My own excursions...Safe or Save?

[seb1104mom]

Is it safe to just leave ship w/DH, 2 & 5 yo boys and get a taxi to tour us around the area? If it's okay, do y'all have any recommendatiions on reputable taxi drivers? Companies? We going to Belize, Colon Panama & Limon Costa Rica. Just driving around and seeing the area is fine by us.

 

Trying to see "something" in each place but our funds are limited. Any suggestions? Thanks.

[eandj]

Personally, I wouldn't do tours on your own with your 2 boys. Especially if you haven't been to these ports before. Altho I'd do it with my DH, not with such young kids. Just a safety issue. Maybe someone else has a different opinion.

 

I suggest you go to the ports of call boards and look up each individual stop and start researching points of interest. I know in Costa Rico, we had a great excursion (purchased from the ship) that took us down the canals thru "rain forest" areas. Saw sloths, alligators, monkeys....just very cool. Some pax did the tour on their own, but their "boats" looked very unsafe and their drivers didn't speak English well. They were disappointed.

 

There may be age requirements on some excursions too.

[Captain Canuck]

If there is a chance that an excursion may be late getting back to the ship I book via the ship. They wait for their own tours. i.e. Cairo, paris, rome where all are a 3 hour trip in from the port. You can do these on your own but its very risky. Otherwise, the ship uses local tour operators and just adds their end. if you search cruise critic you can find local tours that people are happy with and you don't pay the middle man. I personally like to go on my own without any tour when possible. If public transportation is reliable its much more fun to go like a local....feel less like a tourist even with my hawaiin shirt and 14 cameras.

[CapnB]

Having worked on cruise ships for a few years, I don't recommend independent excursions. Belize, maybe, if it looks like a reputable tour operator. Never been to Colon so can't say, but definitely not Puerto Limon. What a dump. Harbor is brown and dead. Very third world just beyond the gate of the "cruise terminal". If you walk across the street to the "park" the local kids will point out a sloth hanging in the trees, but be prepared to tip them. Everybody seems to have their hand out in that country. Cruise lines stop there because it's cheap, and mostly put their pax on buses to the rain forest. We usually had a lecture by the "port shopping ambassador" for each stop, but not Puerto Limon.

[Captain Canuck]

you can go shopping in Limon...they have meat hanging from the rafters in a downtown shanty town "mall". Real fun when you are 6'4" like me and the rafters aren't. yum yum

[CapnB]

We called in Limon once a week and each time, thirty minutes prior to last boarding, a group of skinny, African adolescent girls in plastic grass skirts and skimpy tops would show up on the dock and do a sort of loosely synchronized “dance” routine accompanied by very loud, obnoxious drumming. Boarding passengers would actually cover their ears, and a tip basket strategically placed near the gangway went largely unused. After the third or fourth ear-assaulting episode, I asked the ship’s local agent if he could do something about it. He told me the locals had complained that the ships were bussing everybody away from Puerto Limon so he was required to hire some local “talent” to appease the natives. This was the best he could find, and it cost the cruise line $300 a week.

[lvz2cruz]

It is very hard to book by yourself in Panama. We tried to and could only choose an excursion the ship had sold out or cancelled. If we wanted to do something available through the ship, we had to book and pay their prices. This was in the cruise terminal.

Panama and Limon are not the safest places. I know a lot of people on our ship booked through Oscar somebody and loved him. We used Mambo Tours in the port and it was fine. We have 5 in our family and can save hundreds each day by booking ourselves.

Most ports you are fine to go yourself, you just have to be sure to be back in time. I have done excursions through the ship and had awful drivers. in the past year a Celebrity shore excursion went over a cliff and a Carnival tour was robbed at a plantation. You never know what to expect.

[EGG]

Why don't you check on the port of call board for each of those ports.

[Calicouple]

We called in Limon once a week and each time, thirty minutes prior to last boarding, a group of skinny, African adolescent girls in plastic grass skirts and skimpy tops would show up on the dock and do a sort of loosely synchronized “dance” routine accompanied by very loud, obnoxious drumming. Boarding passengers would actually cover their ears, and a tip basket strategically placed near the gangway went largely unused. After the third or fourth ear-assaulting episode, I asked the ship’s local agent if he could do something about it. He told me the locals had complained that the ships were bussing everybody away from Puerto Limon so he was required to hire some local “talent” to appease the natives. This was the best he could find, and it cost the cruise line $300 a week.

 

Silly me.... all these years I thought Costa Rica was in Central America and the "natives" were hispanic, I did not know it was part of Africa :rolleyes:

[DonMar]

Is it safe to just leave ship w/DH, 2 & 5 yo boys and get a taxi to tour us around the area? If it's okay, do y'all have any recommendatiions on reputable taxi drivers? Companies? We going to Belize, Colon Panama & Limon Costa Rica. Just driving around and seeing the area is fine by us.

 

Trying to see "something" in each place but our funds are limited. Any suggestions? Thanks.

 

 

We did this cruise last winter and loved it! Have you read the port threads? There is some good advice there.

 

Note - that none of these ports are good walking around cities with children. They are developing their cruise ports - that is what we like and why we took this cruise.

 

1. Panama - I would not go on your own in this port - with children. This a developing port and Colon is not very pretty - to put it mildly. I would recommend seeing the canal and the locks!

