Princess Panama Canal stop in Hualtulco, Mexico

[RSF Cruiser]

I posted this question on the Mexican Forum about a week ago, and have not had any responses, so I thought I'd try here on Princess...

 

Has anyone been on the Princess Copalita Archaeological Exploration tour from Hualtulco? I searched Huatulco on the Mexico forum, and the most recent post was from about a year ago, and nothing about the ruins.

 

We'll be on a Panama Canal cruise and have never been to this port. I love ruins, so our thought was to take the ruins tour in the morning and then go to the beach. Are there any private guides you would recommend?

 

From what I learned on Cruise Critic, there's a beach near where the ship docks. Are there any other beaches we should consider? We like to snorkel, so a beach with some rocks near by is preferable.

[JF - retired RRT]

We didn't do that tour when we were there.

You are correct, the beach is literally "right there". A short walk to the end of the pier and turn left. That's where the ships crew goes for beach.

We did the Princess excursion that goes to a nearby resort. Short bus ride and you can choose a swimming beach, a snorkel beach or the swimming pool. It wasn't great snorkeling, but it was OK. There was an included lunch buffet. Again, not great, but OK.

Huatulco is really trying hard to get cruise ships to stop there. It's a very pretty little town.

[zahav1]

We still talk about our stop in Hualtulco in 2011, it is, till this day, one of our most favorite port. We just walked around the port area and then to the little town, had a snack at a small restaurant. This port/little town is so quaint and we wished we'd done more there.

[OCruisers]

We loved the beach right there and had a great time but not where you'd want to be to snorkel.

Our friends didn't have anything booked. There were a couple of independents offering small (6-8 people) inexpensive catamaran excursions out to snorkel as they were leaving the ship. They took one and enjoyed it.

Thinking it would be something you might want to consider.

LuLu

[Thrak]

I posted this question on the Mexican Forum about a week ago, and have not had any responses, so I thought I'd try here on Princess...

 

Has anyone been on the Princess Copalita Archaeological Exploration tour from Hualtulco? I searched Huatulco on the Mexico forum, and the most recent post was from about a year ago, and nothing about the ruins.

 

We'll be on a Panama Canal cruise and have never been to this port. I love ruins, so our thought was to take the ruins tour in the morning and then go to the beach. Are there any private guides you would recommend?

 

From what I learned on Cruise Critic, there's a beach near where the ship docks. Are there any other beaches we should consider? We like to snorkel, so a beach with some rocks near by is preferable.

 

I see what you mean. I did a search of the Mexican Rivera boards in the Ports of Call area and found exactly 3 posts with "Copalita" in the body. One of them was yours and the others, like the ones being posted here, have nothing at all to do with the ruins!

 

I did an "all forums" search and found a small reference in a Norwegian Pearl roll call where someone listed their proposed itineary:

 

Huatelco: Taxi for the day to visit Copalita River Ruins and La Crucecita

 

 

THIS POST from a Statendam roll call has a lot of info on Huatalco and some of it is about the Bocana del Rio Copalita Archaeological Zone

 

 

Not a lot of info as far as I can see but the one person did say they were going to take a taxi...

 

I stopped looking at this point as the phone rang. (I'm at work. :eek:)

Edited April 18, 2016 by Thrak

[Shmoo here]

I posted this question on the Mexican Forum about a week ago, and have not had any responses, so I thought I'd try here on Princess...

 

Has anyone been on the Princess Copalita Archaeological Exploration tour from Hualtulco? I searched Huatulco on the Mexico forum, and the most recent post was from about a year ago, and nothing about the ruins.

 

We'll be on a Panama Canal cruise and have never been to this port. I love ruins, so our thought was to take the ruins tour in the morning and then go to the beach. Are there any private guides you would recommend?

 

From what I learned on Cruise Critic, there's a beach near where the ship docks. Are there any other beaches we should consider? We like to snorkel, so a beach with some rocks near by is preferable.

