Panama Canal Review on the NCL Star- LA to Miami - ALL NCL excursions (3/30-4/13)

[deefer]

Introduction

 

Just my husband and I on this cruise - mid 50’s - generally healthy and active.  When we booked this cruise over a year ago an added “distinctive voyage package” was given to this cruise.  This gave us an extra $50 per port excursion credit - so a total $100 off per port -this made the NCL excursions the cheapest. So we decided to give them a try.  I will review each excursion in detail at a later time but to summarize I don’t think I would ever book an NCL excursion in a port that I really wanted to explore.   They are just too large - sometimes 40 people- and you waste time waiting for others.  For this cruise the Panama Canal was the highlight & we looked at the other ports as “fillers” so the NCL excursions worked out fine at their discounted rate.

 

The distinctive voyage package also gave us an extra 250 minutes of WiFi and 120 minutes of free ship to shore phone calls.

 

We booked an Aft penthouse suite - the perks we picked were the speciality dining package (gave us 4 meals each), the 250 minutes of free WiFi & the other $50 shore excursion credit.  We do not drink enough alcohol to justify the added service charge so passed on the UBP.

 

Arriving in Los Angeles

Renting a Car

We flew from NY to LAX on 3/28 - rented a car at enterprise - pickup in LAX - return at San Pedro (very close to the cruise port).  Booked this online ahead of time for total cost $175.    A few other car companies do this too, at the time we booked enterprise  was the cheapest.   We booked an economy car but we were given a Ford Edge (a small SUV).  

 

**Tip: if you rent a car, once you have picked it up go on line and register it with tollroads.com - you cannot do it after you have gone through a toll.  You will avoid and “admin fee” by the rental company.  It is a cashless toll system.   The toll roads were  confusing to us - not sure what the charges were, when we actually went through a toll - not as obvious as the NY toll system.   At the end of the day we were charged another $19.50 for tolls/fees - my guess is the admin fee was at least $10.

 

Dropping off the car in San Pedro was easy - drop off is in the back.   Enterprise has a shuttle to the cruise port.   We arrived around 11am - there were about 10 people waiting for the shuttle already - we got in line  - waited about 40 minutes then gave up and walked around the corner to a hotel (can’t recall which chain) paid $20 dollars total and took their shuttle.  I’m not sure why there as such a long wait for the enterprise shuttle - the cruise port was only about a  mile away.  We hadn’t eaten since early breakfast so were a little hungry and wanted to get to the pier before 1pm when they stop serving lunch. 

 

Activities in LA

The day we arrived we visited with some family - on the 2nd day we went to Universal Studios Hollywood.  We paid for the VIP tour, original price was $349pp - we saved a tiny bit of money by booking through the AAA site - it was either 10% or $10 off pp - can’t remember.  I went to the AAA site and at this time the discount is not offered- maybe because when we went it was a little “off season”.

 

We really enjoyed our day at universal - the private tour gets you front of line for all the rides and includes a nice breakfast & lunch.  Plus you are escorted around the park by a guide until 430p - you are on your own to explore after that.   There were a total of 8 in our group.

 

PreCruise Hotel

Our criteria for picking a hotel was that we wanted to have free parking,  close to Universal Studios and reasonably priced.  Our research landed us with the Burbank Airport Inn (Best Western).  It had good reviews.  The hotel was great in terms of the room/lobby - very clean, probably a 3.5 star hotel.  Covered parking - seemed secure,  but in a sketchy looking neighborhood,  homeless people just a 2-3 blocks away.   Despite the name of the hotel - it is not in Burbank, but in North Hollywood.  As we just needed a place to sleep it was perfect for our needs - but if you wanted to walk around at night  I would not stay here.  Total cost for 2 nights $298.  I’m sorry I thought I took photos of the hotel but cannot find them!

 

The drive from our Hotel to San Pedro took us 45 minutes.  It was a Saturday, very little traffic. 

