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Costa Rica Nov 30 preview/review

Jim Avery

By Jim Avery,
in SeaDream Yacht Club

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Zimmy

Zimmy

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Bon Voyage & safe travels, Jim & Lois. Hopefully they have solved the internet issues and we will hear from you while onboard. If not, I certainly understand why, and we will look forward to reading your review upon your return.

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Jim Avery

Jim Avery

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In CR at the San Jose Marriott awaiting transport for the Poas Volcano and delivery to SeaDream! Good flights on United. Early both legs. Marriott is beautiful. Lots to do and good bars and restaurants. Met Mr and Mrs mcavanaugh so have travel companions today. They are doing a btb (lucky dogs!). If you stay here, avoid the rooms around the beautiful central courtyard. They are noisy at night as the bars open to the courtyard. That's the only complaint we have here. Well the cell phones do not work in CR. Seems you need your AT&T phone unlocked, then buy a CR SIM card. Who knew. Now if the Bama game will be on when we board, all will be well. More later if the SD wifi works. Works great at the Marriott. Roll Tide!!!

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Zimmy

Zimmy

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Jim, our AT&T phones DID work in Costa Rica - sporadic internet, email, etc but we did make and receive phone calls. We bought nothing special, just called AT&T prior to our trip, told them where we were going, and bought the phone and data packages. Really just like every other international trip. You may need to pursue this.

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vandrefalk

vandrefalk

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Jim, sorry for you about the game, but you gotta admit, it was a hell of a finish! Hope you are onboard and having fun. Please say hi to everyone and tell them we miss them. Looking forward to reports!

The Nicaraugua port (next week, I think) was on House Hunters International last night -- looked really nice!

Enjoy!

Vandrefalk

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CKforensic

CKforensic

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Jim, sorry for you about the game, but you gotta admit, it was a hell of a finish! Hope you are onboard and having fun. Please say hi to everyone and tell them we miss them. Looking forward to reports!

The Nicaraugua port (next week, I think) was on House Hunters International last night -- looked really nice!

Enjoy!

Vandrefalk

 

We were on the November 23 sailing that visited San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua. The trip was wonderful. It was our first time on SeaDream but certainly will not be our last. The biggest complaint was the internet, which was VERY frustrating and often only worked after midnight while standing on one leg and leaning towards the port side. ;)

 

There isn't much to do in San Juan del Sur other than to walk around the beach area and possibly stop in a bar. We did that and then went back on to the ship to use the water sports and have a few drinks. Some tours were offered through the ship that went to a volcano. I think that they were ~8-9 hours but those who participated said that it was very nice (although long).

 

Let me know if anybody has questions about the other Costa Rican ports from our voyage (e.g. Playa Flamingo, Playa el Coco, Quepos, or Tortuga Islands) or about the trip in general.

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CKforensic

CKforensic

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We are on the Dec 14 sailing and looking for any advice on shorex that anyone might have, as well as any other advice. Also, if we get to Puerto Caldera before 2:00 pm, is there a recommended place for a pre-boarding cocktail?

 

Which ports will you be visiting? There is nothing in the immediate vicinity of Puerto Caldera so you would probably need to go into Puntarenas.

 

Since our flight arrived early but we didn't have enough time to do a tour, we went directly to the port and actually arrived a little before noon. They had some lemonade, cookies, and fruit on a table in a holding building near the ship. Nobody even came to greet us until 1:40. I recognize that they need to get the ship turned over from the previous voyage but thought they would have somebody walk ~30 meters from the ship to at least say hello. I was later told that they would have allowed us to board before 2 PM and hang out by the pool but that we would not be allowed to go to our room, which would have been great. It may depend on your availability to get the attention of the right person when you arrive but it may be worth a shot.

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Zimmy

Zimmy

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On the second half of our back to back, at Balboa, newly arriving passengers were allowed to board early. Of course half the ship were staying on, so many were onboard already. I was wondering if it was different because it was a tender port, the first one of those I've seen for embarcation or debarcation.

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zeronine

zeronine

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Let me know if anybody has questions about the other Costa Rican ports from our voyage (e.g. Playa Flamingo, Playa el Coco, Quepos, or Tortuga Islands) or about the trip in general.

 

 

We are on the Dec 21 sailing and are wondering about the excursions. Are there any that stood out? Any sightseeing recommendations in the ports?

Also, were the water toys in the marina available at all of the stops?

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Zimmy

Zimmy

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Highly recommend the Manuel Antonio National Park excursion in Quepos. An easy hike through the park with a small group and excellent guides. You can do the walk yourself, but you will miss all the nature the guide points out. The walk ends with a short dip at a nice beach.

 

Also, be aware that Puerto Caldera is an industrial port. You won't find restaurants, bars or shopping at the port.

 

Zimmy's DH (Now I see DW gave a short answer before I finished typing. Note for the record that we agreed on this.)

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CKforensic

CKforensic

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We were planning to do the Manuel Antonio National Park excursion in Quepos but it was raining lightly so we were able to change to the rafting excursion. While it was only class I-II, it was a great time. Halfway through our rafting we went ashore for a snack with the best pineapples we have ever eaten along with some watermellon and fruit juice. We were also able to get into the water and float down part of the river since it wasn't moving too quickly in that area. The water was refreshing and a lot of fun. One of the guides would paddle ahead and take pictures of us with his dSLR as we were going through the rapids.

