Grocery store in Limon?

[Psee]

Our upcoming Princess Panama cruise has several sea days with Limon being the first port. Just wondering if there was a grocery-type store in Limon that would allow us to purchase such things as soft drinks (coke, soda water, etc.) that we could carry back to the ship. Have read about stores that sell local items such as coffee and hot sauce, but nothing about normal grocery items that we may need to restock.

 

Thanks! :)

[OCruisers]

Psee ... YES!

 

For your normal Cokes, etc. you can buy them at the building as you are leaving the dock. There's a "flea market" at the cruise dock as well which has many vendors selling local hot sauce, etc. You don't need to go into town.

 

We actually walked into town (just a few blocks away). It's a REAL port town so you have all of the normal shops with groceries, hardware, clothing, etc. that people normally need. We speak comfortable Spanish so we love going to "regular" shops and bars in Spanish speaking ports. Honestly, we never really needed to use Spanish. Also, they took our US dollars happily! :p We love mixing with the locals so it was a great day for us!

 

Hope this helps a bit ....

 

Happy Sailing! OCruisers :)

[Raven]

I echo OCruiser's sentiments about Limon. If you'd rather go to a grocery store just go straight thru the fenced in flea market area and exit out through the small building on the opposite side. I believe there was a grocery store across the street and maybe a little to the left.

 

Limon is definitely a working port town. Usually you will find a cargo ship next to yours, being loaded or unloaded. Keep an eye out for trucks hauling containers to and from those cargo ships! You have to cross their "road" when walking to the flea market and to town. They're supposed to stop at the crosswalk to the flea market but that doesn't mean they DO...lol.

 

In January of this year, when we were on the Carnival Legend, the ocean swells were too severe for the ship to moor at the Limon piers so the captain took it a half hour "around the corner" north to the other working port of Moin. Moin is just over the hill to the north of Limon and is basically a work port for the Dole Corporation. You should have seen the flea market vendors scramble when they realized that the ship was heading for Moin instead of Limon!

 

If you are interested in having lunch in town I would highly recommend taking a cab to Restaurante Efaro, which is located at the highest point in the main part of Limon. You have a view of the whole port and the coastline to the south. Beautiful! Unlike OCruisers, we don't know a word of spanish but we still have loved Limon each of the 3 times we've been there. Enjoy!

[Psee]

Wow, thanks OCruisers and Raven for the great information!

 

Looks like we'll definitely be doing the just the town area since we're not into the normal ship excursions. We'll probably take a cab for a tour around the town with a stop at the highest point for photo ops (and lunch) and then back to the local shops! :cool:

 

From other reviews it sounds like it's fairly easy to grab a cab at the pier.

 

Thanks again! :)