Tours on Panama Canal Cruise

[mtretired]

We are on Constellation leaving San Diego 3/28/10. We would like recommendations for tours for Cabo, Acapulco, Huatulco Mexico; Puntarenas Costa Rica, Panama Canal, Cartengena. This is our first cruise in this area. Thanks for any help

[LuAnn]

We are on Constellation leaving San Diego 3/28/10. We would like recommendations for tours for Cabo, Acapulco, Huatulco Mexico; Puntarenas Costa Rica, Panama Canal, Cartengena. This is our first cruise in this area. Thanks for any help

 

 

This is a fabulous site and one you can glean alot of information from...and meet new friends. My first suggestion would be to check the Roll Call for your cruise...go to the Roll Call section, find Celebrity, then Constellation, and then your cruise date...you will find other CC members who will be on this cruise with you and may have already started to arrange private tours for this cruise.

 

Another suggestion would be to go to the Port of Call section on CC...there you can ask questions and find answers as well...there are many private tour companies that will be suggested for your ports of call there!! Have a great tour...and if you need any further help please post again....and welcome!! LuAnn

[cruiseinfoseeker]

We are on Constellation leaving San Diego 3/28/10. We would like recommendations for tours for Cabo, Acapulco, Huatulco Mexico; Puntarenas Costa Rica, Panama Canal, Cartengena. This is our first cruise in this area. Thanks for any help

 

 

We'll be on board with you. It is our first Panama Canal cruise as well. I probably haven't been looking at the same type of excursions/tours that you have as I will have my 7yo. son with me. I guess it is presumptuous for me to assume you will not have any kids, but the "mtRETIRED" just gives me that impression.

 

We booked a dune buggy excursion in Cabo through the cruiseline. We are doing a private tour in Acapulco--just sightseeing at our own pace. I like the reviews I've read about the beach right beside the pier in Huatulco, so I think that is what we will do there. Costa Rica is still up in the air as there is one tour I'd like to do but I am not sure if I want to commit to paying for it before hand since its 9 hours long and I really need to get a feel for DS's interest.

We will stay on for the transit. And I have yet to find anything in Columbia that will work for us, so that is still up in the air as well.

 

Did you join our roll call yet and/or sign up for the Connections party through Celebrity? I think we've already hit the needed "25" mark, so hope you join in too, if interested.

 

:)Lisa

[mtretired]

Thanks for the info.

[cruzeluver]

For Acapulco, go see the cliff divers, awesome!

For Cartagena I highly recommend a walking tour of the old city. Gorgeous churches and other architecture, one of the most fascinating places I have been. I really hope to go back some day.

 

Ryan

[ARetiredGuy]

We will be on the Constellation boarding in Miami on Feb 28 with the same itinerary.

 

We would like to take a coffee plantation tour in Costa Rica. I see that there are two on the schedule, Costa Rica Highlights and Costa Rica's Ultimate Experience. Has anyone been to either of these? How are they?

 

Also, besides the recommendations already posted, are there any must take excursions or any don't take excursions?

 

Thanks

[sunlovermtl]

We will be on the Constellation boarding in Miami on Feb 28 with the same itinerary.

 

We would like to take a coffee plantation tour in Costa Rica. I see that there are two on the schedule, Costa Rica Highlights and Costa Rica's Ultimate Experience. Has anyone been to either of these? How are they?

 

Also, besides the recommendations already posted, are there any must take excursions or any don't take excursions?

 

Thanks

 

Hello we did the exact same cruise this past December. If you like wildlife then the Tarcoles river tour in Costa Rica is beautiful and informative. We saw alot of variations of birds, sloths, monkeys and crocodiles. We also did ziplining if you like to fly thru the trees like a monkey. We had people from 6 yrs old to 72 yrs old on our tour and they all had a blast. 15 lines and a very safe and fun team. In Alcapulco you must see the cliff divers. We did a tour with the pink ladies. If you google them you will get their website. Olga drove us everywhere and we ended the day with a beautiful late lunch and the famous Flamingo hotel. Columbia defintely go to the old city. It is very much like the Spanish towns in Europe. Very beautiful.

 

happy sailing

Claudette

[Mysteryreader]

We did Infinity P/C in Oct. Recommendations:

 

City tour in Cartegena. We heard from 2 ta's (one our own but the other was an acquaintance): either take a ship's excursion or don't get off the ship. We took the city tour. We'd do it again. (The Cathedral of San Pedro Claver? One time was enough.)

 

Cabo: We took a harbor cruise that went out to the Pacific. One thing we were told on board was that Cabo is the best shopping stop on the cruise. (Yeah, right. There've got to be equals, right?) It really is the best. And the only one that you'll feel entirely comfortable strolling around. We enjoyed the view of Cabo from the Pacific, but we're glad we had walking-around time, too.

 

Huatulco: We took the city walking tour, and it was very interesting. BUT ... tablemates took the bird watching tour (we were planning on b/w in Costa Rica) and couldn't say enough good things about it. We were able to get some local crafty and handicrafty items in Huatulco. Huantulco was an expected delight.

 

Acapulco: Yuck. We took the city harbor tour that inc cliff diving. We're old enough that we remember who Tyrone Power et al were, but hearing about the Great Days in Acapulco wasn't a high point of the cruise ... at all. Tablemates did a self-guided walking tour and ended up in areas that made them feel very unsafe. Save your $$$ and do the least you can do.

