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Santo Tomas


Aj101710
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Has anyone been to Santo Tomas recently? Most of the reviews are from 2007 & 2008. I'm trying to figure out what to do and would also like to know is it safe. I read some post saying it's very safe and others says not to leave the ship.

It looks like the only tours that are not through the ship are Going with Gus and Happy Fish. So has anyone taken these companies (or other companies) tours lately? I did read a bad tour through Gus which makes me second guess going through him. I'm leaning toward the ruins excursion with the cruise ship since I read that traffic can be bad and I do Not want to miss the ship.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I can't give you recent info, but we did the Gus excursion several years ago. I vowed after that excursion NEVER, EVER, EVER to do a non-ship sponsored tour in such a remote area.

 

We all made it back to the ship in time to sail from the tour, but there were moments when it was doubtful. There were two boats of us and both were filled beyond capacity, sitting so low in the water, that it curled over the sides at speed.

 

On the 30 minute boat ride back to the Veendam from Livingston (we left Livingston at 4 pm -- were supposed to be back on board at 4:30 for a 5 pm sailing), the larger of our boats ran out of gas. We were in the smaller boat, and no room for more passengers. Gus attempted unsucessfully to get gas from passing boats--eventually another tour boat stopped that had room. It was very choppy and not easy getting from one boat to the other. Glad I didn't have to try.

 

We were sure that when we came around the point, the Veendam would be gone. But she was there. We made it back after sailaway time, and they were taking down the velvet ropes and rolling in the carpet at the gangway. I never want to cut a trip that close again.

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We went with Happy Fish to the Rio Dulce Canyon in May this year. We didn't organise the tour so didn't deal directly with the company but the tour was quite enjoyable. I can't say it was the best tour we had ever done but we had fun. The guide seemed very good and knowledgeable and we returned to the ship in plenty of time.

 

We had lunch at a restaurant owned by Happy Fish in Livingston and we could have passed on that - not that there was anything really wrong with it apart from a 'band' who appeared, played a couple of tunes and then passed the hat and disappeared :eek:

 

The other thing to bear in mind if taking a tour to the Rio Dulce Canyon is if you have a bad back. The trip in the speed boats are quite bumpy although they do advise people with back problems to sit in the rear where there is far less bumpy.

 

Most people seemed to enjoy the excursion and I don't recall hearing any real complaints apart from those about the 'musical' interlude in the restaurant.

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  • 1 year later...
I know this post is over a year old but we were in Santo Tomas last week. It had been 11 years since the ship we were on had been there so information was scarce. If anybody has any questions I can try to answer.

 

I'm very interested in your feedback, as we have booked today for a cruise with Oceania doing this port! We are more interested in local & ancient culture, anything to do there? We don't like beaches and prefer to eat on board. Thank you already!

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I know this post is over a year old but we were in Santo Tomas last week. It had been 11 years since the ship we were on had been there so information was scarce. If anybody has any questions I can try to answer.

 

We will be there in April 2018. What type of excursions did you see offered? I have searched high and far but info on this port is very limited.

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Sorry for the delay in answering. It has been a busy holiday season so far for us. The port of Santo Tomas is an industrial port that has a very large building set up for the local residents to interact with the cruise ship passengers. The actual town itself really has nothing to offer tourists so the large building was set up for residents to sell souvenirs, food, and put on a music/dance production. It is an easy walk from the gangway, about a 3 min. walk on level surface. The town is quite impoverished and as far as i could see there were no beaches to speak of. We took the trolley tour in town and were not let off the trolley. Some people thought they could walk into town and perhaps some actually did but we did see people congregated at the port gates that realized their mistake and tried to flag down our trolley and the other tour busses. There were excursions besides the trolley tour that will probably be listed under shore excursions in your reservation. I did see residents holding signs in the souvenir building but can't vouch for their safety, etc. The trolley tour took an hour and was definitely worth it.

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  • 2 weeks later...

We were at this port on December 1. Peachypooh described the area near the gangway. We did walk to town. We went out the gate and walk through the residential area. It was a very poor area (sadly a large dead dog in middle of road that nobody cared about). There really wasn’t much to see in town except another market area where locals sold their crafts, vegetables etc.. Not seeing much to do we headed back towards ship when approached by a man that offered to take us to tour the city, waterfall, beach area etc... he offered to do this for 1/4 the rate taxis in the gate were offering. We went to a local church, graveyard (both worth seeing), open market where live chickens were being sold for dinner, a park near water edge to take pictures of ship, waterfall, and the beach (we did not stay at beach no one was there). He makes very little each day and works seven days a week, 11 hrs. a day to feed and clothe his family of 3 girls and wife. We tipped generously in hopes he would take Christmas off.

