Question on LAS JUNTAS LOS VERANOS canopy tour in PV

[Sea Hag]

I'm hoping that somebody who's actually taken this tour can answer a question for me. In the list of things to bring, it says to bring a swimsuit and towel. I'm fine with the zipline part, but I don't swim and I don't want to get dumped into a big pool of water at the end of one of the zipline segements. Call me stupid if you like but there it is. Zipline - yes. Dump over my head in pool of water - no way. If somebody has the facts on this, I'd sure appreciate hearing it, but please don't reply if you don't know for sure. :)

[Chesie]

I'm hoping that somebody who's actually taken this tour can answer a question for me. In the list of things to bring, it says to bring a swimsuit and towel. I'm fine with the zipline part, but I don't swim and I don't want to get dumped into a big pool of water at the end of one of the zipline segements. Call me stupid if you like but there it is. Zipline - yes. Dump over my head in pool of water - no way. If somebody has the facts on this, I'd sure appreciate hearing it, but please don't reply if you don't know for sure. :)

 

We returned last Sunday from the MR and went on the Los Veranos Canopy Tour(? not called Las Juntas though) and it was our first time zipling. We booked direct with them. As far as a swimsuit and towel, they have a river at the end of the zipline if you care to swim in. You do not get "dumped" in the water at all. If you need any other questions answers about the tour let me know.

[Sea Hag]

We returned last Sunday from the MR and went on the Los Veranos Canopy Tour(? not called Las Juntas though) and it was our first time zipling. We booked direct with them. As far as a swimsuit and towel, they have a river at the end of the zipline if you care to swim in. You do not get "dumped" in the water at all. If you need any other questions answers about the tour let me know.

 

Hi Chesie,

 

Thanks for your reply! The tour looks great on their website, and the only reason I was worried about the water aspect is that the last time we did a shore excursion in Mexico, it didn't pan out exactly as it looked like it would. The blurb on Princess' website said "your feet will get wet." It turned out that we had to wade across a river twice, once hip-high and very fast water and once up to my collarbones. They were right for sure - my feet got wet. :D that left me cautious.

 

Did you like the zip line? Do you have much time to look around? How about the bus/van or whatever that they take you in? Nice? Not nice? about how long was the ride? Is it possible to take photos while you're zipping or do you need to hold onto the thing at the top all the time? Do you brake at toward the end?

[GinDon]

If I may jump in here...........you will LOVE the zip line at Los Veranos!

 

The ride over takes about 45 min-i hr. The transport is in a gaily painted safari open-air bus.. The ride was part of the fun......bumpy, etc. Beautiful views of Banderas Bay along the way.

 

You will have plenty of time to look around.

 

You can't really take photos as you are zipping, because you are travelling pretty fast along that cable. But, we managed to take pictures of each other walking the jungle path, getting hooked up, and coming in for a landing on the platform.

 

The guides showed us the signal they use to tell us to "brake", if we were coming in too fast. I never got the signal, so I never slowed down. This led to a couple of rather "abrupt" stops when I got to the platform! It may look like you are going to blow everyone off the platform.........but trust me.........you WILL stop!

 

Be sure to feed the monkeys after you are done zipping, they are so cute.

 

Have fun!

[Chesie]

Sea Hag,

 

I LOVED it and would do it again in a heartbeat. We caught a van taxi at the pier as there were 7 of us. $4 pp Took us to canopy office direct. We arrived 5 min before the 10:45 am tour and they managed to get us on that one as we were booked on the 11:45 am. We gave ourselves alot of time. From there we hopped on an AIR CONDITIONED enclosed bus which was very comfortable and only made one hotel stop for a pick up. Bumpy and beautiful bay views on the ride of about 45 min. Once at the site we were put into our harness and given a helmet. I kept my baseball cap on underneath and was fine. You can use their bathrooms which were clean. Lockers available for all your "stuff" with locks. I am very afraid of heights so this was a big challenge for me. Getting on a 2 step ladder is scary:eek: The guides (we had 4) give you a crash course on how to ride, brake etc before you head out. You have a couple of spiral staircases to climb up trees. Therre was more climbing steps than I expected even as fit as we are. There are 14 lines all together.

 

The first lline is a "baby" line for the feel of it and you get your picture taken on that one. DH brought a camera and took some pictures of me coming into the platform but we were going so fast it was a blurr. You can bring it but for us didn't work out. As you go along the lines get longer and faster and some over the river which is open up for a terrific view. The guides will take you with them which we did. I came into a platform laying down forward with hands extended. What a feeling! After my second line I couldn't wait to get hooked up and go on the next!! There were about 12 in our party total. Also one of the guides is taking a video of the whole event. He will ride with you to take your ride. We bought the video vs stand along picture and glad we did. They had t-shirts at the restaurant/bar on the last line. Monkeys etc are there. You can feed the monkeys. Small little guys. We shared a lunch and some soda's and relaxed for about an hour.

 

Then we gathered our stuff from the lockers and headed back to the ship. They brought us back directly which was nice.

 

I can't say enough on how great the guides were. I never felt unsafe at any time. They hook you up and there is a safety hook besides your regular hook. I braked once, without them asking me too, as I felt I wouldn't stop on the platform. They said not to brake and to tell you the truth coming in and that final "swing" when you get stopped is really fund too.

 

Enjoy and I can't wait to go back and zip again!

