costa rica hotel & transfer question

[wildernessORtheRitz]

Hi Everyone,

 

I know there have been various posts before on this subject. My travel agent fell ill 2 weeks ago, so I am trying to do some of this pre-cruise stuff on my own.

 

Do you have an idea if Windstar uses a specific hotel pre-cruise? We are flying in Friday Jan 23, 2009 and thought if we booked a room in the same hotel we might be able to get a windstar transfer to the ship (when my agent recovers... fortunately isn't a life-threatening illness)

 

I have been in contact with a lovely hotel call Vista Del Valle and they said they could help me arrange transportation to the ship, but I thought I would try to check into the windstar hotel as well. I am completely fine with "adventure & the unknown" but, my new husband keeps asking "what about the windstar stuff"????:rolleyes:

 

At this point (3 weeks to the cruise) I might be better off going with my instincts and staying at the Vista Del Valle..... it appears from the posts the windstar transfers are expensive and a private driver might offer a better experience.

 

Thanks for your help....

WildernessORtheRitz!

 

Oh, if I stay at the Vista Del Valle, I will try to post a review!

[6rugrats]

I have never been on a Windstar cruise to Costa Rica, but I have found their hotels and transfers to be waaaaay over priced! The hotel you have found gets very good reviews on tripadvisor.com.

 

Personally, I would book it and hire my own transportation to get to the ship. If the hotel is helping you arrange this, it should be reliable. I would think the experience would be much more personal and better than going with Windstar. Good luck!

[Len3]

We're staying 2 nights pre-cruise and 2 nights post-cruise at the Adventure Inn. Windstar will transfer us in both directions from the Ramada Inn.

[snnw]

We just returned from the Windstar Costa Rica trip over Christmas. The Windstar Hotel is Doubletree Cariari which is nice but expensive.

 

Our suggestion is to do what we did, stay at the Casa Laurin B&B in Escazu which is much less expensive and a great place to stay and will arrange airport pick up by her trusted driver Eduardo. You can then arrange for Eduardo to drive you to the boat the next day. Break up the trip by having lunch on the top of the mountain on your way to the boat. He will charge less than the Windstar bus transport, and he is just a kick...very personable and knowledgable and loves what he does. He speaks excellent English. We had Eduardo pick us up as well and had time for a coffee plantation tour before our plane left.

 

Staying at Casa Laurin is like staying with a relative who happens to live in Costa Rica! Ginette has found her calling, and that is running a B&B.

 

Enjoy your week, you will have an excellent time!

[Len3]

We just returned from the Windstar Costa Rica trip over Christmas. The Windstar Hotel is Doubletree Cariari which is nice but expensive.

 

Our suggestion is to do what we did, stay at the Casa Laurin B&B in Escazu which is much less expensive and a great place to stay and will arrange airport pick up by her trusted driver Eduardo. You can then arrange for Eduardo to drive you to the boat the next day. Break up the trip by having lunch on the top of the mountain on your way to the boat. He will charge less than the Windstar bus transport, and he is just a kick...very personable and knowledgable and loves what he does. He speaks excellent English. We had Eduardo pick us up as well and had time for a coffee plantation tour before our plane left.

 

Staying at Casa Laurin is like staying with a relative who happens to live in Costa Rica! Ginette has found her calling, and that is running a B&B.

 

Enjoy your week, you will have an excellent time!

This is strange as our TA just checked and it was the Ramada at 9:30AM -I'll have to give Windstar a call to double check.

[franosu]

Our TA says the Ramada is the Windstar hotel for 2009.

 

Mark & Phyllis

[Len3]

Our TA says the Ramada is the Windstar hotel for 2009.

 

Mark & Phyllis

 

I just checked with my TA and Windstar directly - both say that for 2009, the pick-up location is the Ramada.

[JetlagCruiser]

We took the Windstar Costa Rica cruise in mid December, we arranged transfers through www.transancho.com. They were professional, on time, excellent and reasonable. Price is less than the Windstar transfer price.

Check to see if they will drop you at the Puerto Caldera gate or by the ship. It is only a short walk to the ship, but if you have lot's of luggage, it may be difficult. We travel lite.

If you are interested in photos of our Dec 2008 7 night Windstar Costa Rica cruise, just click on my blog

http://windstarcostarica.blogspot.com/

 

We are experience cruisers and find that every cruise ship, itinerary and experience is something to enjoy and treasure. We don't have favorites, we just take pleasure in each moment while we are traveling. All ships can have some positive or some negative reviews depending on the travelers likes and dislikes, we find it best to find the positive things we like about each ship and just have a great time.

 

Have a Great Cruise!

