an animal sanctuary here, with monkeys, raccoons and other animals. This port was a pleasant surprise.

 

We had one strange experience when we tried to mail postcards. The post office didn't accept US dollars. When we went to exchange dollars for Nicaraguan Cordobas at a nearby bank, the teller needed to see our passport. We didn't understand why. Since we don't carry passports into the ports, we just mailed the postcards from the ship.

 

DavidnSteph

[Sunny AZ Girl]

We will be on the Coral Princess in 2011. I have not really begun to research in earnest yet, but this thread has got me thinking. I looked at the Princess tours for this year and I do think I would like to go to Grenada plus see the volcanoes. Please keep the ideas coming!:D

[ikelmay]

Hi everyone, this has been a very useful thread. Has anyone taken the Pelican Eyes sail boat trip in San Juan del Sur? It was flagged very early on in this thread but I can't find a successful link to the website. If anyone has any further information on this it would be much appreciated.

[davidnsteph]

Hi everyone, this has been a very useful thread. Has anyone taken the Pelican Eyes sail boat trip in San Juan del Sur? It was flagged very early on in this thread but I can't find a successful link to the website. If anyone has any further information on this it would be much appreciated.

 

Try piedrasyolas(dot)com. We loved the view of the harbor and town from the resort. Looked like a fine resort to stay in.

 

David

[ikelmay]

David, many thanks for the link. I had been there but didn't see the sail option buried away down the list.

 

Gracias!

[laughing husky]

Took the canal cruise last year....and I absolutely loved Nicaragua..It was one of the fav ports. We did the Princess tour to Lake Nicaragua and it was great. The lake is very large, and quite shallow in places...The boats are flat bottomed lake boats. There is a small islet that has monkeys that the guides feed. They are not native (so I was told) but someone left them there and they thrived. There are numerous small islets that have mansions on them with beautiful gardens...no, you can't get off the boat to walk through....apparently lots of Texans have second houses here. Although the country is poverty ridden, I thought it was one of the cleanest Central America countries that I have seen. The steps in the villages are all elevated...that fascinated me...I felt perfectly safe.....The town that you arrive in is a surf town...Didn't spend any time there but I would go back in a heart beat....I highly recommend that tour to the Lake. It is a low level of activity...although you have to climb into and out of the boats....I would be happy to email a couple of pictures to anyone if they would like that. My email is jfoster209@aol.com