Celebrity Panama City Tour Question

[purduemom1]

Celebrity is only offering one tour of Panama City and it is described as "strenuous". I have been unable to find out why. The description says .5 to 1 mile of walking. The shore ex department is no help. We had originally booked another tour but it has been discontinued by the tour operator. Has anyone been on this "strenuous" tour of Panama City? Is it safe to walk around Panama? Any help will be appreciated.

Sharon

[BillB48]

Without being certain that what I am mentioning is the same tour you are referencing... during the portion of the tour that goes to the Casco Antiguo, you walk through Las Bovedas, then down a series of stairs to the Plaza Francia and then walk through a section of the Casco Antiguo. While I would not call it "strenuous" Celebrity may have to. The walk was at a leisure pace and the you went down the stairs as opposed to going up, I guess it could present problems to some guests.

 

Is it safe to walk around Panama? Do leave your diamond encrusted Rolex at home:D! Are you speaking Panama in general or on this particular tour? On the tour where you will do the most walking in the Casco Antiguo, in the large group you will be with absolutely nothing to be concerned about. In fact the Presidential Palace is in the general vicinity and there is ample security.

 

Las Bovedas

 

 

Street in Casco Antiguo with Plaza Francia in the background

 

 

Stairs from Las Bovedas to Plaza Francia

 

[BillB48]

I was too late to edit... I went to Celeb's web site and look at the Colon excursions and the CO52 is "probably" the same/similar excursion I was referencing. However, the description is certainly vague enough that it could almost be whatever they wished it to be! In any event I would think if someone in your party had difficulty in the walking portion, they could just wait with the bus.

[purduemom1]

Thanks, BillB. Once again, you have been very helpful......enjoyed the pictures also!

Sharon

[Nanatravel]

Thanks BillB, even though I am not the OP, I really appreciate your detail and pictures that so beautifully depict the area. We are on the Infinity full canal transit and have toured the area. However, we have not been into Panama City, which I would love to experience. I will have to check out which tours may be included for us. I can climb down stairs with no exertion but climbing up is another issue.

[Redtravel]

Cruise guide lines are often misleading. I have taken tours that say strenuous and were very calm. Others say mild and are extremely fast paced with tons of walking. The shore excursion people from the cruise line often do not know what is the true activity level. Best to ask on forums. I did a Panama Canal cruise last spring. I booked some tours with the cruise line...and one with people that got together on the roll call. In Cartegena, roll call people used Dora de Explorer who was great. The rest of the tours were from the ship. Antigua, Guatemala was interesting. Coastal drive in Costa Rica was fair....and very mild. The only bad tour was the "Shaping of Panama" which was a bus ride and lunch with a very poor guide.

[Trend]

Does anyone know if the tour visits Casa Viejo or if that is too far as we are on a celebrity cruise in February and read about this quaint area.

[BillB48]

Does anyone know if the tour visits Casa Viejo or if that is too far as we are on a celebrity cruise in February and read about this quaint area.

 

Hopefully to clarify the names that are used in referring to the Casco Viejo area in Panama City, this area is also referred to as Casco Antiguo, San Felipe District and sometimes Colonial Panama. The names are used interchangeably with the Colonial Panama used more in travel and tour descriptions. It is not too far to travel to this area from the pier in Colon, only about an hour on a nice new road.

 

As I pointed out in post #2, from Celebrity's description a lot is left desired as to exactly what the tour covered. However, I am fairly certain that the tour the OP was asking about would include the Casco Viejo portion of Panama City. It really is a very nice area and there has been a lot of work done to maintain it. The pictures I included in that post are from the Casco Viejo.

Edited October 12, 2013 by BillB48

[Trend]

Would love to just jump in a cab a walk the area on our own. Would this be smart as we hate the big groups that drag on.

[Trend]

Has anyone done the areal tram through the rainforest in Panama?

Wondered what they do for 6hours since it says the tram trip is one hour.

[gloria58]

Hi guys, I'm new to Cruise Critic and not sure where to ask a question !!! My husband and I plus another couple ( we are from Australia and middle aged. Dont know if it really matters what age we are !!! ) are cruising the Panama in April 2014 on the Celebrity Infinity and I would like to ask how safe the ports of call are.? We normally do our own thing at ports of call, as opposed to taking shore tours ( which we find a bit expensive ). So I guess I'm asking is it safe to go ashore and do our own thing ? Should we book tours with independent tour providers ( any tour company suggestions would be appreciated ) Or should we book with Celebrity. When we cruised the Baltics in June we found a " hop on hop off " bus at every port. Are they available at our ports of call in the Panama ? Just as a reminder the ports of call are : Cabo San Lucas , Puerto Vallarta , Puerto Quetzal , Puntarenas , Colon , Cartagena . Thanks in advance to all help.

[BillB48]

Glad you found Cruise Critic, a good place to get info for your ports of call is here: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=283 This the roll call for the Infinity (roll calls provide a place to connect with passengers on your sailing), just look through all the threads until you find your particular sailing... often times your fellow passengers can provide a great deal more info on your ports of call.

 

Speaking in the most general terms, I would say it is probably OK to go with an independent tour as opposed to a ship's tour in the ports you are visiting. The other issue is in some of the ports most items of interest are some distance from the port over roads that are the sole access to the port. If you happen to be on the wrong side of an accident or incident, you could have a problem getting back to the ship on time.

 

Since this is the Panama board I will pass on a little info on your stop in Colon. While Panama is generally safe, you do not want to beyond the shopping mall in Colon where the ship docks on your own with out a tour or at least in a cab. Colon proper is a pretty rough area even though it may not look like it, just don't strike out on foot in hopes of soaking up some local atmosphere. The only stop that I know there is a Hop on Off Bus, but that is in Panama City which is a little over an hour away, so won't be that convenient for you to use at the the port. If all you wanted to do at the Colon stop is grab a cab and go see the Gatun Locks and the construction site of the new Expansion Locks, you could engage a cab at the pier area. Other than that most items of interest are on the Pacific side of Panama.

[Nanatravel]

Hi guys, I'm new to Cruise Critic and not sure where to ask a question !!! My husband and I plus another couple ( we are from Australia and middle aged. Dont know if it really matters what age we are !!! ) are cruising the Panama in April 2014 on the Celebrity Infinity and I would like to ask how safe the ports of call are.? We normally do our own thing at ports of call, as opposed to taking shore tours ( which we find a bit expensive ). So I guess I'm asking is it safe to go ashore and do our own thing ? Should we book tours with independent tour providers ( any tour company suggestions would be appreciated ) Or should we book with Celebrity. When we cruised the Baltics in June we found a " hop on hop off " bus at every port. Are they available at our ports of call in the Panama ? Just as a reminder the ports of call are : Cabo San Lucas , Puerto Vallarta , Puerto Quetzal , Puntarenas , Colon , Cartagena . Thanks in advance to all help.

 

Gloria, are you sailing on the April 14 Infinity cruise? Why not go to the Roll Call forum and join the group. We are talking tours. In most ports it is safe to book a private tour. However, Colon may not be one of those. It's been a while since I've been there. Although I would book a private tour that was recommended on Cruise Critic by others, I wouldn't just go get into a Taxi. Also, Easter Sunday we will be in Guatemala. One might want to book the ship's transfer Self Tour through Celebrity GQ07.