[deefer]

Boarding

We arrive at Pier 93 and hand off our luggage to the porter

 

We then walk into a large room (I was not allowed to take a photo) where we fill out the NCL health questionnaire 

 

Then we go up the escalator and on the right side we see check in for floors 5-9

 

....and on the left side is check in for floors 10-14

 

We are on the 9th floor but are directed to the shorter line for those on floors 10-14 where we check in and then are escorted to the suite lounge where we get our keys and meet Suzanna the concierge.  I am not sure if we should have gone straight to the lounge area for suite check in but we really didn’t care and the line was really short. 

 

In the lounge area I ask Suzanna if she could take care of upgrading us to the unlimited WiFi  giving us credit for the 2 x 250mins free wifi we already have.  She informs us this is no longer done (she is incorrect but I didn’t  figure it out until day 5).  So my plans for doing a live review while on board are finished.  Our 500 mins plus the 60 minutes we get for being platinum is enough for us but not enough for a live review.

 

I am disappointed with this news because will not be able to use my peloton app on board for my workouts and because of that forget to snap a photo of the lounge area. 

 

We are then escorted to Cagney’s for lunch.

 

 

Edited April 15, 2019 by deefer

[deefer]

WiFi

Since I touched on this in my last post I want to expand.  On our cruise to Asia last year we upgraded to the unlimited plan and received $125 credit towards the cost (for the free 250min we got as a perk).  I was expecting this x2 on this cruise as we had that extra 250mins as part of the distinctive voyage package.  As mentioned earlier was disappointed  when told by the concierge that NCL no longer gives a credit for these free minutes.

 

It took me a few days to double check with the internet manager as the line was always sooooo long.    Once we connected, he said that you can upgrade to the unlimited but you only get $60 credit for each free 250mins.

 

As we had free data on our cellphones when in all the ports, to kill time while waiting on the bus I would sometimes checkout cruise critic  and low and behold

there was a thread about WiFi .....someone on the Jade in the last week or so got $125  credit towards the unlimited plan.

 

So the takeaway for this post is there seems to be no consistency in between ships.  Check when on board. 

 

As far as speed, except for 2 sea days when the WiFi did not work at all, the speed was pretty good for ship WiFi.

 

At the end of the day the free minutes we got was enough for us.  The free phone calls was more than enough to check on our parents so did not need WiFi for FaceTime.

 

Edited April 15, 2019 by deefer
add photo

[deefer]

The Cabin-#9732 Aft Penthouse Suite

 

Let me start by saying there were lots of outlets but all except two were European outlets.  This North American outlet was located to the side of the vanity.   Another was in the bathroom.  The rest were all European - if coming from North America bring your converters!  We were on the Star in 2016 and do not recall this being an issue....maybe this change happened with it’s recent dry dock/refurbishment?

 

We brought a multi-plug and our butler, Loy, was able to find us a converter so we were able to make it work.

 

 

Some room photo pics....

 

 

 

 

 

Lots of storage/cupboard space

 

So if you have settled on an aft suite the next decision you have to make is which floor.  The 10th floor has the largest balconies but the end cabins on the 8th & 9th floor have wrap around balconies which will give you a side view when going through the canal.

 

We wanted the wrap around balcony.  I had done some research and some posters noted noise from the Bliss lounge would linger into the cabins on the 8th floor.  So that’s how we settled on the 9th floor.   The only slight disadvantage of this floor is at times part of of your side view is obstructed by the structure that is used for washing windows.

 

Here is the balcony with no obstruction in the 3rd photo which shows the small wrap around part of the balcony

 

 

 

And here is the window apparatus parked, where it stayed for most of the cruise.  During the Panama Canal Transit it did move to the other side for the 2nd half of the transit which was a nice surprise.  

 

I took the above photo from a closer angle so it looks a little more obstuctive than it actually is.  If I were to do it again I would have taken the 8th floor.  I can usually sleep through anything so I really don’t think the noise (if there was any) would have bothered us.    Having said that, we loved our cabin and the side balcony!

 

The fresh flowers looked nice until about day 10.  We’ve stayed is suites before an I think this is the nicest arrangement we ever had.

 

 

We phoned the pre cruise concierge ahead of time and asked for distilled water (for CPAP) and that the fridge was emptied.  Water was there, fridge not emptied.  Again not a big deal, emptied in 2 seconds by the room steward - Resley. 

