Veragua Rain Forest

I would like to check out the Veragua Rain forest while in port in Costa Rica. I see you can book this as an excursion through HAL but I am curious if anyone just went there on their own. The excursion seems to be a bit rushed with some of the attractions, so I would like to just be on my own schedule. Has anyone done this before? Any reasons why this would not be a good idea?

I just returned from a cruise on the Zuiderdam. Because I booked this cruise last minute, was too busy too find an independent excursion, which I normally do when I cruise, I booked a very expensive excursion from HAL which included the Veragua Rain Forest and a ride on a "canal". It didn't take long for me to be reminded why I hated HAL excursions.

1. Large buses used. The road to the forest was on a horrible road and took almost 1.5 hrs. Of course, loading and unloading people from the bus was like herding cats. This excursion was described as not being good for people with walking problems. Needless to say, half the people had walkers or canes. for example, there was a walk up to the waterfall that we were warned on the bus and with a big sign before the stairs that it included 350 steps. There was an alternative short easy hike for people who had problems walking those many stairs. Well, guess what? We had to keep stopping for people to catch up. On the way back, a few people, who for obvious reasons, never should have taken this trek, were having serious problems making it to the end.

Unfortunately, the passengers who had not heeded warnings about the difficulty of some of this excursion, kept the rest of us from enjoying more time in the forest, which was beautiful.

The forest was lovely and the park guide provided us with great information and found some sloths in the trees that we never would have spotted otherwise. If you go independently, make sure a park guide takes you around.

2. I had assumed that a canal boat ride would be somewhere in a "wild" area. It was next to a major highway construction project and next to Costa Rica's largest oil refinery. I am not joking. The only good thing about it was that the guide was able to find, with her eagle eyes, a couple of howler monkeys in the trees, a spider monkey, and a couple of sloths, which I could not see with my bad eyes. If the smell of gas makes you uncomfortable, make sure you do not sit in the back of the boat. I thought I was going to pass out when the guy revved up the engine. The best part of this canal excursion was the best were the fruit served at the end. I have never eaten pineapple and bananas that tasted so delicious. I guess they lose the great taste in their shipping to Canada.

If I'm lucky enough to be in Costa Rica again, I will definitely try and find an independent excursion. I realize that HAL cannot legally stop anyone from taking excursions which are not suited to some people's physical abilities, but if you are healthy and physically able, I would avoid many of the HAL excursions.

We just did this tour through Princess. Specifically because of comment #1 above is why I would not do this on my own. The travel from the ship port is just too far and half of the trip the road is rocky. I am very comfortable with independent tours except when I feel there is a risk that a vehicle breakdown would result in missing the ship. This is one of those situations. We opted for the extended tour which included tram, waterfall walk, zip lining and tour of the research areas. There were several tours from the ship, but we did not feel crowded. Our bus was 31 people (perhaps the zip lining kept the numbers down). It was terrific!! DH rates the rainforest almost as good as the scenery in Alaska.

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You are lucky you had only 31 people in your bus. We had at least double the number and at least one-third should not have been on this excursion. I have been on Princess excursions and they are much better organized and less crowded than HAL. Just imagine how long it takes for a large bus with only one door to load and unload 70 passengers, some of who needed assistance. Also, Princess passengers seem to be younger and more aware of what they can handle physically. I am in my 60's and have a bad knee and back and I would love to have done the zip line, but I know my limitations. Your DH is right about the scenery. I have added to my bucket list a trip to Costa Rica and staying in an eco-friendly lodging somewhere in the middle of the rain forest.