Panama canal cruise?

Question

Some of the ports, I will be visiting are colon, costa rica, cartagena, ocho rios. Any advice on shore excursions at these ports, is it best to book excursions directly from the ship, or outside vendors? How reputable are these outside venders?

Answer 1

Usually, I would try to book my own excursions, but for those ports, I would only do ship excursions.  Those ports can be very "iffy" and the ship excursions will at least guarantee that the ship will wait for you if there any delays.

If you want more info, go to CruiseCritic.com, click on "Boards", then "Ports of Call".

Answer 2

You are better off booking excursions from the ship, as the cruise line stands behind the vendor. If you are delayed getting back to the ship on a ship-booked excursion the ship will know where you are, and wait for you. If you book one on your own, you are on your own.

Regards.

Dan

Answer 3

I also took a princess cruise through the Panama Canal. We went on the regal which has been retired from the fleet. Anyways , one of our stops was in Costa Rica. We are coffee lovers, so we booked a coffee plantation tour through the ship. It was a great tour. They took us out into the fields, did a little skit, saw a how to movie and then tasted lots of coffee. I even got a free hat from the coffee plantation because I volunteered for something. Anyways we still get our coffee to this day from that place. We just order it on line and it comes in 3 days. Sorry about going on and on, but this is truly a great cruise.

Answer 4

We cruised to the Panama Canal on Princess a few years ago. The Princess ship was very nice and so was the cruise.

On our Panama cruise we departed from Ft Lauderdale (also called Port Everglades) and stopped first in Costa Maya, Mexico. We did no do a tour there, just went to the beach. Then we stopped in Costa Rica. We did a tour there that included a train ride away from the port city into the jungle. A guide in each car explained what we were passing as we went. Then we got off the train in a small town about 10 miles from the port and boarded a bus and were taken to a banana plantation where we had a brief tour before we were bused back to the ship. I did like this tour as it gave opportunity to see life away from the city.

We got to the Panama canal about 5:30 AM and it was still dark as we waited for our turn to enter the locks. We went in beside a huge ship carrying autos. We watched some from the bow of the ship and then went back to our balcony cabin and watched the progress from there. We could see clearly the trains that are used to pull the ship through the locks. The whole process took about two hours. We then entered Guten Lake after going through the locks and there departed the ship for tours by tender boat (no dock).

The tour that we selected was a train ride across Panama to the Pacific. It was kinda expensive but it was a great trip. It takes about an hour to cross Panama and when we got there we got off and took a bus tour that included a stop at the Pacific coast side locks. After that we re boarded the bus and went back to the train for the ride back to the East coast. At the east coast side we had a tour on the way back to the ship of the former American compound in Panama. Then when they dropped us at the pier the ship had re-entered the locks and was at a pier at the port. There was a small market there to buy souvenirs.

Our planned stop in Columbia was canceled due to security reasons.  Then our final stop was Jamaica and there we chose the Dunn's River Falls tour. That was nice and a must do.   There are two main tours to do in Jamaica, Dunns River Falls and a river raft trip.  WE have done both and they are great.  Do NOT go off on your own in Jamaica because its not safe and be sure of who you are going with and how much if you take a taxi.  Its recommended that you get a taxi at the pier or at a hotel..

We used the ship's tours for all of our excursions, mainly because I did not know how to book tours otherwise.  The big worry with outside vendors is getting back to the ship on time.  The cruise ship will wait for its tours that are late, but not for those of private vendors.  I have used private vendors in some Caribbean ports, but not these.