Restroom facilities on Excursions

[lolabarola]

I know this post should really be in the ports of call board, but there doesn’t seem to be much traffic in the Costa Rica/ Nicaragua board, so....anyway, we’re travelling on Coral Princess in November. Most of the ship - or private - excursions from these ports involve at least 1.30 coach travel and I am a lousy traveller. Please can anyone confirm, or think of a way I can find out, whether the transport used at these ports has restroom facilities...or toilet as we Brits would say! 

 

 

[cr8tiv1]

I have been on a few Coral Princess tours.  Some busses have a toilet.  Some were inoperable.  We sometimes made pit stops (not crazy about these either).  Some stops were actually well kept.  I learned to wear a disposable adult "diapers" for longer tours.  Also...Diaso (Japanese $1.50 store) have potty pouches that you can carry and use when you make these stops.  

 

Men don't have this problem.  I may be more picky than others.  Good luck.

[abqmommyof4]

 On last year's trip in Costa Rica to the coffee  plantation we were on a bus with no facilities.  DH has a 2 hour bladder.  It didn't help that we left 30 minutes late from the  pier ..he made it but the last 15-20 minutes were  very uncomfortable.

[dreaminofcruisin]

The Excursion descriptions on Princess do show details about each section of an excursion and one of the details is Restrooms Available? I don't know how accurate the descriptions are....but if it is a "No', all the way through, you might want to pick a different one.....

[hunt182644]

In that part of the world we have seen nice restrooms, places where attendants pour a bucket of water to flush the stool, or perhaps just a hole in the floor, practice your aim before the cruise.

[skynight]

Many times information regarding time in transit, type of bus or smaller van, bathroom stops are shown the excursion details. If I remember correctly in Nicaragua most excursions are long. There is basically nothing at the port in San Juan del Sur.

Believe most trips at Puntarenas are also long. There is a nice walking area along the beach at the end of the pier. There are vendors, food, drink.

[voljeep]

on our Panama Canal trip ... we had a beach stop where a restaurant had a bathroom open ... for a $ 1 pp charge...

exact change required ... and also sold beer, water, and soft drinks to go only ...

 

some poor guys wife was giving him the business for 'them' spending all their $1's in the markets and she HAD TO GO!

 

I gave him a $ and just laughed ...

[Potstech]

4 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

I have been on a few Coral Princess tours.  Some busses have a toilet.  Some were inoperable.  We sometimes made pit stops (not crazy about these either).  Some stops were actually well kept.  I learned to wear a disposable adult "diapers" for longer tours.  Also...Diaso (Japanese $1.50 store) have potty pouches that you can carry and use when you make these stops.  

 

Men don't have this problem.  I may be more picky than others.  Good luck.

Are yousure about that last sentence.

[JF - retired RRT]

6 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

I have been on a few Coral Princess tours.  Some buses have a toilet.  Some were inoperable.  We sometimes made pit stops (not crazy about these either).  Some stops were actually well kept.  I learned to wear a disposable adult "diapers" for longer tours.  Also...Diaso (Japanese $1.50 store) have potty pouches that you can carry and use when you make these stops.  

 

Men don't have this problem.  I may be more picky than others.  Good luck.

Renee (cr8tiv1), I checked out the website cuz I never heard of it. Google says it's spelled "Daiso". Interesting stuff.

[cr8tiv1]

5 hours ago, Potstech said:

Are yousure about that last sentence.

 

Okay, I will rephrase this statement.  Men don't have "as much" as a problem as women in certain circumstances.  Their equipment is slightly different and a little easier to maneuver.  Plus, I can't bend my knees enough to squat.  Old age is the pits.

[cr8tiv1]

4 hours ago, JF - retired RRT said:

Renee (cr8tiv1), I checked out the website cuz I never heard of it. Google says it's spelled "Daiso". Interesting stuff.

 

oops...spell check.  Yes, Daiso....The pouch is really good for little boys when traveling.  I could not find the product on their website...but here's something similar on Amazon.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Easi-Pee-Disposable-Urine-Bags/dp/B00DCLNK2Y

 

 

[Thrak]

Many older men have enlarged prostate glands which cause them to urinate very frequently. It can be a real pain if not treated.  The last time we were in Nicaragua we just walked through town - quite a way through town - until we came to a bar owned by Canadians. They were enterprising and handed out coupons for a free beer or shot to people in town. We were surprised at how far it was to walk there but never felt threatened or uncomfortabe during the walk. It turned out to be pretty much on the beach and, of course, had a restroom. My wife asked what brought Canadians to Nicaragua to live and they said, "Winter!" I got a laugh out of the staff when I ordered, "Dos mas cervezas por favor, eh?" We didn't take any long excursions either of the times we've been there.

[cr8tiv1]

30 minutes ago, Thrak said:

Many older men have enlarged prostate glands which cause them to urinate very frequently. It can be a real pain if not treated.  

 

Yes, but men can stand up and pee....or go behind a bush (not recommending) or pee in a cup.  Men have options that women don't.  Picture this:  Woman needs to pee.  No public restrooms or undesirable restrooms.  Woman stands up and pees......Just saying...not a pretty sight.

[XBGuy]

I'm not sure about this, and I hope that somebody can confirm or correct, but I thought that the convention used in the description of the Princess excursions was if the nomenclature "motor coach" was used, then there would be a restroom on the vehicle.  The words "shuttle" or "van" or "bus" or the lack of detail on what kind of vehicle would be used to transport imply that there are no restroom facilities on the vehicle.

