Review of the Panama tour and working with Reyna

Panama | Jun 12 - Jun 18, 2023

The guide throughout our trip was Eduardo. He was fabulous. He was very enthusiastic, knowledgeable, accommodating, thoughtful, funny... The four of us on the tour would highly recommend him.

Aside from one issue, the itinerary was excellent. In our planned itinerary, we were supposed to have a day going to Portobello.on day 5. This was to be either via train (if it was running) or otherwise by car. When we arrived in Panama that day was switched with the Panama Coast to Coast Land Route. Since the land route takes us to the Colon area and Portobello is in the Colon area, I assumed that it was just a printing error. On day 5, when our guide described where we will be going (the Panama Coast to Coast Land Route), I asked if that included Portobello. He said, “No”, and had no explanation as to why we were going there rather than Portobello. Reyna did not ask us about the change in the itinerary.

After the entire trip, the four of us discussed what we liked and disliked. Everything was excellent except we all felt that there was too much time spent on the Panama Canal. Most of the Panama Coast to Coast Land Route day was spent at the observation area for viewing how the Panama Canal locks worked. It ends up that was entirely wasteful because it is essentially identical to the next day where we were on a boat trip through the Panama Canal locks. That boat trip provided the same knowledge that we had already heard at the observation area the previous day. So, we all felt that we had wasted a day and could have saved a lot of money by shortening our entire trip by one day and not missing anything important.

Reyna was a challenge to work with. (All of this is by memory rather than me checking everything.):
- She often had very delayed responses (e.g., it seemed like she typically responded a week after a question, at least until we were close to going on the trip). I do appreciate that 24/7 responses are an unreasonable expectation. David, for our Colombia kimkim tour (which we went on just before going to Panama), was able to reply in a reasonable time frame. I enjoyed working with him.
- There were a number of misunderstandings. It felt like Reyna did not have time to closely check what was previously said in our communications.
- It seemed like she did not really know what could be seen from Panama City. In other words, she did not offer any ideas beyond what is easily found on the web. At one point we were looking for activities for one more day and we decided that Portobello was the best option for the ideas she gave us.

Hotel Review

Riande Granada Urban Hotel

Panama City

The hotel was excellent. I asked for a three star hotel and the Riande is four star. That is fine if there was not much of a price difference.

Authenticity & Character

It had the "big" hotel feel.

Location

It was not within walking distance of anything interesting. It felt like the location was safe, which was important to us. There were a number of restaurants nearby.

Staff

Friendly, helpful...

Cleanliness & Comfort

Very clean and comfortable. Our room was on the side facing the outdoor bar. We were kept awake by the loud music coming from the bar. We did not sit in the bar because the music was so loud that it was difficult to talk to each other.

Activity Reviews

Canal Rainforest Boat experience

Panama City

We had to leave early to be the first to the area where food was offered to the monkeys. (Once the monkeys were fed by anyone, they would not come for other people offering food.) It was exciting watching them come onto the boat for food.

Chagres National Park and Embera Indians

Panama

It was informative. On some tours, one only sees traditional dancing, which does not say much about the culture. On this tour, we learned a lot and there was plenty of time for us to ask questions. The lunch was excellent.

Partial Transit in Panama Canal

Panama City

This was interesting to experience and see how the locks worked. The caveat is that the trip is slow (not that it is anybody's fault.) Going through the first lock was exciting, the second lock was interesting, and the third lock was just a repetition.

Casco Antiguo Walking tour

Panama

Eduardo was informative. Nice to taste that very expensive coffee.

Coast to coast trip to Portobelo

Panama City

We were not taken there.