Cristobal Visit

Is there anyone out there who has been to Cristobal Panama and who can give me the total low down on this port and what they did there and when they were there. We will be stopping there on our 10 day Divina cruise and looking for as much info as we can get to decide what we will do there on our visit.:cool:

Is there anyone out there who has been to Cristobal Panama and who can give me the total low down on this port and what they did there and when they were there. We will be stopping there on our 10 day Divina cruise and looking for as much info as we can get to decide what we will do there on our visit.:cool:

Cristobal ["Christopher'] is actually part of Colon ["Columbus']. Colon is now the third largest city in Panama, infamous for it's high crime rate and famous for its giant, sprawling Free Port, second only to Hong Kong. It is NOT "Duty Free Shopping" but a giant "city" where buyers come from all over the Americas to trade in large quantities wholesale. There is nothing to do in Colon itself and you don't want to walk around on your own. This is a place to either book a tour through the ship or work independently with a good tour operator, planning in advance. That being said, it is a wonderful jumping off point for a whole lot of exciting tours! Tours in Panama usually focus on one of three areas of interest, with, obviously, some overlap: Culture [think National Geographic], History, or Nature. Since you are "looking for as much info as we can get" ... not to plug my book, but since you asked, there's a whole chapter on the tours with photos as well. Get off the ship, get out of Colon, and see some of Panama!

 

There are two ports in Colon, almost next to one another. Homeport, used by RCCL and Celebrity primarily, and Colon 2000, used primarily by Carnival companies. I'm not real familiar with MSC's operation, but it appears as if you are not going into or through the Canal, just making a port stop in Panama, so I would lean to a tour that would take you through or at least to the Canal. I was surprised on the MSC Web site to see that they say they don't have tours in "Cristobal". Almost all the cruise lines offer tours from the same few big tour companies, often with different names, but the same tours. There are great independent operators as well, and if you read through posts on the BB you'll find lots of recommendations.

 

 

Regards, Richard