 

Waiting in our room were all our shore excursion tickets.   We booked them by phone ahead of time but did not pay for them until on board.  The “full charge” of the excursions all appeared on our onboard account on day one.  Then on the days we took the excursion the $100 credit appeared on the on board account. 

 

Muster

Our muster station was 2 floors down in the main Dining Room.  It was in English and in German.  There must have been quite a bit of Germans on board as the first lunch menu we got in Cagney’s was also in German. 

 

Okay, I think that’s enough for today.  To be continued...... please feel free to ask questions!  Will do my best to answer.  I’ve decided it’s much easier doing a live review vs trying to use my memory ...... I’m sure I’ve missed something already!!

[LinnieRed]

 Thank you for this enjoyable review. We are very interested in the Panama cruise from LA to Miami. 

[heffy2]

Great review so far, thank you!

[hannibal54]

I did the  Miami to LA in February, what a great cruise that was on the Star.

[cincicruisers]

Thanks for sharing your review with us.

[SharkieQueen]

Thanks for the info about the power outlets - that’s really helpful. Booked in for the TA at the end of the month, so your review is perfectly timed!

 

[Iworktocruiseandtravel]

Following this post closely... my husband and I are thinking of doing from LA to Miami in 2020

[deefer]

Sea Days (Day 2, 4, 6, 10, 12 & 13)

 

There were 6 days at Sea - we have never been on a cruise with so many sea days and thought we would be bored, but we found the days relaxing - we had a Thermal Spa pass that we used ever day.  Cost for the entire cruise for this pass for the 2 off us was $498 - saved $40 by purchasing on line ahead of time.

 

Gym

I went to the gym about every other day - never a wait for a treadmill.  They have many different types of workouts on the treadmill screen.  I like to do run/walk workouts on the treadmill normally using my peloton app.  Not having purchased the unlimited WiFi could not use it so was pleasantly surprised that I could program the treadmill for this kind of workout.

 

This is the main screen on the treadmill

 

If you pick “exercises” in the lower left corner it will bring you to.....

 

Then pick “cross training”..... and put in your time and level

 

... and you are off.  At level 7 the slowest walk was around 3.1 & the fastest run was around 5.5.  

 

There were also several weight machines, free weights, different types of exercise bikes, stair climbers and ellipticals.

 

TV/Movies

On every sea day there was a Movie playing at 330p in the Stardust Theatre.  We did not go to any of these but did watch a couple of movies we had not seen before in our room and ordered popcorn from the Butler.  This is the first cruise where we we able to get popcorn.... not sure if this is something new fleet wide or only available on the star.

 

You can get a Movie Schedule from guest services.

 

The front page tells you what channels are available

 

And here’s a sample of the Movies page

 

 

Lectures about the Panama Canal

Every Sea Day before Day 11 (that was the Panama Canal Day) a lecture at 930a was offered in the Stardust Theatre.  These were the topics:

 

Day 2 - The Panama Canal: How it Works

Day 4 - Why Panama? Why not Nicaragua?

Day 6 - Panama Canal:  How it was built

Day 10 - Panama under American Occupation

 

I found the information very good, the presentation was a little on the flat side but went to all the lectures and would recommend them.   Don’t worry if you miss a lecture - they play on a loop on Channel 33.  They are still available to watch even after you have gone through the Canal.

 

WiFi Issues

The WiFi was not working at all on 2 Sea Days - Day 10 & 13. Some kind of problem with the Satellite which also meant you could not make ship to shore phone calls.    I’m guessing those who had purchased the unlimited plan received refunds - but that’s a speculation on my part.  

 

Canvas by U

To help fill time on one of the Sea Days we tried this Canvas by U - the cost is $35pp - lasts about one hour.

 

I have absolutely NO artistic ability.... have NEVER painted anything before (including a wall) .....so was quite proud of my “country scene”

....not sure what I’m going to this with “art” but I did drag it back home!

 

Food

We really tried not to gain weight on this cruise so mainly “low carbed it” on this cruise.  Except for La Cucina and the day we went for Sushi it was easy to do.

