CarolandNate

Question for teamflames.  Saw that you went on land trips to Masaya Volcano in Nicaragua.  We are looking at a couple of volcano options there.  Would like to pick your brain on that.   It was suggested that this might be the best way to reach out to you

I have noticed that there can be some nastiness on these boards.  oh well.  Thanks for the advice and happy travels

Essiesmom  I had actually done that with the find content and yes I saw all of teamflames postings, one as recently as last week. That post had nothing to do with the subject matter at hand, but it was a recent post.  I suppose I could just post my question as irrelevant to that subject that it is and since teamflames was posting as recently as  a week ago, they will likely see it and hopefully answer.  I did not do that because I am guessing that the people who are answer that post are going to say, "why is this person here".  Are saying that is the best way to talk to someone?

Essiesmom  Being relatively new to this, I was not sure how it works when you want to get to someone in a more direct manner.  In some cases I have asked some with whom I might want to seek out in the future, if they would give me their email address.  Some have and that's great.  But not everyone is going to be so forthcoming.

I have tried to use the message box, thinking that might be a private message to that person, but I keep getting an error message that says I have 0 messages left for the day, try again (or something like that).  Bottom line is that I can't use it.  Is that something to do with my settings?

The information on this website is valuable and because we are not traveling until next Dec, we have a lot of time to gather up opnions and make informed decisions when we ultimately go.  I know that winging it is sometimes a good thing, but in general, I like to be more in control when I spend that kind of money. 

Question for teamflames.  Saw that you went on land trips to Masaya Volcano in Nicaragua.  We are looking at a couple of volcano option there.  Would like to pick your brain on that.

Questions to Astromaid.  What did you decide to do and why?  I looked at the 4WD to Mombacho and while it looked interesting, the three to Masaya looked more comprehensive.  We have a lot of time to decide, not going until next December, but we would like to pick one out in advance.  Since volcanoes seem to the Nicaragua thing, I don't want to be shut out of one that I would like to visit.  Be interested in hearing about you experiences.

That is really helpful.  I assume that the Copalita Archaeological Exploration  is the ruins one that you are referring too.   Again different is what we are looking for.  Being 3 1/2 hours, it looks like it could piggy back well with just tooling around the city on our own for a while. That is why I was curious as to how far a it was to walk from the ship.  When we went to Alaska, in Ketchikan we were always in view of the ship and the same was true for the last three hours of our stop in Juneau.  We did the away stuff early in the day, then the close stuff.  . In Skagway we went pretty far, but were back with three hours to spare.  We were also pretty tapped out after a six hour excursion and we had a chef's table to get to.   Trying to work anything with say a bay tour might get tricky time wise and logistically. 

This is one of those, play it by ear stops where there  are many tours that are essentially the same, not the ones that I would call must see.  There are a couple of stops that have things we have already identified as ones we want to take and would be disappointed if we did not get them.  Those I will likely book when they become available to book, like 120 days before the trip. 

I think Huatulco is a port where we will wait until we get on the ship to decide.  Doesn't sound like there is much risk on missing out on something, since there lots of choices.

This way I can keep collecting info, like yours and decide what we really want.

Thanks again.  Look forward to your future comments.

Good thoughts.  Is this ruins tour one that comes from Princess or is it a private tour company.  We do not want to go private.  I did so in Alaska and that was fine, but we were always close to the ship and we had planned to not take it down to the last minute.  People have said that if you are going to stress out over getting back in time, then go with the ship.  I will stress out, so.....

That said, we are there for nine hours, although that won't be a full nine, I am guessing.  Almost everything I saw was three to four hours, so if there is a place where we may piggy back, this might be it.  Other ports have five, six and seven hour excursions, so that likely would be it on those days.

I see three basic categories, 1) trips around the bays, all 2 1/2 to 3 hours.  2) City and Countryside 3) Nature related.

In the first, Hualtulco by Land and Sea is 3 1/2 and $45.  Might be a bit of bouncing around in that short time frame, so I'm not sure.   The Five Bays is 2 1/2 for $70 and actually stays in one place for a while.  Any thoughts, people?

In the city and countryside, they are 3 1/2 and 4 all about $70-$80.  Is the pier right in the city, like walking distance.  Most of the ones I saw seem countryside oriented, since they were a half hour to an hour away from the pier.  I am guessing that if we wanted to see the city and it's right at the pier, we can walk around and do that on our own.  That works for a piggy back.

The nature ones have some intrigue.  They are longer.  There is a river float, which is interesting.  Not looking to do too much work, as we plan to kayak in another venue.  So key word is float.  The archaelogical exploration sounds good.  There is a crocodile sanctuary and seeing nature like that is interesting, just not sure for five hours.  When we saw alligators in the Everglades this year, we actually saw them off the side of the road in the National Park, so.... We plan to do nature in other spots, so I'm not sure how much nature we want, plus I have five acres of woods out my front door.  I get plenty of nature on a daily basis.  But I'm open minded.

