Excursión por la costa de Fuerte Amador: excursión privada de día completo por el canal y la ciudad de Panamá

We were scheduled for an April 3 tour of Panama. Since it was Good Friday, everything was closed including restaurants bars & most attractions. The only things open were old town and the locks. Since we could not Park in the city itself we had to wait 30 minutes in the van with AC not working to park a 20 minute walk to The City. We were not provided any water for the tour. It was extremely hot and crowded , and we just walked and went into his friends souvenir shop and a church. We left the city and walked back to van to go to lunch at a restaurant near the mall. Unfortunately the mall and all restaurants were closed. We ended up in a Wendy’s for lunch. ( no call ahead to check if open) After lunch we headed back to the van & when the driver started the van , black smoke appeared out of the hood and vents in the van! One friend screamed to our friend in the front passenger seat that the car was on fire. He jumped out of the car and 7 of us could not get out of the back seat because door had to be opened from outside. After banging on window our friend opened the sliding door & we all got out just in time. The police were now on scene and fire trucks were there to put out fire. An ambulance was called and our tour guide was taken to hospital. I noticed blood on his leg and black on his hand and know that he did try to get back in the van but could not. The tour company did call another van and it came within 45 minutes. However , nine of us packed into a 8 person van. He took us to the locks and the place was a madhouse. we were given 2 hours to view ship going through lock and see the iMax movie. There were hundreds and hundreds waiting for the movie and We were told we needed to go outside back to locks to get in line. We could not fight the crowd and too many people in line and if we waited we weren’t guaranteed to get into the show. We never used the tickets and by this time overwhelmed at our day in general and just wanted to return to ship. We returned at 4:45. Exhausted and lucky we were alive! Viator has been no help in the least since we had a horrible experience and there willingness to help was to offer $116 refund and we paid over $1100.

Our guide Jose Ramos gave us a great introduction to Panama City. He was knowledgeable, interesting & a pleasure to spend time with. My husband relies on a walker and Jose both anticipated and accommodated his needs. At the same time he met my request for a bit more activity, exploring the streets of Casco Viejo and stopping at the largest mall in central America. All in all a rewarding day. Communication in advance was also very responsive.

Our tour guide, Jose, did an excellent job! He showed us all around and explained the sites very well! He was terrific!

I did the half day version of this excursion. Tour company was very flexible about starting time and where we went. The city and canal tour was excellent.

Great private tour with a view of a ship making its way through the locks The IMAX movie was excellent and worth the watch. Our guide took us to an indigenous village. We had a wonderful lunch in the old town and toured around museums and shops at the end of the day he took our photos in front of the Panama sign and was very informative about the history of Panama.

Guide was very personable and pleasant. We had a wonderful time. Guide adapted to our requests and ideas based on our conversation. Car was cool and air conditioned. Guide had cold bottled water always available. Levy, our guide listened and when he found out I was a history buff, he even took me to less common areas and had wonderful anecdotes. I would highly recommend and if possible, request Levy! Ps. Admission to canal visitor center and IMAX film was included.

Unfortunately, I cannot remember the name of our amazing guide, who knew so much about Panama City and the Canal. He spoke excellent English and told us so much information. We loved the film at IMAX, I wish we had seen a ship going through the older canal. Walking through the old town was so wonderful and we learned so much history. We enjoyed the free Wi-Fi at lunch! I would highly recommend this private tour, especially as we saw the huge tour buses with so many people getting on and off.

The experience at the Miraflores Locks and IMAX cinema was very memorable. The subsequent tour of Panama revealed an interesting city.

Francisco Tovar was knowledgeable about every location we went to and more! Very personable and made sure we saw everything in the time we had. Would highly recommend him and the company.

Superb excursion; especially with our extremely knowledgeable guide Kevin, who has lived in Panama for almost 30 years. Private Tour so we did not have to deal with being on a bus with 60 people. The first thing Kevin did was call Miraflores lock and find out if a ship was entering the lock. The last ship of morning was getting ready to transit, so we went directly to the Miraflores lock and visitor center. We watched the entire transit of a large ship and got great pictures and video. We then went to the visitor center and watched an IMAX film on building the Canal. There were no ship busses to watch the transit. When they got there, they saw nothing but the empty lock as the next ship transit would not occur until the afternoon in the opposite direction. Next, we went to Old Town (Casco Viejo) and saw the oldest church in the city. It had the largest, most detailed nativity sceen we have ever seen. The room was off the main cathedral down a hall. We would never have found this room without Kevin's knowledge. We spent a couple more hours in Old Town and also had lunch. We saw many attractions and walked in right from our car. Streets were too narrow for busses, so the ship tours parked outside Old Town and passengers walked to see the sights. We also visited the new part of Panama City with skyscrapers and modern buildings that have been constructed in the past 20 years A great tour made so much more interesting due to our guide Kevin.