Santo Tomas cabs

[Terry&Leah]

We have read that cabs are available at the port of Santo Tomas di Castilla without prior arrangements being made. We are a party of 7 and would like to go to the waterfalls and just see some of the countryside. My question is, do we need to try to get off the ship quickly to secure a cab or would there still be some available mid to late morning? We are on the Christmas week cruise, which we are presuming will be completely full, therefore, more passengers. Thanks for your help.

[Toyz711]

i wouldn't just get a cab for a tour like that...go over to the guatemala boards... http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=460

you would have to walk out the secure area to find a cab, the docks are working frieght docks...big security gate with armed guards. outside the gates it's very poor and no shops or anything in the area. in fact, right outside the gates are a couple of schools. it's not a tourist area. not to say there wouldn't be cabs, just that you are going to be better off with a known tour guide or the ships tours. plus the highways are awful, the pass whenever they want to, not just when it's safe. a known tour guide with a good rep would be a lot better to go with.

as you can see from these photos, there is nothing right around the ship.

i did a ship's tour to quiriqua ruins, but another lady (from the same cruise) went with gus (talked about on the guatemala boards) and had a great time.

[Arlington22207]

Not to start an argument, because I actually agree with Toyz711's opinion that you should use a known tour guide for those activities (I recommend Go With Gus)...but you _can_ get taxi's on your own, and they have an area inside the secure fence for this.

 

Just outside the main market building there in the pier, there are a few guys arranging taxi rides from taxis that are parked inside the lot. At 10 AM there were still many taxi's left to be taken last week. We talked to the guy there but ultimately arranged something for the same price with a a dedicated guide through Go With Gus.

[sonadom]

We did the waterfall via a cruise shore excursion (thru Grayline - very well organized we thought). Ours didn't leave until noon, so we visited the market at the dock. There were still cabs lined up on the side of the market at about 11:00.

 

We enjoyed the waterfalls - two things though -- it will require an uphill walk maybe about 10 minutes to get there (wear your walking shoes), and bring crocs or similar if you plan to get in the water - shallow but lots of rock.

 

They sell bottled soft drinks and beer, and some fruit. There is also a small gift shop (and also people outside selling). And there are fairly nice bathrooms - all at the spot where the bus or cab drop off/pickup in the rain forest.

 

About 5:45 just before the ship leaves be sure and look dockside from the ship for the farewell. We were able to view this from our balcony (port side I guess. I always get that mixed up).

[fin]

Do they still do the thing on the dock when the ship leaves where dozens of vehicles line up with flashing lights and they dance on the dock?

[sonadom]

Do they still do the thing on the dock when the ship leaves where dozens of vehicles line up with flashing lights and they dance on the dock?

 

Yes. We heard drums beginning about 4:30 I guess. At first I thought it was my brother (in the adjoining room) playing on the $20 drum my sister in law insisted on buying! When we finally looked outside, we saw that it was their way of saying 'thank you'.

[Toyz711]

i have it on video, it was cool. 3 groups of young dancers..lots of hip swaying...a small band and a large group of LOUD people cheering and clapping.

[hova]

A couple of years ago, we stopped at this port. Prior to getting off the ship (HAL Veendam) we asked the Excursion desk if it would be safe to take a local taxi. He assured us it would be.

Right inside the docking area was a few cabs lined up. They had their prices posted on a board with the various excurisons that you could take. Our family of four took a tour to the Waterfalls along with another stop for some refreshments. Cost for all four of us was under $50.

On the way back to the ship, the cab driver took us to visit his family where we had some fresh fruit and a nice visit. The driver couldn't speak much English, but his daughter could speak it very well, and translated when necessary.

This stop was the highlight of our cruise, and I suspect it had a lot to do with our driver and personalized service we got.

A year later, we seen the same waterfalls featured on the "Survivor Guatamlala TV show" It was a reward for winning a challenge. Kind of cool to see that.

Regardless of what you do in Guatamala, make sure that you get into the countryside. The scenary is outstanding, and shouldn't be missed. Alot of people stayed on the ship and grumbled at the Port and how their wasn't much their. I guess it was their loss!

 

hova

[luv2snorkel]

get a tour guide when you get to port. plenty are available. we did a tour last year that was fantastic! exactly as you described - a small tour through town and the countryside and then to the falls. it was $35/person.

 

as you come off the ship, you will follow a *red carpet* path to the pavilion where tours are sold. closer to the building along the path, you will see people in khaki pants and white polos asking if you want a tour. this is the group we used and our guide was fabulous. highly, highly recommend them.

 

if you don't like what they are offering, there are other vendors in the pavilion to choose from.

 

luv2

[flashdog_1]

Visit the Ports of Call boards for Caribbean, Other if they don't have one specifically for Santo Tomas de Castilla. You can read about tours and taxis other people have taken. There will be websites listed where you can pre-arrange a tour, and of course, if you want to take a really long tour, and are concerned about getting back to the ship on time, you might feel more comfortable in booking a ship's tour. Those pre-booked NCL passengers get to disembark first. So if you have arranged a private tour ahead of time, be sure to get off as soon as you can so you can have a full day on land.

 

When we docked there (Veendam) in March of 2006 there were not a great number of ship's tours, so if you wanted something different you had to research on your own. Our tour guide assured us that there would be taxis, and there were, although we did have to bargain. (Our tour guide had told us what the fare should be and they originally asked for twice as much, so we balked and told them we'd pay only what we'd been told it would be. Of course they took it). We were a group of 6 and they would not let us have a van since they were saving the vans for larger groups. So they put us in two small cars, with 3 passengers and the driver in each. We did this inside the fenced area, actually inside the quonset hut. The cab drivers picked us back up at 3:30 as arranged to get us to the ship in time.

 

Our driver, Romeo, showed us the school where he was learning English and how to be a tour guide (we somehow managed to communicate with his halting English and my little Spanish), the 16th C church that the missionaries had built (now with a fence around it), and the town of Puerto Barrios before he let us off at the municipal port there where we met our guide who took us to Livingston.

 

Our guide was Javier Putul of the Hotel Casa Rosada in Livingston (website is hotelcasarosada.com). At the time he did not have permission to go to the port in Santo Tomas (security is very good there), but now, if he has a pre-booked excursion, he can pick you up right at the dock and you don't have to do as we did and go to Puerto Barrios. You can email back and forth and set up a private tour with just you and your family, or friends, so it is a comfortable thing. On the website you will see tours that he gives to people at the hotel, and there might be something along those lines you'd like to do. However, be warned that the price will be much higher since they'll have to do two full round trips from Livingston (25 minutes each way), whereas people staying at the hotel do not require that.

 

There may be other tour guides that I do not know about, and if you book with them, be sure they can give you names of people who took their tour so you can check them out before booking. Gus was quite personable, having lived in New York for years, & he spoke English quite well. Javier also spoke English. Their hotels are side by side in Livingston.

 

The six of us were in agreement that our trip on the Rio Dulce was the high point of the entire cruise. We didn't feel like tourists, but as if we were visiting a friend who was showing us the environs of Livingston.