Disappointed in Ports of Call Site

[5326jan]

Did you have to give her a deposit to hold your reservation? I'm just not comfortable doing this, if the ship does not dock for some reason. Then you have to hope you get your deposit back!!! I have heard some really great things about this claudia.

 

Thanks, Grace

 

Hi Grace! No, Claudia did not ask for a deposit. She sent me a confirmation email and said that she will touch base closer to time of travel to re-confirm numbers.

[itzmered]

We toured with Claudia in Cartagena. She is an Excellent guide. The only thing we didnt care for on the tour was the stop at the emerald stores. No one on our tour was interested and she insisted we stop there. We all would have rather spent more time at the Fort.

[Donray]

Just make sure you get to Antigua.............

[Ronnieslady]

Hi Grace! No, Claudia did not ask for a deposit. She sent me a confirmation email and said that she will touch base closer to time of travel to re-confirm numbers.

 

 

Thanks so much for the info. I will E-Mail Claudia & tell her we just want to go to the La Popa Monastery, into that fort not just the ouitside for a photo stop, & maybe a little shopping in Old Town. That is all due to the heat.,with NO emerald shopping. 3 hours should be enough with that high humitity. If she can do it then great, if not then, so be it. It will be interesting to see what she says. Time will tell. I will keep all of you posted. Our cruise is not until Sept 20.

 

I appreciate your info,

 

Grace:)

[5326jan]

Thanks so much for the info. I will E-Mail Claudia & tell her we just want to go to the La Popa Monastery, into that fort not just the ouitside for a photo stop, & maybe a little shopping in Old Town. That is all due to the heat.,with NO emerald shopping. 3 hours should be enough with that high humitity. If she can do it then great, if not then, so be it. It will be interesting to see what she says. Time will tell. I will keep all of you posted. Our cruise is not until Sept 20.

 

I appreciate your info,

 

Grace:)

 

Since you'll go before we do, please check back and let me know how you liked it and any suggestions. Thanks! Have a great trip! September's not that far off!:)

[Loonbeam]

3 hours might be a little optimistic.

 

It's a good 20 min drive to the monastery, plan for at least 30-40 mins there, then the drive back. Another 60-90 mins for the fort (parking and walking in takes a little time and depends on how far you want to go in. Another 60 mins for the old town as well at least (you do want to walk up on the walls and check out some of the streets and squares and maybe a church or two.)

 

I'd look into the 4+ hour range so you don't have to maintain a killer pace.

 

Thanks so much for the info. I will E-Mail Claudia & tell her we just want to go to the La Popa Monastery, into that fort not just the ouitside for a photo stop, & maybe a little shopping in Old Town. That is all due to the heat.,with NO emerald shopping. 3 hours should be enough with that high humitity. If she can do it then great, if not then, so be it. It will be interesting to see what she says. Time will tell. I will keep all of you posted. Our cruise is not until Sept 20.

 

I appreciate your info,

 

Grace:)

[Ronnieslady]

3 hours might be a little optimistic.

 

It's a good 20 min drive to the monastery, plan for at least 30-40 mins there, then the drive back. Another 60-90 mins for the fort (parking and walking in takes a little time and depends on how far you want to go in. Another 60 mins for the old town as well at least (you do want to walk up on the walls and check out some of the streets and squares and maybe a church or two.)

 

I'd look into the 4+ hour range so you don't have to maintain a killer pace.

 

Probably only just look around for 20 minutes might not go into the Monastery itself, with 45 minutes @ the fort & my DH will only want a quick look around the Old City with no shopping @ all .Might only have time to go into one church, either the Monastery or Claver.

 

Do you have a sugestion of which church we should go into, if we pick only one to actually go into???

 

Thanks for your help,

 

Grace

[lcmslady]

To the OP - you're right that the Panama Canal board doesn't have as much info. Here's what you should remember.....not nearly as many people cruise the Canal as the other ports. Even some of the Caribbeann ports don't get lots of traffic.

Second, more people do partial transits than full transits.

I'll echo other folks who suggested doing some research at Tripadvisor.com

 

I'm actually doing more research for my upcoming PC trip there than here because there is more info.

 

Good luck and enjoy your cruise!