Donna

 

35 Cruises Taken

 

Dec 2008 Windstar, Wind Star 7 nt Costa Rica/Nicaragua

Nov 2008 Holland America, Ryndam 10 nt Sea of Cortez

Oct 2008 Carnival, Elation 5 nt Mexican Riveria

Jun 2008 Norwegian, Jade 14 nt Norway and Artic Circle

Oct 2007 Dalmacija 7 nt Italy, Croatia and Montenegro

Sept 2007 Norwegian, Pearl 1 nt Dinner and Dance Pacific Ocean

Jul 2007 Holland America, Westerdam 12 nt Italy, France, Spain, Monaco

Jun 2007 Orient Lines, Marco Polo 12 nt Spain, Portugal, France, Belgium, England

Dec 2006 Norwegian, Pride of America 7 nt Hawaii

Nov 2006 Royal Caribbean, Splendour of the Seas 5 nt Caribbean Cozumel, Costa Maya

Jun 2006 Holland America, Prisendam 5 nt Portugal, France, England

May 2006 Princess, Diamond 2 nt San Francisco to Vancouver

Feb 2006 Costa, Fortuna 11 nt Italy, Egypt, Cyprus, Greece, Turkey

Jan 2006 Carnival, Fascination 3 nt Bahamas

Nov 2005 Royal Caribbean, Voyager of the Seas 5 nt Bermuda

Sept 2005 Holland America, Volendam 2 nt Vancouver to Seattle

Sept 2005 Princess, Sapphire 2 nt Seatle to Vancouver

Jul 2004 Orient Lines, Marco Polo 7 nt Scandinavia and Russia

Dec 2003 Norwegian, Crown 14 nt South America/Santiago to Buenos Aires

Nov 2003 Viking River Cruises, Viking Danube 5 nt Rhine River Basel to Amsterdam

May 2003 Orient Lines/Crown Odyssey/NCL Crown 5 nt Italy, France, Spain

Aug 2002 Viking River Cruises, Viking Pride 14 nt Budapest to Amsterdam

Jun 2002 Windstar, Wind Song 7 nt Tahiti, French Polynesia

Apr 2002 Royal Caribbean, Splendour of the Seas 4 nt Spain, France

Mar 2002 Carnival, Ecstasy 3 nt Catalina and Ensenada

Dec 2001 Norwegian, Sun 7 nt Caribbean Cayman, Roatan, Belize, Mexico

Nov 2001 Princess, Golden 7 nt Eastern Caribbean

May 2001 Holland America, Rotterdam 12 nt Spain, Monaco, Italy, Turkey, Greece

Apr 2001Princess, Sun 10 nt Panama Canal, C.R., Columbia, Aruba, Barbados, Dominica

Dec 2000 Princess, Dawn 7 nt St. Thomas, St. Kitts, Martinique, Isla Margarita, Curacao

Jun 2000 Princess, Sun 7 nt Alaska, Seward –Skagway, Juneau, Ketchikan-Vancouver

Jun 2000 Royal Olympic, Stella Solaris, 7 nt Mediterranean, Italy, Greece, Turkey

Jan 2000 Royal Caribbean, Nordic Empress, 4 nt St. Thomas, St. Maaarten, St. Croix

May 1999 Radisson Seven Seas (now Regent), Paul Gauguin 7 nt Tahiti, French Polynesia

Dec 1995 Seawind Cruise Line, Crown, 7 nt Aruba, Curacao, Barbados, St. Lucia, Grenada

[ksg]

We stayed here based on trip advisor reviews three years ago. We loved it. The grounds were beautiful, the room was very special (we stayed in one of the casitas), the outdoor shower was very cool. Even the food at the restaurant was good. Staff was charming. This is not a run of the mill hotel - it is very much at one with nature (tarantulas and toucans included - so be aware of that). We were very happy that we chose something like this rather than a chain hotel. Vista is near to the airport and on the way to Puerto Caldera, so you would shorten the ride. We thought it was a terrific choice - you won't go wrong.

 

We used Coach Costa Rica for the trip to Puerto Caldera. They were fine, however I don't remember what we paid.

 

Our trip to Costa Rica was our favorite vacation ever. Enjoy!

 

Kim

[Lair Bear]

I have been in contact with a lovely hotel call Vista Del Valle and they said they could help me arrange transportation to the ship, but I thought I would try to check into the windstar hotel as well. I am completely fine with "adventure & the unknown" but, my new husband keeps asking "what about the windstar stuff"????:rolleyes:

 

This is what we did in Costa Rica a few years ago. We had made our own arrangements for airfare and end-of-the-cruise stay. Somehow that resulted in not being able to use the Windstar transfer (which turned out to be a good thing). It is a long way to the harbor where the ship docks.

 

When we arrived at the airport we hailed a cab to take us to our hotel. I asked the cabbie if he could take us to the ship the following morning. He hesitated, thought about my question, mentioned it was about a two hour ride, but we agreed on a price. He was there promply with his wife who came along for the ride. The price was $85. At the hotel we were quoted up to $110 for the two hour ride and if our taxi had not shown up, we would have done that route, of course. I think the ship buses charged $120 and they were an hour late getting to the port.

 

Prearrange? Sure, if you can and feel it is the only way. But in Costa Rica a lot of people speak English and with some dililgence, you should not be afraid to it on your own.

Have a great trip.

PS. You can see our experience by going into our web site below.

[wildernessORtheRitz]

To everyone who has posted replies, I can't thank you enough! Right now our lives are so busy, your help and advice has been wonderful! I have enjoyed looking at your travel photos and blogs! It is amazing to me we are leaving in less than a week.

 

We are hopefully staying at the Vista Del Valle, I am trying to verify via email that everything is still ok after the earthquake last week!

 

I did note the wide variety of experiences many of you have had! I am pleased to see people who have done some trips we loved (like the Galapagos Islands on Celebrity... and Windstar in Europe)

 

I am new to this site and will have to update my profile with my varied travels and try to share experiences we have had too! (from medical clinics in the Amazon jungles of Peru (NOT a cruise) to Bermuda on Azamara etc. etc..)

 

Again, thanks!

Cindy