60- somethings on a Panama Canal cruise

[Kruizin'Kath]

Barring zip line tours:eek:, what is the best way for us to see the rain forest? The tours seem to be action oriented, except for the tram tour, but one of us is afraid of heights!!!! Any ideas? Also beach outings in Mexico....should we do a tour, or is it safe to do this independently? Thanks for any help!:D

[garycarla]

We are 60 somethings, but do not remember any port where we stopped and there was a rain forest.

 

In any event, lots of people to either totally independent, or with small groups for tours. Check out the ROLL CALL for your cruise. And the PORTS OF CALL for your ports

[valleyvillage]

We did the rain forest tour in Costa Rica. It was a tram, but you never really felt high off the ground, you are going up a hill sort of through the rain forest. It was great! Part of it is a gentle walk through part of the forest, you could take the excursion and skip the tram if it still looked scary. I bet you will love it!

[Nightengale212]

We are 50 something and did the best excursion to the rainforest in Costa Rica on our Princess Panama Canal cruise. Not sure if NCL offers this excursion, but if they do it is called Off-Road Tour, Village Visit, and Banana Plantation. You are taken into the rainforest in an off-road vehicle that was designed by the guides/owners that can hold around 20 people. You do some walking but nothing more than you would do in a grocery store. The guides were the best and we saw and learned so much from then about the rainforest and Costa Rica. Best excursion we ever did in all our 7 cruises!!

[Kruizin'Kath]

Thanks for the info. I did check out our roll call & there are only 3 of us on it:(! NCL has a banana plantation tour, but I'll have to check it out a little better. The tram tour does look interesting, but....I am the one who is afraid of heights:eek:. I may be willing to try, but not so sure DH wants to be with me when I do:D. This was moved from NCL board, & I don't know where it is. I clicked on it & it brought me here, wherever here is:confused:

Again, many thanks!

[Richard in Panama]

If you are taking a Canal Cruise where you actually have opportunity to get off and experience Panama, most cruise lines offer a Rain Forest Walk or similar title in Panama, there is a boat trip to an island in Gatun Lake where there are monkeys, etc. Most of Costa Rica and Panama IS a rain forest. In Costa Rica there is a trip to Veragua Rain Forest which is fantastic. So if NCL isn't offering these . . . well, the other cruise lines are. The best way to see the rain forest is to walk with a knowledgeable guide who can explain along the way.

 

Regards, Richard

[Suitcasefull]

Barring zip line tours:eek:' date=' what is the best way for us to see the rain forest? The tours seem to be action oriented, except for the tram tour, but one of us is afraid of heights!!!! Any ideas? Also beach outings in Mexico....should we do a tour, or is it safe to do this independently? Thanks for any help!:D[/quote']

 

We're peers, were on the Pearl this April through PC and loved our excursions! At PuntaRenas Costa Rica we booked through Greenway Tours since DH has worries about heat and saw parts of the forest, walking on hanging bridges (don't think you'll have a problem since you don't have to look down plus surrounded by trees.....not like looking out off a building) Olie was our guide and very professional and fun. Think it was their 6 in 1 tour. Great day! They have a web site but also respond quickly and will work with you for any specific needs, wants.

In Huatulco, Mexico, we booked with Marcos Lopez for the day and it was fantastic. He has several tours to choose from, including just beaches but we chose to go to various places and see more of the area. He also will accomodate your wishes as to what you want to do or see. I have his e-mail.

At Puerto Vallarta we went to Las Caletas, booked through NCL. It was nice, pretty, and included lunch. Only problem was the 20-something guys walking their pace instead of ours. LOL

Assuming you have same ports, could tell you others if interested. e- suitcasefull at hotmail

Fantastic trip! Wish we were going again!

[mlj555]

We're peers, were on the Pearl this April through PC and loved our excursions! At PuntaRenas Costa Rica we booked through Greenway Tours since DH has worries about heat and saw parts of the forest, walking on hanging bridges (don't think you'll have a problem since you don't have to look down plus surrounded by trees.....not like looking out off a building) Olie was our guide and very professional and fun. Think it was their 6 in 1 tour. Great day! They have a web site but also respond quickly and will work with you for any specific needs, wants. Fantastic trip! Wish we were going again!

 

We did the Panama Canal cruise on Princess in Nov. 2012. In Putarenas Costa Rica we did the Greenway tour ttp://www.greenwaytours.com mentioned here. I can attest to the promptness of email replies. On the forest walk (a bit of a climb up and down a few steps here and there) I lost my camera. They sent someone out to find it and called the guide as we were returning to the ship. Jackie took my address and said she would take care of it. After two months I had written it off but DH insisted I should email the co. Sure enough, they had it but had lost the address and were waiting for me to contact them so they could get my address again. I received it this week and I can't tell you how impressed I was with this company's honesty. BTW, it was a great tour and Jackie, our guide, spoke good English and was very informative and helpful. We also had a river cruise where we saw huge crocodiles. Our driver fed them so they were very close to the boat. Other tour buses stopped on the road and tourists looked down from the bridge.

