tours in Colon

[chot]

We're going to be on the Nov.22 Rotterdam cruise and see it has us stopping st Colon from 1:00 to 7:00. Just got our Docs yesterday and there's no mention of tours. Have been to the Panama many times--but this stop is new to me.Has anyone been to this port?

[JohnR49er]

There is a fenced in shopping area next to the dock. The area outside looks to be pretty rough. I had my doubts about walking around there.:cool:

[woodofpine]

There should be some tours listed for the canal and areas AWAY from Colon. This isn't Panama City. It is a port with the right name! There is duty free shopping at the terminal; there is nothing between the terminal and downtown a short cab ride away.

Colon is a "keepin' it real" third world dump. Drab, dirty, and urban impoverished enough to make typical cruise pax yuk-a-bucks an inviting mark to those with criminal intent. Cartagena may be more secure (certainly the port terminal is). Panama is a fine country with fine people - but Colon is pretty much the national organ named...

At the cruise terminal, you'll be panhandled by children for pictures with exotic jungle animals, the cabbies are pretty assertive too. If you hang a bit and allow the initial hurly burly to subside though, you should be able to cherry pick a (numbered ONLY) cab with a likeable enough sort to tour you around. They are dirt poor in Colon so while they avoid discussing fares - I found that $10/hr. was sufficient a year and half ago (gasoline prices are up but I'd think $15 an hour would raise a smile. There is little to see in Colon proper, there is a park at the end of the town overlooking the ships awaiting canal transit where molas are sold.

The cab driver I had was a nice guy. He returned at an appointed time later in the day and took my daughter and I to a local cobbler (she needed sandals). That was an eye opening cultural experience for my 10 year old. Our driver lamented the nationalist politics that caused the shut down a few years ago of a neighboring US Army base, with that closure a poor dirty port town became considerably poorer...

[chot]

Thanks for the replies. Looks like we'll stay on board for the day. We were on the Rotterdam in April last year and took the railroad tour--found that to be very good.

[DFD1]

Edited out reply. Was redundant.

[OCruisers]

chot .... Like you, we had been through the Panama Canal before (twice) BUT our port stop Colon was a first for us on our January '04 cruise. Every shore excursion was "seeing The Canal one way or the other". We've seen enough locks! :D

Maybe ... consider not totally staying on the ship. They must have done quite a bit to clean up that gated area. There were taxi drivers BUT no begging children, etc.

As you leave the ship, you'll enter a new building. To the left there's a liquor store -- nice place to sample rum. :p Just continue down the escalator to the shopping center outside. There are about 50 airconditioned shops (some rather large). Everything actually looked new and very clean.

When we were there, they were not allowing anyone outside of the Secured Area unless they were in a taxi for a tour ... and they were taking the taxi number and passengers names before departing the gates. (...talking about On Your Own things ) One of the armed guards at the gate (lots of armed guards around the gate) told us that is was not safe and was nice enough to walk across the street with my DH to take a couple of pictures. We speak comfortable Spanish so the guard knew that was not a factor ... it really is NOT safe. Best to do a ship's tour or shop in the tourist center ....

Who knows .... Things change but that's the way it was in January 04.
Hope this will help a little....

Happy Sailing! OCruisers :)

[chot]

Thanks for that information about the fenced in area. we will now be getting off the ship to have a look around ,since it seems safe enough in that shopping area.The 2 other couples who are traveling with us have never been to the Canal--so they will be doing the train trip (we did that in April 2003) This is our 6th trip thru the locks - having been on 44 cruises so far.
Again thanks for all of the info.
Chot

[OCruisers]

chot .... Wow! Six through The Canal and we just think with two we've seen too many locks!!!! :p

:confused: QUESTION for you PLEASE: When you did the "Railroad/Train Tour", did you book the DOME or the REGULAR car? This could be helpful to many. Keep hearing the "Dome" is the better as far as extras go but is VERY warm with that clear top. Others say they can't see much from the "Regular"? Just wondering about your thoughts on this .... :confused:

Glad the shopping info helped a bit. We had the worst time finding updated info on the "fenced area" before we went last year so wanted to respond. Really, it's very safe and very clean and looks NEW ....

Happy Sailing! OCruisers :)

[shuttle-c]

We were there in April and didn't go outside the port, but picked up several really nice Native arts & crafts items inside the port area. Our tour guide recommened that we not leave the area.

[Cruiseoften]

That 'fenced in area' is not all bad. We spent a pleasant hour just wandering around. Nothing of any great 'must have that' items but you might come up with a few interesting trinkets.

We were strongly advised to stay within the 'area' unless we were on a ship tour - walking about tourists seem to be fair game from unruly locals.

It was hotter than Hades!

[chot]

We were on the train last April(2003). The cost then was $99.00 pp. There wasn't a seperate fare for the Dome car. It just so happened that we were on the first bus out and the tour guide said we were lucky--since the first bus gets the dome car. It did give you a better view of the Gatun Lake area and everything along the way.It wasn't hot in that car either. We started the tour after tendering in and that was where it ended. This time it looks like the tour will be ending in Colon. That's why I wondered what to do there from 1:00- 7:00.
We were on the Rotterdam in May this year and will look forward to see if any of these changes this board has been talking about are in place- This will be our 14 th time on HAL--I hope it won't be the last.

[gizmo]

I was at Colon in April. We just walked around the shops for an hour and got back on the ship. All the tours left the ship in Gatun Lake and ended in Colon. We did not take a tour and stayed on the ship. There was a delay leaving Gatun Lake and going back through the canal so we didn't arrive in Colon until much later.

[FloridaBrit]

I was in Colon in January (aboard Carnival Legend). There were 40 in our group so we had feedback from a variety of shore excursions. A large number went on the ship excursions to the canal. Both the canal-ferry trip and the 'Ocean to ocean by train' received rave reviews.

12 of us decided to arrange our own tour. We were able to get a 14 seat taxi inside the port authority building which included driver AND translator/guide. Ihaving researched the area ahead of time I told them where we wanted to go and negotiated the price. For $ 40 each we went to Portobello then on to Isla Grande and had three hours on a private beach with excellent swimming and snorkling. It was about an hour each way as the roads beyond Portobello are very poor - a tour coach wouldn't be able to make, therefore the area is unspoiled. Our translator was great fun (he was a baptist preacher) and extremely helpful and courteous. We had some anxiety at first but it really proved to be the best excursion of our cruise. BTW to get to Isla Grande you have to take a local ferry (a ten minute ride) which is no more than a motorized row boat. Not for those with mobility problems or fear of water.

My advise - take something which goes beyond Colon. The taxis within the port authority area are relaible - they have to be - it's their primary source of income. I agree with many other posts, I wouldn't recommend walking beyond the port authority area unless your with a sizeable group. That said, the freeport (about 10 minutes from the cruise port) is worth a visit for shopping.

Paul