Info on Cartagena, Please

[Fogfog]

Tryng to decide between Mr Miles and Christian...

 

and prices for exmple vary. I see a quote for $170 here from the emerald man, but he's quoted us $240 for the same amount of time...same sized vehicle

 

Any thoughts?

[stl82]

I think in my case Lee Miles quoted a higher figure ($210 to $270) that included his fee plus estimated entrance costs that vary depending on what is visited. The final price we came to was $170 for the guide and car only. Extras include the entrance fees, lunch and tip to the guide. He also indicated lunch at the recommended restaurant would be $15-20 per person. So total cost for everything for 3-4 hours of touring will be about $300.

 

David

[mindy41]

I had a quote from Lee Miles of $170.00 for four people with car and english guide. The entrance fees to where we are going is roughly 20 - 25 per person. This is a four hour tour in Colombia.

Lorinda

[Fogfog]

I think in my case Lee Miles quoted a higher figure ($210 to $270) that included his fee plus estimated entrance costs that vary depending on what is visited. The final price we came to was $170 for the guide and car only. Extras include the entrance fees, lunch and tip to the guide. He also indicated lunch at the recommended restaurant would be $15-20 per person. So total cost for everything for 3-4 hours of touring will be about $300.

 

David

 

 

Isn't $300 for 4 hours really expensive? --we are talking the Cartagena economy...Isn't that really high?

[stl82]

The breakdown of the costs is:

 

Guide and car: $170

Lunch for 4: 80 (Assuming $20 each)

Admissions: 40 (Just a guess on my part, somewhere I read it cost about $5 each at various places.)

 

(Sorry this got posted before I was finished so I'll complete it now!)

 

The Royal Caribbean tours in Cartagena are in the range of $35 to $45 each. I think most of these tours have a visit to one of the sites, but no lunch. So for 4 the cost would be $160 plus lunch plus admissions to other sites if desired.

 

So yes the private tour is more expensive but the advantage is that it is your tour. Your can change the itinerary, stay longer or shorter at places, add or delete places to see, ride in a car rather than a bus, etc. Having this flexibility does add to the cost but it brings with it several advantages.

 

We had a private tour at Niagara Falls this summer and paid a lot more than $40/hour.

 

It comes down to how much a person is willing to spend for the goods and services provided. In our case, we decided that the extra cost to have a private guide was worth it.

 

David

[mindy41]

We aren't going to stop and have lunch, we decided that with such a limited amount of time we would forgo the restaurants and just eat on the ship.

 

I think the $5.00 p/p for admission is what I understand as well.

 

Weather is so cold here the last few days, Feb can't come soon enough for me.

 

Lorinda

[kickin904]

Good evening from Texas, Would you be kind enough to provide the name of the tour company you used in Cabo

 

Regards, Bill

[Ladysmith_Que]

This is the link to the other thread...

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=409637

[Ladysmith_Que]

Hi all, As mentioned before, in Oct. 2006, the cost for a van (handling 10 people comfortably) was $180. Using CC Roll Call, I had 6 people committed when we left (still a good price compared to the ship's tour) and recruited four more people on board. That amounted to $18/pp. Entrance fees amounted to about $3/pp. Because we left the pier about 8:30 a.m., there was no need to include lunch as we were docked dropped off at the pier following our tour (though 2 couples chose to stay on and took a taxi back later.... no problem and cheap). If you are talking about a car, naturally, prices are more expensive but not appeciably so. There is no way you can see all the places in four hours... choose the sites you wish to see and go with that.

 

Bill, try http://www.cabosports.com/land-tours/los-cabos-tour.shtml for your tour in Cabo. I booked with them online and had a great time! For $49/pp, you will have 6 hrs. of touring, including a glass-bottomed boat and lunch. This company either owns, or subs out the tour to Rancho Tours. You will be picked up and dropped off at the pier. They can be reached at info@cabosports.com .

 

I highly recommend them.

 

Cheers, Bruce

[SqueakyDust]

'We' are a Scottish family (2 adults, 2 kids - 11 & 12 years) who recently sailed on a British Ship (Ocean Village) and one of our stops was Cartegana. The following is a summary of what we did, and my opinions on it....