 

I won’t go into detail on the food  but if you have any specific questions please feel free to ask. We had good service and all the food was good to excellent.   We did also go to Cagney’s, Moderno’s, Le Bistro, OSheehans & the Main Dining Room once.  The Buffet a few times for lunch.  We had suite breakfast every day & suite lunch a few times.

 

PS - only gained one pound!

 

Casino

The Casino opens almost immediately after leaving a port and open all day on sea days ...... it was even open during the Panama Canal Crossing -  we do hang out too much in the Casino on Sea Days.  It was never really full - very nice staff.

We did not go to the Casino during the Panama Canal Crossing but the staff said it was very empty (not at all surprised).

 

If you do choose to go to the Casino always put in your room key in the slot machine - this tracks your gambling - if play long enough you can get discounts or even comped cruises.  

 

Spa

Had a manicure at the Spa.  They do a fantastic job....

 

So that’s how we filled our Sea Days ....... please feel free to ask questions!

Thats it for today ..... next up will be the reviews of the NCL excursions!

 

 

Edited April 18, 2019 by deefer

[deefer]

Day 3 - Cabo San Lucas:  Tender Port

 

Who knew you could ride a camel in North America!

There was a weight restriction of 265 lbs. 

 

The original cost of this excursion with NCL $139pp.  With our 10% platinum discount and then the $100 shore excursion credit per port (remember we had that extra $50 per port with the distinctive voyages package) our final cost was $75.10pp.    If you were to book this excursion independently cost was $109pp.

 

Because we were in a suite - our instruction was to meet at Gatsby’s 10 mins before the scheduled meeting time and then we were escorted to the front of the line for the tender.   I suppose waiting in comfortable chairs in Gatsby’s is nicer than sitting in a crowded theatre and there is no waiting in a hall on deck 4  to get on a tender but really there is no real need for priority disembarkation when you have booked a NCL excursion.    We were off right away but waited about 30mins on shore for the rest of the group to show up.

 

Tendering to shore took about 10 mins.   

 

This is a photo of the front of the tender

 

The shoreline as we were approaching

The water was quite choppy per announcements made when on board but despite that the ride was quite smooth.

 

A little crowded when we got off, a carnival ship was there as well

 

There are people with NCL logos directing you where to go - looks for the signs with your excursion.  

Our was tucked in on the left side which made it a little harder to find - most signs for tours are in the middle.

 

The excursion itself

There were about 40 people but we were broken into 3 groups.  The tour consists of:

 

1.  A Nature walk with explanation of the local vegetation

2.  A Camel interaction - Petting/kissing/feeding

3.  Riding a camel

4.  Lunch - with tequila tasting & how tortillas are made

 

Our group started with the nature walk

 

This is a photo of our guide teaching us stuff about what we are looking at.

Notice his head wear - you will be wearing one of these when you ride your camel.  It’s a very clever way of hiding your helmet!

 

We did the camel interaction next.

You are free to take photos on your own for most of the time but not when you are one on one with the camel.

This is the camel that kisses you on the cheek & you can feed - or if you want (which I did) you can put the piece of apple in your mouth and he will take it from your mouth - basically getting a kiss on the lips!  It was really cool - soft lips and no bad breath!  (At least on his part!)

 

At the end of the day you can review the photos the company took - they  also had a drone that took a video of your camel ride.  We only wanted 4 photos - they wanted to charge us $64 - we have quite few photos of us on the camels so passed.   

 

Camel Ride was next.

When you ride the camels there are 3-4 camels tethered together in a line.  2 riders per camel - you can see the saddle in this photo.

 

You do the camel walk on the beach - about 20-25 minutes.

 

Then the buffet lunch .....

 

 

 

Beer, sweetened fruit drinks (with a shot of tequila if desired), water all included.

 

Then there was a demonstration of how tortillas are made from scratch

 

And a information shared about the different types of tequila with tasting!

 

Then it was back on the bus to be taken back to the ship.

I forgot to time how long the ride on the bus was from the ship to the location of the camels.   We were busy laughing and chatting with fellow cruisers - the bus held about 16 people so made it easy too chat.   I would guess 20-25 minutes.

 

On return we just went back to the ship - did not notice any markets or anything at the port but my guess is they are there.

