Costa Rica Shore Excursions

[cruise pup]

Anyone been to Costa Rica on Carnival and can suggest a ship sponsored shore excursion? I already posted on the C.R. port thread but I thought I'd check in here as well.

[bills blasters]

We were there last Jan. and then 2 years before that.

On our first trip we booked with a private company and went ziplining.

In Jan. we booked an excursion through carnival. Not sure what it was called, but it was a city tour. It was only about 3 to 4 hours long. We drove through the city, went to a cave to see some artifacts and went to a hacienda. There we went on a walk through the rain forest, went through a butterfly area, and watched some local dancers and musicians. We had drinks and fresh fruit there.

We enjoyed the tour. It was under$50 per person.

[Catrin]

My DH and two boys took a tour in Costa Rica - I am not sure the name of it, but they went in an renovated huge Army Truck - that was able to go right into the rainforest. It was airconditioned with the speakers piped in, and they had a wonderful adventurous tour.

 

I have a pic, but I have to get it on webshots.

 

Catrin

[sharonh1885]

We took a carnival cruise tour in Costa Rica last year. It was awesome. It included a boat ride through the mangroves and we saw more wildlife than ever before. There was a croc on a log, birds of every variety and several species of monkeys among others. It was so cool

[JPNROB]

Try the Train, Boat and Bus Tour. Great way to see a little of everything in Costa Rica. You are probably docking in Limon, which is an industrialized port. You get on this old two or three car train and travel thru the countryside. Our tour guide was great. She pointed out a lot of interesting tidbits, especially about the housing and people of her country. You travel past a school and if the children are outside they will wave to you. Right after we passed the school the train stopped in the middle of the rain forest and backed up. The engineer spotted a couple of sloths in the trees. My 12yo DD loved it. You then get on a bus and your tour continues thru the country to a riverside dock where you can partake in some delicious fresh fruit. You load in to a boat and take a tour down the river where you will see lizards, bats and other wildlife. Really a great tour. Just dont pay attention to the Policia with a machine gun standing at the front of the train.

[CruiseJunkie4]

We went on the Adventure Canals, Rainforest & Banana Plantation tour back in February. It was excellent. The banana plantation tour was interesting and fun. The boat ride in the Tortuguero Canals was the best. We saw so much wildlife, had a great tour guide and got to eat some fresh pineapple, bananas and coconut. They also had lots of coffee for sale and for tasting. It was just an excellent experience and one of the highlights of our trip.

[bbiggar]

Thanks for all the info, we are sailing in Jan. on the Freedom and this helps a lot. Keep posting more since I can't get enough about what all these excursions they offer isn't enough info on the excursion page.

 

Anyone done the wagon tour?

Is the Green train tour the same train as the train, boat and bus tour?

[cruisinbuddy]

Try the Train, Boat and Bus Tour. Great way to see a little of everything in Costa Rica. You are probably docking in Limon, which is an industrialized port. You get on this old two or three car train and travel thru the countryside. Our tour guide was great. She pointed out a lot of interesting tidbits, especially about the housing and people of her country. You travel past a school and if the children are outside they will wave to you. Right after we passed the school the train stopped in the middle of the rain forest and backed up. The engineer spotted a couple of sloths in the trees. My 12yo DD loved it. You then get on a bus and your tour continues thru the country to a riverside dock where you can partake in some delicious fresh fruit. You load in to a boat and take a tour down the river where you will see lizards, bats and other wildlife. Really a great tour. Just dont pay attention to the Policia with a machine gun standing at the front of the train.

I bet that there were a lot of picture ops on this one. I'll make sure the camera batteries are well charged for when we do it in Jan.

[cruise pup]

Wow! Thanks everyone. looks like there's lots of good tours. I think the difference between the 2 train/boat tours is that one goes on the Canal and the other does a pontoon boat on a river. I did read that the train does stop if there is any interesting wildlife to see and it looks like that does happen. I'd love to see toucans and I know they don't do special requests so I'll have to keep my fingers crossed.

[amcjeep4life]

Has anyone ever visited the sloth sanctuary? i love those creepy things. I was wondering if you get to hold them, or just look. TIA!

[I Love RCI]

amcjeep4life, I see you found the seperate sloth thread -- but for others who are interested:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=834023

 

I'm trying to figure out CR myself now -- I like the sloth tour or the tubing, I think...

[cruise pup]

Has anyone ever visited the sloth sanctuary? i love those creepy things. I was wondering if you get to hold them, or just look. TIA!

 

I was on the Tortuguero Canal tour. When we observed a 3-toed sloth in a treee our guide mentioned that you wouldn't want to hold them as their fur is loaded with parasites. Don't know if they get de-loused in the sanctuary. There were other reasons which I don't remember why you wouldn't want to hold one. We also saw monkeys, iguanas, emerald balisks, poison dart frogs and many beautiful birds on this tour. It was a wonderful day.

[cruise pup]

I didn't consider going indy too because I had so much in on board credits (over $300.00) it would have been silly to spend extra money on tours when I could go for free.