Well, we’re back at it again. Cruising I mean. This time, we’re taking a Carnival Cruise to the Panama Canal. While investigating the tours available, I was again amazed at the wide variety of shore excursions available.

Our cruise has only three stops in eight days. Our first stop is in Costa Maya, Mexico for a nine hour stay. The next port-of-call is Limon, Costa Rica for eight hours of fun. The last port will be Colon, Panama at the start of the Panama Canal for a nine hour stop-over.

Each port-of call has at least one shore excursion that would appeal to most everyone. We obviously can’t take all of the excursions, so, decisions have to be made.

In Cost Maya, Mexico, Carnival (on-line) offers a full two dozen possibilities! For the culture buffs there are two different Mayan ruins excursions to choose from as well as a “Mayan Culture Experience” tour.

Perhaps you would prefer to take a motor coach tour of the Costa May area and check out the highlights or you could choose the “Town & Beach Break Combo”.

For the adventuresome, Carnival offers horseback riding, Or, you could choose from the four different off-road tours, including jeep, kart, mini-rhino or dune buggy adventures. Two speedy water adventures are offered as well. How about a fly-fishing adventure in this very exclusive corner of the world?

Carnival offers twelve different beach and water sports excursions. Scuba diving, snorkelling, kayaking (in cool clear bottom kayaks!) and catamaran sailing are all included in these excursions.

Carnival lists one less excursion (twenty-three) for Limon Costa Rica. Many of these include the canals and rivers in the rain forest areas. Aerial trams, zip lines, boat cruises, kayaking, wagon or train – take your pick!

Tours to various plantations may be of more interest. Choose from coffee beans, pineapples, bananas – or perhaps the Costa Flores Tropical Gardens?

Take a horse-back ride or go white water rafting. Bike through a Caribbean Village. Explore Costa Rica on an off-road excursion. Carnival offers them all.

In Colon, Panama, Carnival’s on-line offerings include a dozen interesting excursions. Take a step back in time and visit an Embera Indian village where the tribe lives today much as they did when Balboa first set foot in Panama.

Of course, the main highlight for many here will be the Panama Canal, once considered the eighth wonder of the world. Six of the offered tours include the canal.

There is a golf course with the canal as a backdrop. You can fish at Gatun Lake, one of the most famous canals in the world.

Visit Portobello, the “Pirate’s Paradise”. Or take the Isthmian Railroad and see the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean both in one hour.

With so much to do while on board the cruise ship, and the broad diversity of excursions available is it any wonder why vacation cruising is becoming so popular?