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First time to Puntarenas, Costa Rica


Kiwi_cruiser
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First of all I would join the Roll Call for your cruise to see what other people are doing? I haven't seen any vendors at the pier selling tours. Most tour are from the cruise line or arranged privately.

I have only visited the orchid farm other wise usually do a ship day.

There is a beach (gravel ? ) nearby that you can goto or just walk around.

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We went snorkeling, but I wouldn't recommend it as there wasn't much to see, and even though we are experienced it was challenging because of the waves and the rocks.

 

The people on our boat who went diving were very satisfied, however.

Edited by MJC
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I was just looking at Thumbs Up Tours. They are rated #1 of the tours in Puntarenas on tripadvisor. The 10 in 1 tour looks really good; and it's only $70. Their website goes into a lot of detail of what's included: http://www.thumbsuptours.com/#!tours---activities/it10u

 

It's listed as a cruise ship tour; so they are used to being on time.

Who has gone on that one?

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Never heard about that agency thumbs up till a couple of months, I read somewhere the young guy who runs this new business used to work as a guide for odysseytourscr.com a tour operator for Puntarenas and has been recommended since 2005 here on cruise critic.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1608857&page=2

 

 

I was just looking at Thumbs Up Tours. They are rated #1 of the tours in Puntarenas on tripadvisor. The 10 in 1 tour looks really good; and it's only $70. Their website goes into a lot of detail of what's included: http://www.thumbsuptours.com/#!tours---activities/it10u

 

It's listed as a cruise ship tour; so they are used to being on time.

Who has gone on that one?

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  • 3 weeks later...

We had no trouble finding a tour on the pier.

 

"Charlie" had room to add four to his mini-van which lowered the per person cost a little bit.

 

We had a wonderful day touring the lowlands in the area, including a boat ride on a river full of salt water crocs and beautiful birds.

 

Note: the boat ride was additional (modest) cost.

 

This was in November 2012.

 

"Charlie" made it clear that only tour operators with proper docs and insurance were allowed to solicit clients on the pier.

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  • 2 weeks later...
We had no trouble finding a tour on the pier.

 

"Charlie" had room to add four to his mini-van which lowered the per person cost a little bit.

 

We had a wonderful day touring the lowlands in the area, including a boat ride on a river full of salt water crocs and beautiful birds.

 

Note: the boat ride was additional (modest) cost.

 

This was in November 2012.

 

"Charlie" made it clear that only tour operators with proper docs and insurance were allowed to solicit clients on the pier.

Hi ThinFool, When were you in Puntarenas (ie year)... We have never been there, want to do a river cruise, but don't want to book the excursion on board our ship... So, I want to confirm that there are vendors selling river cruises at the pier... where do you go, etc.

 

THANKS,

SDlem

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  • 1 year later...

We just got back from a Panama Canal cruise on Norwegian. We did the 10 in 1 tour of Puntarenas with Thumbs Up Tours. I would recommend them very highly. Our guide was a delightful American ex-pat named Carrie. We saw tons of wildlife, took a river cruise, toured a botanical garden, and had a typical Costa Rican lunch. We traveled in a 14-passenger air-conditioned van. The price was $70, which we didn't have to pay til the tour was over. I spoke with other passengers who took ship's tours and paid $70 for just the river cruise. I would definitely use Thumbs-Up Tours again.

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  • 1 month later...
  • 6 months later...
We have never been to Puntarenas, Costa Rica before and I was wondering what is there to do there?, any tips/ideas??

 

What do you do there for the day?

 

Any tips/advise/ideas are very welcome

 

We just came back from a full transit through the Panama Canal with a stop in Puntarenas on 10/31. We used Odyssey Tours. We had a group of 29 people and we were broken up into 4 buses. After the tour, the people in our group told me that it was the best tour they had during the cruise. In particular, I would like to praise my guide and driver, Ronnie and Adrian, who both did an excellent job. Ronnie is very knowledgeable and he timed the tour so well that we were able to complete the majority of the tour before it started to rain. Unfortunately, we missed the beach visit due to the torrential rain. Ronnie predicted that the rain would started around 2PM and it did almost exactly start at that time. We especially like the Crocodile Man and his pal, Osama bin Laden. All the others in my group enjoyed their guides just as much as we enjoyed Ronnie. The included lunch was excellent. Our 8 hour tour cost was $65 per person including lunch. The cost was lower because the group was over 14.

There was some chaos at the pier with people trying to find their tours and that was a bit disturbing but I guess that’s how it goes with these things. I tried to eliminate this confusion by bringing together all the people in my group onboard the ship prior to walking off. We left on time as scheduled.

Alvaro and Diego are brothers who run the operation. Alvaro was very efficient with correspondence while planning the tour and thanked us for allowing his company to show us this beautiful part of his country.

I highly recommend Odyssey Tours (10 in 1 Tour). Just google Odyssey Tours to find them.

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