Costa Rica or Panama?

 Just visited both Costa Rica and Panama.  I preferred Panama.  Costa Rica has become quite commercial and more expensive than Panama.  You can do many of the adventures for a lower cost.  In Costa Rica I did the coffee plantation and Sarchi,  neither was fabulous and the 5 hour tour was 9 hours due to the highway being closed.  I thought the oxcart factory in Sarchi was very good and lots of handicrafts to purchase.

I did old town and modern city tour in Panama City.  The skyline is beautiful in Panama. The old town has a beautiful church- San Phillip.  You can bargain for everything.  I got good prices for everything -shawl meuli(?) purse etc.

Tips 

No tours are needed in Panama City . Take a cab to old town or the free shuttle for the mall.

You need a tour in Costa Rica. They are expensive.

Hope this helps.

Marcia 

Diamond Princess back in service - my review

 Diamond Princess is back in service. My 20 day cruise has only about 1100 passengers and the same amount of crew.  Here’s the good and not so good

Cabins

Smaller than most other Princess older ships

Very comfortable beds

Lights near the bed and washroom come on automatically 

As always the cabin steward is excellent 

Love that they added the extra charging usbs by the bed to the light stand

Food

The food is ok in the buffet but repetitive 

There is no international cafe. 

The pacific moon restaurant has the best ambiance 

Dinner food is usually quite good but so many shrimp dishes

The omelettes are very good

Ship layout 

Same as the other ships , with lots of self laundries 

Love the deck on 7 - kept nice and wider than the other

They have closed the front of the ship on 14 - not good when coming into port

Staff

Friendly 

Some responsive and some useless 

Like the cruise director and most of her team -A good experience with them

Many in training  on ship

Princess will no longer give you back the port fees when they cancel a port

Ship has toilet and air conditioning issues at back of ship and cabins starting with a 3 so beware regardless of floor

No pools are heated so we’re unusable even though it was really hot

Passengers really old - avg. age over 70

Entertainment in theatre really bad

Movies in room good with lots of selection 

Overall a blah kind of ship with nothing memorable 

Hope this helps 

Marcia

Hope this helps

Marcia

Expensive cruise port of Huatulco

 It was my first time in Huatulco and the port expert said it was about 1 mile to Crucecita the town from port walking. Warning it is 2.3 miles and hilly each waywithout shade.  The church is definitely worth a visit. The shops and markets are just ok.

But this port is very expensive for a Mexico port.  They don’t barter even in the market. It’s the same stuff of ceramics, t shirts etc. but double the price of Manzanilla.

The beach by the ship looked dirty so go elsewhere by water taxi or taxi.  The rates are posted to the more popular beaches. 

I found the number of pickups with security men with machine guns disconcerting.

Overall not a port I would visit again.

Hope this helps

Marcia

Is Manzanilla cruise port worth a visit?

 Manzanilla is not worth being a destination on its own, but it’s ok as one of many ports on your Mexican cruise.  There was a recent earthquake so there is a damaged Malecon, and many buildings.  Below is what is good about this port:

1. Easy walk off the ship and a five minute walk to the old town and the Sailfish sculpture.

2. Shopping while not plentiful is cheap for T-shirts, hats. But not many ceramics

3. Locals are friendly

4.  Wall art is really interesting- photo worthy

5. Fisherman are fun to watch bringing and selling fish

Not sogood 

beaches are far away

You can walk the old town in an hour

Malecon is under construction 

Overall an ok port for one visit

Hope this helps

Marcia

The chaos at Pearson international airport can be mitigateed

 I am slowly learning by experience how to navigate Pearson international airport.  Here’s some tips 

Going to the USA

Signup for the MCP US boarder control app.  It asks you for passport info and flight info.  Pre fill it out and then submit at the airport. It will take your photo.  Note you can not submit until you are at the airport as it tracks your location.  Instead of a 20 to 30 minutes line I was thru in five minutes as it gives you a bar code you show to security and you go in a special line.

Going Canada or international you can pre schedule a security line up time up to 72 hours before .  It’s called Pearson express.  Unfortunately you can not do this for the USA

book your flight for around 8 am as you get to the airport at 5am before the crowds.

Or book for the evening,

Hope this helps

Marcia

Booking a Princess Cruise - tips

 Ok, I booked again with Princess.  This time a 20-day Mexico and Central America.  But I have learned some tips about booking with them that I want to share with you.

1.  Wait at least 3 weeks after you get off a Princess Ship to book your next one as they will send you a promo worth up to $150 US on-board credit for your next cruise.  I was just booking when I received it and we booked 10 minutes before so they honored it.  So just wait til you get the promo.

2.  Do not book thru Princess for the cruise - every travel agency was offering OBCs but Princess won't match these.  Go thru the travel agency and get your OBC as the cabin rates are identical   Also service was horrible from the Princess sales consultant - the're very busy and don't get back to you for at least a day. 

3. Book your flights thru ezair with Princess due to the flexibility (they will change it if there is an issue and align the flights with cruise departure the first day but note if you have a early flight the last day (i.e. mine is at noon) do the early walk off  with your in order to get to the airport on time as their shuttles will not get you there in time.  The shuttle on the last day on Carribbean Princess was 40 minutes late. Ezair is not neccessarily cheaper - as Air Canada charged me in USD for the seats.  In all I think it will be identical or a little bit cheaper thru EZair. 

4. If you're a solo passenger you get the equivalent of 2 cruises for your one cruise on their reward program (not more days).  However this got me to Platinum status and I get half of the internet.  But the catch is you pay full price before the cruise and get the other half in OBC once on the ship.

5.  I always take an obstructed view cabin as it is not much more than the interior and you get natural light.  To check the view go to www.cruisedeckplans.com

6.  Going thru a travel agent means you get TICO protection if something happens to Princess (doubtful), and I was luck with Expedia I got a good rep. You will also get reward points for your cruise with Expedia.  I have used these for hotel bookings.

7.  If you need service before the cruise with Princess try their online chat - it was faster and the rep was much more thorough.

Hope this helps 

Marcia

St. Johns NFLD cruise port tips

 St. Johns NFLD Canada is a beautiful port.  Wake up early to see the entry into the port.  If your early enough you will see the Spears Lighthouse.  This is where there is supposed to be a lot of whales feeding.  

Below are my tips:

- Unless you are very fit do not do the hike down Signal hill.  I did it but regretted when I had to jump down off rocks, lots of loose gravel and you have to hang on to a chain part of the way.  Yes the views are great but you can look from the top of signal hill.

- Both the Anglican and Catholic cathedrals are worth a visit.  You think you are in Europe both due to the size and beauty of them.  Note they are both up the hill but the public buses stop in front of the catholic and then you can walk down a block to the anglican church and then down back to the ship. 

- You will have to walk up and down hills to see the sights but its worth it.  One street up from the port are all the shops and restaurants so if you are not into hills go there. 

- The town houses are all different colours and you can take great pictures.

Hope this helps 

Marcia