Shore Excursions - own thing

[Redrufus]

We are booked for the Panama-Vancouver trip leaving on Apr 19th from Fort Lauderdale. On the Baltic trip we spent our time at several ports just going ashore and doing our own thing (browsing, shopping, museums, etc)

Is it practical/feasible and safe to do this at the ports we visit on this journey?

Advice on this will be greatly appreciated as we haven't visited the Caribbean and Mexico before.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Be very careful in Mexico!!

I am assuming that you are talking about the Westerdam.

Santa Marta is a new port for us -- the ship I have been told will dock in a frieght area. Being as this is a new port for HAL -- there may not be very many vendors near the ship.

[lovebug33]

Here's the reason I will never take a non-ship excursion again. While in Jamaica, we were robbed, leaving us at a beach resort with no money to get back to the ship. Thank goodness some passengers on our ship recognized us and took us back in their cab. Now, we could have gotten robbed on a ship excursion, but we still wouldn't have had the terror of being stuck in a foreign country with no way to get back to the ship. Just food for thought.

[ldog]

When we were in Santa Marta off the Prinsendam in November the ship docked downtown. We could easily walk to the central square. There were private tours available there both walking tours of the town and cabs/vans to the park. The HAL excursion to the park didn't get good reviews from others.

 

Mexico is easy to do. Check out the ports of call Mexico boards. I don't know what ports you are doing but we took HAL tours in Huatalco (sailboat) and Puerto Chiapas as they were new ports and don't have a lot of tourist infrastructure. Acapulco, Vallarta and Cabo we did on our own.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Idog

I know the Prinsendam is smaller than the Westerdam -- do you think that the downtown pier could handle a big ship like us?

I had called HAL a couple of months ago and we were told we would be in the freight docks.

[airlink diva]

Redrufus what ports will your ship go to?? That would help alot.

But one thing that I can tell you is it really depends on your comfort level. Frankly, 99% of my tours are with local guides suggested by websites like this and from friends who been to a port prior to my visit. I like using local guides because beside the rates cheaper than the ship, you often have fewer people on your tour and someone who have pride in showing you their island.

Also,it's all about common sense when in any port.

But please reply back with the port stops and you will get more advice!

[travelite]

Redrufus what ports will your ship go to?? That would help alot.

But one thing that I can tell you is it really depends on your comfort level. Frankly, 99% of my tours are with local guides suggested by websites like this and from friends who been to a port prior to my visit. I like using local guides because beside the rates cheaper than the ship, you often have fewer people on your tour and someone who have pride in showing you their island.

Also,it's all about common sense when in any port.

But please reply back with the port stops and you will get more advice!

 

I'm with you and all your points on using local guides -- and most important -- always use common sense. You may be on vacation, but do not let your guard down. Where ever you travel you need to remember to be Street Smart.

[Redrufus]

Thank you all. Kraizy Kruiser - we will be on the Westerdam. Airlink diva - our ports of call are -

Half Moon Cay, Aruba, Santa Marta, San Blas Islands, Puerta Caldera, Puerta Chiapas, Huatuico, Acapulca, Cabo San Lucas, San Diego, Avalon (Catalina Island).

Your experience of these ports will be greatly appreciated. Many thanks.

[travelite]

Thank you all. Kraizy Kruiser - we will be on the Westerdam. Airlink diva - our ports of call are -

Half Moon Cay, Aruba, Santa Marta, San Blas Islands, Puerta Caldera, Puerta Chiapas, Huatuico, Acapulca, Cabo San Lucas, San Diego, Avalon (Catalina Island).

Your experience of these ports will be greatly appreciated. Many thanks.

 

Aruba: bus #10 will take you to points of interest and beaches. Snorkeling is good. Try midushi.com.

 

Cabo San Lucas: there is a bus station in town...there is a bus that goes along the coast (heading toward the airport) and stops at some good snorkeling spots. Santa Maria Beach is one spot. You can also negotiate with the locals at the docks with pangas that will take you to Lovers Rock to snorkel (they will drop you off and return for a pick up). There are also fishing charters, but I don't know if that works with your time in port. Taxi fares are reasonable. The town is fun to just walk around. You don't need an organized tour here.

 

SanDiego has so much to see and do. Rent a car and select what interests you. There is also good local bus service, but you will waste too much time with the bus. This is a great city and area. You really need much more than a day. Suggested points of interest: Old Town; S.D. Zoo & Park; lunch at the Del Coronado; lighthouse; Marine Park; the coast road to LaJola; downtown/beach LaJola; etc.)

[lovebug33]

If you like history, in San Diego there is the Midway Museum. It is an old aircraft carrier. You need about 3 hours to go through it, but it's awesome and within walking distance of the pier!

[emilygrace]

Catalina Island is a tender port for everyone. They have big high speed tenders now so it doesn't take long to get there. Less than 5 minutes once the tender is full. You can walk from the tender dock into Avalon.....it's VERY close. If you don't do a tour you can rent a golf cart to get around the island. Only residents are allowed to have cars.

 

If you are a walker I would suggest walking along the harbor to the Casino, which was never for gambling. There is a teeny, tiny museum in the basement and they have tours of the ballroom upstairs and the theater downstairs.

[kryos]

We are booked for the Panama-Vancouver trip leaving on Apr 19th from Fort Lauderdale. On the Baltic trip we spent our time at several ports just going ashore and doing our own thing (browsing, shopping, museums, etc)

Is it practical/feasible and safe to do this at the ports we visit on this journey?

Advice on this will be greatly appreciated as we haven't visited the Caribbean and Mexico before.

Okay, I'm gonna be honest here ... and believe me, no one is paying me to say this. :)

 

I can't even imagine going somewhere for the first time ... or going somewhere that is quite an expensive trip ... and not having an organized plan for shore excursions. If you're gonna take a cruise such as a Baltics one ... a cruise that is not cheap ... I wouldn't want to just get off at the ports and "wander around." I'd want to have a plan, established long before I got onboard, of what I wanted to see and do, and how I was going to accomplish that.

 

Whether you use cruise line excursions or set them up with private vendors ahead of time, I really would encourage you to do planned excursions. There are lots of posts on the port of call boards where you can get recommendations from others as to the reliability of outside excursion providers, and I really would consider them if I didn't want to pay for cruise line excursions. Cruise line excursions are often quite expensive, and you don't get the same quality in the experience that you could from SOME of the outside vendors. But the cruise line excursions provide a certain margin of security ... you know the provider has been thoroughly checked out, so that right there saves you a lot of work.

 

If I were doing a Caribbean cruise, or a cruise to a place I had been numerous times, then yeah ... getting off the boat in port and just wandering around might be a good idea. But if I were going somewhere distant and expensive, somewhere that I know I can't necessarily afford to keep going back to time and time again ... I'd certainly want a plan of attack ... to make sure I got the chance to see and do everything that appealed to me that the destination had to offer.

 

Just my opinion.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[Joyceoflife]

Hello. I can only comment on Aruba. I was just there in Feb. Get off the ship and out to the town. As soon as you get to down ask where the bus station is...not far at all. You can either take the #10 bus or take a van/taxi . They only charged us $1.25 o/w. We went to LaCabana and rented chairs for $1 each and there was plenty of shade. Aruba is so safe and the people are great. Don't be afraid to go away from the cruise ship here. I spent $20 for a family of four (a one day excursion to the beach) and had an awesome time! Joyce

Enjoy!:)