TalariaSailor

Would you believe that I received StarClipper documents while I was typing this?  10 days before setting sail!  

4 minutes ago, TalariaSailor said:

We are on the Jan. 14 sailing which includes Panama.    I believe we'll be sailing from Puerto Caldera which is about 20 minutes from Puntarenas.  The challenge is getting from San Jose to the port.  I'm not seeing many options and costs seem to be extremely high for the distance.   I see an option for a minivan and wonder if there are others requiring this transfer on Saturday.  Note:  I've been to Costa Rica a number of times.  Do check on excursions.  Starclippers doesn't offer many, but if you want to see Manuel Antonio National Park you need to pre-book the tour prior to sailing.

4 minutes ago, TalariaSailor said:

We are on the Jan. 14 sailing which includes Panama.    I believe we'll be sailing from Puerto Caldera which is about 20 minutes from Puntarenas.  The challenge is getting from San Jose to the port.  I'm not seeing many options and costs seem to be extremely high for the distance.   I see an option for a minivan and wonder if there are others requiring this transfer on Saturday.  Note:  I've been to Costa Rica a number of times.  Do check on excursions.  Starclippers doesn't offer many, but if you want to see Manuel Antonio National Park you need to pre-book the tour prior to sailing.

We are on the Jan. 14 sailing which includes Panama.    I believe we'll be sailing from Puerto Caldera which is about 20 minutes from Puntarenas.  The challenge is getting from San Jose to the port.  I'm not seeing many options and costs seem to be extremely high for the distance.   I see an option for a minivan and wonder if there are others requiring this transfer on Saturday.  Note:  I've been to Costa Rica a number of times.  Do check on excursions.  Starclippers doesn't offer many, but if you want to see Manuel Antonio National Park you need to pre-book the tour prior to sailing.

We are on the Jan. 14 cruise.  Puerto Caldera is the cruise port to Puntarenas.  I'm 

still looking to make arrangements to fly to San Jose and then get to Puntarenas.  The Star Clippers rep quoted me $120/person which seems way high--especially since I would expect a number of passengers will need to make that trip.  (I've traveled to Costa Rica a number of times and was actually in Puntarenas on an NCL cruise in March.)    I recall the ship sails at 10 PM, so 4 PM boarding should be ok.    My thought is that we'll fly into San Jose the day before and spend the night near the airport.    I looked into staying near Puntarenas but didn't find anything tempting.

We've tried a number of cruise lines and our preference is for smaller ships.  Our favorites are Viking and Starclippers--quite different!  We love Viking as much for what it excludes as much as for what it includes.  We initially tried river cruising, and are pretty happy with how the company has scaled up to ocean cruising, even though the ships are rather large.  Starclippers offers the scaled back, more genuine sailing experience and we enjoy the more nautical feel and emotional connection with the ship as well as opportunities to mingle with crew and international passengers.  That said, itineraries are critical and we may sacrifice our cruise line choice for value sometimes.  Just returned from Alaska (a repeat cruise) on the Norwegian Jewel;  an amazing place to cruise but we overlook the "okay, typical" ship experience and feel we got our money's worth.    We took our grown kids along and it was a good fit for them.  We think Windstar is nice for couples.  Favorite itineraries so far:  Starclippers Venice to Rome and the Viking Ocean Homelands.  Biggest cruising secret and best value:  European river holiday cruises.

I confess we charter catamaran sailboats and sail with friends and family and get to see destinations from a different perspective.   French Polynesia, Turkey, the Caribbean BVIs and Grenadines have all been spectacular destinations.  They would be great from ANY ship.  

We loved the Viking tour because the itinerary included cruising the Norwegian fjords. The Viking Homelands tour is perfect on the Viking line due to its Scandinavian heritage and the décor of its ships. We enjoyed the cultural enrichment activities, too.