 

2. Limon - We loved Costa Rica and went out with Charlie Soto.

 

3. Belize - In this port we went to Lamanai (Mayan Ruins) with an independent operator. While I would highly recommend this if you are high risk takers (long van ride, fast and long -24 miles - boat ride and a chance that you might miss the ship), I would not recommend it for young children. I know that there are independent tour operators that have closer to "home" opportunities.

 

Personally, we like going on independent tours. There are far fewer people, a greater immersion into the culture of the country and they are cheaper. If this was my first cruise, I would not do independent tours with children. If you have cruised before, you know the routine. If I brought children with me on cruises, I would do independent tours.

[bogotababe]

Colon is a dump. I lived in Panama City for 2 years and nobody EVER had anything good to say about Colon. There is a lot of crime there and there is really nothing to see. I went once just to see for myself. Not sure how long you'll be in port, but if you go ashore at all, my recommendation is to take a tour. Other parts of Panama are spectacular, but Colon is not a place you want to be wandering around on your own with kids.

 

As for Puerto Limon, it's really just a jumping-off point for tours. The town itself (unless it's changed since I was there about 10 years ago) does not offer anything of interest. There are lots of places where you can get off the ship and do your own thing, but not these 2 ports.

[MMW37]

I've taken the same cruise, and we booked with independent operators in each port except Colon, where we booked through the ship and regretted it - really expensive, and our worst tour of the trip (2 Oceans by Railroad). We also used Charlie Soto in Costa Rica and Major Tom for cave tubing in Belize - not sure if you can cave tube with a 2 year old though - the youngest in our group was about 9. I loved Belize and would say you're probably OK on your own there. Colon doesn't have much at the port and I know Carnival doesn't recommend walking around by yourself - I also heard good things about the tour by "Oscar somebody" - go to the individual port boards, you can always get good advice from people there. If you're going to be nervous the whole time, book through the ship, but be prepared to pay twice as much for a crowded tour where you see half the stuff.

[Keith1010]

I would not just get into a taxi and sometimes taxi rides can cost a lot if you don't know where you are going and have not negotiated the price up front.I would research each port very carefully. Sometimes, saving a few dollars can cost you more in the longterm if problems occur.

 

Keith

[CapnB]

Silly me.... all these years I thought Costa Rica was in Central America and the "natives" were hispanic, I did not know it was part of Africa :rolleyes:

 

. . . yes, Costa Rica is still in Central America and yes, they were all definitely African, and therein lies the irony.

[BBfan316]

Ts will tell you how I feel about this subject. I am leaving Feb 25 for 11 night southern...8 ports in 10 days. I have 7 tours booked and none are with the ship. Do your research , choose reputable tour operators. They make their living off this and not returning pasengers to ships on time, if only a couple of times, would tear thru these message boards and desroy their business.

[UlvaZell]

How far we venture from the ship and the availability/reliability of mass transit determines whether we use a cruise tour or not. The cruise tours are vetted by the cruise line, are properly insured, have safe reliable equipment etc.

 

Additionally, if the tour returns late the ship waits for your return. If you go out on your own, you are truly on your own. Weigh the savings of going out on your own vs the risk of having a mishap on the tour or missing the ship and incurring the expense of flying to the next port.

 

I usually opt for the cruise tours if for no other reason than peace of mind on what is supposed to be a relaxing vacation...

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[Carnival Game]

Wouldn't trip insurance cover any transportation due to missing the ship?

[CaribbeanBound]

We have been on a dozen cruises and only twice did we pay for a ship excursion. Once was because the excursion was so far away that we thought it might return late (we were right) and the ship WILL wait for it's own excursions to return, and the other was at a port where I could not get any good information.

 

I always research the excursions in advance and make prior arrangements before cruising.

 

Here is a detailed listing of all of our excusions which will help you get more for your money and make you feel comfortable doing the excursion yourself...

http://www.lavasurfer.com/info/caribbean-secrets.html

[lady_cruiser]

How sad that we have reverted to calling third world countries, that have no hopes of getting educated and learning to come out of proverty, "dumps".

 

I am not an experienced cruiser since I have been on 3 cruisers but if I am in an area that is poor and unsafe because the people there resort to crime to get money to feed their families, I stay on the ship. And I try to leave the name calling in the garbage where it belongs.

 

And if asked about the area I just let that person know that the area is very undeveloped and does not seem safe.

[linznjody]

Definitely use the advice above and research it before you make your decision. I am so glad I found this website before my honeymoon. We went on two excursions with the ship and hated the first. We got to stop and take pictures of the beach, but the driver didn't let us out of the bus. How tantalizingly cruel!

 

The second was great - we booked it because we were island hopping and didn't want to get left behind. It was amazing and we loved it.

 

The rest of the time, we used info I found on the boards here. These excursions were our favorite because we got to see more of the islands and the locals knew where to go! They would contract with hotels to give us the best snorkeling areas and even stopped when we saw a boy on the side of the road with a snake.

 

My husband and I were fine to go out on our own - we even got lost in Barbados trying to find a grocery store. There were several kids from our Roll Call on the tour with us, but I don't think I saw any younger than 5.

 

I only went with the companies we saw most often on the threads to make sure we'd be safe and satisfied with the service. If you see names over and over, visit their website. You can contact them and ask questions before booking. Everyone I used was VERY helpful ahead of time. If you pay extra or have a large enough group, you can book them for the day and it just be your family. Then, you can have a little more freedom on the tour.