What tour guides would you use in Cartagena?

Never cruised to this area of the world. What can a person do in this region of Columbia?

I booked with Dora the Explorer for Cartagena and was very happy with the pre-cruise experience AND ESPECIALLY the day of tour itself - she handled all logistics to get us to the spots and avoid the crowds of the ship tours where possible. She is a fantastic guide - and we thoroughly enjoyed our day with her. And she made certain we were back to the ship on time - loved it!

We just walked to the backside of the zoo area and found a guide, there will be many waiting, we payed $20pp for the entire day and he took us wherever we wanted to go. We ended up stopping to see the fort, shopping, toured old town square, a few churches, drug him to have lunch with us, he even drove us to the store so we could get soda to bring back on the ship...lol made it back in time to relax out by the flamingos and have a few drinks.

We used Marelvy Pena and had. Wonderful time with her. Cartagena is lovely. Enjoy!

I booked a tour with Celebrity and it was excellent. It included La Popa, photo stop at the fort, a bit of shopping time at the dungeons, walled city tour and folkloric show. It was a great day.

Never cruised to this area of the world. What can a person do in this region of Columbia?

We booked Marelvy Pena-Hall and her tour guide Ester was amazing. She shared her city and culture with us and we got to see all the highlights of Cartagena.

I'm booked with Marelvy Pena-Hall for our cruise in March. She has been very responsive to e-mails, modifications, and answering questions. I also considered Dora's company...she had great reviews and recommendations, but Marelvy answered my request for information faster.:)

I sent an e-mail requesting information to another tour company that had good reviews on Trip Advisor, but I never got a response so I eliminated them and focused on the two who answered.

We were very pleased with Marelevy....highly recommend her!

Jen 1000...do you remember the name of the tour and the duration....gracias

We used Dora de Explorer (Dora de Zubiria) for our private tour in Cartagena on Sunday, October 11, 2015. As were only in town for five hours, I felt it was imperative to go with someone who knows the city and can cover the highlights in that limited amount of time. I researched the various options, and Dora was the one who worked for us. That's not to say that other tour operators are inferior, just that I felt she was the most responsive to our needs and requirements.

Our tour was comprised of just my mother, sister, and I, because between the three of us we have some physical mobility issues, and we didn't want to slow anyone else down. Dora was extremely accommodating, tailoring her tour to match our ability to keep up:) She is very professional, and sent us not one, but two, confirmation emails once we had made our arrangements with her. She and her driver were punctual and waiting for us when we got off the ship. I always enjoy working with someone reliable, knowledgeable, and experienced. Should we ever return to Cartagena I would not hesitate to use her services again.

http://www.cartagenatour.com/

We searched Trip Advisor and found a tour that my husband and I thought would be great. We contacted Lee Miles (Leland@misteremerald.com) to discuss the tour. He gave us a price for 2 and said if we found more people the price would go down. I told our roll call people about the tour and ended up with 17 people at a cost of $40 per person. Everything that was promised was fulfilled. This price included the tours of some of the paid admissions. We were met where they told us they'd be, a sign with my name on it, walked through a garden to an awaiting mini-bus, toured LaPopa Manastery, photos of San Felipe Fortress, viewed new city and old city, stopped at Pierino gallo Plaza, visited Lee Miles' jewelry store which is highly recommended if you want to purchase jewelry, paid for our trip at his store and received drinks and wifi, walked old city, visited Church of San Pedro Clever, back to garden for a shuttle to cruise ship. I highly recommend using Lee Miles. You will be truly satisfied and you get more for your money! He makes sure he gets you a tour guide that speaks very clear English.

We booked with Dora for our upcoming trip in April, 2016 on the Coral Princess. She was VERY responsive. I am happy to see so many positive things being said about her.:)

Will be in Cartagena on the equinox on jan 17 and 18. Could not find this lady or cc. She was well reviewed on Trip Adviser. Has anyone used her services ? If possible please include pricing

Thank you in advance

HI, We are investigating a tour as well, wanting to see the monestary, fort, church, walled city, and emerald museum. If you find something good, sometimes getting together can be less expensive. Gayle and Bill

We booked a tour with Dora for 1/17/16. Not only was she very quick at responding but she just sent us a quick "Merry Christmas" email last night. Nice touch.

We walked off the ship and thru the mini zoo at the port. As you get to the end by the cages, there are a series of wooden walkways where you will get to experience the attack of the cab drivers/tour guides. Make a deal before you leave and be sure your language is understood. They are very aggressive and will take customers from one another. Our guy was the self proclaimed Mayor of the city with a patch over one eye, who had another guy drive who did not speak English...Older gent that ended up being very shady. Each time he took us to a place we wanted to go , he asked for a tip, aside from the original deal. If we purchased something, he wanted a tip. And he was serious. Our wives were uneasy even though it was daytime. I'm a big guy, but I personally was on extra alert during this tour. Locked gates, barred widows, razor wire, armed guards in certain places, kinda took the enchantment out of the Emerald city. Got back to port and he asked for a tip for the driver and one for himself and asked if we could brag about him on facebook or trip advisor etc...For some reason we forgot his name

Claudia Vidal. I was in charge of a family tour of seven. Another guide I had used previously in Cartagena was not available. I found Claudia and we all had a wonderful day.

There was a lot of traffic and the driver Claudia used negotiated the traffic in an expert manner. Claudia was informative, interesting and a really great person. She pointed out historical points of interested; she avoided the most crowded places and tailored the tour to what interested us. At the conclusion of the tour she provided each family with a video of the highlights of the tour.

One of the group left his cell phone on the vehicle. Claudia went out of her way to work with us in getting the cell phone returned which was no small task. The ship had left by the time we were able to contact her. Arrangements were made for her to bring the cell phone to the ship's agent who then turned it over to personnel from the ship when the ship next arrived in port. The personnel on the ship turned it over to cruise line authorities who then returned it to the owner. He got it back in about 60 days.

When I am next in Cartagena I will use Claudia. She is knowledgeable, friendly, helpful, interesting and a darn nice person!