carnival cruise to costa rica, panama and belize

[ddunn]

I am booked on the Carnival Miracle for costa rica, belize and Panama next april.

I see it is a cruise that doesn't go weekly, just occasionally.

 

Has anyone been on this cruise? Not necessarily the Miracle, because i have been on her before and Love that ship, but has anyone been on a Carnival cruise to these three ports?

 

I just don't know what to expect. It is an 8 night cruise.

 

WE are booked on the Sensation for Aug 2nd, and I am going on the Glory for a 7 day in Sept. I have been on all 3 ships.

 

I love this board!

Thanks for your input.

Denise

[gusandgidgetsmom]

We have been to all three ports but Belize was on the valor and the other 2 we just went to on the Liberty. All 3 ports had great things to do on them. In Belize we took a tour thru carnival We saw monkeys, birds, a pirate cave and spent time at the beach. In Costa Rica we went on the boat,train and bus tour. The train part was lame, a 57 y.o., a 56 y.o. and 14 y.o. took this excursion. The banana plantation and the boat ride in the canal to see slothes and other wildlife was great. Well worth just putting up with the train ride. We took the Panama (7hr) canal tour. It was great. Have a fun time on your cruise.

[ddunn]

Thank you so much for your input!!! I do want to check in to the Panama Canal tour. We just dock at the port there, i guess, we dont go thru the Panama canal.

I will look for the tour.

 

Thanks!!!

Denise

[BigDoug]

We had a great time on this cruise aboard the Legend. The ferry tour of the canal is fantastic. We are considering doing it again on the Miracle in March.:D

[DEL67]

We have not done the same cruise, but have been to all the ports multiple times on different ships and enjoyed them. In fact we were in Costa Rica and Panama last week while on the Liberty. Note: You need to take excursions at all the ports (ship or private) as there is very little at the pier.

 

Costa Rica - We have been to the Tortugero Canal, white water rafting and zip lining. The Canal is interesting, but we really enjoyed the rafting and zip lining. We went rafting through the ship since there was little difference in cost and the rafting is a distance from the ship so we were concerned about getting back to the ship on time. We booked the zip lining/canal through Charlie Soto.

 

Belize - We have been to the ruins and cave tubing. I really reccomend the cave tubing if you like the water. We used CaveTubing.com.

 

Panama - We used MyFriendMario each time. The first time we went to the Indian village, waterfall and Locks. The Inidan village was staged, but still interesting. Last time we took his beach/Locks/fort tour with the snorkeling extension. The snorkeling was lousy because recent storms made the water cloudy and we got caught on another storm, but it wasn't their fault and we still had a good time.

[mumofsons]

We did this cruise on the Legend in February. Enjoyed it so much that we are booked for the Miracle in March to take our sons. The spirit class ships are wonderful!

In Panama we did the canal ferry - very long trip but well worth it for us.

We missed Costa Rica and went to Roaton

In Belize we did the Altun Ha and River Wallace tour - great tour and small but nice ruins and the river tour was alot of fun and we saw a lot of wildlife - howler monkeys, crocs, bats and tons of iguanas.

The eight day cruise is wonderful with four sea days - we enjoy these so much because we also love to play trivia games and spent some quality time in the casino. I actually won jackpot bingo for $650 so that was neat. They also had a craft time on all the sea days and we made holders for you sea pass, the next day it was a holder with a small pair of scissors, a bracelet. It was cool and it was an older lady and her husband. There is lots to do.

We loved the piano bar.

Anyway I don't think you will go wrong with the Miracle!

[irishgirl]

I did this cruise on the Spirit in 2001, so it was a while ago. In Belize I did the Cave Tubing excursion. Costa Rica, I did the 4 x 4 Off Road Adventure and in Panama it was Two Oceans by Rail.

 

I loved the Two Oceans by Rail, the old train goes along the canal over to Panama City. There you tour Miraflores locks then come back on the train. I was rerally glad I did this trip as I have been through locks before and they're all the same.