From our ship in Hualtalco:

[/img]

[Gwendy]

I was here a few years ago. I do not remember Princess offering this excursion, it was one I would have jumped at. It is the most beautiful place, the beach, the open air church, the dusty town square with dogs lying in the shade. Avoid the jewellery shop that seems to spring up when ships are in, go to the smaller local stores. When I was there the government had confiscated a drug boat which was tied up half way along the loooong pier. Two soldiers with huge guns were guarding it. They looked about 16. They spent their day posing for photos with Aussie tourists, it was a world cruise from Australia.

It was a bit scary, they were so young and seemed so blasé about the weapons they were carrying. All a bit foreign to me.

The sail in and out was absolutely beautiful, prettier I think than Tahiti or Bora Bora.

[Treven]

That wasn't offered on my Panama Canal cruise. It's a lovely little town. I just got off the ship and wandered through the town, very clean.

[RSF Cruiser]

Thanks everyone for your responses - I knew I could get some information here. Sounds like Hualtulco is a lot like Zihuantanio (sp?). I'm really looking forward to going there. At this point we'll plan to keep our Copalita tour with Princess and plan to get a kayak for some afternoon snorkeling, and hopefully have time to wander around the town. and I never go into the cruise port chain jewelry stores :-/

[Treven]

Thanks everyone for your responses - I knew I could get some information here. Sounds like Hualtulco is a lot like Zihuantanio (sp?). I'm really looking forward to going there. At this point we'll plan to keep our Copalita tour with Princess and plan to get a kayak for some afternoon snorkeling, and hopefully have time to wander around the town. and I never go into the cruise port chain jewelry stores :-/

Zihuantinaho (sp) is located right next to Hualtulco. It's often referred to by both their names; at least it was when I was there on my cruise.

Edited April 19, 2016 by Treven

[prudence1]

Thanks everyone for your responses - I knew I could get some information here. Sounds like Hualtulco is a lot like Zihuantanio (sp?). I'm really looking forward to going there. At this point we'll plan to keep our Copalita tour with Princess and plan to get a kayak for some afternoon snorkeling, and hopefully have time to wander around the town. and I never go into the cruise port chain jewelry stores :-/

 

We plan to take the Princess Ruins tour in December; changed ships in order to catch this so hope it's as described. Good luck!

[elliair]

Google Hualtulco, Mexico, Trip Advisor. There's an excursion for the archeological ruins for $100, and other things to do in Hualtulco.

 

I'll save you some time, here's the link...

 

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractions-g150789-Activities-Huatulco_Southern_Mexico.html

[firecrewcapt]

I posted this question on the Mexican Forum about a week ago, and have not had any responses, so I thought I'd try here on Princess...

 

Has anyone been on the Princess Copalita Archaeological Exploration tour from Hualtulco? I searched Huatulco on the Mexico forum, and the most recent post was from about a year ago, and nothing about the ruins.

 

We'll be on a Panama Canal cruise and have never been to this port. I love ruins, so our thought was to take the ruins tour in the morning and then go to the beach. Are there any private guides you would recommend?

 

From what I learned on Cruise Critic, there's a beach near where the ship docks. Are there any other beaches we should consider? We like to snorkel, so a beach with some rocks near by is preferable.

 

 

We did this excursion, Copalita Archaeological Exploration during last Sept. Panama Canal cruise, bottom line was the ruins weren't much lots of hiking/walking-some up some pretty steep stairs, did have some great views once you got to the top of the hike and that was about it, we can say we've been there done that and that's it, will not do again.

[suzieb25]

We hired Arturo Martinez Tours, check out the reviews on Trip Advisor. We spent about four or 4 1/2 wonderful hours with him. He took us to the ruins which are quite small, but he was able to explain in detail everything we were looking at. All the other visitors were crowding around him trying to hear. He took us everywhere, stopped frequently and best of all took us to an amazing place for lunch we would never have found on our own. Highly recommend.