Coral Princess Refused Entry to Punterenas, C.R.?

[Canuck-Ottawa]

Anybody heard about this news article from another web site? The ship tracker web site seems to confirm it, as the times match up with not stopping over in the port. Can anyone confirm? Looks like those of us sailing next week may have another port-of-call dropped from the itinerary.:(

 

November 14, 2008

 

Protesters Keep Cruise Ship Away From Port Of Call

 

The Coral Princess was unable to enter the port of Puntarenas, Costa Rica after protesters blocked the port. Officials say the protest, cutting off the cruise ship access, cost the port city businesses an estimated $250,000 from tourist spending during the scheduled port call. The cruise ship instead diverted to Panama. The protest was organized by captains of small fishing vessels who fish for shark. The issue at hand was a new law banning shark finning, the controversial process of removing shark fins - often while the animal is still alive - to provide the ingredients for the popular Asian dish of shark fin soup. Fishermen must now unload the whole shark when they come into port.

[mii]

Yes, I read that over on the ports of call board for Costa Rica. There is a thread about it there. Too bad because Puntenernas is a very nice port.

 

Marilyn

[RickEk]

Cutting off one's nose to spite their face??? The fisherman are just hurting their fellow citizens... :confused:

[BostonPaul]

We were on the Coral Princess Panama Canal cruise that left Nov. 5 from LA and arrived in Fort Laud Nov. 19. It is true, we did not stop in Puntarenas. We were told first thing in the morning via ship announcement that the taxi drivers had blocked all the roads in and out of the cruise port, and that the fisherman were blocking access to the terminal for the ship.

 

They made that day and "at sea" and distributed an updated Patter by 11 am. They also added Puerto Amador, Panama, for the next day, which had been originally scheduled as an "at sea" day. They were quite apologetic, but said that they were concerned for passenger safety and the shore excursions would not be doable. All excursion charges were automatically refunded.

 

There were five shore excursions added for Amador, a couple involved riding trains along the canal and touring old U.S. military bases there.

 

Amador is the port for Panama City, which looked like Oz, we could see lot of new tall office towers clearly. Howver, we did not arrive until noon, and were anchored about 20 minutes away from the port by tender. They only ran four tenders, and literally we could not get off the ship until 4 p.m. As a result we stayed on board, but heard from crew and passengers that Panama City has excellent shopping and they really enjoyed it.

[davidnsteph]

Next April on the Coral Princess, we are scheduled to stop at Puerto Caldera, which is close to Puntarenas. If this issue is not resolved, we wonder if any protests would spread over to the neighboring port.

 

Just wondering.

 

DavidnSteph

[LAC2]

There were 1,550 passengers scheduled for excursions in Costa Rica that day, us included. My husband watched as the fishing boats positioned themselves in front of our ship. The next we know we hear the Loud blast of the ships horn. The odd thing is, the Harbor Pilot was onboard at the time and when the Capt. made his announcement, it made it seem as though the blockade was an unanticipated surprise.

 

The Coral was then moved to another part of the bay, Puerta Caldera, looked like an industrial port. Captain said we'd be going there while "the Home Office" sorted out the situation. Funny thing is we watched all the tour buses leave the first port heading for the second port.

 

Ultimately we couldn't dock there either. We were told that taxi drivers were blocking the entry to the port and that the govt could not guarantee our safety nor the ability to leave and return to the dock. So.......our sea days were altered and we left for Panama City Harbor after a medical evacuation was completed.

 

The best tours sold out in 15 min. Tendering was necessary and reeeeeally slow. Lots of complaints. Too bad too. I thought Princess did really well under the circumstances.

 

Hey. It was an adventure and we loved the cruise!!

[davidnsteph]

...The Coral was then moved to another part of the bay, Puerta Caldera, looked like an industrial port. Captain said we'd be going there while "the Home Office" sorted out the situation. Funny thing is we watched all the tour buses leave the first port heading for the second port.

 

Ultimately we couldn't dock there either. We were told that taxi drivers were blocking the entry to the port and that the govt could not guarantee our safety nor the ability to leave and return to the dock. So.......our sea days were altered and we left for Panama City Harbor after a medical evacuation was completed...

 

Thanks LAC2,

 

That answers our question about Puerto Caldera. Hopefully, this gets sorted out soon. Glad to know you made the best of it.

 

DavidnSteph

[LAC2]

You're welcome.

 

You'll still have a great time, no matter what. The Coral is wonderful.

[mii]

I will be on the same cruise as DavidnSteph and having been 5 times on the Coral I plan to "go with the flow" as they say. Not much else we can do. I have been to Punteneras before and it is a very nice stop on the panama Canal route but if by next april this conflict has not been taken care I guess I will just stay on the ship. As of right now our stop is Puerto Caldera which was changed from originally being Punteneras.

 

Marilyn

[davidnsteph]

From the bridgecam on the Princess website, it appears that the Island Princess was able to visit Puntarenas today. It looks like the protests may have died down there enough for ships to dock.

 

DavidnSteph

[caribill]

Sounds like a one day or so protest.

 

We stopped there on the Royal Princess on November 23. No problem at all.

[Canuck-Ottawa]

The Coral Princess did dock there on the return trip (Nov.19-29) without any problems. However, there were 2 Coast Guard skiffs and a cutter stationed beside us all day. They QUICKLY approached any boat that came toward the ship and steered them away.

My wife was impressed by the LARGE automatic weapons held by the coast guard folks in the skiffs.

We even had armed police at the dock entrance. The police and other "officials" got to go on a ship tour with the security officer, and two of the police even had lunch beside us in the Horizon Court Buffet. They sure ate a lot!! (3 trips to the desert section!) :eek: