Sushiqueen43

On 7/15/2022 at 1:59 PM, Suzanne123 said:

We are doing a back to back on the Millennium, and yesterday the captain announced we were 1,500 feet from Hubbard Glacier.  In his words , “Woo hoo”!  It was amazing.  Not a lot of calving, but I have never been that close.  My iPhone picture doesn’t do it justice.  At one point the entire window view at the Lido Cafe was completely ice top to bottom. We will be there again tomorrow so hoping to have the same luck.

We were on the same cruise - at least the northbound portion. That was the closest I'd been to a glacier (other than Mendenhall) in 4 Alaska cruises. I'd never seen that much calving; if you were inside, you wouldn't have heard it and was easy to miss. A very special experience, for sure! I hope your trip southbound was just as special.

You have a better chance of seeing bears later in July. They follow the salmon so when they start moving up the rivers, the bears are out more. Can't offer an opinion on the sledding on a glacier - I've done the dog sled experience on land in Seward; that is fun to see how they train and experience the dogs... also warmer.

I agree that St. Lucia was the most aggressive port we've visited in the Caribbean. We didn't have a "plan" other than to find a way to a beach where we could snorkel for the day. We wasted almost 2 hours waiting for the guy hustling to sell out our boat before we were allowed to leave. Everyone on the boat paid a different rate depending on what they'd "negotiated". Just not comfortable or welcoming compared to a lot of other ports. Being shuttled into a building where you're surrounded by hustlers doesn't help- there's no escaping them. We will definitely be booking an excursion on our next visit to St. Lucia.

Does anyone have info as to whether the other companies in town flew on the same day, in that weather??

 

Having done a float plane tour last month in Ketchican, we are following this story closely. We flew Carlin Air (wonderful).

I was wondering the same thing. We flew with Island Wings on 5/24/15. There was a marine layer that prevented them from safely getting to the Misty Fjords but they did take us on a flightseeing tour instead (for a discounted price). The winds were calm so it's not that the weather was necessarily unsafe for flying - just unsafe for getting to the fjords.

I would not hesitate to take another float plane trip but I might be more diligent about my research in the future.

Jumping in a cab for a less "intensive" look a round is certainly doable, however a day at a nearby beach probably not your best choice IMO. Decent swimming beaches are not close at hand and those beaches that are in a reasonable driving distance are on the underdeveloped side. By that I mean they really are not the real nice resorts that you have become accustomed to in many of the other Caribbean ports of call. A suggestion would be to get a cab and take in Gatun Locks, you can watch the operation, there normally someone there to provide narration, look at the equipment displays. The locks would be about a 20 minute cab ride and you could spend as much time there as you wish. On the way you could also take in the construction site of the new Atlantic Locks the are being built as part of the Canal expansion. They have a visitor's center, (which is new since I last visited) which will give you a great vantage point to view the project. The new locks are about 70% complete so there is just more than a big hole in the ground.

Thank you so much - this is the type of information I'm looking for. We may just end up taking an excursion but at least I know of an option at port. I don't like arriving without at least some sort of plan!

There are independent operators but you want "non-excursions", not sure what that means, If you're thinking of renting a car, forget it. Other than hiring a cab for the day . . . is that a "non-excursion"??

Right - when we aren't arranging an excursion either through the ship or beforehand with a private operator, I am calling that a non-excursion port. For instance, when we were in St Kitts last year, we had a cab take us to a great beach where we relaxed all day. In St Thomas, we found an open air jeep to drive us around the island and point out all of the highlights - neither were arranged in advance. Having never been to Colon, I don't know if this is feasible or not.

There are scores of suggestions on this board regarding excursions and if that's the direction we go, I know I can find information there. There is not a lot of information on what's available if you decide not to book something in advance. Part of my decision involves whether we should cancel an excursion at another port and go on one here instead. We don't want to be on excursions at every single port.

Since you are on the Equinox docking in Colon, there are taxis available at the pier. Arranging a last minute tour should not be a problem. The only thing I would suggest is make sure your cabby's English skills are OK before you head out. Even though English is widely spoken I have run into a few cabbies there where my Spanish was better than their English:eek:!!

Thank you! I am a little intimidated by Panama and would take an excursion but as I said, my husband doesn't want every single minute planned (which I understand). But not having something planned still requires quite a bit of research and Colon doesn't seem like the sort of place where you can take a cab to the beach for the day... or is it?

Coming to Panama and just staying on the ship would be like going to Venice, New York, Boston, Southampton, Pireaus or Civitaveccia and just staying on the ship! You've come all this way ... why not see some of the country you've visitig????

 

Regards, Richard

I think that's the point of this post- we are looking for non-excursion suggestions that are near the port or originating from the port. As someone who clearly has experience in Panama, maybe it would be more constructive to offer some advice?

Thanks for asking - we were wondering the same thing for our Equinox cruise in March. I've booked excursions for 4 out of our 6 ports and have done nothing for Colombia and Panama. My husband doesn't want me to run him ragged with excursions at every port but I don't want to stay on the ship either. Do I wing it at another port and book something in Panama? Are there the usual taxi/tour operators waiting at the port that we could jump on at the last minute or is this a port that really needs to be booked in advance?

So yes, they'll take no for an answer but they are pretty persistent. We seriously just stopped to decide where to go next and I was approached and next thing I know...

Here is Coki Beach looking in both directions standing in virtually the same spot:

Here is Magen's Bay from a distance. Since we weren't standing on the beach, I can't comment on the crowds. It's significantly larger than Coki though. It sounds like (given the monkey issue) St Thomas is definitely your island though!

Yes, I do have a photo of me with a couple of monkeys on my head in St Kitts. You slow down your pace and before you know it, someone's putting a monkey on you. It wasn't a big deal - I just went with it.

We did stop at Coki Beach on our tour of St Thomas. It was beautiful but pretty crowded. There were several restaurants there and a few rental shacks. From what I understand, Magen's Bay is accessible by a small trail and is more secluded and much larger. After the tour dropped us off, we decided to try Frenchman's Reef at the Marriott and took a cab there. I definitely wouldn't do that again - the water was too deep/rough to wade and it's one of those places you have to rent everything.

We went to both St Thomas and St Kitts last year on our Celebrity cruise and I think if I were to choose one, St Thomas would be it. I think you'll have better beach options there. We enjoyed St Kitts and ended up taking a cab to a pretty secluded beach for the day but the town area was dirtier and there really weren't many walking around options. In St Thomas, we took a open air tour of the island and saw a number of great beaches - I wish we'd gone to Megan's Bay for the day. Seems like the water was calmer there too - could have just been the weather though.

Thanks - I was looking at Coconut Cars so that wasn't it. I see the Stoutes one now.

Now just to decide if renting a car and exploring or doing the catamaran thing would be better....

Just make a rental car reservation in advance as there is only one agency at the port. The island is very easy to drive on with good roads.

I see the car rental company (I'm assuming I'm looking at the correct one) just lists prices starting with 2 day rentals. Is that their minimum charge or is there a lower price for just one day?