Date of Visit: November 17, 2019
From the ship and the way Dad and I boarded a bus for our excursion right outside the ship, it seemed that there was nothing at the port in Cartagena. As we also knew, the port wasn’t near town and after the annoyance of Puerto Vallarta, Mik and Mom just weren’t going to get off here.
When Dad and I returned from our Port Adventure, we discovered the port had a little ecopark/zoo along with a shop and a Juan Valdez coffee shop. However, it was crazy crowded and we still didn’t think it was worth having Mik and Mom get off the ship.
Around 3pm when we got back on the ship, I rode the elevator up to our stateroom and overheard that one lady came back to get her passport as you could get a stamp in it from the shop for $1. Thus, when I got back to the room we not only grabbed Mom and Mik’s passports, but we decided to all get off and at least get a photo in front of the ship as it was a rare time it pulled in a way you could get an up close photo with the front.
Our timing of getting off around 3:30pm with an all aboard of 5:15pm ended up being perfect as most were back on the ship (or in line as it was the longest to get back at this time). Thus, we easily got a vanilla cinnamon latte from Juan Valdez for Mom (and Mik to taste and have some coffee in Colombia) while Dad got the passports stamped.
Mik enjoyed at least seeing something and checking out the flamingos.
It was hot and sunny, so he didn’t so much enjoy us trying to get a good photo in front of the ship.
While we were only off the ship for about 30 minutes, this was our favorite experience off the ship as a family this cruise. Mik probably would have enjoyed seeing more of the eco park, but it was hot and earlier it was more crowded so the way we did it was probably still the best to experience it without overdoing it.
