Island princess, Panama canal - what excursions?

[CazBar]

Hi everyone,

This will be my first cruise, and there seems to be so much info to try to assimilate!

We leave on 20th Dec from Acapulco to Fort Lauderdale. Has anyone done this or similar cruises? I would love recommendations for which of the cruiseline's tours to pre-book, or which ones we should arrange privately and how do you go about that?

All advice gratefully received.

CB

[Petunia1950]

Check out http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1080738. The cruise described didn't go all the way through the Canal but will give you lots of useful information for the ports leading up to and including the Canal.

[sloney]

Originally Posted by CazBar

Hi everyone,

This will be my first cruise, and there seems to be so much info to try to assimilate!

We leave on 20th Dec from Acapulco to Fort Lauderdale. Has anyone done this or similar cruises? I would love recommendations for which of the cruiseline's tours to pre-book, or which ones we should arrange privately and how do you go about that?

All advice gratefully received.

CB

Hi CazBar,

We're on the same cruise. Please check out the roll call. We've talked about a number of excursions there.

See you on Dec!

sloney

[Colo Cruiser]

Originally Posted by CazBar

Hi everyone,

This will be my first cruise, and there seems to be so much info to try to assimilate!

We leave on 20th Dec from Acapulco to Fort Lauderdale. Has anyone done this or similar cruises? I would love recommendations for which of the cruiseline's tours to pre-book, or which ones we should arrange privately and how do you go about that?

All advice gratefully received.

CB

What ports???

[CazBar]

Hi everyone,

This is the itinerary

1

Acapulco, Mexico Depart 8:00PM

2

Huatulco, Mexico Arrive 10:00AM Depart 3:00PM

3

Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala Arrive 9:00AM Depart 7:00PM

4

San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua Arrive 12:00PM Depart 7:00PM

5

Puntarenas, Costa Rica Arrive 8:00AM Depart 8:00PM

6

At Sea

7

Panama Canal, Panama Arrive 5:00AM Depart 4:30PM

7

Colon (Cristobal), Panama Arrive 5:00PM Depart 8:00PM

8

At Sea

9

Montego Bay, Jamaica Arrive 7:00AM Depart 2:00PM

10

At Sea

11

Ft. Lauderdale, Florida Arrive 7:00AM


I'll also run through the Roll Call, but any pointers would be great!

Thanks

C

[jlq3d3]

In my opinion this is a better place than role call to discuss excursions since it is a hassle for someone to go through the many different threads for each role call group. Many threads go into the hundreds and most of the posts aren't about excursions.

[caribill]

Originally Posted by jlq3d3

In my opinion this is a better place than role call to discuss excursions since it is a hassle for someone to go through the many different threads for each role call group. Many threads go into the hundreds and most of the posts aren't about excursions.

But the Ports of Call section, although not devoted to Princess cruises, has much useful information.

[mr green]

Originally Posted by CazBar

Hi everyone,

This is the itinerary

1

Acapulco, Mexico Depart 8:00PM

2

Huatulco, Mexico Arrive 10:00AM Depart 3:00PM

3

Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala Arrive 9:00AM Depart 7:00PM

4

San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua Arrive 12:00PM Depart 7:00PM

5

Puntarenas, Costa Rica Arrive 8:00AM Depart 8:00PM

6

At Sea

7

Panama Canal, Panama Arrive 5:00AM Depart 4:30PM

7

Colon (Cristobal), Panama Arrive 5:00PM Depart 8:00PM

8

At Sea

9

Montego Bay, Jamaica Arrive 7:00AM Depart 2:00PM

10

At Sea

11

Ft. Lauderdale, Florida Arrive 7:00AM


I'll also run through the Roll Call, but any pointers would be great!

Thanks

C

Look into 'River Rafting' in MB Jamaica on the 'Grand River'. Its all of 5 ft in depth, and you get punted down on a bamboo raft, with seats, for two persons. Very relaxing.
Puntarenus, the Jungle River tour is good lots of wild life, and crocs. We were told that their favourite food was American tourists!

[mr green]

Originally Posted by mr green

Look into 'River Rafting' in MB Jamaica on the 'Grand River'. Its all of 5 ft in depth, and you get punted down on a bamboo raft, with seats, for two persons. Very relaxing.
Puntarenus, the Jungle River tour is good lots of wild life, and crocs. We were told that their favourite food was American tourists!

I hit the wrong key.
Acapulco ? we have done that port a couple of times, not too impressed, divers? a little over rated, and safety is a slight concern.
Huatulco? not too impressed.
Have not done the other ports.
Note, we had no problems in Janaica.

john

[CazBar]

John,

Thanks so much for your reply, I'll look into the cruises you suggest.

Following other posts we've seen on here, we're booked on a tour with Rosie round Acapulco, so hopefully she'll help us make the most of that.

looking forward to the crocs in Puntarenus - as Scots, we should be perfectly safe then

Thanks again

Caro

[katiepe]

We are doing this itin Dec 30 in the reverse with a couple of different ports.
From the research I have done here and on Trip Advisor:

San Juan Del Sur is a pretty port that you can just get off the ship and have a wander around. There is a beach and some local vendors and an hotel called Pelican Eyes that has an animal shelter(I am bringing pet treats to them) Quite a safe spot as well according to what i have been .

