Panama Canal Tour - Carnival Liberty

[kenteecruisin]

Has anyone done this tour? Can you give me a review? Also is there any time on this tour to do shopping since we get back to the port w/in a half hour of sailing? Thanx!! :p

[sillylizzie]

We did this tour in December, and let me first preface this by saving that cruising the canal is is now among the top ten things I have ever experienced. When we went through the locks, on our right was a huge tanker. We got to cruise through the lake as well as see the Bridge of the Americas and the Continental Divide. The engineering of the canal, along with it’s history was phenomenal.

 

That being said, Carnival did a piss poor job with the execuation of this excursion, in my opinion. They loaded us all onto coach buses and drove us to where we could board the ferry. Once on every hurried to find seats, which there weren't enough of. Some people had to stand for the duration of the excursion. Since it was hot, and people were crabby about bad seats or no seats there was much complaining. If you got up to take a photo, someone would take your seat. It just wasn't a FUN atmosphere.

 

Getting off the ferry was another headache. There was only one exit, and instead of filling each bus to it's maximum capacity and knowing the total number of passengers that had boarded they did it backwards. Each bus left with the same number of passengers that it came with, even it was half full. Disembarking the ferry took almost 2 hours.

 

We ended up getting back to port at 5pm. The Liberty was scheduled to leave at 3pm, so there was no time for shopping. (which sucked because from walking by the stores, it looked like they had some amazing shops!) There was a group of about 7 people who did decide to shop, even though there were Carnival agents as we got off the buses warning us to hurry. We left without those 7 passengers.

 

So for us, it was a great experience tainted only by Carnival. Unfortunately there wasn't enough leeway time wise to have gone with an independent tour company.

 

Cruising the canal was an amazing experience that I would reccommend. I'm just not sure if I would reccommend doing it with Carnival....

[mared1]

Has anyone done this tour? Can you give me a review? Also is there any time on this tour to do shopping since we get back to the port w/in a half hour of sailing? Thanx!! :p

 

We were on the Legend in early January and took the Panama Canal tour -it is pricey $170. per person. We took buses to the other side of Panama, boarded a ferry and went through 2 locks and lakes. It was interesting, and I am glad I went but I don't think I would ever go again. We did get back in time to shop at the cruise terminal - lot of shops there along with some pretty good beer.

[suesea63]

Well we just got off the Liberty (all 81 of us) and booked well in advance with myfriend Mario.com We sent him a $500 deposit at least one month in advance. He was to have 4 buses there for us. 66 of us were taking the excursion to the canal and indian village. He loaded 2 buses then some of our group on the 3rd bus. The 4th bus was empty and he loaded it with people he had picked up on the dock. We didn't have any room for the last 14 of us. He soldour deposited space to people walking off the cruise ship. He left us high and dry . We did meet another tour conductor who took us for the same tour and was very informative. I do have his email address if anyone is interested. He informed me that this Mario guy comes down from Panama City and takes business away from the locals. I do not trust Mario and would NOT book with him. He is dishonest and unreliable. BEWARE. If you need any info, just email me. Thanks!

Aquaholic29@optonline.net.

DON'T GET LEFT ON THE DOCK!!!!

[4c's]

:D

We had a great trip with Mario last week. Enrique was our guide and was very knowledgeable, friendly and informative. We were back to the ship in plenty of time even with the long wait for the bridge over the canal. This was a highlight of our trip. We had a group of 23 and we all agreed this tour was tops.

Jim

[cabruntz]

We just got off the Legend. We booked the village tour with Mario. He is a very nice man and handles his tours professionally. He likes small groups to give them more attention. He personally knows the indians and their chief. The tour was the same as the one on carnival only faster and half the price. It is a long tour, but we got back in plenty of time. He tells you where not to go and a lot about the Panama people and their history. He tries to accomdate people, but some are impossible to please. He responded with answers to my questions immediatly, even on the night before docking when I emailed him from the ship.

