First trip to Cartagena.

[TGHRS]

I have checked the other information on CC but would like your opinions.

 

I am looking at Excursions. (Part of my fun is the planning.)

 

Usually we take an all around tour to a new destination to see if we would like to spend a longer vacation there in the future.

 

Everything I see seems to have extensive time shopping. My wife & I are not shoppers.

 

What excursion would you recommend or skip.

 

Are there any Must Do's while we are there?

 

Thanks in advance.

[Pia1913]

The MUST DO is get to the fort as early as possible. Not only to beat the crowds, but also the oppressive heat.

[Pam in CA]

The MUST DO is get to the fort as early as possible. Not only to beat the crowds, but also the oppressive heat.

I agree. It's a bit of a walk to the top, which in the heat can be difficult for some. The museum is interesting as you learn a bit about their history but the fort is the main attraction.

[capriccio]

Don't miss a walking tour of the Old Town. It is quite beautiful.

[Duck Duck Cruise]

For our excursion there we have booked a private tour through Lee Miles. He will design it around exactly what you want to see and do.

 

One of the things we like to do when traveling is eat good street food. One of the things on our itinerary is to go to a street food cart for lunch. He has arranged to have us go to what he thinks is the best cart in the city. It moves around from day to day and he has made arrangements with the cart owner to know where they will be on the day we are there.

 

You can't get that kind of service from Princess tours.

[Whoo]

We took "The Best of Cartagena" Tour through Princess, and there was not much shopping time at all. We had an excellent guide, and spent a lot of time at the fort. We really enjoyed La Popa Monastery, which had fantastic views of the city. Our tour used a small bus, so it was able to go up the narrow, winding road to the Monastery.

[Duck Duck Cruise]

Other than the food cart we are going to La Popa Monastery, the Palace of the Inquisition, walking tour of Old Town, Las Bovedas, photo stop at the San Felipe Fortress, San Pedro Claver photo stop.

 

Our tour is 5 1/2 hours long.

[ONT-CA]

What's not to miss? ALL OF IT! Most inhospitable country we have ever visited. They search your handbags for drugs you maybe bringing INTO the country. Outrageous! Their least walking bus tour was physically exhausting.

[ssbeagle]

Whichever tour you take, make sure you guard your pockets/purse. There are a lot of beggars and pick-pockets there. Many of them are children.

[Clutterlady]

What's not to miss? ALL OF IT! Most inhospitable country we have ever visited. They search your handbags for drugs you maybe bringing INTO the country. Outrageous! Their least walking bus tour was physically exhausting.

 

We were there in April and were never searched!! Wow...I'm surprised they did that to you. It's a beautiful country and glad we had a chance to experience Cartagena but it's not a place that I would want to go back to!

[cruz chic]

What's not to miss? ALL OF IT! Most inhospitable country we have ever visited. They search your handbags for drugs you maybe bringing INTO the country. Outrageous! Their least walking bus tour was physically exhausting.

I'm with you! This is one place that I won't miss if I don't see it again.

[aussiegirl]

The first thing I would recommend about touring Cartegena is to skip the tours offered by the ship. They are notorious for including lots of shopping.

I researched tour guides on Trip Advisor and got the names of several reputable guides. We ended up going with J.J. Taborda who gave us a private tour of exactly the places we wanted to visit. We toured the city with him in a comfortable, air-conditioned late model sedan with stops at La Popa Monastery, the Fortress and a long walking tour through the Old City. We specifically mentioned that we did not want to do any shopping and he never steered us toward any stores. Since it was just the two of us and J.J., we were able to go a lot of places (e.g. the tunnels at the Fortress and small rooms at the Cathedral) that large groups would not be able to go. It was also neat to walk around the Old Town with J.J. because he seemed to know a lot of people. Should you want to contact him for a tour, he can be reached at: jacinto-200@hotmail.com or by phone at (57) 312-607-7393.

I did not know much about Cartegena before our cruise last April, but it was one of our favorite ports. We found the people to be friendly and there was not the constant harassment by street vendors that we experienced in other places.

[nhcruiser]

First off, as mentioned Cartagena is not the city to explore on your own!!

When we first visited in 1999 we canceled our off ship activities due to a State Department Advisory, slipped under our cabin door, warning about kidnapping Americans and general safety. It got so bad that Princess Cruise, and other cruise lines, ships stopped calling there for the next five – six years. (2000-2006)

We returned this January and were very pleased to see updated transportation, no armed guards on each bus, but an abundance of police in the tourist areas.

Your privately arraigned private tour is probably the best way to tailor a City Tour of Cartagena. Have a super time!

We did the Best of Cartagena tour that included the walking tour of Old Town (do not miss the subtle architectural changes during the evolution of the city!) and the San Felipe Fortress, very well narrated and interesting, but they also slipped in a couple of stops to the Flea Market and one other shopping spot. I think it was the mall. I napped and my wife shopped, worked for us!

[tedwit]

I'm with you! This is one place that I won't miss if I don't see it again.

 

I totally agree with you. Soldiers with machine guns and dogs everywhere you look. When I was there we hailed a cab at the dock to go into the town, the driver told us it would be $7.00, as we were pulling away a soldier stopped the cab and ordered him to go over to the man who was running the docks so he would have to pay him a commission on the cab fare. He wanted $10 from the driver. They argued very loud until the driver took a $1 bill, rolled it up and threw it into the dock boss's face and hit the gas, he almost ran over a soldier that tried to prevent him from leaving the port. I was waiting for the soldiers to start firing, thank God it never happened. Walking through the city we felt quite uncomfortable and did a little shopping and returned to the ship. There was nothing nice about the city. If we stop there again we will stay on the ship.

