Nicaraqua

[kelib]

I know this is for Panama but have nowhere else to ask, and considering this is a port on Panama Canal cruises I thought I would ask.

 

Has anyone gotten any info on this port ( primarily NCL). A few months back my sister was on a HAL Panama Cruise and Nicaragua was skipped.

Cruise is not till January, but wondering if anyone has gotten anything for earlier fall cruises

 

Thanks, Lynda 

 

 

 

 

[Turtles06]

Nicaragua is of course an entire country, not a port.  What specific port in Nicaragua is on the itinerary for your cruise?  I suspect it's Corinto (I'm not even sure there's another port in Nicaragua where cruise ships call), but it would help folks help you if you told us for sure.

 

Also  -- are you just trying to find out if the port is still listed on other cruises?  On which cruise line(s)?  

 

  

[njhorseman]

Looks like NCL is calling at San Juan del Sur rather than Corinto on its upcoming cruises that stop in Nicaragua.

AFAIK NCL only calls on Nicaraguan ports on Panama Canal itineraries, which means they wouldn't have had any scheduled port calls there in recent months so there's no very recent experience with whether they actually are stopping there . The next NCL cruise scheduled to call there is the October 11 sailing of the Norwegian Sun from Seattle and as of this date San Juan del Sur is still listed on the itinerary.

[golfinlynn]

The port stop in Nicaragua has been cancelled on the January 7, 2023 NCL Bliss Panama Canal itinerary.  Email received a few weeks ago from NCL.  Longer stops in Guatemala and Costa Rica and departing Miami at 5:30PM instead of 4:00PM.

[mcmarya]

Not a lot to see and do in Nicaragua.  The port at Corinto can be difficult to approach if seas are rough. 

[CruiserBruce]

The sail into Corinto is pretty...for a short time.

[Faithcruiser]

We live in San Juan del Sur, so I will answer based on what we know. The government has been very strict since the beginning of the pandemic, so it would not allow any ships in port. Just last month they finally dropped the within 72 hour mandatory negative PCR test for entry into the country for those vaccinated. (residents and visitors) We truly miss seeing the cruise ships in our port, and they provide much needed income to the locals. Hopefully they will drop the required PCR test for all soon, then cruise ships can continue. As long as the PCR is required for unvaccinated within 72 hours, cruise ships will most likely not return. 

[baltic17]

@Faithcruiser If we are lucky enough to actually get to stop in your neck of the woods, what would you recommend we do?  Notionally we should be stopping on 24 October.

[MyTMo777]

@Faithcruiser I second @baltic17's question. We are scheduled to stop in 
San Juan del Sur on November 20. Would love to know what you'd recommend. 

[Faithcruiser]

14 hours ago, baltic17 said:

@Faithcruiser If we are lucky enough to actually get to stop in your neck of the woods, what would you recommend we do?  Notionally we should be stopping on 24 October.

Our little town is very walkable with about 5 main streets to explore. There is a port area and tons of beach-front restaurants. We have one of the world's largest Jesus statues (like Rio de Janeiro) that is about an hour hike from the ship (up hill) or you can catch a taxi. Taxi's will charge you more if they can tell you are a tourist or don't speak Spanish, but no more than $20 bucks round trip.(feel free to negotiate) On a clear day the view is amazing and you can see for many miles. Cristo de la Misericordia or Christ the Mercy is the name if you want to look it up. 

 

We have bay after bay after bay of amazing beaches, including ones where Survivor was filmed. You can walk from the ship to a hotel called, Casa Oro. They have daily shuttles to all the beaches in the back of a big truck with benches for less than 10 bucks. Just confirm the return time to make it back to the ship. 

 

Our favorites are Playa Hermosa - 30 minute one way where Survivor was filmed. Cost is about 3 dollars US to enter. They have restrooms, showers, palapas with tables and chairs and a restaurant.

 

If you like surfing, catch a ride to Playa Maderas or Playa Remanso. They are more rustic but provide restaurants and restrooms along with surf board rentals and surf lerssons. 

