I don't recommend Princess Rainforest Tram Escursion, Panama Canal cruise

[SanDiegoSue]

We just returned from a wonderful 14-day Panama Canal cruise, Jan. 17-31, LA to Florida. We had arranged private tours in all ports except Costa Rich (Puntarnas). There, we did with Princess excursion that had a tree top ride in a gondola over the tops of the rain forest. This was pretty much a waste of time. Although the forest is pretty, we saw zero animals or birds. That was a big disappointment to us. Then, back at the base, we had a guide take us on a walk to look at snakes in glass containers. They were all curled up and difficult to see. Not at all interesting. The food offered for lunch was good, and then we went to the best part of the tour. We went on a jungle cruise and our excellent guide, who is a birder, spotted and pointed out birds to us. He also took us over to watch the "crocodile man" feed a chick to a crock on the shore. Then, he took us into a mangrove. Very very nice!!

 

However, overall, this tour was not worth the $179 per person that we paid. It would have been much, much better to make private arrangements with someone who could have taken us to see monkeys in the wild, and then the river birds.

 

Hope this helps those of you planning future excusions in Puntarnas.

 

Sue

[marwood]

We just returned from a wonderful 14-day Panama Canal cruise, Jan. 17-31, LA to Florida. We had arranged private tours in all ports except Costa Rich (Puntarnas). There, we did with Princess excursion that had a tree top ride in a gondola over the tops of the rain forest. This was pretty much a waste of time. Although the forest is pretty, we saw zero animals or birds. That was a big disappointment to us. Then, back at the base, we had a guide take us on a walk to look at snakes in glass containers. They were all curled up and difficult to see. Not at all interesting. The food offered for lunch was good, and then we went to the best part of the tour. We went on a jungle cruise and our excellent guide, who is a birder, spotted and pointed out birds to us. He also took us over to watch the "crocodile man" feed a chick to a crock on the shore. Then, he took us into a mangrove. Very very nice!!

 

However, overall, this tour was not worth the $179 per person that we paid. It would have been much, much better to make private arrangements with someone who could have taken us to see monkeys in the wild, and then the river birds.

 

Hope this helps those of you planning future excusions in Puntarnas.

 

Sue

 

We did the same excursion with a private tour for less money but it's still not worth it. Ziplining might have been a better choice. The jungle cruise turned out to be better for us also.

[lois1112]

If i remember the name correctly the tour guide I used was Charlie Soto...and it was wonderful. we saw monkeys...crocs etc (and many birds)

The only suggestion I would make is make sure that Charlie will be your guide, he is so busy he sometimes will "rent" his tours out to other guides and I've heard of a few disappointed people (I was 100% happy)

[busymomofboys]

I so agree we went on the same tour and we also saw no animals while doing the tram over the rain forest. My husband caught a glance at a colorful bird but by the time he said something it was gone.

 

The boat tour was great and interesting. We saw lots of croc's and other wildlife.

 

Our bus driver pulled over to the side of the road to show us a family of monkeys- that short 2-3 mins was better than the tram over the rain forest.

[Jldevlin]

We also did this one and I agree with you about the tram ride ....pretty but just a great view of the tops of trees . But we really enjoyed the rest of the tour on the water with the alligators and the best fruit buffet I have ever had . I still dream about the bananas and mangos !!!!

[RickEk]

We did the same basic Princess excursion except it was out of Limon and it was excellent. Granted, you don't see too many animals from the gondola ride, but the scenery was great. The boat trip through the canals was filled with wildlife... howler monkeys, crocodiles, lots of birds. We even made an unscheduled stop at a banana plantation. Maybe this kind of excursion is better on the Caribbean side than the Pacific side... :p

[capriccio]

We did the Puntarenas tour (Princess version) in January 2008 and saw birds (I specifically remember the Toucans) from the gondola and enjoyed the flowering trees and plants. As we were walking along the area with the caged snakes a wild anteater went up a tree not 10 feet away from our group and then stared down at us (great photo op)! We too enjoyed the boat ride the most. I remember being very impressed with our tour guide - a very knowledgeable and informative young man. He gave us lots of background on Costa Rica during the bus ride and was a biology grad student full of information about the flora and fauna.

