is panama safe to book your own taxi and transfers?

[basketballdad]

So we are on the NCL Jewel and did the air through the ship but have not gotten any flight info.  We are guessing we fly in to Panama city the night before the cruise out of Colon.  The ship wants a huge premium to stay in their hotel (about double) and has transfers that seem a little high.  I mean we can stay at the Waldorf for alot less than their Hilton.  Question:  Is it safe to just hop a taxi from airport to RUI or Waldorf the first night, and use a shuttle service (several online) the next day to get to ship?  Thoughts?

[quillwercruisers]

We will be on the Jewell 3/12/23 out of Panama City, and the hotel we are staying at said they could arrange for our transportation from the airport to the hotel.  Maybe you can check with whatever hotel you end up booking and see if they have something similar. Thankfully they have a free shuttle in the morning to the port as well.

 

Good Luck and enjoy your cruise!!

[basketballdad]

1 hour ago, quillwercruisers said:

We will be on the Jewell 3/12/23 out of Panama City, and the hotel we are staying at said they could arrange for our transportation from the airport to the hotel.  Maybe you can check with whatever hotel you end up booking and see if they have something similar. Thankfully they have a free shuttle in the morning to the port as well.

 

Good Luck and enjoy your cruise!!

What hotel?

[Essiesmom]

Are you sure you are sailing from Colon, not Panama City? I’m not seeing any cruises from Colon.  EM

[njhorseman]

1 hour ago, Essiesmom said:

Are you sure you are sailing from Colon, not Panama City? I’m not seeing any cruises from Colon.  EM

There are a number of NCL Jewel cruises that depart from Colon. They list them as departing from Panama City (Colon) . 

[BillB48]

I have not had any experience with RIU, I did look at their website briefly but that did not provide my any info on the hotels.  There is nothing inherently unsafe about getting transportation to a well known hotel brand and then using a shuttle to get to the ship.  Just normal precautions would be in order and allow plenty of time to get to the ship in Colon.  Time to allow sufficient travel time and time to make secondary transportation plans in case the first plans fall through.

 

In all honestly, in these situations it sometimes more convenient to deal with a known entity even though you can get a better "deal" on your own.

[quillwercruisers]

On 9/6/2022 at 5:27 PM, basketballdad said:

What hotel?

We are staying at the Radisson in Panama City.

[jtdlmc]

On 9/8/2022 at 9:28 AM, quillwercruisers said:

We are staying at the Radisson in Panama City.

How did you get ahold of any one there?  I have sent about 10 emails inquiring about transportation options and have received no response.  

[quillwercruisers]

55 minutes ago, jtdlmc said:

How did you get ahold of any one there?  I have sent about 10 emails inquiring about transportation options and have received no response.  

rhi_pnca@radissonamericas.com is the email address that I used.  I'm pretty sure I got it off the Radisson website.  They responded fairly quickly to all of my emails.

[jtdlmc]

3 hours ago, quillwercruisers said:

rhi_pnca@radissonamericas.com is the email address that I used.  I'm pretty sure I got it off the Radisson website.  They responded fairly quickly to all of my emails.

Yes that is the one I have been using.  No response at all from them over the past probably 3 months.  I didn’t want to try calling in case nobody speaks English, which I was advised many of the hotel employees don’t, but may have to. Thanks for your response.  

[quillwercruisers]

13 hours ago, jtdlmc said:

Yes that is the one I have been using.  No response at all from them over the past probably 3 months.  I didn’t want to try calling in case nobody speaks English, which I was advised many of the hotel employees don’t, but may have to. Thanks for your response.  

You're welcome.  I would think that someone at the front desk would speak English.  Good luck and enjoy your cruise.

[basketballdad]

K we took some advice.

In a foreign country where we do not speak the native language, we pay a few bucks more and we decided to use the ships transfers and the ships hotel.  Now we just hope they pick us up as promised 🙂

[jtdlmc]

On 9/15/2022 at 10:38 AM, basketballdad said:

K we took some advice.

In a foreign country where we do not speak the native language, we pay a few bucks more and we decided to use the ships transfers and the ships hotel.  Now we just hope they pick us up as promised 🙂

We have also booked the ships hotel package just for convenience but it doesn’t include transportation from airport to hotel (even though it says it does non NCLs website but apparently the hotel no longer has an airport shuttle so it’s not provided).  So all in all with the estimated cost of transportation and a different often recommended hotel NCLs package is about $300 more plus we still have to arrange transportation to the hotel on our own.  

[dege]

We spent a few months in Panama earlier this year. I found that many hotels/businesses/taxis seemed to use WhatsApp for communication. I downloaded the app and was able to call them (via the app) from the US. When we arrived in Panama, I purchased a TIGO sim card at the airport ($30 for 30 days) for data services and dropped it into my unlocked phone. I was able to call hotels/taxis/restaurants directly. Look at the hotel websites to see if they have an English version or mention that the staff speaks English. We really didn't have any problem finding  English speaking people where ever we went. We used the Crowne Plaza's free shuttle service to pick us up from the airport.If you find a hotel near the airport they might have a shuttle service for guests. We found taxi drivers to be honest & polite throughout the country, but didn't have the need for a taxi in Panama City.