Anyone from the Carnival Freedom gone to the Jaguar Rescue Center?

[smoothsailingagain]

I am sailing on the Carnival Freedom and want to go to the Jaguar Rescue Center. I am a little concerned about time though. The ship gets into port at 10 am and the last tour at the rescue center is at 11:30. I have been told that once you get off the ship you still have to go through customs and then its about a 1 1/2 hr. ride to the rescue center. Does anyone know if 10 am is the ship time or local time. If this is the local time I am worried we might miss the tour. We will be there in Nov. after daylight savings time ends and I am trying to figure out what the local time will be when we arrive. For anyone who has sailed at this time of year, do you know what the local time was when you arrived? Also if anyone has gone to the rescue center from the Freedom could you please tell me

1. What was the local time when you arrived?

2.How long did it take you to get off the ship and through customs?

3. What time did you arrive at the rescue center?

Thank you!

[Alwaysundecided]

What day in November are you sailing? I am also interested in going to the Jaguar Rescue Center and have made some inquiries with various tour operators.

[smoothsailingagain]

We are on the Nov. 19th sailing.

[Alwaysundecided]

So are we. We have reserved the JRC with a trip to the Cahuita National Park. I am super paranoid about making the ship on time so I didn't want to try to see too many things on this one excursion.

[cruisin zonies]

Hi! I was the group leader for the first group from a cruise ship to ever tour the Jaguar Rescue Center so I can definitely understand your concerns as we were totally in unchartered territory with a group over 20 to boot!

 

There are no customs to clear. You walk through the pier terminal just like any other port. It takes minutes literally. Don't worry about the last tour being at 11:30 AM. The tour operators coordinate with the people at their tour stops to let them know how many cruise guests they have on their tour and what approximate time the tour will arrive at the site. If you are nervous about that, feel free to ask them. They all know the time constraints of cruise ship passengers, and I would definitely choose one of the several operators that many people have recommended on these boards.

 

If I remember right, Carnival always has you turn your clocks back/forward to the time zone you're entering (they announce the night before) so you should be on local time in all your ports.

 

We stayed at the JRC for probably an hour, had lunch at a great outdoor restaurant, stopped for a quick look at Cahuita, stopped at a banana plantation, then got back into town for enough time to shop and easily get back on the ship.

 

Go get some "monkey therapy" as they call it at the JRC and have a blast!!!