Margarita Isle Excursions???

[azcruiselover]

I would like to hear any past experiences on the excursions that fellow cruisers have taken on Margarita Isle, we are going in April... Any feedback would be great!!!:D

[wwinfl91]

We took a ship sponsored bus tour of the Island a couple of years ago. We saw an old church, a museum, a rebuilt spanish fort, a small harbor with fishing boats, a lot of big apartment and condo buildings that didn't look in great shape and several souvenir places as shopping stops. From what we had read before we went, most people on the island only speak spanish and it isn't a good place for an American to wander around on their own especially with the current USA versus Venezuela tensions between our leader Bush and their leader Chavez. The whole island had a slightly run down look about it with trash along side the roads and lots of sand and cactus. I suspect if we were going back on another cruise I might use this as an extra day at sea. There was a beach within walking distance from where the ship was docked but people who went there said it was dirty, had beggers who were after them to give them something and they were afraid to get in the water because of the trash and the fear the beggers would take off with anything left onshore.

 

There may be better beaches on other parts of the island and the fishing harbor we stopped at was pretty and scenic but also had lots of people trying to sell things and asking for handouts.

 

Check the port boards for other opinions on this port. Maybe others have had better luck than we did there.

 

Here is a link to a thread on the ports board on this port.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=133348

 

After reading some of these posts either things have improved since we were there or we just went to the wrong places. Anyway try some of the other links on the above link for more information.

 

Have a great cruise.

[traveller99]

Hi, azcruiselover. We stopped there this past August on the Golden Princess. I stayed with the ship, but my DW went on the Dolphin Excursion. She really enjoyed that. You were in a huge pool with the Dolphins and received instructions on their natural habitat and how they are kept at the water park (their current residence). The dolphins "talked", interacted and let you pet them, etc. The greatest part was the ride you could take on them. You held on to their dorsal fin and they took off across the pool like a bat outa hell, with you hanging on. Apparently, not too many dolphin excursions do that, from what I've heard. They also took photos and burn them on a CD for you to take home. We have some great photos of this. The dock has the souvenier huts, but the vendors were not pushy at all. There is, what looked like, a really nice beach right there, also. It has jet skis for rent and I think you could get refreshments there, too. Wwinfl91 is right about the political atmosphere, but Isla de Margarita is not quite as charged as mainland Venezuela. I would suggest staying with an excursion, though.

[GCurry]

My wife and I did the 4 Wheel excursion. Good people running it, saw some of the wilder parts of the island, spent some time on a beach at a primative fishing village, the red sand is different.

A lot of people really liked the swamp/lagoon tour by boat, they saw seahorses etc.

[AnnJohn]

We enjoyed the 4X4 excursion too. Very fun and "authentic." We went to a great beach far from the crowd and it was very nice. The tour operators were great. From what I heard on the ship, you need to be careful going off on your own (not on an excursion). Someone went to a restaurant that was recommended to them and they ended up somewhere where noone spoke English and there were guards with guns. There are some very primitive poor areas on Margarita Island so I would stay with the official excursions myself.

[azcruiselover]

Thank you all for the great responses, we will stick to the excursions offered by the ship since its safer at that port and not exploring by ourseleves!!! Thanks Again All!:D