new_cruiser Posted July 9, 2018 #1 Share Posted July 9, 2018 I'm starting planning for our Panama Canal and Costa Rica cruise. Windstar has a port listed as Balboa/Fuerte Amador. Which one is the ship actually at and does it dock or tender? What do you recommend doing there? We arrive at 10 PM and are there all the next day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milepig Posted July 10, 2018 #2 Share Posted July 10, 2018 I'm starting planning for our Panama Canal and Costa Rica cruise. Windstar has a port listed as Balboa/Fuerte Amador. Which one is the ship actually at and does it dock or tender? What do you recommend doing there? We arrive at 10 PM and are there all the next day. I don't have local advice since we disembarked and got right on a bus to the Panama City Airport. This site has some good basic information and includes a map. It isn't a large port and seemed rather commercial, I remember a line of sort of junky shops right outside the port. It isn't large. https://www.whatsinport.com/Balboa.htm If you google Balboa Cruise Port many sites with options and advice pop us, that might be a good place to start. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sb44 Posted July 11, 2018 #3 Share Posted July 11, 2018 I'm starting planning for our Panama Canal and Costa Rica cruise. Windstar has a port listed as Balboa/Fuerte Amador. Which one is the ship actually at and does it dock or tender? What do you recommend doing there? We arrive at 10 PM and are there all the next day. Balboa is actually a 10 to 15 minute cab ride into Panama City. We were on this cruise in March. We were at anchor and there is a small port building with a few tourist shops. There are a couple of restaurants within walking distance. We ate at Bucanero's and liked it enough to cab it back there after the cruise was over when we were staying in the city. The port is at the end of the Amador Causeway which is a lovely drive, walk, bike area. You can get a cab into the city to do whatever is on your Panama City list. The reason Windstar anchors here is to get in the queue for their canal transit. You will see ships of all kinds and from all countries anchored out, each waiting for their transit number assignment. Pretty interesting. If you want to do the visitor centers from this location you can get a day tour driver pretty reasonably or take cabs. Windstar also has excursions for the locks from here but it's a long bus day. Or you can cab it to the old town. Just depends on your tastes but just consider it a day in Panama, not Balboa. There is also the Biimuseo Museum on the causeway designed by Frank Gehry. Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milepig Posted July 12, 2018 #4 Share Posted July 12, 2018 I don't have local advice since we disembarked and got right on a bus to the Panama City Airport. This site has some good basic information and includes a map. It isn't a large port and seemed rather commercial, I remember a line of sort of junky shops right outside the port. It isn't large. https://www.whatsinport.com/Balboa.htm If you google Balboa Cruise Port many sites with options and advice pop us, that might be a good place to start. Scratch most of the above. I was having a brain fart and was thinking of Colon. Balboa we were tendered to a modern port facility with a few shops right there and a small cluster of touristy places. I have no doubt that any preplanned guide would have problems finding you. We actually booked an Old City walking tour through WS and it was one of our better WS tours. In the end we were glad as there was a mad rush back to the tenders with a sort of “hurry we need to tender back to the ship NOW” we need to go. On a private tour I think we could well have been left behind. In the end the ship didn’t leave for over four blasted hours, but that’s another story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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