[Charles4515]

We just returned from a wonderful 14-day Panama Canal cruise, Jan. 17-31, LA to Florida. We had arranged private tours in all ports except Costa Rich (Puntarnas). There, we did with Princess excursion that had a tree top ride in a gondola over the tops of the rain forest. This was pretty much a waste of time. Although the forest is pretty, we saw zero animals or birds. That was a big disappointment to us. Then, back at the base, we had a guide take us on a walk to look at snakes in glass containers. They were all curled up and difficult to see. Not at all interesting. The food offered for lunch was good, and then we went to the best part of the tour. We went on a jungle cruise and our excellent guide, who is a birder, spotted and pointed out birds to us. He also took us over to watch the "crocodile man" feed a chick to a crock on the shore. Then, he took us into a mangrove. Very very nice!!

 

However, overall, this tour was not worth the $179 per person that we paid. It would have been much, much better to make private arrangements with someone who could have taken us to see monkeys in the wild, and then the river birds.

 

Hope this helps those of you planning future excusions in Puntarnas.

 

Sue

 

I did this excursion years ago and agree with you that it was a waste. We saw one Toucan. The reason for no animals I think is that the noise from the tram drives them away from the area. On a trip a couple a years later I did the jungle cruise combined with a banana plantation and that was pretty good. Lot of birds, crocs, etc. The banana plantation was also pretty good.

[as19111]

We were on the same cruise as the OP and also took the aerial tram. We concur that it's not worth it. By the time we took the tram, it was noon, which is prime sleeping time for the animals.

 

The guides were knowledgeable and personable. The lone Toucan was spotted high in a tree while we were standing on the ground.

 

Our tour did not include the jungle cruise, but we did spot large crocodiles sunning on the river bank while we drove over the river bridge.

 

The lunch was very good.

 

If you are looking for wildlife, the tram (which was very quiet) is not the best way to do this...except to spot the zipliners!

[Shoalwater]

We just returned from a wonderful 14-day Panama Canal cruise, Jan. 17-31, LA to Florida. We had arranged private tours in all ports except Costa Rich (Puntarnas). There, we did with Princess excursion that had a tree top ride in a gondola over the tops of the rain forest. ..... a walk to look at snakes in glass containers.....went on a jungle cruise .... the "crocodile man" .

 

.....this tour was not worth the $179 per person that we paid.

 

Sue

 

$179/person????? Excuse me for shouting, but I believe we did a similar trip in 2008 with Princess for $79/person, but no gondola ride. Achi-wawa. The Princess shore excursion pricing has gotten crazy.

 

Eco-Jungle River Adventure

Board your air-conditioned coach for the approximately one-hour scenic drive to the mouth of the Tarcoles River, located near the Carara Biological Reserve. Transfer to your covered Mawamba boat for an approximately 90-minute cruise along the Guacalillo Estuary. Your guide provides ongoing commentary as you glide along the waters of the estuary, world-renowned for its rich bird life. The

mangrove forests here are home to mangrove hummingbirds, herons, egrets, ospreys, cormorants, pelicans, spoonbills, pelicans, and storks. Crocodiles and iguanas are often seen foraging along the shore. Your return cruise features lively Afro-Caribbean music and a buffet of fresh fruits including coconut, banana, watermelon and pineapple as well as complimentary beverages.

[dfields1814]

We went on this excursion a couple of years ago. I agree this excursion was not all that good. The second part of this tour for us was a boat ride down this rain forest river. We did see one macau. But that was about it. Although I don't recall a $179 pp.

 

We should have taken the excursion into San Salvador.

[Charles4515]

$179/person????? Excuse me for shouting, but I believe we did a similar trip in 2008 with Princess for $79/person, but no gondola ride. Achi-wawa. The Princess shore excursion pricing has gotten crazy.

