NCL Shopping Tour in Cartagena, Colombia -- Thoughts?

[ajtraveler66]

We are trying to decide what to do while at port in Cartagena, Colombia, while on our Panama Canal cruise this January.  

 

We are seniors, and we really do like the idea of taking an excursion through the ship.  We currently don't have very many excursions from which to choose, but one of the excursions is a shopping tour into Cartegena.  It will include going to Las Bovedas and La Serrezuela.  Also included is a stop for coffee, a stop for rum, and a place to see/shop for emeralds (name of store is not mentioned).  

 

If you have taken this excursion, is there a reasonable amount of freedom as you browse/shop?  (In other words are you free to roam...and then meet at a designated place at a designated time, etc., etc.).  Also share your general thoughts.

 

Your input is appreciated.

 

 

[CruiserBruce]

Cartagena is covered on the Colombia board, here:

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/391-colombia/

 

 

[9tee2Sea]

I forgot the name of the Emerald store, but it's a huge store, where many cruise ships drop off passengers as part of their tours.  The store has an interesting exhibit in a back area.  It's like a small emerald mine.  You can see how the harvest emeralds.  One tip I was told, if buying jade from a street vendor, put a match to it.  If it melts, it's not Jade.  Don't know about pricing at the jewelry store, but everything does look very pretty and shiny.

[Turtles06]

Will this be your first visit to Cartagena?  I realize everyone's interests are different, but we've been there twice, and imho it's far too interesting a city to spend the time on a shopping tour.  Is there no NCL tour of the walled city?  Again, YMMV.

[ajtraveler66]

On 11/11/2023 at 5:47 PM, Turtles06 said:

Will this be your first visit to Cartagena?  I realize everyone's interests are different, but we've been there twice, and imho it's far too interesting a city to spend the time on a shopping tour.  Is there no NCL tour of the walled city?  Again, YMMV.

Yes...our first.  Someone in our party of four recently talked to a sibling who has spent time in Cartegena.  We were given pretty much the same advice that you've shared.  One thing that was mentioned was to be sure--while we are there--to get some seafood along with coconut rice. Looking forward to that day, hoping the weather will cooperate. 

[junglejane]

We were recently in Cartagena on a Viking Panama Canal cruise. We signed up for an excursion billed as a walking tour of the Old City. The first stop was at Las Bovedas. I complained afterwards to the Viking shore excursion manager about the stop. Immediately upon getting off the bus we were swarmed by aggressive vendors selling T-shirts, maracas, etc, who didn't want to take no for an answer. The merchandise in each of the arches was all very typical cheap tourist stuff. I felt pressured and guilty that there was nothing there I wanted to buy, so I ended up buying a bag of coffee. We were also told that this was our "restroom" stop and directed to use a toilet in one of the Arches. The toilet was in a room that looked like the mop closet, full of cleaning supplies, very tiny and not impressively clean. Later as we walked through the old city, I saw more upscale stores that looked much more like somewhere I would've wanted to shop, but we didn't stop there. On the plus side for Viking, I will say that when I filled out the feedback form the shore excursion manager followed up with me and seemed to take my feedback seriously.
 

Edited November 21, 2023 by junglejane