Excursion opinions needed.

[savannahgirl1]

Has anyone took any of the excursions below and if you have what are your personal thoughts on them? Even if you didn't care for the tour, please let me know. These are the ones we have narrowed down to and need a little help. Thanks. :)

 

Aruba

Beginning Scuba

Catamaran Snorkel and Beach Getaway

 

Curacao

Dolphin Swim

 

Costa Rica

Sloth Sanctuary and Canoeing

San Jose city tour

[hammybee]

While I have not done any of this ship sponsored excursions, I have carried a three-toed sloth around for a few hours, while in Columbia. That was a memorable experience.

[Texray1]

For a few HOURS? Wow. That would be interesting. I think. Did it move much or just lay there?

[Harry1954]

Has anyone took any of the excursions below and if you have what are your personal thoughts on them? Even if you didn't care for the tour, please let me know. These are the ones we have narrowed down to and need a little help. Thanks. :)

 

Aruba

Beginning Scuba

Catamaran Snorkel and Beach Getaway

 

Curacao

Dolphin Swim

 

Costa Rica

Sloth Sanctuary and Canoeing

San Jose city tour

we did the cat snorkel in Aruba last year and had a blast ... it was great fun. There is little on the island other than the beaches and butterfly farm worth noting while on a cruise.

harry

[Sanlin]

We spent a year in Costa Rica outside of San Jose in Heredia. We did go into the city to exchange our money at American Express. IMO, I would not take the San Jose Tour - granted the drive there will take you through beautiful countryside, but the city itself is not exciting - unless you love cities. We are going to the Tortugero Canals again since it was such a pristine and beautiful trip last time we were there - it was not a ship's tour since we were at the canals for two days. Hope this helps you decide.

[jjones]

I enjoyed the excursion to San Jose, but I'm a history and archaeology nut. The museum was very interesting and the story about building the opera house was amusing. However, the ride to San Jose is long, which limits the time you spend in the city. Beautiful scenery on the drive.

[Snook]

Hammybee, you always have an interesting prospective on some of the topics on the board. I think that's one of the reasons I keep coming back to see what you and others might say. I learn so much that way. However, I'm really perplexed on the sloth thing.:confused: I love wildlife and want to learn all that I can. I'm curious as to how the carrying of a sloth around for a few hours came about. That's the kind of a thing that most people have never experienced. Did you catch it in some tree?(that would be relatively easy since they don't move very fast) Did you pay a person to let you carry his or hers for awhile? Was it part of an excursion? Was it like a contest, where they wanted to see who could carry one the longest? Let us know if you can.:)

We were in Aruba two years ago but we took a glass bottom boat type tour which was not very good. However, we saw the Catamaran Snorkel and Beach Getaway boat and the folks onboard seemed to be having a ball and we wished we were with them.

[Cruising-along]

Ok, there are at least 3 of us now who really want to know.....please tell, Hammybee, I'm very curious about this. It sounds unusual to say the least! :D

 

Savannahgirl I haven't done any of those excursions either -- but have a great cruise!

[cruisingengineer]

I did not do the dolphin swim in Curacao as a shore excursion but while I was staying on the island a couple of years ago. It was great - a real life experience:p. I found it much better than swimming with Stingrays (though that too was fun) because the dolphins are really there, I mean you could feel their intelligence. The Curacao acquarium is not what I would term a major large one - don't be turned off by that - the dolphin swim was very well run. I would really encourage you to go for it.:D

[Oldgeezerpilot]

Did a couple of HAL shore excursions in South America. Mostly they were overpriced, overcrowded, on crappy buses, and generally not worth the money.

 

IMHO.

 

A better plan is a local tour operator. Just make sure he gets you back to the ship on time.

[hammybee]

Port: Cartegena, Columbia

 

1) The street vendors were very, very aggresive and would not take no for an answer. Many, many passengers turned around and returned to the ship. What's a Hammybee to do?

 

Hammybee starts barking like a wild dog and the spittle was flying. EVERYONE backed off. ( Interestingly, husband and daughter took it in stride like they see this every day.

 

Daughter faints in a shop due to the oppresive heat/humidity.

 

3) We are later invited by the Department of Tourism to pose for many pictures with machine gun wielding military. We bite.

 

4) Later in the day, while relaxing on benches, in the shade, in a park, we were approached by a man carrying a sloth and a camera. For $1 U.S., he will take our picture with his sloth. We bite.

 

Machine gun wielding military storm the park and take the several guys, including sloth's dadman away. We are left....holding the sloth.

 

(A sloth is a mammal, two and three toe varieties. They are incredibly lethargic and noturnal, spending 20+ hours a day sleeping, usually in trees. They also mate and give birth while hanging in trees. They cling to anything and everything with their toes. They are adorable and light as a bag of feathers. I digress.)

 

We spent the rest of the afternoon taking pictures of me and the sloth, looking for someone willing to take the sloth. Most people told us to leave him in the park. He refused food and water.....and of course there is nothing in nature that quite prepared him for a burger from Mc Donalds or to drink from a cup.

 

Our game plan was to hand him off to the port athorities. On our way back to port, sloth's dadman reappears, screaming. Apparently he thought our intention was to board, with him. We returned the little guy and parted with a few more $$. Prying a comfy sloth off your chest is not easy. He took a piece of my shirt with him, in his toe. He left a piece of his spirit, with me.

 

Who says Cartegena is not a barrel of fun?

[Cruising-along]

OMG Hammy, what a story!! Thanks so much for explaining -- and I think you'd be a hoot to travel with. Besides having a great sense of humor, you must be an animal lover too. :D (but did you worry about fleas? lol)