We did The Best of Cartagena Tour, via the ship.

Firstly I must say, what a surprise this Port was. It is a beautiful city, full of history, with lovely buildings and busy.

Eventhough we did the ships' tour (I was worried over security from what I'd read here) I do feel you could easily do this trip yourself via taxi. The main problem would be getting someone who speaks fluent English and could tell you all the history/info like a tour guide will. Therefore, we actually felt this trip was worth it's money, via the ship.

 

I think our guide was called Josette and was a local. Her English was excellent and she was very informative.

Our first stop was the Monestary on the hill "La Popa". As the bus drew into the parking lot a surge of vendors surrounded the bus showing us their wares through the windows. It was initially daunting but we just

said "No Gracias" and walked into the Monestary. They were not allowed through the gates. I'll not say too much about the individual buildings etc as that may spoil the trip for other. Awesome views. I was a bit worried about running the gauntlet back out in the parking lot, but we did look at their wares and bought hats. Some of the vendors were a bit insistent but we never felt unsafe.

Next stop was the Fortress where we only got out to take photos.:confused: Again there are vendors here. Our DS bought local coins, here, mounted on card. Then we had a stop at shops under arches. There are approx 40 but we were asked not to wander far. Most sell emeralds and DD did manage to get Daddy to buy little coffee beans with emeralds in!

 

Josette mentioned we'd be soon going to see the show. ?? By this time we were starting to wander what she was talking about and luckily someone had their Action Ashore book. We mentioned we thought she had the wrong tour and rattled off what we expected and that we should have gone into the Fortress. Whilst at our next stop Josette checked with her bosses and found out she'd been told the wrong info of what we'd to do, but she now had tickets for the Fortress and we'd return to it at the end of the tour.

 

We walked through the old town a bit before getting to the Claver Church. There are loads of vendors here and Josette spoke to them a couple of times. Sometimes I think it was to scold them for interupting her/talking over her and sometimes I think it was to leave us be. I noticed the Vendors here all wore ID tags round their necks. We only saw the one beggar. We did see uniformed people, wearing guns and at one point as another church was pointed out, whilst we were on the coach, I spotted a guy on top with a rifle on his back - but I never felt worried/scared.

 

We went to a show where we got a free drink. The show wasn't part of the tour and not our scene but the drink was appreciated., and those dancers certainly can move! I think this is the navy museum also as there was a display inside of various battles/invasions. Lovely and cool. Next we were taken to the new city and dropped off for shopping. Again it was mainly Emeralds, but we prefer local trinkets/arts and crafts.

 

After this Josette took us back to the Fort and we went up into it. She did not rush this part and our 4 hour trip turned into 5 hours. When we got back to the Fort there were no vendors around, but they miraculously appeared from nowhere.

Even our kids enjoyed this tour. We'd been worried it would be boring for them but the short stops and snippets of history interested them.

 

I highly recommend this tour and city.

 

Hope this is of some help.

[LunaSeaRetreat]

Thanks for the information. We will be on the Island Princess in February. It's nice to hear so many good things about Cartagena.

Cynthia

[txfab]

Thanks for the excursion review SqueakyDust, I will be in port with the MSC Lirica in Feb. I will look into this tour also.

txfab

[mindy41]

Our DS bought local coins, here, mounted on card. Then we had a stop at shops under arches. There are approx 40 but we were asked not to wander far. Most sell emeralds and DD did manage to get Daddy to buy little coffee beans with emeralds in!

 

 

Thanks for the review SqueakyDust - we will be in Cartagena on the 26th of Feb and sounds like we will be going to many of the same places you were at.

Couple of questions for you - Did you receive local currency in change back? Where are the shops under the arches by - I am interested in the coffee beans with emeralds. Are they loose beans or in necklaces? Can you give me an approximate cost on them.

Thanks again

Lorinda

[AG Cruisers]

Thank you so much for your review.

 

We are doing a private tour and are curious how much time it takes to go from the fort to the monastery. We were told that the trip up the hill to see La Popa and back with time to tour it would take an hour. Sound about right?

 

Thanks!