Viking star classic Panama quasi live

[knoxclone]

Have been in Star since 7 Nov  overall a wonderful adventure so far.  Some hiccups which were not surprising based in the countries visiting and island time mentality.  I will write up more details when I am not working in phone!  
 

crew has been working diligently and many are back up to pre Covid standards. But you can tell there a some newly hired folks but they’ve been trying hard!  Have not found out pax count yet but seems fairly full. Not pool chair hogs 😀that I have noticed.  Canal transit was damp muggy and wet but was still a thrill!  
 

I will try to post post pix if anybody is looking for specifics.  

[knoxclone]

And… no pistachio buns on board anywhere!!  😢

[Mariastreby]

As you go up the coast, keep us apprised. We’re taking the round trip version of this cruise over the holidays. Curious what you can tell us about port excursions from Colon up through Cozumel. Not only based on your experience, but what positive or negative feedback you hear from other pax about tours they took. Besides the obvious sunscreen, should we bring insect repellent for most of the tours in those areas?
 

Thanks, and enjoy the rest of the cruise!

[knoxclone]

Insect repellent is advised for any if jungle tours.  I will do a better. Detailed

report when I get back to computer. Belize was a bit of a mess due to hurricane Lisa last week.  Lots of damage to roofs buildings and debris. Most of the port shops were closed except for the ubiquitous diamond shops !!  

[knoxclone]

We’ve had some great experiences on excursions and a few misses. I’ll detail 

more.  The best ine was the included canal boat ride

in Costa Rica!

[WNcruiser]

44 minutes ago, knoxclone said:

We’ve had some great experiences on excursions and a few misses. I’ll detail 

more.  The best ine was the included canal boat ride

in Costa Rica!

I was on the October 14th  Panama canal cruise on the Star. Agree 100% about the Tortoguero canals. AMAZING! We did the last tour at 2:00 and saw so much wildlife. The guide told us afternoon was the best time. So many monkeys and sloths. 

Edited November 13, 2022 by WNcruiser

[Mariastreby]

28 minutes ago, WNcruiser said:

I was on the October 14th  Panama canal cruise on the Star. Agree 100% about the Tortoguero canals. AMAZING! We did the last tour at 2:00 and saw so much wildlife. The guide told us afternoon was the best time. So many monkeys and sloths. 

Thanks for this, and for your comment, @knoxclone. I actually pictured these boats on the canals (which many other companies operate also) as being really close together.  So that you’d end up seeing more of other boats and passengers rather than mangroves and sloths. But maybe it really isn’t like that? So about how many other passengers are on the boat? Is it kind of like being on a tour bus, but on the water and without windows?! I know that sounds silly, but we’d rather a smaller and more intimate way of seeing native animals. 
 

We signed up for the “monster bus” excursion that takes you through all kinds of scenic areas off-road that cars can’t access, then you supposedly take a short walk somewhere among giant trees in the jungle. Maybe that won’t be so great, and we should just switch to the canal ride. This monster bus is sort of like a monster truck, but holds maybe 20 people…. I think. 
 

Too bad about Belize, but we sort of figured that might happen. Hurricanes have really been active quite late this year. We will be there on Christmas morning.  Did they still do the included Mayan ruin excursion?

 

I look forward to learning more details from either of you.  We fly down to Ft Lauderdale 5 weeks from tomorrow.

[Mimiya11]

Going in March.  Looking forward to details and recommendations regarding excursions, both included and paid.  

Sorry to hear about Belize, the only place we have booked is a private cave tubing tour. 

 

Enjoy the rest of your cruise....  

[WNcruiser]

12 hours ago, Mariastreby said:

Thanks for this, and for your comment, @knoxclone. I actually pictured these boats on the canals (which many other companies operate also) as being really close together.  So that you’d end up seeing more of other boats and passengers rather than mangroves and sloths. But maybe it really isn’t like that? So about how many other passengers are on the boat? Is it kind of like being on a tour bus, but on the water and without windows?! I know that sounds silly, but we’d rather a smaller and more intimate way of seeing native animals. 
 

We signed up for the “monster bus” excursion that takes you through all kinds of scenic areas off-road that cars can’t access, then you supposedly take a short walk somewhere among giant trees in the jungle. Maybe that won’t be so great, and we should just switch to the canal ride. This monster bus is sort of like a monster truck, but holds maybe 20 people…. I think. 
 

Too bad about Belize, but we sort of figured that might happen. Hurricanes have really been active quite late this year. We will be there on Christmas morning.  Did they still do the included Mayan ruin excursion?

 

I look forward to learning more details from either of you.  We fly down to Ft Lauderdale 5 weeks from tomorrow.

We did the monster bus in the morning and canals in the afternoon. I will attach photos of the canal boat. We didn’t have anyone sitting in front or behind us on the boat. We did see another boat though. 
 

As far as the monster bus we were really disappointed in that tour. The tour is misleading as there are both cars and motorcycles driving on the dirt road. The walk was very short and uninteresting. We thought we were going in the jungle but that wasn’t the case. The bus holds about 40 people. Hope that helps you.