Thoughts ????

That said, we sort of have a plan.  There are some stops along the way where we feel that some things are must see.  And we want to make sure we get to them.  I know that Princess does not reserve excursions until 120 days prior.  Those must sees, I would rather not take a chance of getting shut out, so I plan to make reservations on them as soon as possible.  The must sees as far as I'm concerned are Puntarenas with Volcanoes and San Juan del Sur with Rainforests.  The length of those offered by Princess are such that it is going to be one and done on that given day.  I also feel that somewhere we would like to go to a beach and Puerto Vallarta seems to be the best for that (might be wrong, but).  That would also be the only activity that day.  The other three, Huatulco, Fuerte Amador and Cartegena have different types of categories as I see it.  Looks like Cartegena is about the city;  Fuerte is about the locks and the countryside; Huatulco is diverse.  We may piggyback if it is feasible, but I want to get a sense as to what is what.  In those three cases, maybe even Puerto Vallarta, we may wait until we get on the ship to book.  There appear to be a number of options in each category.  I have a list, but I would like to learn more and perhaps cull the list down over the next year.

Another reason I was thinking of waiting on some was for insurance purposes.  I used Travel Guard in Alaska and they cover you from door to door.  The catch is that you have to pay anything that is non refundable ahead of the trip to maintain a pre-existing conditions clause if you cancel the trip.  I was told that the cancellation of excursions can be as late as five days before the excursion, so that if one cancelled an excursion they would not be out the price of the excursion.  Thus they would not have to insure it.  Without that, one would have insure $90, $100, $130 or so on the policy.  Waiting until the trip starts would be fine, but then you take a chance that it would be booked.  But apparently that's not an issue.

At some point, I will put some specifics together for questions.

Being new to this, are private messages discouraged?  I have some things I want to put out there in terms of advice, but I don't want to monopolize the board with my questions.  If one wants to talk privately, is emailing or texting encouraged?

I will be posting over time, once I get my thoughts together on this.  I welcome anything you can offer.  Just what you said here is helpful.

TLCOhio  You appear to be a major source of Cartegena info.  We are planning a Panama Canal cruise in 2019.  West to East.  We are in the early stages of pruning a large list of potential excursions down to something manageable.  On the surface, it appears that Cartagena is about the city, with the countryside more secondary.  There are a lot city options, including self tours and hop on hop off.  What kinds of suggestions do you have.  Within that category, is ther something that you feel is must see.  Thanks for any help

In the latter part of 2019, my wife and I will be doing the LA to FtL cruise through the Panama Canal.  I am using this time, over the next several months to gather up information about things to do at various ports. I would like to hear from fellow travelers as to their experiences.  Early on is a stop in Huatulco, Mexico.  On the surface, it looks like the big things to do there are cruising the bays, cultural visits in the city and/or countryside, nature tours.  As such I have broken my list down into those categories.  The ship is in port nine hours and with most of the excursions being two-four hours, piggybacking two seem to be feasible.  We do plan to do the excursions from the ship.  Since there are several in each category and there is not one that I picture as must see, I feel we can wait until we get on the ship.  In the meantime I want to narrow down my list, so hearing what people say will be very helpful.

Which of the bay cruises gives one the most bang for the buck?  Do we want to emphasize city or countryside or is there one that is a good mix of both.  Several bounce from one place to another over four hours, with short stays.  Is that a good thing?   Every port of call has something like this. Cartagena is really about the city.  Fuerte Amador gets out to the countryside.   Are the Huatulco city/countryside tours unique enough to separate themselves from other ports?  I put their nature tours at the bottom of the priority list.  Am I missing something?

Any help would be appreciated.

We will be doing an LA to Ft. Lauderdale cruise through Panama Canal in 2019.  Looking for feedback from those who have traveled there.  Cartegena will be our last port of call before getting to FtL.  In scoping out the various ports, Cartegena appears to be about the city.  Lots of options and many seem similar.  Other options appear to be countryside and nature. 

The city appears to be unique as compared other stops, so we are inclined to zero in on that.  I am guessing countryside would be attractive as well.  While there are nature related tours, I think we will get plenty of nature in other ports.  The ship is in port nine hours.

I am asking those out there, which ones they like.  Are some of the tours both city and countryside and is that a good use of our time?  Most of the city tours are in the three, four hour range. How are the hop on hop off tours down there?   Should we consider piggy backing a city with something else that would give us six or seven hours?  Which countryside make the most sense? 

Appreciate any feedback

That's what we found.  I liken it to a restaurant that we frequent on special occasions.  It isn't necessarily fancy and some people wear T shirts.  I look at it as special so while I don't want to be overdressed, I feel that it's a chance to look nice for a change.  The Chef's table was one of those times.  As far as regular dinners, I could have worn shorts in the dining room, I just figured, let's have a little class.

