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To Natezdad: I would suggest a word of caution to any trip not booked through your Carnival Cruise ship. First, I've sailed Carnival 9 times, Royal Caribbean 1 time and Norweigan Cruise lines twice. Whether it is being chicken or not, I've always booked through the ship as there is one big benefit - if your tour is delayed, or something happens, the ship will wait for your return. My group did a cruise to Panama in January 2008 and the shore tour we took was the transit through 1/2 the canal with the tour ending on the Pacific side and we had to bus back to the Caribbean side. Traffic was crazy with volume and road construction and we were still at least 15 miles away from the ship at our sailing time. At lot of the people on the bus thought the ship would leave without us but our guide said not to worry - and what happened next was something way out of the ordinary. A Panamanian police vehicle with lights and sirens going passes us and takes up a position in the front - there is another one to the rear. We literally had a police escort back to the ship (don't know who pulled those strings) and there were other police a bigger intersections that waived our "convoy" through. We got back to the dock approx. 30 minutes or more past sailing time but the ship was still there. Don't know how it is in GC or Jamaica but that extra in Panama was unbelievable. The tours may cost more via the ship, but if you don't know what it's like where your going it can give you piece of mind.I'm spending a ton of bucks for my shore tours for my Carnival Dream cruise in September - but I've never been there and have no idea what to see so I'm going the easy way and booking through Carnival and hoping for the best - never had a problem before, don't expect any now (even though it is the maiden voyage for this ship I'm sure the tours are the same as for previous ships).Hope you and the family have a good cruise.Ed
To Natezdad: I would suggest a word of caution to any trip not booked through your Carnival Cruise ship. First, I've sailed Carnival 9 times, Royal Caribbean 1 time and Norweigan Cruise lines twice. Whether it is being chicken or not, I've always booked through the ship as there is one big benefit - if your tour is delayed, or something happens, the ship will wait for your return. My group did a cruise to Panama in January 2008 and the shore tour we took was the transit through 1/2 the canal with the tour ending on the Pacific side and we had to bus back to the Caribbean side. Traffic was crazy with volume and road construction and we were still at least 15 miles away from the ship at our sailing time. At lot of the people on the bus thought the ship would leave without us but our guide said not to worry - and what happened next was something way out of the ordinary. A Panamanian police vehicle with lights and sirens going passes us and takes up a position in the front - there is another one to the rear. We literally had a police escort back to the ship (don't know who pulled those strings) and there were other police a bigger intersections that waived our "convoy" through. We got back to the dock approx. 30 minutes or more past sailing time but the ship was still there. Don't know how it is in GC or Jamaica but that extra in Panama was unbelievable. The tours may cost more via the ship, but if you don't know what it's like where your going it can give you piece of mind.
I'm spending a ton of bucks for my shore tours for my Carnival Dream cruise in September - but I've never been there and have no idea what to see so I'm going the easy way and booking through Carnival and hoping for the best - never had a problem before, don't expect any now (even though it is the maiden voyage for this ship I'm sure the tours are the same as for previous ships).
Hope you and the family have a good cruise.
Ed
