Cartagena Disney excursions

[lovetotraveltx]

have you done this? Thoughts? Thank you!
Discover Cartagena By Gastronomic Tour (CT29)

The infamous walled city of Cartagena will unfold before you on this walking tour.
Port of Call

Cartagena, Colombia
Prices

$70.00 (ages 10 and up)$70.00 (ages 3 to 9)$0.00 (ages 0 to 2)
Activity Level & Duration

Moderate4 to 4.5 Hours
Experience Type

 

[Gilland18]

I can't comment on the excursion but would point out that Cartagena is VERY hot and humid. We did an excursion that started outside and then returned to the buses with A/C. The hour or so we were outside and in the sun was plenty for us. Sounds like a fun idea, though, if you tolerate heat well.

 

[GPaLarry]

We did a tour of the fort and Old Town. It was hot and humid...they even left a number of their historic paintings out in this climate...yikes! We were on one of the first stops by DCL there by any cruise lines and the vendors were all over us to and from buses, even pounding on windows. I bought a bag of coffee there, figuring that it was coming from the source...it was bland and almost worthless. Don't care if I ever go back.

 

[runskyhy]

We docked at Cartagena on the Wonder on April 28, 2017. We had originally signed up for CT01, Best of Cartagena, but two weeks out, we were notified that the monastery wouldn't be available for our excursion, so we switched to CT23, Taste of Cartagena. It included a stop outside the fort for photos, then a 1.5 hour (not strenuous) walking tour inside the walled city, and finally (about) 1.5 hours of our own time inside the walled city before meeting our guide/bus to travel back to the ship. The excursion started early, 7:30AM, and lasted until about noon. We (two adults) had a wonderful experience!! The stop at the fort was short - about 15 minutes - and while there were locals milling about with things to sell, we were not approached by anyone. I'd read the locals would be pushy, but we didn't observe that anywhere during our excursion. The tour inside the historic area was informative and we greatly enjoyed the time we had on our own there afterwards even more. On our own, we explored the historic area with another couple, stopped at a café for coffee, shopped with street vendors, and stopped at another café for a beer. The locals were polite and friendly. The sun was definitely hot and it became more humid as the day went on, but not unbearable (although how bearable it was most likely depends on what climate you are used to... we didn't notice it being significantly different than Florida humidity in the summer.) We would visit Cartagena again without hesitation!

 

[Luv2Diz]

We were in Cartagena a couple weeks ago on the WBPC cruise. We didn’t do this tour but did the city tour. As already noted, it was very hot and humid. I will agree that the street vendors were annoying. Every 30 feet we had someone coming up to us pushing hats, magnets, sunglasses, T-shirt’s, tablecloths and more. Everyone in the group was getting irritated. It was hard to do enjoy sightseeing with the vendors bothering us.

 

[Cruising Engineer]

We did the combination of bus and walking tours for the Best of Cartagena. It was humid and raining on the walking parts in the downtown area. Yes, vendors every few feet selling tourist goodies, but not a one selling an umbrella when we needed one. What a missed opportunity.

 

[Ralph&Pam]

We were in Cartagena a couple weeks ago on the WBPC cruise. We didn’t do this tour but did the city tour. As already noted, it was very hot and humid. I will agree that the street vendors were annoying. Every 30 feet we had someone coming up to us pushing hats, magnets, sunglasses, T-shirt’s, tablecloths and more. Everyone in the group was getting irritated. It was hard to do enjoy sightseeing with the vendors bothering us.

We did that city tour on the EBPC last November, and we had a similar experience in dealing with the street vendors. In addition, the tour guide seemed to be focused on getting us inside shops where he must have been getting a good commission. It was so bad that we complained to Guest Services when we returned to the ship, since it was not billed as a shopping tour. Eventually, Port Adventures refunded half of our excursion booking fee. This was the only time I’ve had cause to complain about a DCL-booked excursion in our fourteen cruises.

 

[Dug720]

I can't comment on the excursion but would point out that Cartagena is VERY hot and humid. We did an excursion that started outside and then returned to the buses with A/C. The hour or so we were outside and in the sun was plenty for us. Sounds like a fun idea, though, if you tolerate heat well.

My sister's term of choice was "hotter than dammit".

 

[pjacobi]

Cartagena is just 10 degrees north of the Equator. What do you expect?

-Paul

 

[xavier2001]

We went on a private tour, it was AMAZING! Highly recommend. We got to go to the Monastery which the big busses did not because of the winding, narrow road. I wrote about it on my Panama Canal trip report if you want the details. We booked on this site: http://cartagenatour.com/_index.php

They met us right at the port, very clean van, safe, and had us back in plenty of time for all aboard.

 

[LNMom]

We haven't done excursions in Cartagena, but we did stay there for several nights recently. My entire family loved it and we want to go back soon!
Did a private tour of the fort and monastery church (beautiful views!). We loved Mila for a snack and the popsicle shops! Our hotel booked this, but our guide was in trip advisor and we reviewed him there.
I found that few people speak English as the country was not popular with US folks for so long, but we got by.
No issues with street vendors, but a family of six with a mom that looks half crazed isn't exactly approachable .

 

[cyclenut]

We didn't do this gastronomic tour but we did the best of cartegena tour and were left a bit disappointed. It was not our favorite stop. I guess we just didn't research very well so don't know what to expect. My bad (I typically do the research for the family).

Some things to consider that I wish we would have known (not a complaint ... information to consider).
* Be aware that it is HOT and HUMID. Wasn't an issue for me as I dressed for it.
* Bring water from the ship. There are street vendors selling water, but you should be careful of that as even the bottled water they sell is suspect. If you buy bottled water, make sure the cap is sealed. Street vendors are known to take empty bottles and fill them up with city water. That water is safe to drink for locals but may make visitors who are not accustomed to it ill.
* Do not acknowledge or talk to the street vendors unless you want them to follow you around. They are selling everything. There were a couple of guys painted like statues standing near a canon. When someone took a picture they demanded money. They won't move to let you get a picture of the canon either. Street vendors will follow you everywhere. It's how they make there money. There is no welfare system. They sell their wares or they don't eat. If you want to buy a shirt, know that the $20 will become $10 and maybe even $5 by the time you get back to the bus.
* When they advertise a photo opportunity at the fort, it's just that. We were not even let out of the bus.
* The old city area is not very large. We were in groups but there were many groups from our ship clogging the museums and exhibits. Every guide was trying to talk and it sometimes meant one trying to talk over another nearby.
* You are in South America. The native language is Spanish. When you visit the museums if you are used to reading the stories, you had better brush up on your Spanish as there is not an English translation on most of the signs. We four ourselves a bit lost to understand what we were looking at in the Naval museum. Our guide gave an overview, and there were a few signs that included English, but most of the artifacts and models had no such translation.
* The buses were very nice and comfortable and air conditioned. There is a lot of traffic and sometimes narrow roads. Trust the drivers and just relax. It can feel like very close quarters at times but they are used to it. Don't worry about it.