CarolandNate

Appreciate that.  This board appears to be a great way for us "rookies" and lightweights to get info from you seasoned veterans.  Good to know about the possibility of the terminal being finished.  I figure that tendering would have some bearing on how much actual time one would have on land.  If I were to email or FB message, how would I find you.  I don't want you to compromise your anonymity by posting things here that are open to the public.  Is there a private message option on Cruise Critic? 

Someone else spoke highly about the Embera Indians tour.  The more I hear, the more I like it.  Like I said, we don't have to account for every minute on land and there is something to be said about walking around where we are close to the ship and can go back because we have had enough.  That is what we did in Alaska and we were always back with a lot of time to spare.  Thanks again

Yes, exactly.  The insurance thing is through Travel Guard.  Door to door.  They have a requirement that if anything booked before the trip is non refundable before the trip begins, one must pay the premium for that to meet pre existing conditions.  I have a pre existing condition, which CAN affect the trip, not likely, but possible.  Not willing to take the chance, so I play the game.  Unlike the Princess insurance that covers only Princess things, this covers everything from the monment we leave the house.  We are also spending time in Cali before the trip.  It is actually less expensive than the Princess plan and covers more.  Trust me on that, I called Travel Guard several times before we went to Alaska and asked the question differently each time and basically got the same answer.  Doesn't appear entirely logical, but.......

The Embera Indians look interesting and different not only with regard to this port but as compared to other ports.  The more I hear about it, the more I am intrigued.  Can you tell me if this is one that I could wait on.  I found a rainforest tour we said, we really want to do this one.  For that I will book as early as possible.  Just don't want to do it for every port.  Willing to take some chances.

Yes.  I saw your response to my original post and the Embera Indians is a great option.  You are saying things that I want to hear.  I would like to be able to call upon your expertise on other stops from time to time.  I also saw that one can only do one message or response per day, so I would like to get in touch with you over time.  More than a year, so there is plenty of time.

If you are amenable to email or facebook messenger, that would be great.  I promise I won't bombard you with stupid questions.  Like I mentioned, the only cruising we ever did was a year or so ago to Alaska.  We actually set up excursions on our own and did a land tour on our own after the cruise, renting a car and driving to Denali.  That gave  us a lot of flexibility about where and how long we could do things.  But Alaska is the US.  We are not so adventurous when it comes to other countries.  We also don't want to stress out wondering if we can back to the ship.  In Alaska, we built in enough time and got back early, just in case.

Thanks again.

Yes I realized after I posted that I wrote the order wrong. It is before the transit.  When I noticed it, I figured that someone would catch it.  That it is before the transit, is why I asked.  I would rather not pay for an excursion and then find out the next day that almost everything I heard, I was going to hear on the ship.  BTW, Emerald Princess in December 2019.

That said your answer was exactly was I was looking for. The difference in perspective is, of course, something to consider.  And I think many of the lock/canal tours would complement the transit, itself.  But that is a choice my wife and I need to make given a lot of factors.  You seem to confirm, that there MIGHT be some redundancy.

Actually, the Embera Indians excursion is one that caught my eye.  Given what we will be doing at other ports of call, there appears to be nothing like that any others.  Another factor is that at 6 1/2 hours. it will take up enough of the 9 hours on land, so that we won't feel the need to do another excursion.  That this is a tender port is also a factor.  Then there is the cost, $99 per.  Looking to get the most "bang for our buck".  The others you mentioned are a little pricier and doubling up other excursions would make it more like $150 per.  I am good with something like that when it comes to the volcanoes or rainforest, but not on every stop.  I mentioned must see and while this sounds very interesting and worthwhile, I would not categorize it like that.  I don't think we would say after the trip, OMG we did not get to see the Embera Indians.  I would feel that way if we missed out on volcanoes or rainforests.  Thus we will book as soon as they let us.

So again, this is really helpful.  I am guessing (hoping) that this not necessarily one that needs to be booked months in advance, but one that can be booked on the ship.  This also has something to do with insurance.  If I book something non refundable before we leave home, I pay the premium.  If I start the trip, I don't have to.  We are staying in Cali for almost a week before we cruise, so that is time where I can decide where I book and save the premium. 

Thank you, I will put this near the top of my list.

This is interesting.  We will be going in December 2019, but I am starting to do some research.  Since I assume there will be plenty about the locks and the canal on the ship and while we transit through, I was inclined to do things other than the locks/canal excursions, such as city/countryside things.  But I see that the locks/canal excursion could complement what we learn on the ship.  BTW we are going west to east so the Fuerte Amador day is before the transit. 

My wife and I are planning a Panama Canal trip in 2019.  At this time we are researching potential excursions in different ports.  I would like to get some feedback from people who have been to various ports about their experiences.  

My question is about Fuerte Amador.  We are traveling west to east, so the port of call will be after the transit.  My take from what I see is that the general categories of excursions are canal/locks, nature and city/countryside.  There appear to a lot of options in each category and while they may be different within a category, there are lots of similarities.   Unlike Costa Rica (rainforests) or Nicaragua (volcanoes), there is not, in my mind, a "must see".  

While I realize that it could be less expensive to book excursions exclusive of the ship, we have decided that we are going to do so through the ship.  We are not seasoned cruisers.  Our trip to Alaska a year ago was our first and only.  We felt comfortable booking outside there.  We plan to book certain ports as soon as they become available.

Fuerte Amador is one where we feel confident that we can get something by waiting.  There appear to be enough choices.  My assumption is that since this is a Panama Canal cruise that there will be  a lot of education about the canals and the locks on the ship.  I assume that will continue as we go through the locks.  Since we will be in Fuerte Amador after the transit, I would think that for the sake of something different, it might be better to do something in the other categories.

What, in the opinion of those who have been there are the better of the nature and/or city/countryside tours.  Am I correct in my assumption of a bit of redundancy by going to see more about the locks and canal building?  I have made  alist, but I want to narrow it down at some point.  Thanks for any help.

Thank you.  Just out of curiosity, how long ago and why did you choose that over the other two.  I noticed that although all three are the same price, this the shortest, but spends the most time at the volcano itself.  There was a fourth to Mombacho, but it cost a lot more pp and it seemed to put more emphasis on hiking.  Just what I want to do, pay more, so I can hike.

We have decided that in our upcoming PC cruise that, a rainforest tour is what one does in Costa Rica.  While we have lit upon

Rainforest Aerial Tram, Tarcoles River & Lunch  ($179 for 10 hours), there is the

Nicaragua seems to be about the volcanoes.  We are looking at doing one through Princess.  The three that jump out at me are

Masaya Volcano & Hacienda Los Altos Cultural Experience                      7 1/2 hours      $99.95                    

Nature Experience, Masaya Volcano, Apoyo Lagoon and Granada             8 1/4 hours     $99.95                       

Granada, Masaya Market & Volcano, Lunch & Shopping  8 1/2 hours      $99.95                       

Does anyone have any thoughts on the merits of each?