[neverbeenhere]

1 hour ago, XBGuy said:

I'm not sure about this, and I hope that somebody can confirm or correct, but I thought that the convention used in the description of the Princess excursions was if the nomenclature "motor coach" was used, then there would be a restroom on the vehicle.  The words "shuttle" or "van" or "bus" or the lack of detail on what kind of vehicle would be used to transport imply that there are no restroom facilities on the vehicle.

 

You may be correct. But, air conditioning sometimes means that the bus has windows that open. 

[LeeW]

Ports on Pacific side in Nicaragua, Guatemala and Costa Rica have very long tours - typically 8 hours. On the ones we have taken there was no break between the ship and the towns we visited - maybe 45 minutes to an hour and a quarter.  In towns we had either local bars/restaurants at the stops or a full meal at a local restaurant with good facilities.  Some cruise ship tour buses had a restroom, most did not.  A cruise ship tour is more likely to have a larger bus with restroom.  We did have a couple of stops to see a cemetery, volcanoes and a mudpot area on various tours.  Only the latter had anything at all at stops - a "village" of shacks.  Might have had a portapotty there but not sure.  In general there was not so much as a gas station along the route.

[Plant]

This is one of my pet peeves!  We've been on a lot of cruise's and never had a working restroom on a tour bus.  When we do get to a place with a restroom I spend the whole time in line to use it, missing the tour or shopping.  I need an "Easy" rated tour, with at least one restroom break every two or three hours.  I can't be the only one!

[pjrockman]

We have not been to Nicaragua, but found out on our Europe cruise that you need to read the description of the excursion.  Took an excursion to Eiffel Tower and the Louvre and the Motor Coach’s toilet was clean and used by many.  Then we took an excursion to Pisa and Florence.  It wasn’t bad on the way, since the trip was split.  However, on the direct return trip from Florence to the Port, the reported 1.5 hour return turned into almost 2.5 hours because of traffic.  The Tour Guide person announced some ‘Italian Rule/Law’ that Motor Coach trips less than something like 100 miles, can’t use the facilities, even though there was one on the bus.  It was irrelevant whether true or false, since no one tried to use it, but it was an uncomfortable ride for many and a mad rush through the port to the rest rooms when we arrived.

 

During the ride, I pulled up the excursion details on my phone, and sure enough it clearly said No Bathroom Facilities.

 

Anyway, long story to say to read the description closely regarding bathroom availability.

 

Hope that helps, Paul

[ldubs]

On 10/1/2019 at 11:19 AM, cr8tiv1 said:

 

Okay, I will rephrase this statement.  Men don't have "as much" as a problem as women in certain circumstances.  Their equipment is slightly different and a little easier to maneuver.  Plus, I can't bend my knees enough to squat.  Old age is the pits.

 

Most men are happy going for distance over accuracy anyway.  So I think your first statement was accurate.  😀

[ldubs]

20 hours ago, Plant said:

This is one of my pet peeves!  We've been on a lot of cruise's and never had a working restroom on a tour bus.  When we do get to a place with a restroom I spend the whole time in line to use it, missing the tour or shopping.  I need an "Easy" rated tour, with at least one restroom break every two or three hours.  I can't be the only one!

 

I think a lot of the out-of-order bus restrooms are because someone wants to avoid cleaning.  

 

[JoRoy218]

As mentioned above, go to the excursion page that you signed up for, look on the left lower side of that page and it will show you whether or not restrooms are available. Hopefully that’ll answer your question.

[mocha9]

On the new Princess excursion website, they have removed much of the information such as whether or not there are restrooms. It used to be on the left side, but I can't find it there any more. I have a cruise booked for 2020, but the excursion information is not as detailed as before. I sent a comment to Princess about this, but haven't heard anything. If anyone knows the trick of how to find out excursion information such as restrooms, how much time between stops, and how many steps, please let me know.

[dreaminofcruisin]

3 hours ago, mocha9 said:

On the new Princess excursion website, they have removed much of the information such as whether or not there are restrooms. It used to be on the left side, but I can't find it there any more. I have a cruise booked for 2020, but the excursion information is not as detailed as before. I sent a comment to Princess about this, but haven't heard anything. If anyone knows the trick of how to find out excursion information such as restrooms, how much time between stops, and how many steps, please let me know.

Did you try looking at the excursions while logged into your cruise personalizer? (Assuming that you have booked the cruise?) Sometimes it seems like it is different when logged in or not. Otherwise, post the cruise / excursion specifically and maybe someone can help?

[lolabarola]

Thank you for so many helpful replies. I completely understand that there just isn’t the motorcoach transportation available in some places, and usually it works out fine for us anyway as we enjoy exploring on our own. But I don’t feel quite as confident about doing that at these ports, partly because of the distance involved between port and sites we’d like to visit - I gather sometimes roads aren’t too good and traffic can be a problem.

I should have researched more thoroughly before I booked... anyway, it’s disappointing as these ports were a bit of a cruise highlight, but looks like i’ll stay close to the port area and husband will take plenty of photos! 

[lolabarola]

Oh, yes, I have looked at the cruise personaliser and the journey times for Nicaragua and Costa Rica are 1.30 - 2.00 hours to get to rainforest, volcanoes etc Then there’s the time it takes to get from the ship, get on board, wait for late comers..... I start  to panic at any journey time beyond an hour unfortunately!