Comparison of Antigua, Guatemala with Cartagena, Colombia

[davidnsteph]

We will be taking the Coral Princess next April on a full transit of the Panama Canal, and 2 of our ports will be Cartagena, Colombia and Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala.

 

We would greatly appreciate hearing from anyone who has visited both Cartagena and Antigua, Guatemala. Both are old Spanish colonial cities.

 

Which one did you like better? Did one impress you more than the other?

 

We appreciate any input.

 

DavidnSteph

[southwestgal]

We did the full Panama Canal transit on Princess in March. We enjoyed both cities, but they are very different.

 

Cartegena is right at the port. Big, bustling city with lots of variety to keep you busy. We usually don't take a ship's tour, but thought that Lee Miles was a bit overpriced for 2 people and didn't just want to hop in a cab. We took the city tour that visited the Monastery (La Popa), the walled city and the Fort. We only had a short time in port, so this was perfect. The city is beautiful and I felt that it was quite safe. Of course, you should always have your wits about you, but in retrospect, I would have felt safe with a cab. Especially since the port was just a few minutes away, so if you had car trouble, there would not have been an issue with missing the ship. The ship's tour was really nice though and they took us in smaller "buses" that held maybe 20 or so people. The city is full of beautiful architecture, shops and restaurants. You could definitely spend the day in Cartegena and not get bored.

 

Antigua, on the other hand, is about 90 minutes from the Port. This is a quiet city that is not as dependent on tourism as Cartegena. Much, much smaller. They had a museum, a market (typical flea market type setup with individual vendors/stalls, etc.), and some very quiet streets to walk around. We walked all around the city and felt very comfortable. They had some beautiful shops and some restaurants that looked quite lovely. Personally, I would not visit just Antigua, I would couple with something else because I didn't think that Antigua was enough of a destination for the day. We took another ship's tour that day and chose it because of the distance that we would have to travel from the Port. In the event of a breakdown, you could be in serious trouble and have an excellent chance of missing the ship. We went on the excursion that went to both the coffee plantation and Antigua. The coffee plantation visit was fantastic! We had a great tour, visited the fields, picked beans, learned all about the process of making coffee, etc. They served us a great lunch outside with music. The people were fabulous, the scenery and architecture at the plantation was outstanding and I cannot say enough good things about the tour. After we left the coffee plantation, we went to Antigua. We had about 2 hours to explore the city on our own, and I have to say, that was plenty of time. This was a wonderful excursion and I highly recommend it.

 

Have a great time on your cruise. We loved every minute of it.

[mii]

Thank you very much SouthwestGal for the info on Cartegena and Guatamala. I was wondering about the coffee plantation along with Antigua excursion. Now I know. Again thanks for the info.

 

Marilyn

[davidnsteph]

Southwestgal,

 

Thank you for taking the time to tell us all about your experiences in these ports!

 

DavidnSteph