Star Flyer Costa Rica Jan 8, 2012

Just booked this cruise....very excited!

Sailed Flyer out of Phuket, Royal out of Cannes and Clipper out of St Maarten.

Now its Puerto Caldera and a much long overdue return to the Flyer.

Since there is no roll call thread here on Cruise Critic....anyone else headed to Costa Rica......

Its way off....but I love to plan ahead.

Happy sailing

Tom

We are also!....except one year earlier:D

Mike

I just booked us on the Star Flyer for Feb. 16, 2011 to Costa Rica and Panama with Vantage. It's our 4th trip with Vantage but our first on this type of vessel. Any special advice from people who have sailed on her before? Stuff I should bring, stuff I should leave home...also what is Costa Rica like, besides stunningly beautiful? Will we see any spiders or snakes? (I haven't bought the Frommer's yet) How long is the plane trip from NY?

Anyone else going on this trip? :)

Hi, I am looking forward to the Costa Rica trip in December.

Anyone else out there on the Dec 12th sailing?

Bev

I'm working on friends to book and share the experience.

Hope that people saiing this itinerary before me will post what shore excursions are great, and which to avoid.

Hope this Clipper cruise is as nice as my previous ones; that the ship is in good repair and service just as nice. If it is..I'll probably book a Med cruise for that September.

Come on Star Clippers...rock my world!:D:D:D

We will be there on Dec 12 sailing. We are also doing the Dec 5 sailing.

Look for my Fish necklace.

MSEm

Am headed to Costa Rica and am wondering if Star Clipper transport to and from airport is as dreadful as it sounds? @$100 for airport to hotel where I'm told we will " hang out" in a conference room for a few hours and then off to the ship. Return is not much better: a tour to a coffee plantation on the way to the airport for a 6:30 flight back to Miami. Has anyone used Star Clippers flight arrangements? Is it possible to arrange private transport to the ship? This will be my first time on Star Clippers after @ 20+ foo- foo ship cruises and 13or14 Windjammer Barefoot Cruises. Any advice will be much appreciated!

I'm also going Jan 8 2012. ( see my post re airport transfer)

We used Odyssey for our transfers this past January. We went a day early & stayed a day after and used them for all 4 transfers. They were waiting for us at the airport and were very good about stopping at various points along the way....fruit stands, liquor stores, ATM, couple of little craft stores. We even stopped for a while on the bridge to check out the crocodiles. They picked us up the next afternoon from Villa Caletas & took us to Caldera. They were waiting for us at the dock in Caldera when we returned. We actually emailed them while in Quepos, because we didn't get to zipline while on the ship(too many other things to do) to see if they could arrange for us to do that when they picked us up & they handled it without a problem. You also pay for the van, not per person, so if you could find two or three other couples on your trip, you can reduce your individual expenses greatly.

Many pics & a slide show in signature link.

Enjoy your trip...it's a beautiful country. We're actually doing a return land trip in Sept. to see the Arenal region.

Mike

Thanks for the tip about Odyssey; we will certainly check them out. BTW, did you- or anyone out there- use Star Clippers air? Their flight times are absolutely awful! One additional question...what time is boarding? ( also disembarkation)?

We booked our own air through Continental. The flight got in at 11:50AM and we had a 1:50PM departure...both through Houston. Even though we stayed one night pre & 1 post, those times would still work if you didn't. Embarkation starts at 4PM & off the ship between 8 & 10AM. There is no reason to get to Caldera any earlier, because there is absolutely nothing to do while waiting to board. You wait in a big warehouse. We had to tender for boarding, but were at the dock on return.

With the new highway, it's only about 2hrs from the Airport to Caldera.

Mike

We are booked on Star Flyer Costa Rica Jan 8,2012 too. We are a couple from Germany and it's our second tour with Star Clippers. We've been to Thailand in November 2009 and we really loved it.

It's our first trip to Costa Rica and we are looking for driver taking us around 2 days before the cruise starts and back from the Star Flyer to San Jose. Any recommendations?

Hi, I sailed on the Costa Rican cruise last December. My sister & I went in a day early and had a private tour with Odyssey on Saturday and then also a private transport on Sunday down to Calderas. Alvero was a great host, showing us the highlights we had read about plus a number of local fruit stands and sights that were delightful.

I would highly recommend them for your transport.