 

[Mariastreby]

26 minutes ago, WNcruiser said:

We did the monster bus in the morning and canals in the afternoon. I will attach photos of the canal boat. We didn’t have anyone sitting in front or behind us on the boat. We did see another boat though. 
 

As far as the monster bus we were really disappointed in that tour. The tour is misleading as there are both cars and motorcycles driving on the dirt road. The walk was very short and uninteresting. We thought we were going in the jungle but that wasn’t the case. The bus holds about 40 people. Hope that helps you.

 

Thank you, that helps immensely! So often, excursion descriptions are ridiculously over exaggerated. We’ll now cancel that and hopefully snag an afternoon time on the included Canal boat tour. I love this information exchange. 
 

We also were intrigued by the sound of the cave tubing in Belize, but early tendering on Christmas morning just didn’t sound appealing. I’m curious to hear about other excursions, especially from the Colòn dock.

[knoxclone]

The cave tubing excursion is more demanding than the discription. At the port talk ,theybmade a point of saying how you had to walk for 30 minutes caring your own inner tube, and then walk through a small creek before you enter the mouth of the cave. They then assured people if they were interested in canceling, They would receive a full refund no questions. . Have some new friends who went on it yesterday, will be interesting to learn their experience and will report back. 

Edited November 14, 2022 by knoxclone
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[knoxclone]

The photo above that was posted is the same small boat that we were on. Short bus ride, they provided bottled water and snacks for the ride. Clean restrooms, great guides. We went in the afternoon group. We saw a multitude of birds, six sloths including a mother and baby, howler monkeys, spider monkeys, a variety of iguanas, and a very large caiman., spider monkeys, a variety of iguanas, and a very large caiman.  

[CCWineLover]

5 minutes ago, knoxclone said:

The cave tubing excursion is more demanding than the discription. At the port talk ,theybmade a point of saying how you had to walk for 30 minutes caring your own inner tube, and then walk through a small creek before you enter the mouth of the cave. They then assured people if they were interested in canceling, They would receive a full refund no questions. . Have some new friends who went on it yesterday, will be interesting to learn their experience and will report back. 

Thanks so much for this info!  We are signed up for the cave tubing on our Dec cruise.  Now we are even more excited to go on it.  Will be a very different Christmas Day for us!

[knoxclone]

I should mention this was the included excursion. Because I think there are two versions. We also saw Sloth by the side of the road on the bus. Driver I just pulled over so we could all take pictures. This pix was from inside the bus

[Liz Masterson]

16 hours ago, Mariastreby said:

 

We signed up for the “monster bus” excursion that takes you through all kinds of scenic areas off-road that cars can’t access, then you supposedly take a short walk somewhere among giant trees in the jungle. Maybe that won’t be so great, and we should just switch to the canal ride. This monster bus is sort of like a monster truck, but holds maybe 20 people…. I think. 
 

 

I think you'll be on the cruise before ours... we sail on Jan. 4. we also booked that "Monster Bus" and are now wondering if the canal cruise might just do instead. Please keep us posted on your experiences with both! 🙂

 

[Liz Masterson]

3 hours ago, WNcruiser said:

 

As far as the monster bus we were really disappointed in that tour. The tour is misleading as there are both cars and motorcycles driving on the dirt road. The walk was very short and uninteresting. We thought we were going in the jungle but that wasn’t the case. The bus holds about 40 people. Hope that helps you.

 

 

So I'm wondering if this might have been less than expected because you visited just after the storm? Maybe some of the roads you were supposed to travel in on had storm damage blocking the way? 

 

The description mentions a 'picnic' was that dropped entirely?

 

And the visit to the banana plantation?

 

We are currently booked on this inthe morning and the canal in the afternoon... but I could put this money towards a massage... or drinks by the pool... 

[WNcruiser]

21 minutes ago, Liz Masterson said:

So I'm wondering if this might have been less than expected because you visited just after the storm? Maybe some of the roads you were supposed to travel in on had storm damage blocking the way? 

 

The description mentions a 'picnic' was that dropped entirely?

 

And the visit to the banana plantation?

 

We are currently booked on this inthe morning and the canal in the afternoon... but I could put this money towards a massage... or drinks by the pool... 

Hi Liz. There were no storms in that area before or during our cruise. The dirt road was well maintained and flat. There were many cars and motorcycles driving on it, definitely no 4 wheel drive needed anywhere on the tour. I was picturing a rain forest and lots of animals and wildlife but that was not the case. I will attach a photo of the road where we stopped for our walk, which was about 10 minutes on the dirt road. Never went in to any rain forest as we were expecting. 
 

We had our “picnic“ at the banana plantation. You don’t actually visit it, just stop on the outside of it. We were given a bag of plantain chips and a water or soda. I don’t want to talk anyone out of the tour as there were people who enjoyed it as well. There was also some nice scenery but I wouldn’t book it again.

