re: Panama cruise

[Bob & Bev]

We are doing the Panama Canal LA to Fort Lauderdale first week in March on the Coral princess. Does anyone have any comments on the following ports of call? Hualtulco, Puerto Quetzal, Puerto Corinto, Puntarenas, Cartagena, and Aruba?

Never been to these ports before.

[penny3333]

Hi Bob & Bev, congratulations on your upcoming cruise! Aruba is the only one I can help with. It's a great port, clean, easy to get around. There's a Carlos n Charlies close to the port. We went to Palm Beach the last time we were there. A really nice beach with water toys available, a bar, and a restaurant. The snorkeling wasn't much, though. We have also taken a snorkeling excursion there that took us to a sunken tug with turtles (through Princess). Hope you have a marvelous time, sounds like a fantastic itinerary!

[f-mattox]

Without going into a lot of detail, these are the excursions we took (all through Princess) and thoroughly enjoyed all of them:

Huatulco - "Huatulco by Land & Sea;" Huatulco is a beautiful and well planned resort, not unlike Ixtapa. This tour lets you see its many beautiful bays and resorts from a large catamaran, with very knowledgeable guides and refreshments; then an air-conditioned coach tour of the local countryside, with plenty of time for shopping (of course).

Puerto Quetzal - "Filadelfia Coffee Estate & Colonial Antigua with Lunch;" a beautiful ride with vistas of volcanoes, over great roads to Antigua; then a tour of a working coffe estate, and one of the best meals of the cruise.

Puerto Cortino - We traveled Westbound and stopped at San Juan del Sur instead of Puerto Cortino. We took a tour to Colonial Granada and Lake Nicaragua and loved it, although it was a long ride over terrible roads. I don't know what is offered from Puerto Cortino.

Puntarenas - We have been to Puntarenas twice; once, we took the tour into San Jose; a long ride, but a great way to see the beautiful countryside. Our last trip we took the "Tropical Train Ride & Mangrove Nature Cruise", which I can only describe as like the Jungle Cruise at Disneyland, except everything is real!

Cartegena - We have done the "Best of " tour and the "Old City Walking Tour"; both were great, but it was really hot and humid both times we were there; dress comfortably.

Aruba - "Aruba by Land and Sea;" It was our first visit too, and thought this was good way to see a lot of the island. We even had time for a swim in the beautiful blue water.

Hope this helps a little.

Have a great cruise. This was one (actually 2) of our favorites.

Rick

[Bob & Bev]

Thanks for the info Mattox. I should have known you would have been there. Much appreciated!