 

Overall a very enjoyable day.  Would recommend this excursion - just crunch the numbers and see if its cheaper to do it on your own.

 

Edited April 18, 2019 by deefer

[deefer]

Toilet Flushing Issues

 

The toilets on all floors for the back of the ship would not flush from 2am the day we arrived in Cabo - and were not fixed until around 6p after we left.  Apparently someone flushed a big piece metal down the toilet and it clogged everything up for many many cabins.

 

We were fine ..... but many people were livid.   It was a long walk to find a functioning toilet from the aft - there were a lot of older cruisers with walkers etc.  This would have been a challenge for them.

 

When they say only flush toilet paper .... please follow their requests!

 

[deefer]

Day 5 - Acapulco Mexico

 

The ship docked at this port - our NCL tour was meeting time was not until 1145am,  you could walk off the ship at 8am so we decided to walk off early and do some exploring on our own.

 

When you first walk off the ship you walk through this area.....

 

If you haven’t prebooked a tour (either with NCL or on your own) you will find official taxi/tour operators offering things to do.

 

We decided to try a local outdoor  market.  The cost was $30 USD return and the taxi/tour operator escorted us the whole time.   I forgot to get a business card of the company - but you will see them wearing badges in this area.

 

The market

 

Here you can see locals making goods

 

There  were mass produced souvenirs available for purchase, but also hand made equivalents.    The souvenirs that we purchase are things that we can use in our every day life that do not look like a souvenir ....i.e. don’t have  “Acapulco” prominently painted on it somewhere

 

On this stop for $15 we bought a hand painted spoon rest

 

 

Got back in plenty of time to make our NCL excursion.

 

 

Full cost of this NCL excursion was $55 pp.  With our 10% discount & $100 credit,   Our final cost was FREE.  Can’t beat that.  I did not research any private tours as I knew there is no way there cost would be cheaper than free!

 

Tour started with a short drive to the Famous Cliff Divers - on route  the tour operator explained the history of the cliff divers, who they are etc.  The tour cost includes all entry fees - and at the bathroom stop after the cliff divers (in a store) there is free water, soda or beer.   

 

It was VERY HOT out .... I would recommend bringing extra water for the time you are in the fort.

 

Cliff Divers

Some of the scenery on the way to the divers

 

The best viewing for the cliff divers is on the lower deck. You have to be able to walk up and down 100 steps.

We walked down to the lowest viewing area but I’m sure the views from the upper levels was fine.

 

The cliff divers start on our side of the viewing area

 

They climb down, swim across and then climb up the other side

 

Then they dive .... there were about 8 divers in total, sometimes diving 2 at a time, doing flips from various places on the cliff

 

Then we went to the Fort of SanDiego - this is a model of the fort

 

A very nice guided tour explaining it’s history and how people lived

 

 

The ship docks right across the street from this fort - this is a photo from the top of the fort

 

And that was our day in Acapulco.... next wil be Guatemala!

[deefer]

 Day 7 - Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala 

 

Visited a coffee plantation

 

Full cost of the excursion with NCL is $79.10 pp.  With our platinum discount and $100 credit our final cost was $21.10pp.  

 

 Photo of the port from our balcony

 

You walk through a nice little market on the way to the bus.

 

The bus ride to the coffee plantation took about 90 minutes.  Our tour guide was awesome.  Talked almost the whole time - very interesting.  Learned a lot about the people, the history, the politics etc.  Time went very quickly because of her.

 

Some of the scenery along the way

 

Still some rebuilding needed after that large volcanic eruption last year

 

This is the path one of the lava flows left

 

We arrive at a family owned coffee plantation and start the tour. Although the day is really hot - coffee beans like to grow in shade - so the trees they plant to shade the coffee plants also keep us cool!

 

The tour teaches about how the plants are planted &  grow

 

How the beans are harvested 

 

And the processing involved to get the beans ready for market

 

 

 

It made me really appreciate how much work goes into me being able to enjoy a cup of coffee in the morning!

 

After the tour coffee & cookies are provided.   Coffee and some hand made goods are available for purchase.

 

We bought coffee to enjoy at home - $8 per pound.

