Infinity Panama Canal Cruise shore excursions

[BrusselsGirl07]

Hello! We are booked on the 3 October '08 Panama Canal cruise with Celebrity Infinity (very excited, not long to go!!) :D

Has anyone done any of the following tours:

 

Chargres River Adventure & Eco Walk XJ09 (Panama Canal),

Eco cruises on the Gatun Lake XJ38 (Panama Canal) or

Lands of Natural Wildlife Wonders tour CR28 (Puntarenas) - now called Natural Wildlife Wonders Tour.

 

The Puntarenas one is 9 hours 45 mins long, so that is all we would get to see in that port. We are especially interested in seeing wildlife, so this would be a good tour for us, but would love to hear from others who have done this tour and also the other two mentioned.

 

We were undecided as to whether we should stay on the ship for the full crossing of the Panama, or go through two locks and then take a tour. Opinion seems roughly half in each camp, so I think we will do one of the above tours.

 

Thanks for any reviews!

[Napi's Mom]

If you've done the canal before I suppose the shore excursions would appeal, but we were just enthralled with the whole process. Also it RAINS there almost daily so any ECO tour would be a rainy one. The trip thru the canal is very interesting EXCEPT for Lake Gatun, and the "CUT" was also very interesting. We were glad that we stayed onboard...got great pictures! We took a coffee plantation tour (were on Quest) from the other port on the Pacific near Puntarenas...(NOT a good port -Caldera)...but tours would be the same...the Doka Estate tour...if you like coffee it is VERY interesting!

[BrusselsGirl07]

Thanks for the reply - no, we have not been through the canal before, and some people on the boards say stay on and some say see the first two locks and then see a tour! Still undecided. But thanks for your input!

[woody14h]

We did Infinity in April. Do not miss the entire crossing. We sat in the bow throughout and agreed it was the highlight of the trip. Friends took excursions and had to wait at the dock for the ship to reach them. 2 hours. They were hot and sweaty. Missed dinner. This is a happening IMHO. After the first crossing I would consider an excursion of the ship. Good sailing. Infinity was awesome.

[BrusselsGirl07]

We did Infinity in April. Do not miss the entire crossing. We sat in the bow throughout and agreed it was the highlight of the trip. Friends took excursions and had to wait at the dock for the ship to reach them. 2 hours. They were hot and sweaty. Missed dinner. This is a happening IMHO. After the first crossing I would consider an excursion of the ship. Good sailing. Infinity was awesome.

 

Thanks for the advice! Might have to rethink my plans :rolleyes:

[HAM]

Many of the tours in Puntarenas that take up to 9 hours and more consist of 6 hours of travel over terrible roads. Consider this in your decision making. Not much in Puntarenas itself, based on my experience.

[Napi's Mom]

Many of the tours in Puntarenas that take up to 9 hours and more consist of 6 hours of travel over terrible roads. Consider this in your decision making. Not much in Puntarenas itself, based on my experience.

We found the roads to be quite acceptable from Caldera...and from Punterenas you would take many of the same roads to the various tour areas. As I said we did the coffee tour which took us near San Jose (I think the Cap. is called,) and much was on the Pan American HWY. PLUS the most stunning views of mountains with coffee bushes covering them...SOOO green and lush. If you want a BAD road, take the one in Nicaragua to Grenada....2 hrs on a moonscape pothole nightmare EACH WAY...but that said it was a wonderful PRIVATE tour we took that was well worth the nasty ride! We were debating if that road was a former Minefield in there past war (just a little light humor to shorten the trip:D )