Help with Activities Please =]

[kimchee1212]

My family and I will be going on our very first cruise to the Panama Canal this December, but we have no idea what to expect from the various ports, and there is truly no better resource than CC

 

Our itinerary is:

 

1

Ft. Lauderdale, Florida

Depart 5:00PM

 

2

At Sea

 

3

Ocho Rios, Jamaica

Arrive 10:00AM Depart 5:00PM

 

4

At Sea

 

5

Panama Canal, Panama

Arrive 5:00AM Depart 4:30PM

 

5

Fuerte Amador, Panama (for Panama City)

Arrive 5:00PM Depart 10:00PM

 

6

At Sea

 

7

Puntarenas, Costa Rica

Arrive 7:00AM Depart 7:00PM

 

8

San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua

Arrive 6:00AM Depart 2:00PM

 

9

Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala

Arrive 8:00AM Depart 6:00PM

 

10

Huatulco, Mexico

Arrive 12:00PM Depart 5:00PM

 

11

Acapulco, Mexico

Arrive 7:00AM

 

 

 

Any suggestions at all would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks!

[vancouvergirl2010]

My family and I will be going on our very first cruise to the Panama Canal this December, but we have no idea what to expect from the various ports, and there is truly no better resource than CC

 

Our itinerary is:

 

1

Ft. Lauderdale, Florida

Depart 5:00PM

 

2

At Sea

 

3

Ocho Rios, Jamaica

Arrive 10:00AM Depart 5:00PM

 

4

At Sea

 

5

Panama Canal, Panama

Arrive 5:00AM Depart 4:30PM

 

5

Fuerte Amador, Panama (for Panama City)

Arrive 5:00PM Depart 10:00PM

 

6

At Sea

 

7

Puntarenas, Costa Rica

Arrive 7:00AM Depart 7:00PM

 

8

San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua

Arrive 6:00AM Depart 2:00PM

 

9

Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala

Arrive 8:00AM Depart 6:00PM

 

10

Huatulco, Mexico

Arrive 12:00PM Depart 5:00PM

 

11

Acapulco, Mexico

Arrive 7:00AM

 

 

 

Any suggestions at all would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks!

 

 

I am also looking for advice on the Panama City Port...

[D&N LUV 2 TRAVEL]

What are your likes and dislikes ?

[kimchee1212]

We like being adventurous. Active tours/city tours would be nice.

 

A little more curious about the highlights of each place, and what "can't be missed".

[mcmarya]

We enjoyed visiting Antigua while at Puerto Quetzal. Our ship offered an Antigua on your own option which we took, but it was very difficult for the large tour busses to navigate the narrow streets. Others took private tours in smaller vehicles enabling to get more out of the time in port. But, it is up to a 90 minute drive so a private tour might make one nervous. Anyway, it is a fascinating city, well worth the effort and the scenery coming and going was great. There is absolutely nothing near the port.

 

Huatulco seems to be mostly about the beaches with one right next to where the ship is docked, another a $5 cab ride away (Playa la Entrega) and others farther away. Supposedly there is good snorkeling at Playa la Entrega. You can rent wave runners at the beaches. The town of La Crucecita is a couple of miles away--nothing super, just a real Mexican town.

 

There is a beach where the ship docks at Puntarenas, but it is sort of a gray sand beach, not too inviting. There will probably be vendors offering private tours. At Puerto Caldera, there were lots of options--a lot of our friends did a tour that included a boat ride to see crocodiles. You can also walk around Puntarenas--not too exciting but there is a market and a very old Catholic church. But, the best part of Costa Rica is away from the port. Unfortunately, many attractions are a distance--Poas Volcano, Arenal. I would only do those on a ship's tour. When we were there it was a nice day, but it rained at Poas and those who went there could not see the crater. It is a very long ride to San Jose--you might be on the bus more than on the tour and it is not that great a city to visit.

 

There is plenty to see and do in Acapulco--the fort right across the street (closed Mondays), the cliff divers, museums, hotels, fancy homes, harbor cruises. Since we like to snorkel, we ended up going to Isla la Roqueta, an uninhabited island you see coming into the bay with a lighthouse on top. We took a bus to Caleta beach (yellow tourist bus, $1 for 2) then a water taxi ($4 each round trip) to the island. There, we were latched onto by a guide who showed us where to snorkel and took us up to the lighthouse from which there are fantastic views of Acapulco. We paid him for his time then hit the 1 pm cliff divers show, taking a taxi from Caleta beach for $4. The cliff diver show was OK, but I won't need to do it again. You can walk back to the ship easily since it is downhill. The fort looked nice, but it was closed. There will be lots of drivers available for a city tour but you may want to get away from the aggressive ones near the port. We spoke to quite a few fellow passengers about their experiences in Acapulco and everyone seemed to be satisfied with their day.