 

Back to the ship we walked around the market - and bought this bag for our dog sitter ..... it’s really well made - paid $23 USD.

 

I noticed free WiFi available at one of the cafes in this market  - we have free data on our cellphones so did not use it, but my guess was you would need to purchase something to be able to use the WiFi.  I believe I saw beer for $1.  Significantly cheaper than what you would pay for WiFi on the ship!

 

Overall a very enjoyable day.

Edited April 23, 2019 by deefer

[Stealthdog]

Looks like you had a great time!  I do have a couple of specific ship questions because we have a 7 day sailing on the Star in 2 months (but out of Venice):

- of the specialty dinning restaurants you went for dinner, which did you think was best?  We need to figure out how to use all of dining packages (3 for the booking, 2 for platinum, and 1 for AMEX). 

- which restaurant does the breakfast/lunch Suite meals?

- did you check out the Thermal Spa at all?

- what was your favorite bar on the ship?

[deefer]

Delete duplicate post

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 23, 2019 by deefer

[deefer]

3 hours ago, Stealthdog said:

Looks like you had a great time!  I do have a couple of specific ship questions because we have a 7 day sailing on the Star in 2 months (but out of Venice):

- of the specialty dinning restaurants you went for dinner, which did you think was best?  We need to figure out how to use all of dining packages (3 for the booking, 2 for platinum, and 1 for AMEX). 

- which restaurant does the breakfast/lunch Suite meals?

- did you check out the Thermal Spa at all?

- what was your favorite bar on the ship?

 

As far as my favorite speciality restaurant - probably La Cucina - but that’s because I love pasta and rarely have it.  Really the food here is probably at the level of Olive Garden. My husband’s favorite is Cagney’s.  Better than the Outback steak house but not quite at the level of a top steak house.  Since you have enough .... try them all! 

 

Le Bistro has the BEST mushroom soup.  If you go there - you must try it.  

On this cruise the lights were really bright which dampened the ambiance.  Maybe because the cruisers were a little older and couldn’t see the menu?

 

To add variety you could also use one of your SPD meals at the Ginza Restaurant.  For a $7.50pp upcharge you can order sushi and rolls.  We did that one night to change things up.  We really enjoyed it.

 

The day you board the lunch is served in Cagney’s, but after that the suite breakfast & lunch is served at Moderno’s.

 

French pressed coffee at breakfast

 

And here’s a photo of a section of the breakfast buffet that you can sample before ordering from the menu

 

 

We went to thermal spa everyday - did not take any photos of it.  In the coed area there is a small lap pool, a hot tub, a small thalasso (sp?) therapy pool, &  heated stone loungers.  In each of the changing areas there is a dry & steam sauna.

Many times we were the only people in the thermal spa.  Never crowded.  We really enjoy the thermal suite and always buy the pass - if you purchase it online before you cruise you save about $20pp.

 

We rarely drink alcohol so did not frequent any of the bars .... sorry no input here.

We really enjoyed our vacation ..... I wish you one at least as enjoyable as ours!

Edited April 23, 2019 by deefer

[deefer]

Day 8 - San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua 

 

 

Full price of this tour with NCL is $125 pp. With our platinum discount and $100 credit, our final cost was $62.50pp.

 

This was a last minute decision for us - really none of the excursions peaked our interest.  We settled on this one because neither of us has seen a live volcano.

 

I believe Nicaragua is trying to build it’s tourist industry.  I researched independent tours also - and really could not find anything.  

 

This is a tender port - NCL used their own life boats as tenders.  Took about 10mins to get to shore.

 

On arrival we were greeted with local dancers and a small market with goods for sale

 

The drive to the volcano took over 2.5 hrs EACH WAY.  The tour guide on the bus did his best to  educate us about his country  but unfortunately was a little light on information which made the bus trip VERY LONG.  For example, he would say the recent political unrest was very tumultuous and in so did not want to talk about it.  

 

On the way there we saw a procession on its way to mass

 

Locals at a watering hole

 

 

We get to the volcano and spend 10-15 mins there walking around, snapping photos

The guide told us at night you can see the glow of the lava.

