Thread: Puntarenas - A Brief Report

Puntarenas was our least favorite port stop on a recent B2B (Ft.Lauderdale to Acapulco & back) so there twice.

Puntarenas is at least an hour from any sort of place of interest and the small town has nothing to speak of .... We didn't even see any of the locals swimming at the beach there.

Char was nice enough to post a picture of the LONG cruise ship pier. If interested, see #10 of the thread below:
Celebrity Infinity, 16 day Panama Canal 9/25/09



Please feel free to ask if you have any other questions about Puntarenas.

Keep hoping someone who actually enjoyed this port stop will post. Mine is so negative and there are always two sides to everything.....

Here is the picture LuLu referenced above.


This is Puntarenas looking down from the Constellation Lounge at the front of the ship. Not much to see there except the loooong pier! No beach side bars.

Thanks for doing that, Char!

Puntarenas is not the prettiest town but the views are great. Within 30-60 minutes are many things to do including the town of Esparaza, heading to the bridge at Tarcoles to see the crocs (FREE!) or hitting one of the many zip lining places or areas for wildlife and bird watching.

Also some of the vendors on the beach have great items if you are in to shopping. Last year I noticed a new shop across the street from the dock opened and is selling organic vanilla and spices and the freshest cashews I've ever tasted.

So while the port isn't in the prettiest town, I guess I wasn't expecting to arrive at disneyland. When I've traveled all that way, 1 hour by taxi or bus is generally worth the time to see something new.

cruisintime ....

Thanks so much for telling us about the things you've enjoyed in Puntarenas.