 

Eco-Jungle River Adventure

Board your air-conditioned coach for the approximately one-hour scenic drive to the mouth of the Tarcoles River, located near the Carara Biological Reserve. Transfer to your covered Mawamba boat for an approximately 90-minute cruise along the Guacalillo Estuary. Your guide provides ongoing commentary as you glide along the waters of the estuary, world-renowned for its rich bird life. The

mangrove forests here are home to mangrove hummingbirds, herons, egrets, ospreys, cormorants, pelicans, spoonbills, pelicans, and storks. Crocodiles and iguanas are often seen foraging along the shore. Your return cruise features lively Afro-Caribbean music and a buffet of fresh fruits including coconut, banana, watermelon and pineapple as well as complimentary beverages.

 

That is similar to the Jungle cruise I did on my second trip except we also visited a banana plantation. It was on the Tarcoles.

 

The forest canopy tram that was a waste was the excursion I did on my first trip. The tram excursion I did, did not include a Jungle cruise. I don't recall the exact price of the Tramway only excursion but it was high.

[Sam n Janet Evening]

Nature & Wildlife

 

Rainforest Aerial Tram, Tarcoles River & Lunch

 

PA4-105 | Puntarenas, Costa Rica

 

from $189.00

approx. 10 hours

 

Experience Costa Rica's lush rainforest canopy up-close on a breath-taking open-air gondola ride, followed by a jungle cruise along the magnificent Tarcoles River, home to Central America's largest crocodile colony. View Excursion Details » | Watch Video »

[dfields1814]

I just checked my records. In Sep of 2009 we paid $189 pp. Now that I look back on it thatvwasca huge rip off.

[xltiny]

If i remember the name correctly the tour guide I used was Charlie Soto...and it was wonderful. we saw monkeys...crocs etc (and many birds)

The only suggestion I would make is make sure that Charlie will be your guide, he is so busy he sometimes will "rent" his tours out to other guides and I've heard of a few disappointed people (I was 100% happy)

 

We just did this tour in january also and were happy and saw abunch of animals

My review is here

http://xltiny.blogspot.com/2012/01/day-11-of-vacation-cruise-day-8-costa.html

[caribill]

Then try

Eco-Jungle River Cruise PA4-610A for just $69

[lrwl2006]

Anyone do the Aerial Tram ride from the other side of Cosa Rica. There are several offered from the Island Princess. I want to see sloths. don't want to ride two hours, and then see nothing.

[1 HappyCruiser]

Princess has gotten out of hand with price increases on many of their popular tours so we now pick & choose which ones to do very carefully. If at all possible we'll always consider an independent tour over a Princess tour and have always been disappointed. They very often do the same exact tours at sometimes half the price.

[iriemon]

We did the same excursion with a private tour for less money but it's still not worth it. Ziplining might have been a better choice. The jungle cruise turned out to be better for us also.

 

Yes Zip Lining over the Costa Rican Rain Forest is well worth the money. We have done it twice and would do it again in a heart beat.

[BoopTennis]

we also did zip-lining (and several other things) with independent tour in Costa Rica. Okey Dokey Tours. They were AWESOME we had a GREAT time.

[Charles4515]

Anyone do the Aerial Tram ride from the other side of Cosa Rica. There are several offered from the Island Princess. I want to see sloths. don't want to ride two hours, and then see nothing.

 

Sloths are hard to see even when you know one is there. The long bus ride for the arial tram did not bother me because I got to see a lot of Costa Rica which was a new country for me. It was that the tram itself was pretty boring. The talk and the insects we saw at the center were somewhat interesting. Also the lunch was good. The excursion as a whole was a poor value. I recommend either one of the Jungle River excursions, white water rafting or the National Park. I can't recall the name of the park, starts with a C, there is a beach and horseback riding.

[lrwl2006]

Thanks, Charles, that really helps.

[tntfox]

We're booked on the Veragua Rainforest Tour out of Limon. Is this the same tour that's getting the negative reviews? :confused:

 

Thanks ...

[as19111]

The OP and I are speaking of the tour out of Punteranas. I can't speak for the other postings. This was the LA to FLL transit.

[trojangirl90066]

Sorry to hijack the thread but are the ziplines safe? My friend said they were not certified and she wouldn't recommend it.