Excursion help in Costa Rica

[092306]

Hello everyone.

My wife and I are going to the Panama canal and Costa Rica June 6 aboard the Carnival Freedom. Obviously we aregoing to do something Canal related in Panama however in Costa Rica we have no idea what to do. My wife would like to see sloths. The excursion that Carnival offers this has also a canoe experience. My wife is not a water activity person, so that excursion is out. Can anyone recommend an excursion to do that would involve sloths? Also We thought of doing an independent tour,like OKEY DOKEY. Does anyone recommend him or another tour operator? The only problem I have is that, it is our first time to this country and well, I DEFINITELY don't want to miss the ship. So I am nervous about using a independent tour group. Hopefully you guys will have some answers. Any and all advise here is greatly appreciated. We don't want to miss an oppertunity to see Costa Rica but we definitly need help. Thank you in advance

[arf2005]

Hello everyone.

My wife and I are going to the Panama canal and Costa Rica June 6 aboard the Carnival Freedom. Obviously we aregoing to do something Canal related in Panama however in Costa Rica we have no idea what to do. My wife would like to see sloths. The excursion that Carnival offers this has also a canoe experience. My wife is not a water activity person, so that excursion is out. Can anyone recommend an excursion to do that would involve sloths? Also We thought of doing an independent tour,like OKEY DOKEY. Does anyone recommend him or another tour operator? The only problem I have is that, it is our first time to this country and well, I DEFINITELY don't want to miss the ship. So I am nervous about using a independent tour group. Hopefully you guys will have some answers. Any and all advise here is greatly appreciated. We don't want to miss an oppertunity to see Costa Rica but we definitly need help. Thank you in advance

We are taking this trip in March and using Oscar Brown. I can let you know when we get back. Also, the ship just returned from this itenerary, so look for some reviews over the next few days.

[Putterdude]

I can recommend Charlie Soto and his Okeydokey Tours, he came highly recommended on this board and we were extremely pleased with him and his people when we used him last month.:)

[092306]

Putterdude here is a question for you. When you used him did you get back to the ship in plenty of time? I am asking b/c i am nervous about the ship leaving w/o my wife and I onboard. Here is another question and probably stupid as well, but, do we need visas for visiting Panama and Costa Rica? I have recently read that people have missed their cruise b/c people did not have visas. I don't want to be one of them. Thank you for the info

[Putterdude]

Charlie had us a full hour before sailing which allowed us time to do some shopping in the port area. I guess there is always some chance of a coach breakdown and of course as an independent traveler .... well you are exactly that. It was a bit of a leap of faith for us as well ....but as I have said, if you check this board you will find that he is very high recommended. As for Visas no we did not require any, we are Canadians and travel on Canadian passports but I wasn't aware of any Americans producing passports or visas.

[scottam]

We toured with Okey Dokey tours on our visit to Puntarenas last week. It was a great day and I would recommend Charlie's company.

 

We returned to the ship about 45 min before we had to board. It would have been about 30 min sooner than that, but all in our group opted for a grocery store stop to buy coffee on the way back to the port. At that point, we were about 10 min from the port and we all felt comfortable that we would be back in time.

 

I agree with Putterdude, it was a leap of faith for us to book an independent tour in a country that we hadn't yet been. We had the same concerns about getting back to the ship, but I was comfortable all day and was not worried. Also, Charlie works with many different drivers, so if there was a breakdown, I'm sure that another vehicle would soon be there to get everyone to the port.

 

We went ziplining and was glad to be traveling with a small group rather (there were 10 or us in a mini-bus) than what I believe would have been a large group if we'd booked through the ship.

[scottam]

We toured with Okey Dokey tours on our visit to Puntarenas last week. It was a great day and I would recommend Charlie's company.

 

We returned to the ship about 45 min before we had to board. It would have been about 30 min sooner than that, but all in our group opted for a grocery store stop to buy coffee on the way back to the port. At that point, we were about 10 min from the port and we all felt comfortable that we would be back in time.

 

I agree with Putterdude, it was a leap of faith for us to book an independent tour in a country that we hadn't yet been. We had the same concerns about getting back to the ship, but I was comfortable all day and was not worried. Also, Charlie works with many different drivers, so if there was a breakdown, I'm sure that another vehicle would soon be there to get everyone to the port.

 

We went ziplining and was glad to be traveling with a small group (there were 10 or us in a mini-bus) rather than what I believe would have been a large group if we'd booked through the ship.

[travelite]

Putterdude here is a question for you. When you used him did you get back to the ship in plenty of time? I am asking b/c i am nervous about the ship leaving w/o my wife and I onboard. Here is another question and probably stupid as well, but, do we need visas for visiting Panama and Costa Rica? I have recently read that people have missed their cruise b/c people did not have visas. I don't want to be one of them. Thank you for the info

 

You don't need a Visa if you are a US citizen.

[arlodog]

We used Tucan Limo service last week when we were there. We had a great time and were able to ensure a private tour for 2--when I contacted some of the other tours they wanted a minimum of 6 or grouped you with others on the tours. We were able to stop when we wanted and stay as long as we wanted. I much prefer this to a ships excursion. Even though there were only 2 of us it was still cheaper than the ships tours and we were able to see more. We got back with plenty of time to spare even with the road construction. Our driver was Ivan and he made sure to allow plenty of time! Very professional and they had good suggestions on what to do in the area! You can google search the company--they have a very helpful website.

[keri3019]

We are taking this trip in March and using Oscar Brown. I can let you know when we get back. Also, the ship just returned from this itenerary, so look for some reviews over the next few days.