 

[Liz Masterson]

57 minutes ago, WNcruiser said:

Hi Liz. There were no storms in that area before or during our cruise. The dirt road was well maintained and flat. There were many cars and motorcycles driving on it, definitely no 4 wheel drive needed anywhere on the tour. I was picturing a rain forest and lots of animals and wildlife but that was not the case. I will attach a photo of the road where we stopped for our walk, which was about 10 minutes on the dirt road. Never went in to any rain forest as we were expecting. 
 

We had our “picnic“ at the banana plantation. You don’t actually visit it, just stop on the outside of it. We were given a bag of plantain chips and a water or soda. I don’t want to talk anyone out of the tour as there were people who enjoyed it as well. There was also some nice scenery but I wouldn’t book it again.

 

Thank you! This doesn't seem to be what was advertised really. Especially since this is billed as "Privileged Access". I think I'd expect a little more... I appreciate your candor and will discuss with the rest of the folks traveling with me.)

 

[Mariastreby]

7 minutes ago, Liz Masterson said:

Thank you! This doesn't seem to be what was advertised really. Especially since this is billed as "Privileged Access". I think I'd expect a little more... I appreciate your candor and will discuss with the rest of the folks traveling with me.)

 

Thanks, WNcruiser. I agree with you Liz, this sure isn’t anything Privileged. In their defense, a new tour operator could have taken over this tour after Viking’s people started offering it, the company didn’t have their normal employees working that day, or whatever. I’m a bit more suspicious of tour quality in these kinds of countries than in Europe or the US.
 

In any case, I cancelled this tour for us earlier, and now we’re signed up for the Canal tour in the afternoon, when the animals are supposed to be more active or visible. Saved $109x2 on that! That will cover the massage I’ve booked for my husband’s Christmas present. It’ll be his first massage ever!

[knoxclone]

I will ask around to see if anyone did this monster tour thus time.  I actually have a meeting scheduled with the excursions Director this week to discuss excursions, and provide some feedback. I will let you know what I learned

[Gaz-n-Mindy]

Does anyone have any reports on the Bamboo Rafting on the Great River in Jamaica?

[Liz Masterson]

8 minutes ago, Gaz-n-Mindy said:

Does anyone have any reports on the Bamboo Rafting on the Great River in Jamaica?

I did that years ago on a trip to Jamaica. It’s a little hokey and commercial… but once you’re floating on the river it is very relaxing! 

[CCWineLover]

1 hour ago, Gaz-n-Mindy said:

Does anyone have any reports on the Bamboo Rafting on the Great River in Jamaica?

We were looking at this and chose instead the Catamaran Snorkel tour.  Have been on several of these with Viking and we enjoy snorkeling.  Always has been a good time.  We'll have to see.  It will January 1 for us in Jamaica.  Have been to Montego Bay - my recollection is that it was not really that memorable.  Hoping it's different this time.  Wondering if the tour operators will be working on Sunday Jan 1?

[Mariastreby]

1 hour ago, CCWineLover said:

We were looking at this and chose instead the Catamaran Snorkel tour.  Have been on several of these with Viking and we enjoy snorkeling.  Always has been a good time.  We'll have to see.  It will January 1 for us in Jamaica.  Have been to Montego Bay - my recollection is that it was not really that memorable.  Hoping it's different this time.  Wondering if the tour operators will be working on Sunday Jan 1?

I didn’t even notice that there was a snorkeling excursion in Jamaica. Didn’t think we wanted to do that on the morning of NY Day, if we manage to stay up on New Years Eve. 😁😉

 

We decided on the second available time for the relaxing raft rides. I’ve wondered all along if the Belize tour operators will all actually still run the tours on Christmas Day, or maybe cancel as the holiday gets closer.

 

And yes, Mo Bay in Jamaica is a dull area, and too far away from the better excursions to book on your own. It would have been better if the Star were docking at one of the two ports near Ocho Rios. Closer to Dunns River Falls, which was great to climb (and even swim in some little natural pools) when it was just 4 of us and the guide, no cruise ships anywhere. Way back in 1978!

[Gaz-n-Mindy]

1 hour ago, CCWineLover said:

We were looking at this and chose instead the Catamaran Snorkel tour.  Have been on several of these with Viking and we enjoy snorkeling.  Always has been a good time.  We'll have to see.  It will January 1 for us in Jamaica.  Have been to Montego Bay - my recollection is that it was not really that memorable.  Hoping it's different this time.  Wondering if the tour operators will be working on Sunday Jan 1?

We love snorkeling as well. Last big trip we did we rented a 2 bedroom villa in Grace Bay, Turks & Caicos for two full weeks. Snorkeling Smiths Reef was right outside the villa. Giant Turtles, Eagle Rays, Barracuda, Parrot Fish and a whole host of bright tropical fish. It was wonderful.  We actually had signed up for the Belize snorkel excursion, but Mindy was thinking about how well they would disinfect the gear and cancelled it. I told her we could take our own mask and snorkel and use their fins, but she was more keen on not.