Colon, Panama Excursions

Hello! We are interested in excursion ideas for our visit to Colon, Panama. We have all day in this port. We have heard MyFriendMario is a great guide. We have also heard that the Embera Indian village is a setup/fake (true? not true?) We are active, in our mid/late twenties, and enjoy just about anything.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

Hello! We are interested in excursion ideas for our visit to Colon, Panama. We have all day in this port. We have heard MyFriendMario is a great guide. We have also heard that the Embera Indian village is a setup/fake (true? not true?) We are active, in our mid/late twenties, and enjoy just about anything.

 

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

We did a ship sponsored excursion to Panama City via the train. In Panama City, we rode the bus around and did sight seeing. By the way, the train passes right by the prison where Noriega now resides. It's really a dump.

No, the Embera Indian village is the real deal. These guys enjoy showing what they can do, and it makes them some money.

What you will notice immediately upon docking is that the terminal area is small, gated, and guarded by guys with automatic weapons. Colon is pretty dangerous because of the high unemployment leading to a high crime rate. Any tour will pick you up inside the secured area and bring you back.

If you scout around this forum, you will find quite a bit about MyFriendMario both good and bad.

Have fun!:D

Hello! We are interested in excursion ideas for our visit to Colon, Panama. We have all day in this port. We have heard MyFriendMario is a great guide. We have also heard that the Embera Indian village is a setup/fake (true? not true?) We are active, in our mid/late twenties, and enjoy just about anything.

 

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

I'll follow the guidelines and not refer you to my blog, but I've written extensively on this board about the Embera and the villages. There IS a demonstration village, near to Colon. Yes, real Embera live there, so it is a "real" village, but as my Embera friends from Embera Puru say it is not as authentic and traditional. There are about a half a dozen villages that various tour operators use. I have no idea which village MyFriendMario or Celebrity uses. I know that both Princess and Holland America on the all day "Authentic Embera Village Tour" use Embera Puru. When I worked on a ship doing the round trip cruise from Ft Lauderdale into the Canal, dropping people off in Gatun Lake (well, not "into" the lake, but . . . ) for tours, folks inevitably came back raving about the tour to Embera Puru and saying things like, "That is the best tour I have ever taken." Read what's on this board and make up your own mind.

Regards, Richard

Colon was a port on our April 10th Infinity sailing. The hubby and I took the Panama Railway from Colon to Balboa. My husband lived in the Canal Zone for several years as a child, so we were very pleased to see how well kept the historic old buildings have been maintained. We even were able to see his old elementary school!

A number of other passengers did small boat type of experiences -- going through the locks in a little boat is very different than on a cruise ship.

Colon does feel very rough, and most passengers were on some sort of privately organized or ship organized excursion since being with other passengers provided a sense of security.

Hey everybody,

I also need some help with excursions from Colon! I'm not interested in the locks too much and neither in the Indians. Do you know where to book any rainforest adventure tours? Is there a good opportunity for zip-lining near Colon? I found panamaoutdooradventures.com - but they don't offer transportation. Any ideas how to get there SAFELY? I heard some negative stuff about the Colon area.

Recent passengers who took the train excursion on Princess: was the a/c working in the dome car? Was it worth the extra cost over the other car? Thanks

We will be arriving in Gatun Lake on Holland America and also looking for tours. I may be confused, (no surprise there) but it appears that the ship back tracks to Cristobal and then to Colon. It appears that the tours go from the lake to Colon?? Any suggestions? Thanks for the help.

Any references to stopping at Cristobal are no longer accurate. The ship will sail by the former piers at Cristobal but they no longer use them for docking passenger ships, the ship will dock in Colon. Essentially Cristobal is part of Colon, the ships however are docking at a different facility on the other side of Colon. Tours that start with tendering off the ship at the Gatun Lake will rejoin the ship at Colon after it has retraced it's route back through the Locks and traveled to Colon. Hope this clears things up a little:).

Just a reminder which may be already aware of.... tours at the Gatun Lake stop must be purchased through the ship.

Any references to stopping at Cristobal are no longer accurate. The ship will sail by the former piers at Cristobal but they no longer use them for docking passenger ships, the ship will dock in Colon. Essentially Cristobal is part of Colon, the ships however are docking at a different facility on the other side of Colon. Tours that start with tendering off the ship at the Gatun Lake will rejoin the ship at Colon after it has retraced it's route back through the Locks and traveled to Colon. Hope this clears things up a little:).

 

Just a reminder which may be already aware of.... tours at the Gatun Lake stop must be purchased through the ship.

Thanks - I did not realize that we needed to book thru HAL for a tour that started in Gatun Lake. Do you know why this is?

Thanks - I did not realize that we needed to book thru HAL for a tour that started in Gatun Lake. Do you know why this is?

The reason for this.... where you tender off the ship, the former Gatun Yacht (now yachtless) Club is practically in the middle of nowhere, in fact now it almost ground zero of the construction of the new set of Locks for the Canal expansion. Most of the original town of Gatun has been razed, so there is no shopping area, stores or lines of taxis wanting to sell tours or any other public transportation. If they dropped you off there and your tour operator did not show up you would be at the mercy of a Good Samaritan. In this case the restriction on private excursions is pretty legitimate and I suppose they don't mind having a corner on the market either:).

A side note, when there were a couple of yachts at the GYC (none were mine) I spent many a Sunday swimming there!