We have just returned from a cruise that included a stop in Limon Costa Rica. Instead of a ship tour we arranged a tour based on what we wanted to do ( river boat ride, forest walk, sloths, beach, banana plantation tour, countryside viewing and lunch ) with JJ Tours. He met all our expectations as far as knowledge of the locations, information about the people and sites,flora, fauna and how we could get the best tour our of the time we had. JJ is the company. Originally a tour guide for ship operated cruises he decided to start his own business while still manging to teach at the University a course on travel. A wonderful day with all expectations met and at a reasonable price.

[Kan't Wait]

To 092306

The link below is for a tour guide that I used when I went to Costa Rica a few years ago. We are going in May and using him again. His name is Danilo Hall. We had an excellent tour; we did ziplining, went on a boat thru a canal and also stopped in a small village to shop, we also went to a local grocery store for coffee and vanilla. Danilo made sure we were back to the ship with plenty of time. Danilo even stopped at the side of the road so we could see a local carrying a sloth; took pictures and some even got to pet it. Danilo also pointed out monkeys in trees and never minded if we wanted to stop for pictures. I loved the tour and never worried about not getting back in time. Danilo is completely professional and a wonderful guy. Check out his site and email him, he will get back to you. I think he will even customize what you want to do if you ask.

Hope this helps.

 

www.geocities.com/adventure_caribbean

[1312helen]

Hello Mrs. G.

 

Danilo Hall sounds great. Did you catch him in Limon?

 

Debbie

[1312helen]

Hello Keri3019:

 

Did you book JJ Tours beforehand or when you got off the ship in Limon?

 

Debbie

[jtoniva]

Charlie had us a full hour before sailing which allowed us time to do some shopping in the port area. I guess there is always some chance of a coach breakdown and of course as an independent traveler .... well you are exactly that. It was a bit of a leap of faith for us as well ....but as I have said, if you check this board you will find that he is very high recommended. As for Visas no we did not require any, we are Canadians and travel on Canadian passports but I wasn't aware of any Americans producing passports or visas.

 

Which tour did you do with OkeyDokey Tours & did you do your tour out of Limon? The Veragua rainforest tour sounds interesting?

 

Thanks,

 

John

Yorktown, Virginia

[Kan't Wait]

Hello Mrs. G.

 

Danilo Hall sounds great. Did you catch him in Limon?

 

Debbie

 

Debbie, Yes, he will pick you up at the pier...he parks by all the buses waiting for passengers. He had a sign with my name on it so we'd know him. He was safe, very personable and made all of us feel comfortable. I loved the experience and like I said we are using his services again in May. Email him through his site and he will get back to you, it might take a day but he will get back to you.

[Cartoon]

My wife and I just returned from Panama Cruise. We visited Limon. We hired a private car and driver for the day at $150 for the two of us. We had a very nice time and really appreciated the convenience of a private car. Contact for Marshall on the web is

eventosinternacionalessb@yahoo.com.mx. Our experience is that local tour operatiors will return you to the ship on time.

[Putterdude]

Which tour did you do with OkeyDokey Tours & did you do your tour out of Limon? The Veragua rainforest tour sounds interesting?

 

Thanks,

 

John

Yorktown, Virginia

 

Short answer, no...we were in Puntarenas.

[unklez]

See my posting about okeydokey and Charlie:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=962846&highlight=

 

We did A-1.

[Brudawsky]

Our family will also be on the Carnival Freedom on June 6th. We have booked a private tour with Oscar Brown to go zip lining and then to the sloth sanctuary. they have informed me that there is still room for 6 more on this special combo tour. they have virtually guaranteed me that we will have no problem getting back to the ship in plenty of time. Let me know if you might like to join our tour.

[geofpf]

We have just returned from a cruise that included a stop in Limon Costa Rica. Instead of a ship tour we arranged a tour based on what we wanted to do ( river boat ride, forest walk, sloths, beach, banana plantation tour, countryside viewing and lunch ) with JJ Tours. He met all our expectations as far as knowledge of the locations, information about the people and sites,flora, fauna and how we could get the best tour our of the time we had. JJ is the company. Originally a tour guide for ship operated cruises he decided to start his own business while still manging to teach at the University a course on travel. A wonderful day with all expectations met and at a reasonable price.

 

 

Do you know if JJ Tours has a website or an email address so I can get in touch with him for information on his tours?

[rjocon]

we will also be on the freedom on June 6 and are using okey dokey on this day. They have been very helpful through email. They are doing a tour around animals for us. I have 6 year old tripiets and that is all they want to do is see monkey and sloths.

[geofpf]

6 year old triplets! Wow does that bring back memories. I'm the father of triplets also, however mine are now 27 years old, out of the house and doing well for themselves. Hope you and the kids have a great trip and you don't attract too much attention. Thanks also for the imput on Okey Dokey, I'll have to look into them.

[inlovew/cruising]

Do you know if JJ Tours has a website or an email address so I can get in touch with him for information on his tours?

You can reach jj at joiner72@hotmail.com. Hope that he is available. We had a great time!!

 

Lise

[Miss Dot]

Hello everyone.

My wife and I are going to the Panama canal and Costa Rica June 6 aboard the Carnival Freedom. Obviously we aregoing to do something Canal related in Panama however in Costa Rica we have no idea what to do. My wife would like to see sloths. The excursion that Carnival offers this has also a canoe experience. My wife is not a water activity person, so that excursion is out. Can anyone recommend an excursion to do that would involve sloths? Also We thought of doing an independent tour,like OKEY DOKEY. Does anyone recommend him or another tour operator? The only problem I have is that, it is our first time to this country and well, I DEFINITELY don't want to miss the ship. So I am nervous about using a independent tour group. Hopefully you guys will have some answers. Any and all advise here is greatly appreciated. We don't want to miss an oppertunity to see Costa Rica but we definitly need help. Thank you in advance

What did you end up doing for a tour in Coasta Rica?