[lamchops]

We did the Panama Canal on the Pearl 2 years ago and it was fantastic! here is an excerpt from my journal regarding the rainforest tour.

 

Tips for the cruise:

1) Make sure you enter the "Bowling with the NCL Stars" tournament even if you don't bowl on a regular basis. The "Stars" will take care of you throughout the cruise.

2) the buffet coffee machine closest to the kid's dining area "single brews" coffee vs. the batch brews of the other machines.

 

Puntarenas, Costa Rica

We had a leisurely start to the morning and plenty of time to get ready for our "Rain Forest Skywalk" tour. We were taken to the rainforest area about 40 minutes southwest of Puntarenas. We were taken to a hotel site which owned the property to sign our waivers. The tour was a 1 mile walk down through the rain forest crossing 3 suspension bridges. On the tour we saw a lot of butterflies and tropical fauna. DW spotted a poisonous frog as well as leaf ants for the group. The guide showed us a Tarantula nest as well as wild cashew and mango trees. The views form the openings in the forest were spectacular. I saw a huge beetle sitting on a leaf as well as some cup shaped fungus growing on some dead wood. When we stopped for our fruit and juice break the waiter showed us a tree frog sitting on a leaf. after the break we noticed 2 Iguanas sitting on a river bank. There was a black one and a huge one walking along the shore. On the way back to the ship we crossed a river and saw 2 crocodiles basking in the sun along the shore. Once we got back on board the ship we had a quick snack, dropped off our gear and scurried onto the shore to spend the last couple of hours in port. I went to the coffee shop at the end of the pier to use the free Wi-Fi while DW went shopping in the marketplace. As we were on the pier returning to the ship, we noticed the beauty of the beach and the scenery in the area. There was group of people peering over the railing so we also stopped to see what they were looking at. We saw a school of stingray swimming near the water surface. The site of them was stunning and so cool! The pier had flags of the world flying and we had to stop and take a picture with the Canadian flag. Once on ship we went on deck to watch the sail away. It was delayed for about 45 minutes as a tour was late getting back. The wharf area looked great in the dimming light of sunset.

[40yearcruiser]

We are going through the Panama Canal next month on Celebrity Infinity and have booked a tour with My Friend Mario (www.myfriendmario.com). He offers a tour that includes a rainforest hike. I can't give you any definite information on it yet since we haven't been there, but it is a possibility for you. I'll try to give some feedback after we return.

[voyager-sue]

We did the Panama Canal cruise in Feb, 2012, ending in Los Angeles.

 

We stopped for a day in Huatulco, Mexico,and everyone liked it. The town was developed only 27 years ago and has a very pleasant look. The cruise ships dock at the lovely marina in Santa Cruz Bay. We wondered what there is to do there besides going to the charming town of Crucecita. A fellow passenger advised hiring a boat to explore the bays of Huatulco.

 

We returned to Huatulco for a week with a group of 14 neighbors to celebrate our friends' 60th wedding anniversary in January. We hired a boat from Paco in Santa Cruz bay. Paco is a really good guy. He's had a lot of experience along the coast, and his boat has lots of shade. It also has a shallow draft so we could pull up to the beach and just jump out. We gave him extra money for beers, sodas, and water, and we had lots left over. He did a great job of showing us the sights, and took us snorkeling to India Bay, a small bay inside a larger bay. It was wonderful snorkeling because there was hardly any surge, and the fish were abundant. He went into the water with us, which was a good thing among a bunch of 70-80 year-olds, and a couple of people needed help. Both were so grateful to him. Here's Paco's info: Francisco Martinez, PCF1184@hotmail.com, ph 958-116-60-22 (from US dial 011-52 first).

 

On another day, we took a 3 level tour, from the beach level where we were, to about 2,000 feet to a 474 year old city, to about 4,400 feet to the coffee plantation level. Our tour guide has a degree in biology, and he knew the answers to all the questions we asked, especially about flowers and trees. He also told us about an archaeology site that was recently discovered. It was older than the Aztecs and Mayans, but not so old as the Olmecs. We didn't get to take that tour, but I'm sure many of the ITN readers would be interested in that too. In the mountains we got to explore a woman's garden with hundreds, maybe thousands, of plants, many of them orchids. Our tour guide was Alberto España Chavez, who can be reached at spain1965@hotmail.com, phone 958-106-57-90 (from US dial 011-52 first). We all highly recommend him.

 

Both Alberto and Paco spoke excellent English and were great tour guides.