[jfv379]

We used Lee Miles for our tour and it was great. leland @ misteremerald com .

 

You are completely free to alter your tour to best meet your individual needs.

Keep in mind, that we were told that the Princess tours do not go to La Popa Monastary.

 

because the roads are narrow and Princess buses are too big to navigate the turns.

[danuty]

We visited last October and loved the city..it was the surprise stop of our cruise....clean, no soldiers, not to hot. We loved the old city, the buildings, gardens, narrow stone paved streets, churches, museums and the fort...also, my favorite pictures of the cruise. We never felt unsafe, however, you do get a lot of street peddlers hawking their wares. I would go back.

 

Diane

[Layla]

The first time we were in Cartagena was in 2001. Went to La Popa monastery. Lots of begging (children would hoist tin cups attached to long poles that reached over the monastery walls..very sad). We've been there two times since then; one time we didn't get off the ship, and the next we decided to do the Scenes of Cartagena through Princess. We didn't enjoy Cartagena at all. The old city had a very unpleasant odor (urine-like!). The vendors are totally aggressive and if you even hint at an interest in what they're selling, they will not leave you alone.. to the extent of following your bus/van as it departs!

We have decided that in the future this is one port where we will stay on the ship.

[cherrypop]

We visited Cartagena last November and had a great time there, never saw any soldiers. We also used Lee Miles and found the tour to be wonderful. Lee met us at the dock and introduced us to our driver and tour operator they both were great. You can tell him what you want to see and he will make sure see it all. We didnt have much time for shopping because we asked for just a short amount of time to shop. We would definately recommend Lee and his company.

[aussiegirl]

Wow, all these negative posts about Cartegena really surprise me because we didn't experience any of those things on our visit in April. There were people hawking things, but they only approached us when we temporarily left our guide to go take some photos. We only had to smile and say, "No, gracias" and they continued on their way. Absolutely no hassles at all. I think having a private guide discouraged anyone from approaching us as they knew the guide would just "shoo" them away.

I also don't recall any guards except near the port area. Since we were with a private guide who I imagine was known to the port guards, we did not experience any hassles like the person who was traveling in a taxi. I felt completely safe at all of the sites we visited and found Cartegena to be no more dirty than any city of its size and I did not notice any foul odors at all.

[Whoo]

Keep in mind, that we were told that the Princess tours do not go to La Popa Monastary.

 

because the roads are narrow and Princess buses are too big to navigate the turns.

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What you were told is not true. We booked our tour through Princess, and our bus went to La Popa. There were several other buses in the parking lot there, as well. These buses were larger than vans, but not as large as a normal schoolbus.

[Tweedy]

Cartagena was my favourite port on last years cruise and I would love to go back. We did the ship tour "Best of Cartagena" and I found there wasn't alot of shopping involved. Sure we went to Las Bovedas for shopping but we were only there for about 20 minutes. A few of us opted to stay onboard the a/c bus during this stop. The walk through old town was wonderful and I wish we had more time here to explore. We were taken to the shopping mall and given about an hour. I did find Lee Miles emerald store and purchased a nice pendant. When I got home, I had it appraised and it was appraised at more than double then what I paid for it.

[ONT-CA]

I totally agree with you. Soldiers with machine guns and dogs everywhere you look... If we stop there again we will stay on the ship.

 

When last at this port of call we did stay aboard due to the unpleasantness we had experienced on previous sailings. We just made use of our balcony. But while doing so we noticed a person on the dock who was obviously taking photographs of passengers as they disembarked. We thought this strange. He remained on the dock for a long duration. We decided to photograph HIM in his pursuit. But after two frames he was either directed to or for some reason quickly looked up and made a beeline for the side of the ship where he could no longer be seen. We have never seen this in any port and we have been to some rather totalitariane countries. We attached the photo we took.

 

http://i999.photobucket.com/albums/af114/Yarkerhill/PICT0042.jpg

[skellis]

Last Year we went to Cartagena and would not get off the ship if we ever went there again. We went with one of Lee Miles tours (Mr. Emerald) and the tour guide was great, but she wasn't able to keep the beggars and vendors off of us, and it was bad at both La Popa and the old town. I don't like to be touched by people I don't know and the vendors and children grabbed at our sleeves.

 

We have friends who are nuns from South America and they told us that one of the members of their order was chloroformed while at prayer in the local churc and robbed of her holy medal and rosary. They told us not to get off the ship and prayed for us on the day we were there.

[Cruzin-K]

Wow, this thread is really interesting. I'll be in Cartagena next year on an RCI cruise and find all this info fascinating. I'm definitely going to do my research because I can't stand pushy beggars/vendors, but I do like seeing interesting architecture. A private tour is not an option for me because I'm traveling alone and need to feel safe, which I generally do with ship's tours.

 

Since I've never been to South America before, I have to get off the ship and touch land for it to count so staying on the ship is not an option :D This will be continent number six for me.

 

The fort sounds really interesting, as does the monastery.

[Pachutabelle]

You might search sweetangel and read her review. Well worth your time. I recently reread it as we are doing the same cruise. She has posted tons of pictures. I believe she used the Lee Miles Tour and reccommended it.