mcmarya

We were to fly into west palm today (Wed) but got worried on Monday. Our flight was in waivers so changed to Tuesday. West Palm airport closed this morning so happy to be in FL. I don't think the other south FL airports were affected so much.

Would like to be able to put something in the mail from the port but wondered if there is a mailbox.

Yes, on the Quest. Almost every port, including Cozumel (on our sailing), is listed as a tender port so it's hard to tell what to believe.

We were assigned a 4:40 pm boarding time out of the port of Miami next week. It's hard to imagine why boarding would be so late on such a small ship.

Thanks for the correction. We may be using tri-rail at the Miami airport next week.

We are supposed to stop in San Juan del Sur in November (instead of Corinto this time). There seems to be a expat community there and more tourist infrastructure than most places in Nicaragua. It must be reasonably safe for foreigners to move there.

Someone earlier asked about tri-rail. We have used it many times between West Palm Beach and Ft. Lauderdale. It seems to run on time and it is luggage friendly. There is a free bus shuttle between FLL airport and the nearest tri-rail station. The Miami airport Tri Rail station is connected to the airport by a walkway. If you want to save some cash, it beats a taxi or Uber.

Loved reading your blog. We did a post cruise stay in Santiago and immensely enjoyed it.

I apologize for being so hard on Corinto. There are a couple of other interesting excursions we have done. I did the Cerro Negro volcano hike which was lots of fun. It's the volcano where they do volcano sledding--I did not do that. And, you can go on a tour to Leon where there is a Rubén Darío museum and also a very large cathedral--supposedly there was a mixup and a cathedral meant for a larger city was erected in Leon. It is sometimes possible to go up on the whitewashed roof which affords a great view. And, local markets are always interesting.

The catamaran and other boat tours offering swimming with the turtles seem to anchor offshore near the Surfside restaurant in Holetown. You can take the bus there and you barely have to swim out to join them. We did that and saw people from our ship on tours swimming and snorkeling asking us which tour we were on. There are 2 kinds of "buses," the official ones and the unofficial ones that are vans. The official ones run on a schedule and may require local currency (don't remember). The unofficial ones will take USD and blast loud "music?"

We actually used the metro while we were in Santiago and found it very modern and easy to use. Santiago is not really a tourist town but we found many interesting things to do on our own--Cerro San Cristobal on the funicular, Santa Lucia Hill, Plaza de Armas with the museum and cathedral and chess players, the central market, etc. It helped that my husband speaks Spanish.

I don't recall the details since it was a few years ago. I'm sure our experience was unusual. The tour through the locks was apparently poorly organized with lots of delays everywhere. Our itinerary shows the ship being in Colon from 5 - 8 pm. The ship with the non-tour takers arrived in Colon around 6 pm. I don't recall what time the tour was originally supposed to return but it did not arrive until 10:30 pm so the tour lasted 13 hours. Departure was delayed so we arrived an hour late in our next port. I don't know if any of the other tours arrived in Colon much earlier in the afternoon so that there might be an opportunity to do something there.

Pre-pandemic buses were very reliable. In terms of hotels, usually US brand hotels are expensive and locally owned ones much more reasonable but still nice if chosen carefully. When planning I read lots of tripadvisor reviews and have always been happy.

One thing we did which wouldn't always work: I mentioned to the ferry worker that we were sorry we couldn't buy the 15 tickets that are not available at the Dockyard. He told us not to pay and he took us into the ticket office in Hamilton where we bought the tickets and gave him 2 of the tickets for our fare. The tickets can be shared and are 15 for $37.50. If you want to use public transport for more than one day, they work well. It probably only worked because the ferry only had a few passengers.

Thank you. I found my ship.

None of the websites I have tried show pier assignments. We are on a ship arriving on Sunday, 11/13, when supposedly no other ships are in port. But, our itinerary shows "tender" which seems odd. Our plans for the day could be affected by where we end up ashore so it would be nice to know where that might be. Any way to find the information? Thanks!

If you stay on the ship for a partial transit and hope to get off for some kind of tour once you reach Colon, you could be disappointed. We did one partial and did not do a tour. We arrived in Colon about 30 minutes before dark. Of course, it's not really safe to leave the port area but we could not if we wanted to. Another ship was late leaving so our ship had to sit out at sea waiting for it to leave. And, the tour that took passengers through the rest of the locks arrived back at the ship around 10:30 pm due to having to wait to transit. Canal transits are very unpredictable. On one full transit, we entered the canal in the dark and left in the dark, entering the Atlantic locks at daybreak and leaving the Pacific locks at sunset--I was reminded when I looked at the pictures recently. Transiting the canal is one of the most fantastic things you can do, but sometimes patience is required.

Are you on a full or partial transit or just stopping at Colon as a port?

Not sure how things are these days, but when we were in Salaverry, there were some vans/cabs at the port and we arranged a van tour with some fellow passengers. We were taken to Chan Chan, the city square, and the Huacas of the Sun and Moon. Another good place to visit which we did not see is Huanchaco where they have the reed boats. All of these are worthwhile places to visit whether on a ship's tour or independently. Guayaquil has a wonderful riverside Malecon. It extends for quite a distance and has many attractions. At one end is Santa Ana Hill which has a church at the top and lovely views. At the other end is the Crystal Palace, a glass building. Since the port is some distance from town, you will probably take a shuttle to the Park of the Iguanas about 3 blocks from the Malecon. Sadly, the city is not very safe, though I had no issues walking on the Malecon and up Santa Ana Hill. There are cautions about taking taxis.

Curiosity Question: Has the Quest had Speakers/Conversationalists on board?

While you can apply 30 days in advance, they don't process them until much closer to sailing date. I would probably be like you and wait as long as possible, hoping it might go away, since there is a lot of money at stake. Early on when people were confused about needing it, some were processed very quickly. Everyone used to have to apply with only 3 or 4 days before sailing until they dropped the requirement to submit a negative covid test with the application.

If you just want to get a taste of the town (and maybe say you have been to Nicaragua!), you can help the local economy by doing a pedicab ride around the town. We've done that and also shopped at the tourist market. The people of Corinto could use a few tourist $'s. Just don't expect an exciting, touristy kind of place.

Actually Huatulco is not usually on Mexican Riviera itineraries and is often on Panama Canal ones. That is the only way we have ever visited.

Does your cruise end there or are you in port? If it ends and you are going to your hotel, contact the hotel and arrange for a transfer. If you are in port, the cruise line will probably provide a shuttle to somewhere away from the port--we've always been dropped at the Plaza San Miguel. From there you can get a cab fairly safely. You don't want to leave from Callao unless you have arranged a ride since it is very unsafe.

OK, I'm as cheap as the above poster. We have taken the bus in Curacao a couple of times but before the pandemic. Back then, we paid the fare in USD which was $1 each. Looks like the fare is 2 local currency so more than $1 now. They've gone to a card system but it looks like cash is still OK. The route that goes to Mambo looks like 6A. It's a pretty easy walk to the bus station. There are also vans that are unofficial buses. Those are probably $2 one way and you would have to ask where they go. The official buses on 6A run every 1 hour 15 minutes.