Santo Tomas de Castillo/anybody been to Quirigua?

[nicenelli]

I'm planning to go on the NCL Sun, which stops at Santo Tomas in Guatemala, and am interested in the Mayan ruins at Quirigua. Would love to hear anybody's account of going there. It's one of the excursions advertised by the cruise line.

Thanks!

[Grammar Goddess]

Quiriqua is fabulous! A very extensive excavation of Mayan ruins, well worth the time and money. We were on HAL Christmas cruise, and this was by far the best shore excursion. We had a wonderful guide, a beautiful day, a gorgeous country. Neither my husband nor I had ever been to Guatemala, but we'd love to go back. The bus ride from the ship was about an hour long, but the time went quickly as the tour guide commented as we drove along. The ruins themselves are easy walking, except for some 20 or more steps up to one of the buildings. I took pictures from the ground, but my husband went up and looked around. There are lots of excavated sites there, and it would be easy to spend a lot of time. There's also a nice small museum with good restroom facilities. The displays, unfortunately, were all in Spanish, and the facility had armed guards. The problem is, according to our guide, that thieves break into the museum and steal the relics. There are the ubiquitous sellers with their Guatemalan handicrafts, which are quite lovely. However, the "mall" at the terminal where the ship docked had a much larger selection. There were also post cards. I would highly recommend this excursion to you. Please let me know if you want any further information, and I'll get out my photos and answer you.

 

GG

[nicenelli]

Thanks so much for this helpful information. I have some more questions. Did you book through your cruise line or an independent tour company? If an independent, what was its name? How many hours did your tour last? I have seen two tour options, 4 1/2 hours, only to Quirigua ($69), and 7 3/4 hours, including the River Dulce ($119). How much time did you have actually at the archaeological site? Were mosquitoes a problem? I'd love to see some of your pictures, if you could post them.

[flashdog_1]

Grammar Goddess,

Two + questions:

1) Had Veendam been refurbished when you went at Christmas? I had in my mind that that was not going to take place until January. Did you use the thermal spa pool? Just wonder if it's worth it. It looks so small, like a whirlpool in contrast to the Vista class ship's Greenhouse Spa

2) On the boat trip back from Quirigua, on the Rio Dulce, did it stop anywhere until Santo Tomas?

 

I have booked independently thru a hotel in Livingston just to be able to see Livingston, and our trip on Rio Dulce does not go as far as the bridge where you most likely picked up your boat ride back. (We'll just go into the Rio Dulce National Park to Bird Island, the Rio Tatin, hot water lagoon, and thru the canyon. So you passed the castle, did you not? but no stop? Was it truly beautiful there?

 

I realize I have more than 2 questions:

What sort of boat were you on?(how many passengers, and was it covered?) What did they feed you? Were mosquitos a problem? Thanks so much.