 

We were at Ft. Amador for a full day--not sure what I would do at night as some areas are none too safe. The lights of the city would be lovely at night as the skyline is quite impressive--supposedly as many high rises as Atlanta and Miami combined. My husband, who spent a lot of time in Panama growing up, was appalled by all the skyscrapers.

 

Good luck and have fun.

[poppan]

Just returned and we have only a few ports in common. Here they are and what we did for each:

 

Puntarenas

Hired a private tour/van as Puntarenas seemed to be a departure point for other sights in Costa Rica. We have two young children and wanted to have flexibility so that's why we arranged our own tour. Fed capuchin monkeys, went on mangrove boat tour and saw crocodiles (tour guide jumped off and fed the crocs chicken) and a lot of birds. Had lunch in a beautiful hotel called Villas Caleta at the top of a mountain with sea views on both sides. Well worth the $115 per adult (four adults) and our kids went free.

 

Huatulco

Like you we arrived here around noon and ship was leaving at 6pm. We didn't want to take a taxi (no car seats) so stayed at the beach we docked at. Water was not the cleanest probably because of the ship traffic. If it hadn't been for the kids I would have cabbed to one of the other bays which were hopefully cleaner. Still we really enjoyed our day in the sun and sand. Eat at one of the restaurants to get an umbrella/shade or we rented an umbrella and two lounge chairs for $10. If you are one of the first off the ship you can snag a shady spot by the rocks for free. A few people were jet-skiing here and they had one of those banana boat things. I think mostly this is a beach day type port.

 

Acapulco

We wanted to see old town and the cliff divers. We got accosted by about 100 tour guides the minute we got off the boat. They were semi-aggressive (wouldn't stop following us, wouldn't take no for an answer, kept saying their services were free and they were paid for by the city). Anyway... my advice is... the old town/cliff divers are to the LEFT when you walk off the ship. Do not go right where all the tour guides want you to go unless you want to go to the "arts & crafts market" -- more like a flea market if you ask me. Old town is only about ten minutes walk away but if you want to cab it, cab fares seemed to decrease outside the immediate vicinity of the port. Cliff divers were a gentle uphill walk (about 20 minutes after you hit old town).

[keraj19]

Poppan

 

We are travelling with two small children as well. Who did you book your Puntarenas tour with? I think my girls would really enjoy it.

 

Puntarenas

Hired a private tour/van as Puntarenas seemed to be a departure point for other sights in Costa Rica. We have two young children and wanted to have flexibility so that's why we arranged our own tour. Fed capuchin monkeys, went on mangrove boat tour and saw crocodiles (tour guide jumped off and fed the crocs chicken) and a lot of birds. Had lunch in a beautiful hotel called Villas Caleta at the top of a mountain with sea views on both sides. Well worth the $115 per adult (four adults) and our kids went free.

[poppan]

We are travelling with two small children as well. Who did you book your Puntarenas tour with? I think my girls would really enjoy it.

 

We booked with Charlie Soto of okeydokey tours (http://www.okeydokeytours.com). Our tour guides were Jason (Charlie's son) and Juan. Since it was just us we did everything on our own timing, which worked out really well for us. I think if you have something specific in mind, Charlie would be happy to make the arrangements. I just asked him what he recommended and picked a few things out of that, and Jason and Juan gave us options/suggestions along the way as well. I have two 2-y.o.'s so we did the capuchin monkeys, then it was snack time and they asked us if we wanted to do cane juice or a mango/papaya farm. We picked the cane juice which was delicious and a good pick-me-up for the kids. They also had a very rudimentary but spotless bathroom there, incidentally! Sorry, since you have little kids too I thought you might want to know :)

 

After that it was a mangrove boat tour with the crocodile feeding (other option was zip-lining, which my kids were too young for). Then we lucked out and had lunch at a beautiful hotel at the top of the world. I don't think that was the original plan, we just lucked into it because Charlie happened to organize a tour for a much larger group, and that was where they were having lunch. We hung out there for a while after lunch enjoying the views, then got in the van just as it started to POUR rain and the kids took their afternoon nap in the long ride back to the port. On the way out it felt like only ~15 minutes in between each stop, but I guess we kept driving farther and farther out so the trip back was a longer ride.

 

Anyway, it worked out really well for us, hope you have a good time whoever you book with! I have some photos if you're interested:

http://picasaweb.google.com/hcj1440/PanamaCanalCruise?authkey=Gv1sRgCKr6mf26xrvrHQ#

[thefudgecompany]

Poppan or anyone else who can help.

 

We too have younger children ( 6 and 3). We were wondering if anyone had been to puerto quetzal and how it was, what did you do , what would be child friendly??? Thanks so much for the info on Puntarenas.

 

Sherry