Carnival Liberty February 2006

[Sunlover3695]

Sailing on the Carnival Liberty next February to Panama Canal, Costa Rica. Any advice for me? Heard stories, both positive and negative and wondering if I should keep my reservations. Heard rain the entire week, dirty ports, possible muggings, beautiful sites, etc. Anyone have any first hand info. Thanks for any help. :)

[luvtwotravel]

I am interested in hearing things about this too. Anyone?

[sophiecruiser]

Hey sunlover,

Sounds like we may be on the same cruise. I have some concerns also. When I pull up weather stats for Costa Rica, Feb has the most precipitation - 7.9 inches! But the avg temp is 76 degress. But the way I see it, a warm rain in Costa Rica is better than a snow storm in New Hampshire!

 

We are only in port from 11am to 7pm. I hope to book something on my own for the day. Any ideas or suggestions? We have teens traveling with us, so something adventurous would be fun!

Sophie

[sophiecruiser]

dup. Sorry!

[NancAngel]

when in feb? were going on the liberty feb 18th.. and I agree a 76 degree day w/rain is better then -2 degree and snowing day in buffalo ny..lol :D

[sophiecruiser]

Yes, that is the same cruise we booked. I have not visited any of these ports, so guess I need to start doing some research for shore excursions. I have always booked my own shore excursions and have never had a bad experience. The only concern I have is the short amount of time we will be in port in Limon. I wonder how many other ships will be in port that day? And if that will affect trying to book a local tour?

[NancAngel]

The only port we have been in so far is Cozumel...we loved it.. this time i think were going to paradise beach.last time we spent alot of time a carlos and charlies.still researching the other ports.

[echusky]

Sophiecruiser and Nancangel....my name is Ed...my wife and I are booked on this same cruise...Carnival Liberty...Feb 18th...I have been to Cozumel before...we rented a jeep and toured the island...it was alot of fun...

 

my email address is ecroft@scholastic.com....if we can all keep each other informed of tours that we have researched...it will save us all alot of time..

 

Thanks

[sophiecruiser]

Hi Ed,

The only port I 've done any research on is Costa Rica. I booked Charlie Soto for our group of almost 30 people. We will do the zip line at brisas de la jungla then the canal boat ride at Tortugeuro and a couple of stops along the way - banana plantation - or whatever we can fit in time wise.

 

I heard the snorkeling is good in Cozumel. Do you know of any good beaches for that?

 

Haven't even looked into Panama yet. Have you checked out the roll call for this cruise?? A lot of women from Long Island. Not many others.

[echusky]

Hi Sofiecruiser....I've just started doing research...I haven't booked anything yet...usually wait till a few months before the cruise...

 

As for the snorkeling in Cozumel, I haven't snorkeled there....the last time I was there, we rented a jeep and I saw so many different beaches, I'm not sure which ones were what....I'm going to get out some of my stuff and see where we stopped and I'll get back to you on them..

 

I haven't been to the roll call yet...I'll try and go there today...

 

Ed

[elaineinva]

Hi Sofiecruiser....I've just started doing research...I haven't booked anything yet...usually wait till a few months before the cruise...

 

As for the snorkeling in Cozumel, I haven't snorkeled there....the last time I was there, we rented a jeep and I saw so many different beaches, I'm not sure which ones were what....I'm going to get out some of my stuff and see where we stopped and I'll get back to you on them..

 

I haven't been to the roll call yet...I'll try and go there today...

 

Ed

echusky -- we are booked for the 1/21 cruise on Liberty and would be interested to know how you went about renting your jeep. We've always booked excursions through the ship but would like to try it on our own. Thanks!

[transit5495]

It wasn't a Jeep but in Cozumel, we went to Enterprise rent-a-car and for $40.00 got a little VW convertible. No reservations. What a fun day. We booked a horseback tour beforehand at Rancho Palmitas and had a great time. Beware, there are two Rancho Palmitas, ours was the second one out of town. After the horseback riding we drove the East coast road which was spectacular and lunched at Coconuts, a very unfancy restaurant high atop a rocky bluff with the best chips, salsa, and fajitas ever, at the Northeast end of the island; a fantastic day. 3 and 1/2 hrs horseback tour was $20 per person including personal guide that took us to a Mayan cave and El Cedral tourist spot. A ship sponsored excursion by bus just to ElCedral was $65 per person. Personally, I was not impressed with ElCedral.

[echusky]

Elaineinva....renting a jeep was easy....when we left the ship, there is a group of rental agencies right there...they had people coming up to us and asking if we needed to rent a jeep...we agreed on Enterprise, since we knew them as a company...we took the all inclusive insurance and away we went...it cost us about $85.00us....and it was well worth it

[NancAngel]

hmm renting a jeep... now that sounds like fun!! we might have to consider that, i too have not been keeping up with my research..have had jury duty and am preparing to go back to work the day after labor day, but once i get back on schedule i promise to start reading again

[palmtre2]

If you do rent a Jeep, remember the clock on the dashboard is their time NOT ship time. We almost found this out the hard way - by the time we got to the pier they only had 1 gangway down and they were starting to remove the last line!!!!!

[bills blasters]

I too will be on the feb. 18 cruise. We are interested in doing something where we can see as much as possible of the countryside. I haven't seen much other than what is on the carnival web site. Do you all suggest booking something on our own rather than going through carnival. Book through carnival on our last cruise and was very happy with the tours, but they are pretty expensive. Any one done any of this before would be glad to hear suggestions.

[palmtre2]

Watch the port boards for this itinerary - we'll be on the same in April and have some great things lined up off ship. It looks like your best bet is to hire a guide in Panama and Costa Rica.