Independent Tour Panama- Pay up front?

[cruise-wife]

Sorry to hear of your bad experience with Mario. Ours was quite the opposite! We toured with him in April. We had a fairly large group (all CC'rs) who gathered from our Roll Call and we had a great time. We are going back to Panama in October and again in March and have booked with Mario again. We can hardly wait!! His tour was the highlight of our cruise.

[SteelPonyCowboy]

Well we are going to be in Colon on Oct 26, 2006 on the Carnival Victory.

 

Everyone we talk to that has taken a tour of the canal from end to end say that it is the trip of a lifetime. I figure that I can shop 4 days earlier in Cozumel as it seems that all ports have basically the same stuff, just different names on the t-shirts.

 

The Carnival trip that takes you from end to end in a 200 person boat is $190pp. Just like any other excursion bought from the cruise lines it is about double what the local tour lines charge customers. I just cannot seem to find an operators that picks you up in Colon and takes you by bus to the Pacific and then puts you on the boat for the ride back.

 

The train tour of the canal looks nice too but too many people have said the service on the train is not great, they pack you like cattle and it travels too fast to get any decent pictures. For $150+ pp, I think I will pass on that one.

 

Anyone know of a tour operator that does the boat tour from end to end ?

[newmexicoNita]

We are headed to Panama in a few weeks on The Liberty. We weren't thrilled with our choices of tours off the ship. Independent Tours are hard to find there, so we don't have a whole lot of options. 2 to be exact. One has been getting both positive and negative feedback on these boards. The other one we have been corresponding with, Gold Coast Tour, about a day excursion. They have a great website, I have been able to speak to the owner on the phone, and I have seen positive things about them on this site. However, they have requested a half deposit up front, sent to an address in Virginia, and the rest of the money upfront when we arrive in Colon. In other words, we pay for the entire tour before we even leave the dock. Does anyone else have any experience with this tour company? Would you do this? We are talking a large amount of money because we have 8 in our group. Thanks in advance for replies.

I haven't read what others are saying but I would be a little leary about sending 50% before you even leave America. Do they take cards? We have paid for tours before starting before, but not before we leave America.

[wrp96]

Well we are going to be in Colon on Oct 26, 2006 on the Carnival Victory.

 

Everyone we talk to that has taken a tour of the canal from end to end say that it is the trip of a lifetime. I figure that I can shop 4 days earlier in Cozumel as it seems that all ports have basically the same stuff, just different names on the t-shirts.

 

The Carnival trip that takes you from end to end in a 200 person boat is $190pp. Just like any other excursion bought from the cruise lines it is about double what the local tour lines charge customers. I just cannot seem to find an operators that picks you up in Colon and takes you by bus to the Pacific and then puts you on the boat for the ride back.

 

The train tour of the canal looks nice too but too many people have said the service on the train is not great, they pack you like cattle and it travels too fast to get any decent pictures. For $150+ pp, I think I will pass on that one.

 

Anyone know of a tour operator that does the boat tour from end to end ?

 

You will only get to ride through the canal in a boat via the cruise ship excursion. The cost is well worth it, part of the reason it is so high, is the fees to transit the canal are so high.

[Chimom]

I took the Carnival offered railroad between two oceans. It was a very nice excursion. Very organized. The train was comfortable and so were the buses. We went to the locks and spent time there. Were able to watch ships going through the locks. Saw a film about the panama canal. Then did a little sightseeing by bus on the Pacific side before returning to the train to go back to Colon. I wasn't disappointed at all.