He is GeoTaxiGuatemala at hotmail dot com (Geovanny Chavez). Not knowing what to do before we sailed I was pleased to have a safe honest guide and one that provides WiFi in his taxi.

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I will add to my post above - if you leave the port area have an idea ahead of time what you want and be street smart, this port is not as safe as it looks. We heard of a group left stranded at the waterfall and had to walk back to ship - not a short walk.

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Not to be a total downer but we visited this port in March on a Holland America cruise; it really was the worst port of the many we have visited in over 30 cruises.

Just a word of caution - we almost booked a 4 hour boat excursion that left from the port area, since there was really nothing to do. At the last minute we decided not too. However about 4 hours later we watched the excursion return. As someone else mentioned and I will reiterate – the boat seemed dangerously over capacity and rode very low in some very treacherous water. To make matters worse, it was extremely stormy, which added to the threatening conditions onboard. The water in the bay was very rough and as I watched the boat return from our ship, I truly hoped and prayed that it would arrive safely. Thankfully it did.

 

Later we talked to people that were on the excursion; in addition to being completely soaked for hours, they told us there was really nothing to see and for a lot of the time, they truly feared for their safety. Be careful in this port. I really can’t understand why any cruise ship would even bother to stop there.

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We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to Santo Tomas last month. We booked the waterfall tour, Las Escabos, with Go with Gus for $49 pp. When we contacted him, he asked for more but when we told him we saw the $49 price on his web site he agreed to charge that price. It was only about 2 1/2 hours but our hosts were very friendly and made the trip quite enjoyable.

The waterfall area was beautiful and I can definitely recommend it. We felt very safe on the ride through the town and although the road was a little bumpy going to the falls the scenery more than made up for the slight discomfort.

The locals we met in Santo Tomas were among the friendliest that we met in any of the ports and we were not heavily pressured to buy their products like we were in Jamaica and Belize.

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I was just in this port in the middle of December. I did not book a tour ahead of time as I did not want to pay any money up front nor could the vendors guarantee that the tour would go. We got a cab pier-side to go to Los Ecobas Falls. The cost was $60 for the cab round-trip and it is $14 a person to get in to Los Ecobas. They noted the cab number and how many people were in it when we left. We were the first ones at Los Ecobas and it was beautiful. It is about 40 minutes there and you will pass through town on the way. We stayed about two hours and other visitors started showing up about the time we left as well as the tourism police on foot. (You can find someone outside the gate with car who will be cheaper than a cab, I would not recommend doing this.)

 

Just outside the gate is a naval base and different kinds of police stations. The base has all kinds of guards and so do the police stations. After coming back from the waterfall, we walked outside the pier gate and walked up and down the streets of this area and to a nearby park. There were also tourism police walking and on bicycles in this area. A few guys asked me if I needed a cab and that was it, nobody really pesters you. I felt safe walking around and brought my wife with me as well. We are birders and the birding on this streets was good.

 

The town is further away but I had no desire to see any more of it after having driven through it.

 

They had bands and dancers in the building. They would also stamp your passport and give you a free bracelet for doing so. Many of the items they sold in the building were locally made, such as colorful blankets and worry dolls. Bargaining is expected. There was a place that offering wi-fi at $3 a half hour and I found it to work quite well.

 

There are all kinds of vendors offering the same tours you see on the Internet and some other ones as well.

 

I found this to be an interesting port. The people were friendly and we found the country-side to be beautiful. The town is not, but I was not there for the town.

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I loved this stop! I did the Go with Gus humanitarian tour, and it was an excellent experience. We learned so much about local culture in Guatemala. Everyone we met was very kind and friendly, and like others have said, far less pressure to buy than in other ports. The actual port has little to offer at this time other than a small market, but hop on a tour and go see the Rio Dulce, the waterfalls, the town of Livingston. We live a very privileged life in comparison, so you won't see anything that looks like home. That does not mean it is unsafe, however. Be smart, but get out and experience life.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I'm so glad I found this thread!

 

We will be visiting this port in April on the Rotterdam. Now, we've been to Guatemala several times (my husband was born there), but never to this area. (We've been in Guatemala City, Antigua, and the villages around Lake Atitlan). I had no concerns traveling around there, even when my son was a baby.

 

We are taking our (now two) children on this cruise, and although I'm not nervous about the area itself, I am sensing that most of the tours are not really appropriate for children? It seems perhaps the trolley tour would be our best (only?) option? I'd love opinions on this if possible!