[PHXscuba]

The bus/van seems to depend on the day, who you book through, and how many people are going. We rode down in a shuttle bus that was enclosed and air-conditioned, then back in a van whose air conditioning was broken (but there were only four of us and they took us all the way back). I saw a tour bus a quarter-mile from the ziplines -- not sure it could get they last bit up there.

 

Yes, it's a nice facility with clean bathrooms, lockers, nice guides, etc. And you go over the water, not into it! We were there on a land vacation and only had 6 on our tour, but understand that on cruise-ship days they can have 60-plus people on tours! They give you plenty of time at the end to eat, wander around, swim if you like, etc.

 

PHXscuba

[Sea Hag]

This all sounds wonderful! Thank you all so much for giving me such great details and descriptions. I'm definitely going to do this. :)

[GinDon]

Glad we convinced you.................you won't regret it!

 

Guess maybe they have changed their mode of transportation......no more open air safari van, all painted on the sides with jungle pictures?

 

Let out a yell for me, as you're zipping!

[socalcruiser23]

I have a question about the swimming as well. Is it worth it to bring your bathing suit and a towel? Do a lot of people go swimming at the end, or do most people relax, eat and drink?

 

I will be on this tour next week and CAN'T WAIT!!!

 

Thanks:)

[GinDon]

The day we were there, only a couple of people were in the river. More people relaxing/eating/drinking/playing with monkeys.

[Chesie]

I have a question about the swimming as well. Is it worth it to bring your bathing suit and a towel? Do a lot of people go swimming at the end, or do most people relax, eat and drink?

 

I will be on this tour next week and CAN'T WAIT!!!

 

Thanks:)

 

On our day no one was in the river. Just relaxing, eating and having a drink.

[akcruz]

We also did this tour last August and nobody swam afterwards. We brought our stuff and thought for sure the kids would go swimming. Instead they spent their time with the monkeys and after a quick lunch were ready to head back. We also had a nice air conditioned bus take us from the canopy office to the zip lines. The open air bus was there but fortunately we had the air conditioned one :D.

 

I concur with others here, the guides were wonderful. Just be prepared they get you to do some interesting things on those zip lines. Just relax and have fun with it :D

[bonnie&clydecruzers]

Sea Hag,

 

I LOVED it and would do it again in a heartbeat. We caught a van taxi at the pier as there were 7 of us. $4 pp Took us to canopy office direct. We arrived 5 min before the 10:45 am tour and they managed to get us on that one as we were booked on the 11:45 am. We gave ourselves alot of time. From there we hopped on an AIR CONDITIONED enclosed bus which was very comfortable and only made one hotel stop for a pick up. Bumpy and beautiful bay views on the ride of about 45 min. Once at the site we were put into our harness and given a helmet. I kept my baseball cap on underneath and was fine. You can use their bathrooms which were clean. Lockers available for all your "stuff" with locks. I am very afraid of heights so this was a big challenge for me. Getting on a 2 step ladder is scary:eek: The guides (we had 4) give you a crash course on how to ride, brake etc before you head out. You have a couple of spiral staircases to climb up trees. Therre was more climbing steps than I expected even as fit as we are. There are 14 lines all together.

 

The first lline is a "baby" line for the feel of it and you get your picture taken on that one. DH brought a camera and took some pictures of me coming into the platform but we were going so fast it was a blurr. You can bring it but for us didn't work out. As you go along the lines get longer and faster and some over the river which is open up for a terrific view. The guides will take you with them which we did. I came into a platform laying down forward with hands extended. What a feeling! After my second line I couldn't wait to get hooked up and go on the next!! There were about 12 in our party total. Also one of the guides is taking a video of the whole event. He will ride with you to take your ride. We bought the video vs stand along picture and glad we did. They had t-shirts at the restaurant/bar on the last line. Monkeys etc are there. You can feed the monkeys. Small little guys. We shared a lunch and some soda's and relaxed for about an hour.

 

Then we gathered our stuff from the lockers and headed back to the ship. They brought us back directly which was nice.

 

When you are done with the zip lining, do you have a certain amount of time before you have to catch the bus for the return trip or you just leave whenever you want to? Also what time did you end up getting dropped off at the ship? Thanks

[GinDon]

When we did it (this was about three years ago), we hung around about an hour after the zipping, having a cool drink and playing with the monkeys, etc. Then we heard there was a bus going back, so we took that. We were dropped back off at the Canopy Tour Office, not to the ship. We walked around the old cobblestone streets there for a while, bought some souvenirs, visited the Cathedral. Then just grabbed a cab back to the ship. We got back to the ship around five-ish, but we took our time.

[socalcruiser23]

I just returned from the Mexican Riviera and this tour. I posted a thread already, but I guess it didn't go up. I have problems with that on this MR thread... hmmm. Oh well. It's very important!!!

 

The shuttle did NOT drop us back at the ship. I had read several reviews on here saying they would and they would NOT. We asked the driver and he said he could not.

 

So my advice is to bring extra cash for the cab back (unlike us). Luckily a very kind family from our ship gave us an extra $5 so we weren't stranded at the canopy office. We were so embarrassed we ran out of cash. We had a credit card, but of course the taxis don't take those.

 

That being said, the canopy tour was PHENOMENAL!!! I want to go back and do it again! It was so so so much fun! The guides are great and very entertaining. You'll definitely want to tip them at the end. I would recommend this tour to anyone and everyone!!! We booked through their website. A far better deal than zip lining through the ship.