I would recommend his tour and guides anytime unless you are a large group. As with all tours, the company cannot guar. everything, but I think Mario would try to do anything he could for you within reason. If you are that worried about getting back to the ship, pay the extra money to carnival but expect a lot less.

You can contact him and let him answer questions.

[dispatch64]

We were with the same group Sue was with using Mario. We had a great tour of the locks and the embera indian viliiage and would use Mario again anytime and recommend him to anyone going to Panama, We waited on our half empty bus for over a half hour at the dock, for all of Sue's group to get there, then when thier group was split up the same gentleman that caused problems the day before with Charlie Soto in Costa Rica started giving Mario's people a hard time apparently because he felt his group should have been kept together, which i do agree with but if this was the case they should have all been there on time. He caused so much disturbance the authorities, showed up, he was probably lucky he wasn't arrested. As we were pulling away still with room for 14 or more on our bus this man was actually celebrating in the parking lot giving high fives to people in his group as if he won a major sporting event, apparently after getting a refund from Mario and arrangning for thier own tour i guess. I am glad you had a good tour Sue, but i wish you would quit bashing Mario, some of us enjoyed our day greatly with him. Things will happen on vacation, and usually they have a way of working out. And i realize you had a $500 deposit on this tour, and i am sure that influenced your thought process. It seems as though you were intimidated very much by this person and let him have his way, which he appeared to get, i hope you had a great vacation, but i feel as though you were possibly too upset to thoroughly enjoy at least your time in Panama. Sue by the way we never did get our money for the Charlie Soto trip that you were refunded for all of us. Just so you know we did speak to Charlie himself as he was at the dock when we returned, and he told us he refunded $20 per person for everyone. Did you send the $80 back to him after calming down and realizing things happen? We are trying to contact him again via email and verify this. At the same time we will find out if any money had been sent back to him by yourself or anyone else booking thru your group. If this is the case, i am glad you have done the right thing. If this is not the case our party, which i realize was only a small portion (4) is going to follow thru and send him the money we feel this is only the right thing to do. If not could you email us and we can make arrangenments for you to send it to us.

john

[Jdleong]

We did this tour in December, and let me first preface this by saving that cruising the canal is is now among the top ten things I have ever experienced. When we went through the locks, on our right was a huge tanker. We got to cruise through the lake as well as see the Bridge of the Americas and the Continental Divide. The engineering of the canal, along with it’s history was phenomenal.

 

That being said, Carnival did a piss poor job with the execuation of this excursion, in my opinion. They loaded us all onto coach buses and drove us to where we could board the ferry. Once on every hurried to find seats, which there weren't enough of. Some people had to stand for the duration of the excursion. Since it was hot, and people were crabby about bad seats or no seats there was much complaining. If you got up to take a photo, someone would take your seat. It just wasn't a FUN atmosphere.

 

Getting off the ferry was another headache. There was only one exit, and instead of filling each bus to it's maximum capacity and knowing the total number of passengers that had boarded they did it backwards. Each bus left with the same number of passengers that it came with, even it was half full. Disembarking the ferry took almost 2 hours.

 

We ended up getting back to port at 5pm. The Liberty was scheduled to leave at 3pm, so there was no time for shopping. (which sucked because from walking by the stores, it looked like they had some amazing shops!) There was a group of about 7 people who did decide to shop, even though there were Carnival agents as we got off the buses warning us to hurry. We left without those 7 passengers.

 

So for us, it was a great experience tainted only by Carnival. Unfortunately there wasn't enough leeway time wise to have gone with an independent tour company.

 

Cruising the canal was an amazing experience that I would reccommend. I'm just not sure if I would reccommend doing it with Carnival....

 

Ditto....I am glad I went, but it was rather hot,long, and at times boring. We waited for a ship to go through with, and it was over a hour before we started to go to the canal. The ferry was okay, it had plenty of cold water and cold drinks , and some shade. The buses were a problem at Gamboa and we got back with 30 minutes to shop...Being a sunday the zone was closed.

 

But , how many times do you get to the canal in a lifetime? so we enjoyed the locks, and now can say we have done it..

Jan