Panama Canal

[D Erler]

My husband and I are travelling on Carnival Spirit leaving San Diego on
November 1 through the canal to Miami.

As first time cruisers, just a few questions:
Do you need a tux or is a sport jacket and slacks dressy enough?
Any hints on shore excursions? Stops will be at Puerto Vallarta,
Zihuatanejo, Acapulco, Puntarenas and Cartagena.

Would love to hear from anyone else that might be sailing with us.

Deb

[Mitch Eisenbraun]

My wife and I had our first cruise on the Spirit to the caribbean. The ship and crew where
beyond what we expected. We never knew vacation could be so good. You can actually relax!? Our next
cruise is on her sister ship the Pride to the Mexican Riviera in January. We're hooked.
Anyway we did one formal night. We did not plan for it so we bought/rented everything on board.
I wore a tux but our diner friend wore a formal suit. It made it more fun for us to dress up. You
would be out of place in anything else for formal might. For regular diner I just had nice shirt and
slacks. But don't stress over it. We saw many a guy and girl in shorts. Yes they where a bit out of
place but no one (crew) would have said a word or kicked them out. It's a cruise.
Can't help you with shore excursions but hoping you can help us. We would like to hear you
experience in Puerto Vallarta as that's one of our stops in Jan.
Hope that helps. Have fun.

Mitch

D Erler wrote:

> My husband and I are travelling on Carnival Spirit leaving San Diego on
> November 1 through the canal to Miami.
>
> As first time cruisers, just a few questions:
> Do you need a tux or is a sport jacket and slacks dressy enough?
> Any hints on shore excursions? Stops will be at Puerto Vallarta,
> Zihuatanejo, Acapulco, Puntarenas and Cartagena.
>
> Would love to hear from anyone else that might be sailing with us.
>
> Deb

[Jean O'Boyle]

"D Erler" > wrote in message
.. .
> My husband and I are travelling on Carnival Spirit leaving San Diego on
> November 1 through the canal to Miami.
> Would love to hear from anyone else that might be sailing with us.

Deb,
We are not sailing with you, but we are taking the Norwegian Crown on
Nov.1st to South America, leaving from Miami.. I was wondering when you were
transiting the Panama Canal. Our day of transit is on Friday, Nov.7th.
Perhaps we will see each other's ships!

--Jean

[Ray M]

> Any hints on shore excursions? Stops will be at Puerto Vallarta,
> Zihuatanejo, Acapulco, Puntarenas and Cartagena.


First of all, I doubt you will be stopping in Cartagena. There has been a
travel advisory there for at least a year. I keep wondering why cruise
lines still advertise it as a port.

As for Acapulco, the most touristy thing to do is to go see the cliff
divers. You can book an excursion if you want to, but you can also hop a
cab at the terminal and pay for your own ticket when you get there. We did
it that way and it was less expensive than the excursion.

At Puntarenas, we took the coffee plantation tour and we enjoyed it. Some
of our table mates went to the volcano crater and said that the fog lifted
long enough for them to see the crater. We heard that the fog can be an
issue at the crater so we didn't want to go all that way and not see it.

Hope this helps

Ray
"D Erler" > wrote in message
.. .
> My husband and I are travelling on Carnival Spirit leaving San Diego on
> November 1 through the canal to Miami.
>
> As first time cruisers, just a few questions:
> Do you need a tux or is a sport jacket and slacks dressy enough?
> Any hints on shore excursions? Stops will be at Puerto Vallarta,
> Zihuatanejo, Acapulco, Puntarenas and Cartagena.
>
> Would love to hear from anyone else that might be sailing with us.
>
> Deb
>
>

[Duncan Craig]

"D Erler" > wrote in message
.. .
> My husband and I are travelling on Carnival Spirit leaving San Diego on
> November 1 through the canal to Miami.
>
> As first time cruisers, just a few questions:
> Any hints on shore excursions? Stops will be at Puerto Vallarta,
> Zihuatanejo, Acapulco, Puntarenas and Cartagena.
>
> Deb
>
It depends on what you like to do. We stopped at Zihuatenejo a few years
ago, took the water-taxi over to a small island to the south (?) side of the
harbor area where there was a man-made reef and excellent snorkelling (we
brought our own gear along); we also walked around the village area, very
quaint.

Another interesting thing in Acapulco is the big marketplace in the center
of the city, if you like that sort of thing....it's the real thing, not just
for tourists, smelly, crowded, and great local color.

Puerto Vallarta is quite small and very walkable, altho' center may be a
long way from your ship. If you like beaches, just walk into any resort
hotel and walk through the lobby to the beach. Act like you're a registered
guest.

[James Gemmill]

I Acapulco we enjoyed a Jetboat ride. In costa Rica we enjoyed the
rainforest catwalk trip.

On Mon, 15 Sep 2003 13:08:45 -0400, "D Erler" >
wrote:

>My husband and I are travelling on Carnival Spirit leaving San Diego on
>November 1 through the canal to Miami.
>
>As first time cruisers, just a few questions:
>Do you need a tux or is a sport jacket and slacks dressy enough?
>Any hints on shore excursions? Stops will be at Puerto Vallarta,
>Zihuatanejo, Acapulco, Puntarenas and Cartagena.
>
>Would love to hear from anyone else that might be sailing with us.
>
>Deb
>