[yst347]

We did this cruise on the Miracle's sister ship, Legend. You can view our pictures here. http://travel.webshots.com/album/497949607xiYMXX

 

You can find alot of good information on the "port of call" boards for each stop. If you have any specific questions I would be happy to try to answer them.

 

This itinerary was a very pleasant surpsrise. We really loved it. :cool:

[ddunn]

wow, thanks everyone for your replies! I was on the Miracle last August and loved the ship!!! I guess I am a little nervous about the Itinery because i havent heard of it much.......

I am definately going to look in to the tour of the Panama Canal!!!!!

 

Thanks again!!!

Denise

[tektron]

I was on the Legend last winter when we did this itinerary. I will echo other people, DEFINITELY do the Panama Canal ferry excursion. It is pricey (for me it was $175/person) but well worth it. Be prepared for culture shock... the bus ride from Colon to Panama City is quite the eye opener. The ferry takes you thru the Bridge of the Americas, thru two sets of locks and quite a ways in to just up to the entrance of Gatun lake...then another (scarier) bus ride back to Colon. (wear plenty of sunblock).

 

Limon Costa Rica is more varied...I did one of the eco combo tours that seemed a bit too long.

 

My sailing skipped over Belize due to problems with the prior sailing; I had plans to go cave tubing with the cave-tubing.com folks and was really disappointed we had to miss it. They're highly recommended across the boards.

[Helabama]

Denise:

 

We did a Panama Canal cruise (on the Coral Princess) this past Feb and loved it. In Costa Rica we took a tour (booked through the ship) to Irazu volcano, about 6 hours--very interesting and enjoyable. We returned by way of Cartago where we were taken to lunch at a local restaurant--very good food, and then to a plaza and a church in the city. It was our first time to CR and we would like to go back again.

 

At the Panama Canal the ship passed through Gatun Locks into Gatun Lake. We had booked a tour (also through the ship)to transit the entire canal to the Pacific Ocean. In Gatun Lake we were tendered to shore and we were bussed to Gamboa where we boarded a ferry boat which took us through the Pedro Miguel Locks and the Miraflores Locks and in to the Pacific. We had about a 1 hour bus ride back to the ship which had returned to the Atlantic coast and docked at Cristobal. It was a great shore excursion--we wanted to see the canal and we SAW the canal, up close and personal.

 

That cruise did not include Belize but we have been there a couple times. We don't do water activities (we're old :D) but we have heard that Belize is a fantastic place to snorkel. One time we were there we toured some Mayan ruins, kind of disappointing. The bus tour of the city was interesting. There was a little tourist shopping center near where the tender docks. I walked into a shop, just browsing, and the woman (an American) tried to sell me every prescription drug known to man. There were people buying that stuff like crazy! That was a 3 or 4 years ago, so the country is probably a little more geared into tourisim now.

 

Hope you enjoy your cruise!

 

Helabama

[Jdleong]

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I HIGHLY recommend going horseback riding in Belize with Trevor Miles...They will take very good care of you, know a lot about Belize, and have the best Key Lime Pie. They serve lunch and the ride is wonderful.

 

[http://www.smugglersrunbelize.com/

 

In Costa Rica, we went Zip linning and thru the canals with Charlie Soto.. he was very professional, and I would do it again.

 

http://www.okeydokeytours.com

 

and I went to the canal tour in Panama...just be sure to wear sunscreen...LOTS....you are in the sun for hours

 

Jan

[cruisetmc]

We stopped at Costa Rica and Panama on the Liberty. We also enjoyed the 2 Oceans by railroad. Costa Rica we saw the rain forest and banana plantations. Really enjoyed the rain forest. We are wanting to see Belize and are trying to increase our nightly walks so we can do the cave tubing excursions. We've been told you walk an hour before we tube down the river.