Didn't have a jacket, but I brought a tie or two, just in case.  Our problem in terms of clothes were that we were going to be gone for three weeks.  We had to plan for potential chilliness on the ship.  Then we did our own thing on land in Alaska up to Denali and it was in between.  We finished off with a several days in LA, where it was warm.  Rather than carry everything for three weeks all over the place, we shipped things home after Alaska.  It worked out fine and we did not feel overdressed or underdressed.

When we went to Alaska a couple of years ago, we were not sure exactly what formal night would mean or if certain dress would be frowned upon in the main dining rooms.  Because we were also visiting family in the LA area, we were prepared either way.  I did notice that people were wearing jeans, shorts and t shirts in the main dining rooms and that's fine.  I am one who dresses that way all the time, even wearing shorts outside in the middle of February in New England.  Sometimes, though we just like to play a little dress up, even when we don't have to.

When we did the Alaska trip, we had been hoping to get picked for the Chef's Table on Princess.  Since you can't sign up until you are on board, you don't know.  We did get picked and were two of just 12 people to do so.  We did get dressed up to a certain extent, but it was because we felt like it, not because we had to. 

My advice is if you are not sure, keep it simple.  Business casual always works.  Don't feel like to you have to go out and spend a fortune on clothes.  You want to be comfortable.

Your insight has been invaluable.  That you are going this December is particularly helpful to us, since we are going a year from now and I am guessing there is some consistency seasonally.  I am anxiously awaiting to hear about your experiences over the next couple of months.  We are in the list making stage with general categories.  I would like to hear about particular places within those categories. 

Sounds great.  I appreciate the info.

Thank you  I am hearing a lot of good things about this particular excursion, both through the ship and on one's own.  Seems that this one generally has availability, certainly if booked in advance. It looks like, it is an hour and a half at the village and two and a half each way.  The travel to and from being split between, I assume a bus and the dugout canoe.  Am I correct? 

You must be really excited that after all that time, you are on the cusp of going.  We booked our December 2019 cruise in May of 2018, so we will have had nearly a year and a half to obsess.  And I am one who likes to make lists and lists of my lists.  I do like doing research, though.  It's fun.  And when there are people like yourself that are so willing to share, I really appreciate that.

Our only cruise was to Alaska and we began by thinking of doing a cruise tour, all through Princess.  I learned that we could have a lot more flexibility doing the land portion on our own (also saved a boatload of money).   Also did our excursions independently, but that was Alaska.  We rented a car, drove where we wanted, when we wanted and stayed a places that we picked out.  We ended up getting leads from the B&B where we stayed.  they even set us up for a plane ride to the end of the park, that included going through the clouds and seeing Denali head on from maybe ten miles, if that.  never would have thought of that on our own.  Most of the people we met went the all Princess route and were surprised when we told them of what we were doing. 

Not going to be as adventurous on the Panama Canal trip, though.  That is why this cruise critic thing is invaluable.

Good luck and have fun.  Will be looking for your travels in a couple of months.

I did not know that.  So it not treated alongside the final payment for the cruise itself.  i know EZ Air has its own cancel by dates.  This is good to know.  Thank you very much. This is so much easier than checking with Princess or Costco. With the trip more than a year away, I will be out there asking questions for a while. I probably need to get a life.

I will be interested to hear about the Embera Indian Tour when you go.  You are not the first to recommend it.

My thinking that an excursion booked through Princess would be added to to my total Princess bill, of which final payment is due 89 days before the cruise.  Are you saying that booking an excursion, even through Princess is separate and cancellable right up until boarding?  When I did Alaska, there were things we paid for in advance (non-Princess).  Deposits were not refundable at a certain point.  Rather than risk losing pre-existing conditions, I chose to just cover them.  

Anything paid for after we left the house did not have to be covered.  Interesting to see that here we are almost in November and that excursions just a month or so away, still have openings.  That gives me confidence to wait on some ports that are a little less "must see" types.  With six ports of call, I figure we don't need to do everything in advance.  We need to pick our spots. 

I am probably overthinking this, but that is what I do.  Too much time on my hands at this point.  The problem is if you ask them, they will say, no you need to book ASAP.  Got that kind of response for Alaska and when we went to Florida in the spring.  People like yourself are a lot more reliable, because you have been there and done that.

So it's really popular !  Good to know.  But not so much that I would need to do it three months in advance.  I noticed that no excursions are open until within 120 days.  There is a rainforest in CR where I would be disappointed if we missed out on that one.  Same goes for a particular beach day at Puerto Vallarta.  There are some choices for volcanoes in San Juan del Sur and I am still gathering info.  We want volcano where we can actually visit the volcano.  Just not sure which one serves that best.  But that is another thread for another time.  Got plenty of time to figure that out.  Some things, we can book well in advance, but I would like to leave some for on the ship or even online, once we have left home (insurance purposes).