 

Otherwise, it won't take more than a couple of hours to explore the town and then eat at a water front restaurant. Enjoy!

[kelib]

On 8/19/2022 at 6:07 PM, Faithcruiser said:

We live in San Juan del Sur, so I will answer based on what we know. The government has been very strict since the beginning of the pandemic, so it would not allow any ships in port. Just last month they finally dropped the within 72 hour mandatory negative PCR test for entry into the country for those vaccinated. (residents and visitors) We truly miss seeing the cruise ships in our port, and they provide much needed income to the locals. Hopefully they will drop the required PCR test for all soon, then cruise ships can continue. As long as the PCR is required for unvaccinated within 72 hours, cruise ships will most likely not return. 

I did not get usual alerts to replies to my question so I am finally seeing this.

 

I am on the NCL Bliss 1/27/23. The above answer says a lot and I can see why no excursions are listed, especially now that unvaccinated passengers will be on the the ship. I am sure only time will tell if the requirements change and in time for NCL to hire and vet excursion vendors. 

Edited August 21, 2022 by kelib

[MamaAly]

On 8/21/2022 at 9:20 AM, Faithcruiser said:

Our little town is very walkable with about 5 main streets to explore. There is a port area and tons of beach-front restaurants. We have one of the world's largest Jesus statues (like Rio de Janeiro) that is about an hour hike from the ship (up hill) or you can catch a taxi. Taxi's will charge you more if they can tell you are a tourist or don't speak Spanish, but no more than $20 bucks round trip.(feel free to negotiate) On a clear day the view is amazing and you can see for many miles. Cristo de la Misericordia or Christ the Mercy is the name if you want to look it up. 

 

We have bay after bay after bay of amazing beaches, including ones where Survivor was filmed. You can walk from the ship to a hotel called, Casa Oro. They have daily shuttles to all the beaches in the back of a big truck with benches for less than 10 bucks. Just confirm the return time to make it back to the ship. 

 

Our favorites are Playa Hermosa - 30 minute one way where Survivor was filmed. Cost is about 3 dollars US to enter. They have restrooms, showers, palapas with tables and chairs and a restaurant.

 

If you like surfing, catch a ride to Playa Maderas or Playa Remanso. They are more rustic but provide restaurants and restrooms along with surf board rentals and surf lerssons. 

 

Otherwise, it won't take more than a couple of hours to explore the town and then eat at a water front restaurant. Enjoy!

 

Thank you for sharing this! We are on HAL the 2nd week of January, scheduled to be in Nicaragua Jan 14 assuming we can stop there. From reading about Nicaragua, I felt nervous about getting off of the boat, but your description has made me more excited to visit. We'll definitely get off and explore what is in walking distance. We are big survivor fans so it sounds cool to visit that beach but I don't know if I can get over my anxiety about safety to travel there. I'd love to hear your opinion about tourist safety.

 

[mcmarya]

Sorry to put a damper on your excitement but, unfortunately, HAL usually stops at Corinto.  Since my November cruise is scheduled to visit San Juan del Sur, I've been reading about that port and it sounds like a nice place to visit.  Corinto, on the other hand, does not really have tourist infrastructure.  You can take tours to Leon or hike a volcano, but the town itself does not have much to offer.  There is usually a craft market but we had trouble finding any place to get wi-fi.  There are beaches, but the swimming can be dangerous and the sand not very inviting. 

Edited October 2, 2022 by mcmarya

[MamaAly]

5 hours ago, mcmarya said:

Sorry to put a damper on your excitement but, unfortunately, HAL usually stops at Corinto.  Since my November cruise is scheduled to visit San Juan del Sur, I've been reading about that port and it sounds like a nice place to visit.  Corinto, on the other hand, does not really have tourist infrastructure.  You can take tours to Leon or hike a volcano, but the town itself does not have much to offer.  There is usually a craft market but we had trouble finding any place to get wi-fi.  There are beaches, but the swimming can be dangerous and the sand not very inviting. 