 

On the way back we stopped in a very small town called Catarina and had 20-30 mins to walk around.  Here you can see a beautiful volcanic lake called the Apoyo Lagoon and there are some local shops that have hand made goods/souvenirs.

 

We had a police escort for almost the whole time - the guide said it was to help us get through traffic.  My guess it also was for safety.

 

One of the other buses was late returning to the ship - the ship waited - we left about 1 hr later than scheduled.  These poor people were on the bus for over 6 hours.

 

Although I thought the volcano was really cool to see -overall I did not really like this tour.   

 

Next will be Costa Rica .....

Edited April 27, 2019 by deefer
Typo

[deefer]

Day 9 - Puntarenas, Costa Rica 

 

 

Full price of this excursion with NCL is $99 per person.  WIth the platinum discount and $100 shore credit our final cost is $39.10 per person.

 

We had priority disembarkation.....got off on time then waited standing on the dock for 45 minutes for the rest of the group from the theater to arrive.  If you have a hard time standing and are in a suite - it might be better for you to go to the theater and just go with the group on NCL excursions.

 

We get on the bus, it’s about a 40 minute drive to the rain forest.

Some nice scenery along the way and the guide is very informative about local culture/history

 

 

If you didn’t bring water with you - it is available for purchase just before you enter the park $4 for a 2 liter bottle.   Although it was a really hot day - the walk through the rain forest was fine because of all the shade the large trees provided.   We bought the water but really did not need it.

 

Entrance to the park

 

Here you can pick up a walking stick if you like

 

You walk across several suspension bridges

 

If you have a hard time with stairs, this excursion is not for you.  There weren’t that many - but enough if you struggle with them

 

Throughout the walk the guide would point out interesting things/facts about the vegetation etc.  You walk through the forest in a single line- there were at least 30 people on this tour - if you were not one of the first 5-10 people you would not hear anything he had to say.   This is the disadvantage on NCL excursions - too large.  I was 4th in line so was able to absorb the info!

 

Then we take a short bus ride to the Tarcoles River - this river has the most crocodiles in both North & Central America and many different birds.

 

We get on the boat for the river cruise

 

Here is one of the big crocs we saw .... he was so still I thought he was dead until I saw him blink!

 

We saw at least 10 different bird species 

 

The tour ends with a sampling of local banana & pineapple.  And to drink they have coffee, mango juice, ice tea & water.

 

There is also some goods available for purchase

 

We had about 30 minutes to snack/shop before going back to the ship.   An enjoyable day.

 

Next will be the Panama Canal!

 

[Oakman58]

I'm really enjoying your report and thanks for including the pictures.

[Candy Apple 12]

Was the Distinctive Voyage Package part of booking a suite, or could non-suite guests get this also? Was there an additional cost for this package, or something you got for free when you booked the cruise?

Edited April 30, 2019 by Candy Apple 12

[deefer]

5 hours ago, Candy Apple 12 said:

Was the Distinctive Voyage Package part of booking a suite, or could non-suite guests get this also? Was there an additional cost for this package, or something you got for free when you booked the cruise?

 

We did not pay extra for this package- it just happened to be a promotion that was offered in addition to the usual “free perks” at the time we booked.  

 

I’m not sure if it was offered for all categories but I do recall it was offered for at least the balcony level and higher ( it may have been available for all cabins - I’m sorry just can’t recall).    And I do recall it was offered on many different sailings, not just our panama cruise.

[bonvoyagie]

The distinctive voyage was a promotion offered for lots of Panama Canal cruises along with the Free at Sea promotion.

I booked my PC cruise on the Gem last fall - around September. The DV promo was on all cabin categories along with the various free at sea promos that did vary with cabin category. I was just reviewing my perks and I believe that the DV package included 120min of ship to shore, the extra 50.00 shore ex credit, and I forget the rest. I have 8 total perks including two internet packages (one Platinum, one Free at Sea), the beverage and dining packages, suite OBC, the two Shore Ex perks and the Ship to Shore phone minutes. It looks like at one time the DV promo included airfare and hotel credits - but you had to book them through NCL and most people found they could get better deals on their own. I can't find the 2018 DV promo offerings.

[kodesthemoose]

thanks for sharing so far, really appreciate reading about the excursions!