 

While we were disappointed to not have gone through the National Park, I think that it was a good decision since we learned that animal viewing was more limited when the weather was iffy...and we wouldn't have been able to enjoy the beach area at the park (I got enough sun at Playa Flamingo anyway).

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Zimmy

Zimmy

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I am still waiting on the Jim Avery review. FT and I can manage to review on the fly, and put up a few pictures. What's your excuse?:D:D:D

 

His excuse is the internet. Having just left the ship on 11/23, I can attest to the fact that it is extremely slow to non-existent. I don't know whether the fault lies with the ship, with Costa Rica or a combination of the two. But it was extremely frustrating.

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Jim Avery

Jim Avery

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Zimmy and Vandrefalk are exactly right Philip. The worst internet "connection" ever! We are in the Club Lounge at SJO so catching up on things. I took notes so will do a complete review when I get back to a real keyboard. SD was great but a touch short staffed. 104 passengers and 92 crew. No kids and no large groups. A good mix on board this time. Costa Rica will be a one off for us. Lots nicer places IMHO. Details to follow.

J

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Zimmy

Zimmy

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Welcome home, Jim, and good luck with your reentry to real life. I'm glad that you faced no "kid" issues on this trip. We didn't feel that the ship was understaffed last month - some of the staff must have left for vacation without immediate replacements. Was the excessive heat and humidity in Costa Rica the reason you didn't love it? I have spoken to others who have been there January through April, and apparently the weather is more tolerable then. We look forward to reading your review.

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Jim Avery

Jim Avery

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It's good to be home again. Picked up fur baby at 7am so all is well.:D So, where to start? How about the flights down were actually early on both legs and our Coach Costa Rica driver was waiting for us at SJO. A short drive later, we were at the beautiful Marriott San Jose. A very nice place built on an old coffee plantation. We had time to walk around a bit and see the pool area and the lovely grounds. Our room was an Executive Concierge level suite and was about a $50 upgrade from standard. It was well worth it as it included really nice food at dinner and breakfast as well as the usual always available snacks, sodas, water, coffee, etc. One small caveat for this Marriott is that we had a beautiful room around a very picturesque courtyard. Beautiful to look at but very noisy at night due to the restaurant and bar tables spilling out into the courtyard. No problem if you are a night owl as it quiets after 11:30 or so but we had had a long day and turned in before that. If you want quiet evenings, pick a room away from this central meeting place. Also at the Marriott, we met fellow Cruise Critic poster mcavanaugh (Maxine and Dave). We had drinks and snacks at the bar overlooking the pool and got to know each other. Maxine and Dave are long time SeaDreamers going back to the Sea Goddess days as well as very well traveled on other lines. We had dinner with them several times and they were nice enough to include us in their 60th Anniversary dinner. If you ever get to sail with Maxine and Dave get to know them, they are fun. On Saturday, we had prearranged with Maxine and Dave to share a van to the ship by way of the Poas Volcano. Right on time again Juan Carlos Ramos of Coach Costa Rica picked us up at the Marriott. After a very bumpy ride of about an hour and a half, we arrived at Poas National Park. To rain, fog, and cold. Completely socked in. We learned it happens all the time. In addition to getting wet, there is no way to see anything of the volcano except a large beautiful picture in the visitors center taken on a clear day (in 1983 or so). Also, no refunds for lack of visibility. And it was a beautiful clear day when we left the Marriott. So, back in the van and back down the same very bumpy roads we just came up to go back through the very crowded and dirty town near the airport. Costa Rica suffers from infrastructure problems. The problem is they have none. The roads (and we spent a total of about 8 hours on them) are uniformly terrible. If you try to drive here be sure to rent a 4WD vehicle and make sure it has a working GPS as road signs are also in short supply. In addition to a generally dilapidated look to just about everything in the central highlands, just about everywhere we went that had more than 3 or 4 buildings the thing I take away is that everything has bars of steel and gates, most topped by razor wire! I have never seen so much razor wire and I have been to lots of third world places over the years. We passed one building that was completely surrounded by a steel fence with steel bars on all the doors and windows and razor wire everywhere. We asked the driver if that was the jail and he replied it was a school.:eek: I thought I went to a rough school. Houses around the towns had "carports" that were complete steel cages with a roof. Not protecting Ferraris here just Hyundai and Toyota SuVs. In my experience, no one puts up such things unless there is a need for them. It does not give one a comfy feeling. Well, on to Caldera. Same view most of the way. The countryside though is very vertical from all the volcanic activity over the years. Very green and scenic. We arrived in Caldera about 12:30 so found a roadside restaurant/bar about 1/4 mile north of the Port of Caldera entry. The food was nothing great and overpriced. We then arrived at the embarkation hall about 1:30 to find that boarding was already in progress and there was snacks and drinks available on board. Who knew? Checkin was a bit confused but went reasonably quickly and we were promptly delivered to our suite. We originally booked 212, were upgraded to 316 when there was a price drop on the website, then upgraded again to 415 a few days before departure. Great cabin. All the way forward on starboard side on 4 deck. Very quiet as it is next to the Spa and they are always whispering. Settled in and headed to the TOY Bar to get this show on the road. On the way, had two crew greet us from earlier trips. Amazing since our last trip on SD1 was in 2009! Also met two couples we had sailed with earlier. Old Home Week SeaDream style. :D

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