 

I used to work in international relief and development, so some of the tours with a slant towards this do interest me, although I'm concerned about taking my toddler since the boat rides/hiking portions seem rather extensive.

 

I'd appreciate any suggestions.

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I'm so glad I found this thread!

 

We will be visiting this port in April on the Rotterdam. Now, we've been to Guatemala several times (my husband was born there), but never to this area. (We've been in Guatemala City, Antigua, and the villages around Lake Atitlan). I had no concerns traveling around there, even when my son was a baby.

 

We are taking our (now two) children on this cruise, and although I'm not nervous about the area itself, I am sensing that most of the tours are not really appropriate for children? It seems perhaps the trolley tour would be our best (only?) option? I'd love opinions on this if possible!

 

I used to work in international relief and development, so some of the tours with a slant towards this do interest me, although I'm concerned about taking my toddler since the boat rides/hiking portions seem rather extensive.

 

I'd appreciate any suggestions.

 

Every child is different so it depends on the ages and interests of your kids, but when my son was younger he would have loved the Go With Gus humanitarian tour! Personally, I would have felt comfortable taking him at any age. There is not a lot of walking/hiking at all. It is mostly hopping in and out of a speedboat. The boat can get bouncy on choppy waters, but this is for 30 min on the way there and 30 min on the way back. If your kids can handle bouncing on the boat (think of a jeep ride on rugged suspension), then they should be fine. There were kids on our tour who loved it - the older folks didn't enjoy the bouncing so much.

 

After all the stops, there is a very short walk (a couple of blocks) through the small town of Livingston. I would think any age walking child could do this. Very small ones could be carried, strollered, or backpacked. It was not a rushed tour.

 

I honestly think you would get so much more out of this than a taxi/trolley through town. Go with Gus!

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Thanks for all of your comments. DH and I will be sailing on the HAL Rotterdam in November and we were wondering what was available not far from the ship. Looks like nothing much outside of the big pier building, so maybe the trolley tour just to see a little something. Seems like an odd choice of a port visit with so little to do. Close friends of ours have been to Guatemala several times because their daughter married a Guatemalan (they live in the US after he finally got papers). They have commented how devastatingly poor and dangerous the country is.

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Hi there,

As I mentioned, we travelled independently around Guatemala (in fact all of South & Central America on a motorbike) last year - we really loved Guatemala, one of our favourite countries! We explored the whole country but did not go to the port area as there is nothing specific of interest to see. However, just make sure you leave the port; the least you will see is how the Guatemalans live! Yes, there are dangerous areas to avoid in the country and yes, it is a poor country but we found people everywhere friendly, sometimes inquisitive of us and sometimes shy of us as they may have never seen a white tourist before. You will be somewhere where the locals will have seen tourists - try to interact with them if you have the chance - say a few words of their local language or Spanish if not. Maybe you could look into the humanitarian trip other posters have mentioned....Go with Gus someone mentioned. I hope you have a good time :) It will be a waste to not see any of such a culturally rich country.

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  • 3 months later...

Too late for this cruise but may help someone on a future cruise. We took the "Tale of Two Cities" tour through HAL for this one. As mentioned the port is an industrial port that takes in the occasional cruise ship(s). Trade is it's primary function. That being said I recommend taking some type of excursion versus staying on the boat for the day. The tour we took takes you on a narrated bus ride through the neighboring cities and ends up at the Amatique Bay Resort. Heads up. The stay at the resort is listed as 30 minutes but you actually get to stay there an hour. I was actually looking at the resort for a stand alone excursion but stayed away based on the negative reviews I found. I will say that next time I go to Guatemala I would not hesitate taking the resort excursion. I put a youtube video up of the Resort campus.

 

Back to the Bus tour. The guide was good and passed on a lot of interesting facts about the area. Just like most all the Caribbean, once you get out of the tourist area the places are pretty desolate. There were armed military and police officers randomly places along the route we took during the tour. Not sure if this was for us or just standard practice. Just something we notices. Regardless, we never felt unsafe during the tour. Not much more to add as it was really a narrated bus ride.

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Just wanted to report back...

 

We ended up taking the HAL tour of the San Felipe Fortress, and I'm so glad we did.

 

The drive there was a little over an hour each way, but it was a beautiful journey. Guatemala is so green and lush with rolling hills, and we passed so many little houses and churches along the way. The fortress itself was quite fun to explore, and we had an EXCELLENT tour guide that gave us a very comprehensive and interesting history of the country as well as the Mayan culture.

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