In my previous experiences, going on a tour usually involves simply walking off the ship, finding your designated bus, and boarding before the tour starts. However, Norwegian uses a different system to organize passengers for their tours. They ask everyone to wait in the theater, then call tours one at a time. I’m not sure why they do this. We can read and find the bus ourselves—why take so long to let people go out?
As I mentioned earlier, there was no complimentary bus service to bring passengers into town. Almost everyone needed to book an excursion. I signed up for the "Old Cartagena Walking Tour," which lasted approximately three hours.
The first stop was the Fort of San Felipe de Barajas, where we had 15 minutes to walk around, take a look, and snap some pictures. After that, we were taken to the Plaza de Las Bóvedas Artisan Center for shopping (it seems every excursion includes a shopping stop). Instead of shopping, I took the opportunity to walk over to see the Bastion of Santa Catalina. Built in the 17th century as part of the city’s extensive fortifications, it was designed to protect Cartagena from invasions.
Following the guide, we walked to the center of the Old Town. We visited the Plaza de Santo Domingo, the Church of Santo Domingo, and the Plaza de Bolívar. From there, we continued to nearby landmarks, including the Plaza de la Aduana, the Catedral de Santa Catalina de Alejandría, and the Santuario de San Pedro Claver Church.
On the way back, the bus then took us to a small zoo, which seemed like another way to encourage passengers to make a stop. However, this wasn’t too bad—it was a small zoo with mostly beautiful birds, including friendly parrots.
Overall, there wasn’t enough time to see or do much, but the tour provided a glimpse of Old Town Cartagena.
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