Huatulco is basically the same-right at the beach, some palapa bars and some local restaurants so again just a wander around for us here and a beach afternoon.

Just some ideas..

[lovesublime]

We're doing this cruise in reverse on Dec. 10. Not all of the ports are the same though. We go to Ocho Rios instead of Montego Bay and we will be be in Puerto Amador instead of Colon. We've already booked our excursions (all through Princess) and here's what we're doing.


Huactulco-we're doing the Mexican cooking demonstration. From what I understand-it's one of the nicest restaurants there.


Puntarenas-doing the tour to San Jose. It may be a long drive, but that's why we booked it. We enjoy seeing some of the countryside, plus we're into museums and such.


Puerto Quetzal-going to Lake Atitlan. This was a difficult one to choose because we also wanted to go to Antigua.


San Juan del Sur-we booked the nature and history tour. We leave this port at 2:00pm so not a lot of time.


We're not doing anything in Acapulco-just going to the airport. Been there before and don't really like the place. Just to add, we've been to Montego Bay before (one of your ports) and we did the Appleton Rum Plantation excursion (different cruise line) and it was a lot of fun. The drive there and back is quite an adventure and we were served lunch and all the rum we could drink.

[sloney]

Hi Cazbar

In Huatulco we are going to grab a cab and go to Entregra beach to go snorkeling

In Puerto Quetzal we are going to take a private excursion to hike up Pacaya Volcano (Go with Gus)

No organised excursion for San Juan del Sur. We want to walk aorund and buy some cigars

We're going Zip Lining with Okey Dokey tours in Puntarenas

Just shopping for wine and cigars in Colon

In Jamaica we've booked a Princess tour, do to the shortness of the time in port, to the Appleton Rum Estate.

That's pretty much out entire line-up.

I'll see you in a few weeks onboard.

sloney

[garden2]

Lovesubline-you mentioned you are going to do the Mexican Cooking Demo in Huatulco: several of our group is thinking of do it. one person is concerned they might be served fish --guess I am asking if you could give some feedback on that tour after you have completed it? Any others have any comments on it?

[Crown Prince]

Montego Bay, Jamaica Arrive 7:00 AM, Depart 2:00 PM

I am Scots-Irish so WENTWORTH PEARSON will be very nice to you also. My daughter and I got a group of 8 pax together when we sailed the Ruby Princess Inaugural 8 November.

Wentworth will taylor your shore excursion to wherever you wish to go. He is extremely reasonable and has different sized vehicles. I am using him again for my Island Princess Panama Canal cruise in April 2010.

Wentworth serves both MoBay and Ochi. One of the new places I want to visit on Jamaica is the Bobsled, Aerial Trams, and Zipline place.

wentworthtours@gmail.com http://www.wentworthtours.com/

[lovesublime]

Originally Posted by garden2

Lovesubline-you mentioned you are going to do the Mexican Cooking Demo in Huatulco: several of our group is thinking of do it. one person is concerned they might be served fish --guess I am asking if you could give some feedback on that tour after you have completed it? Any others have any comments on it?

Sure, I'll let you know about it when we get back. I understand that the restaurant actually serves french, asian and mexican food with a twist. The chef is from Switzerland. I have no idea what he'll be cooking for us, but I'll let you know.

[Colo Cruiser]

The Ocean to Ocean train in Panama is an excellent tour.

[Colo Cruiser]

Originally Posted by Crown Prince

Montego Bay, Jamaica Arrive 7:00 AM, Depart 2:00 PM

I am Scots-Irish so WENTWORTH PEARSON will be very nice to you also. My daughter and I got a group of 8 pax together when we sailed the Ruby Princess Inaugural 8 November.

Wentworth will taylor your shore excursion to wherever you wish to go. He is extremely reasonable and has different sized vehicles. I am using him again for my Island Princess Panama Canal cruise in April 2010.

Wentworth serves both MoBay and Ochi. One of the new places I want to visit on Jamaica is the Bobsled, Aerial Trams, and Zipline place.

wentworthtours@gmail.com http://www.wentworthtours.com/

CP I don't know about anyone else but your black type is really hard on the eyes.

[BOAT N BOB]

Originally Posted by CazBar

Hi everyone,

This will be my first cruise, and there seems to be so much info to try to assimilate!

We leave on 20th Dec from Acapulco to Fort Lauderdale. Has anyone done this or similar cruises? I would love recommendations for which of the cruiseline's tours to pre-book, or which ones we should arrange privately and how do you go about that?

All advice gratefully received.

CB

Heres a tip. Go to a book store and buy "Panama Canal By Cruise Ship" by Anne Vipond. It may answer some of your questions.

[Crown Prince]

Originally Posted by BOAT N BOB

Heres a tip. Go to a book store and buy "Panama Canal By Cruise Ship" by Anne Vipond. It may answer some of your questions.

This is an excellent book and has a great fold-up map in the back.

Another good one is The Path Between the Seas.