I'll follow the guidelines and not refer you to my blog, but I've written extensively on this board about the Embera and the villages. There IS a demonstration village, near to Colon. Yes, real Embera live there, so it is a "real" village, but as my Embera friends from Embera Puru say it is not as authentic and traditional. There are about a half a dozen villages that various tour operators use. I have no idea which village MyFriendMario or Celebrity uses. I know that both Princess and Holland America on the all day "Authentic Embera Village Tour" use Embera Puru. When I worked on a ship doing the round trip cruise from Ft Lauderdale into the Canal, dropping people off in Gatun Lake (well, not "into" the lake, but . . . ) for tours, folks inevitably came back raving about the tour to Embera Puru and saying things like, "That is the best tour I have ever taken." Read what's on this board and make up your own mind.

 

Regards, Richard

 

I have actually been to your blog, thank you so much for the information provided here in this forum and otherwise! Very very helpful everyone! :)

LilTink,

I found a private tour operator Roberto from the ,Panama Trip Advisor site.

We will be in port of Colon for a whole day in Dec.

Besides doing a tour to Panama City, tours are available to Gatun locks, Potobello, bird watching, zip line, etc. There is a nice outfitters near Potobello which has a zip line, tubing on a river, and lunch. You can also hire a taxi called SET from the port for a private tour.

Check out tripadivsor : Panama for more posts.

This thread is pretty quiet.

We are doing the Gatun lock to see the lock before we go through it the next day.Potobello, discovered by CC on his last vovage, visiting the small Custom house museum, and stop at a local restaraunt for lunch. This tour will be about 4 1/2 hours

Hello! We are interested in excursion ideas for our visit to Colon, Panama. We have all day in this port. We have heard MyFriendMario is a great guide. We have also heard that the Embera Indian village is a setup/fake (true? not true?) We are active, in our mid/late twenties, and enjoy just about anything.

 

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

LilTink - What did you decide for your excursion?

I am uncertain about what is the best way to experience the Canal and would love any recommendations. Should we stay on the ship? Should we do the smaller boat ride to the Pacific? We are on a Princess cruise that only goes in and back out. If we get off the ship in Gatun, are we going to miss the ship going through the locks? I don't want to miss that. From the Princess website: "Disembarkation in Gatun Lake is restricted to passengers who have booked the following tours only.... Passengers on these tours are taken ashore by tenders. Later in the day, the ship then retraces her route through the Gatun locks to dock at Pier 6 in Colon in the Caribbean." I guess I don't understand what is going to happen prior to disembarking and what occurs if/when we are off of the ship for a tour. What will we miss? Thanks for any advice! Leigh

I am uncertain about what is the best way to experience the Canal and would love any recommendations. Should we stay on the ship? Should we do the smaller boat ride to the Pacific? We are on a Princess cruise that only goes in and back out. If we get off the ship in Gatun, are we going to miss the ship going through the locks? I don't want to miss that. From the Princess website: "Disembarkation in Gatun Lake is restricted to passengers who have booked the following tours only.... Passengers on these tours are taken ashore by tenders. Later in the day, the ship then retraces her route through the Gatun locks to dock at Pier 6 in Colon in the Caribbean." I guess I don't understand what is going to happen prior to disembarking and what occurs if/when we are off of the ship for a tour. What will we miss? Thanks for any advice! Leigh

Sounds like you are on what is called a partial transit. In short what that entails at the Canal is your ship will arrive at the Atlantic entrance to the Canal and then proceed to Gatun Locks where the ship will lock up to Gatun Lake. Once you reach Gatun Lake you can elect to take a tour, you will have passed through Gatun Locks on your way up to Gatun Lake. Staying on the ship at this point you will retrace your steps back through Gatun Locks and the short trip to the dock in Colon.

Princess offers a tour called something like Panama Canal and Locks Transit by Boat. On this tour you will travel to the Pacific side and lock through the two sets of locks and pass through Gaillard Cut. This tour in combination with your morning lockage at Gatun will allow you to see a large portion of the Canal. In fact it allows you to the operations at the locks from two different perspectives, one from a large ship and then from a smaller vessel. This gives a great A/B comparison. Of course if the morning lockage up at Gatun is enough to fill your Canal quotient there are many other tours in Panama you may wish to take, but I would be inclined to see the Pacific Locks and Gaillard Cut.

Sounds like you are on what is called a partial transit. In short what that entails at the Canal is your ship will arrive at the Atlantic entrance to the Canal and then proceed to Gatun Locks where the ship will lock up to Gatun Lake. Once you reach Gatun Lake you can elect to take a tour, you will have passed through Gatun Locks on your way up to Gatun Lake. Staying on the ship at this point you will retrace your steps back through Gatun Locks and the short trip to the dock in Colon.

 

Princess offers a tour called something like Panama Canal and Locks Transit by Boat. On this tour you will travel to the Pacific side and lock through the two sets of locks and pass through Gaillard Cut. This tour in combination with your morning lockage at Gatun will allow you to see a large portion of the Canal. In fact it allows you to the operations at the locks from two different perspectives, one from a large ship and then from a smaller vessel. This gives a great A/B comparison. Of course if the morning lockage up at Gatun is enough to fill your Canal quotient there are many other tours in Panama you may wish to take, but I would be inclined to see the Pacific Locks and Gaillard Cut.

Thanks for the info! I would like the A/B comparison. I was hoping I wouldn't miss it from the ship by disembarking in Gatun. I think I've made up my mind now. Thanks, again!!

For what it is worth I would not consider the train trip we felt it was over priced for what you got and saw. The guide in our carriage was great but other carriages were not so lucky. The lunch was terrible a box with a couple of snacks.

For what it is worth I would not consider the train trip we felt it was over priced for what you got and saw. The guide in our carriage was great but other carriages were not so lucky. The lunch was terrible a box with a couple of snacks.

Thanks for your input - that was one of the options we were considering, but think I will look more closely at the other options.