 

Ahhhh, I wasn't looking too closely at the ports. I'm really indifferent about stopping there, if there is nothing to do nearby we'll just stay on board. Thanks for the info! 

 

[mcmarya]

If you just want to get a taste of the town (and maybe say you have been to Nicaragua!), you can help the local economy by doing a pedicab ride around the town.  We've done that and also shopped at the tourist market.  The people of Corinto could use a few tourist $'s.  Just don't expect an exciting, touristy kind of place.

[MyTMo777]

1 minute ago, mcmarya said:

If you just want to get a taste of the town (and maybe say you have been to Nicaragua!), you can help the local economy by doing a pedicab ride around the town.  We've done that and also shopped at the tourist market.  The people of Corinto could use a few tourist $'s.  Just don't expect an exciting, touristy kind of place.

I love this! I love just exploring how people live wherever we are. We once paid a cab driver in Nassau to just show us the city - and not the tourist places. He was delighted. He took us to his house and showed us the local schools and shops. We loved that!

[Jeff in Torrance]

We stopped in Nicaragua a few years ago with HAL; and, took a ship's tour to banana plantation and packing facility.  It was interesting.  Great poverty.  We were told that about a dozen families own most of the country.  The port MAY have been Corinto.

[mcmarya]

I apologize for being so hard on Corinto.  There are a couple of other interesting excursions we have done.  I did the Cerro Negro volcano hike which was lots of fun.  It's the volcano where they do volcano sledding--I did not do that.  And, you can go on a tour to Leon where there is a Rubén Darío museum and also a very large cathedral--supposedly there was a mixup and a cathedral meant for a larger city was erected in Leon.  It is sometimes possible to go up on the whitewashed roof which affords a great view.  And, local markets are always interesting.

Edited October 27, 2022 by mcmarya

[MkeCruzn]

We are on the Jan. 14, 2023 Panama Canal sailing on the Norwegian Jewel. At this time (late October) San Juan del Sur is still listed as a port stop on Jan. 22, and there are 9 excursions available. Most of them go to Granada, Lake Nicaragua and/or the volcano. I guess we'll see what happens.

Does anyone have comments about Granada vs. staying in San Juan del Sur? Is it safe to move around on your own in SJdS?

[MyTMo777]

10 hours ago, MkeCruzn said:

We are on the Jan. 14, 2023 Panama Canal sailing on the Norwegian Jewel. At this time (late October) San Juan del Sur is still listed as a port stop on Jan. 22, and there are 9 excursions available. Most of them go to Granada, Lake Nicaragua and/or the volcano. I guess we'll see what happens.

Does anyone have comments about Granada vs. staying in San Juan del Sur? Is it safe to move around on your own in SJdS?

Further up on this thread there are comments by faithcruiser, who lives in San Juan del Sur, indicating that the town is safe and walkable. 

[mcmarya]

We are supposed to stop in San Juan del Sur in November (instead of Corinto this time).  There seems to be a expat community there and more tourist infrastructure than most places in Nicaragua.  It must be reasonably safe for foreigners to move there.

[MkeCruzn]

On 10/29/2022 at 6:45 PM, MyTMo777 said:

Further up on this thread there are comments by faithcruiser, who lives in San Juan del Sur, indicating that the town is safe and walkable. 

I did see that info before posting. I was hoping for some more recent info. A lot can change in a few months!

[MyTMo777]

21 hours ago, MkeCruzn said:

I did see that info before posting. I was hoping for some more recent info. A lot can change in a few months!

Valid point for sure!

[mcmarya]

Our ship is not docking in Nicaragua in a little over a week due to covid--i.e. it appears they are closed to ships.

[enfuego4cruising]

We are booked on a full PC transit for February 1st, on the Emerald Princess. Currently, Nicaragua is still listed on our itinerary. However, in looking at Princess full transits for the months of November and December, Nicaragua is not listed. Might just be a matter of time before we are notified of the same?