 

Costa Rica: We did the croc river tour. Pretty good. Lots of birds, and seeing a croc snatch raw chicken from our guide's hands ... priceless. (How much is a finger worth?) You'll want to take some excursion b/c Puntarenas doesn't have anything itself.

 

P/C: Some of our shipmates got off the ship and did local excursions. From our perspective, the highlight of this entire cruise is being on the ship, seeing it all up close. Those guys in the rowboat? Hard to believe. The "mules?" Couldn't stop snapping pix. If we were to do again, we'd still stay on board. We took this cruise b/c I'd wanted to see the P/C ever since I first learned about it; dh wasn't nearly as interested. But he agreed it was far more interesting/impressive than he'd ever imagined. One really interesting thing (at least to me) was the reaction of people on ships. You'd think we all hadn't seen another human being in yrs, but we're all waving like crazy at people on passing ships regardless of type of ship or origin. I guess it's part of the human condition. I doubt I'll ever get dh on another P/C cruise, but I'd do it again in a heartbeat, and the P/C transit is the reason why.

 

HTH.

 

M/R

[elvirarodriguez]

There are plenty of thing to do at Acapulco. I f this is your first time, i will recommend to do the city tour and cliff divers, but the options are wide, you can do the historical tour where you visit The Chapel of Peace, San Diego Fort, and the zocalo, you also can do a Eco tour such as the baby turtle release and cliff divers show, or if you have enough time at the port try the Tehuacalco Ruins.

 

The best way to do this is hiring a tour guide from inside the ship terminal, these guys are certified by the Mexican government and are authorized by the ship terminal administration.

[Toothfairy754]

We did the PC last April...and although we did not make any of the stops in Mexico (was bummed about missing Hualtulco) we have been there before.

Acalpulco... we got off board and there is little boats right by the dock that charge your 8.00 to tour the bay. For 1 1/2 hours it was a hoot. (the locals use it to go to a local island). However I did not like Aca..and after hiring a local cab we did go up into the hills and had a nice dinner overlooking the bay at sunset. The cliff divers are worth seeing. But as the OP said be careful ...I will not go back there.

Cabo... one of my favorites. There is a lot to see... go out and do the glass bottomed boat, or the tour to San Jose del Cabo. (was shocked to see a Costco) Cabo Wabo is worth walking though. And you can just walk around the port there.. lots of shops of beautiful private boats to see.

Cartegena... what a surprise! I loved the city and we did an eco tour there that took us to a resort at the end where they put on a dance show. really enjoyed it. (it was the one City I was worried about being safe but on the tour it was no problem)

Costa Rica... was very disappointed in it. Mainly because the tour guide was trying to get everyone to move there. The bus and train were fun though. The beaches by the pier were very dirty.

Jamaica: had a ball doing the Dunns River and the tour guide (Denver) was absolutely one of the best I have ever had.

We did not have any stops in the PC area so I cannot help you there.

Transiting the PC is a wonderful experience...ENJOY ENJOY ENJOY!!

[Shirley and Les]

We are on Constellation leaving San Diego 3/28/10. We would like recommendations for tours for Cabo, Acapulco, Huatulco Mexico; Puntarenas Costa Rica, Panama Canal, Cartengena. This is our first cruise in this area. Thanks for any help

I did not read all of the intermediate posts so please excuse me if this duplicates previous information.

 

We were on the Millennium from October 10 through the 26th from Los Angeles to San Juan. In Acapulco, we had a private tour arranged by Rudy at tours by van dot com. We had a group of six or eight (I can't remember) and he provided a great experience at a great price. We also had a couple of other private tours. If you go to the rollcall portion of this board, you can find the details for our cruise.

[Itzmyn]

We're on the same cruise. Signed up for the bird watching tour in Huatulco, so I glad to hear it's worth the time. The boat/train excursion in Costa Rica was cancelled so we had to rebook another. Decided to do the skywalk over the rainforest. Last time I was in Cabo did lots of shopping, this time doing the tour out to the arches. Costco is great for alcohol, good prices and large containers.

[bjm07]

Thanks to mtretired. These responses have been very helpful to others of us who have been wondering the same thing.

And thanks to all of you others for your input - really great information.

 

Regards,

Barbara

[tropicalsunset]

if you want a private tour in Cartegena... do the general tour by Lee Miles... the view from La Popa Monastery is absolutely breathtaking...

 

http://www.destinationcartagena.com/privatetours

 

go on the Ports threads and check out the recommendations for Mexican Riviera... it was very helpful when we did the PC on Mercury in October...

 

EnJOY!

[tropicalsunset]

we also did a tour by Rudy in Acalpulco... arranged by a CC person on our roll call thread... there were 13 on our tour ... we had two vans... we got to the cliff divers early so he took us up to this hotel up a hill from there to see these beautiful views of Acalpulco... very nice tour...This was late Oct on Mercury..

No problems, Mon...

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

I like the reviews I've read about the beach right beside the pier in Huatulco, so I think that is what we will do there.

:)Lisa

 

The water at that beach looked filthy to me. No way I would have gone in there. We were just there on January 22.

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

City tour in Cartegena. We heard from 2 ta's (one our own but the other was an acquaintance): either take a ship's excursion or don't get off the ship. We took the city tour. We'd do it again. (The Cathedral of San Pedro Claver? One time was enough.)

 

M/R

 

Cartagena is perfectly safe. Felt safer there than in Acapulco. We hired a van at the dock and had a great tour. I thought old town Cartagena was cleaner than downtown Minneapolis. It was the most interesting port on the trip.