Am I limited to ship excursions?

[Liz424]

Hello All..........There are six of us traveling to Belize, Panama and Costa Rica on the Legend, 11/11. We are really excited! Our TA told us that we should definitely have passports if we want to go on independent excursions. We should have asked this question months ago. The money we would spend on rush passports would be more than we were going to save by booking our own excursions. Is it a must in these countries or is this just the cruise ship looking to keep our money on the ship? I know the ship only waits for its own tours, but are the local guides that untrustworthy?? I understand that Panama is not a good place to go on your own, so we will stick with the ship's tours there. However we wanted to go to a beach in Costa Rica and Carnival offers no excursions that include a beach. Is this because of the area where we are docking? Would it be a good idea to wait and get a tour from the pier? I would appreciate any suggestions. Thanks, Liz

[sea_u_onboard]

The only reason I can think why your agent would say that is if you get left behind. It might be hard in these countries without one if you have to make travel arrangements to catch up to the ship.

[CaptData]

Go on the Port of Call Boards. You will find who is a good op. The passport thing is if you do get left behind. If you use ship tiem and make sure you make it back no problem. But check out where you are going to see if a passport is nessary. I know you do not need it for Mexico but the others??? Make sure if you do not get it now that you do get it in the future.