Cartagena, Colombia Cruises

Don't let the fact its Columbia scare you like it originally did me. The people are friendly, the little sanctuary near the port is amazing. Saw tons of rescues. A baby sloth, baby ant eater, around 50 parrots, tiny monkeys if you can spot them, peacocks, peahens and even a flamingo chick with its flock! Theres even more if you can find them, if they fly or climb they are not in cages so they can freely crawl or fly around you, the ground walkers such as the ant eaters are in a fenced in area for their safety from us. I highly recommend once out of the main port in old town, ask locals for their favorite food stop. We were walked to a little hole in the wall restaurant with some of the BEST bolognese sauce I've ever had in my life, it was like a sweet pork sauce. My parents had the best chicken and beef. Even the soda is better than in the us as it's full of carbonation and tastes good.

This is a great place. The old town with its magnificent wall is beautiful and charming. Nice colonial style architecture, very colorful buildings with balconies full of flowers. The churches are lovely. Nice squares and quaint small streets. Lots of great history. Vendors may be pushy but just ignore them. Truly enjoyed it.

This port caught us totally by surprise because it wasn't what we were expecting at all. It's a little Miami in the new town - all white condo buildings and sky scrapers. And in the old town, the walled city is a must see! There was so much history to hear about see. The only downfall was the unrelenting vendors trying to sell us hats and everything else, they never stopped! But upon return to the cruise ship terminal, there's a free small zoo and Juan Valdez store and they were so nice to go through before getting back on the ship - macaws, peacocks, black swans, pink flamingos!

Visited: Apr 08, 2018

Read full cruise review

This was one of our favorite ports. Everyone kept saying we may not even want to get off the ship because the people are so aggressive but that's not what we experienced at all. We got a 35$ taxi into town and the guy stayed with us the whole time pointing things out to us and explaining things about the old city, then he parked and walked around the old city with us and gave us a kind of private tour. It was a really beautiful place. We would really go back there without a cruise, we felt safe and everyone was friendly.

Visited: Jan 19, 2019

Read full cruise review

Loved it. Beautiful loved it all. Best avoided by people who are afraid of people trying to make a living. A simple no is all that's needed. We got a local tour guide who was really good. Free time around Cartagena was great.