We signed up for the Pearl Seas cruise through the Panama Canal mostly because we were interested in the two national parks in Costa Rica, Manuel Antonio National Park and Corcovade National Park, as well as Coiba Island in Panama. The first and third of these parks are UNESCO World Heritage sites. The Pearl Seas website and the pre-cruise materials described the parks in glowing terms and talked about all the wildlife that we would be likely to see.

As it was, the ship did not visit any of the three locations! Manuel Antonio park is closed in Monday, and has been for many years, and yet we were scheduled to visit on a Monday! This is clearly blatant and false advertising! No explanation was ever given as to why we did not stop at the advertised locations. The ship's crew repeatedly said that they had the right to change ports of call at any time. Maybe Pearl Seas should advertise trips to the moon! It is obvious that the ship never intended to stop at the advertised ports; they were merely used to lure unsuspecting victims into taking (and paying for!) this cruise.

The cruise was a disaster from the beginning. We were met by Pearl Seas' staff at the airport. They were confused and didn't know which passengers were staying in which hotels. We were told we were staying at the Courtyard of Marriott and were taken there. We waited behind a long line of people to check in only to find out there was no reservation for us when it was our turn! This was the case with all members of our group who arrived at different times from different cities in the US and Canada. We were then taken to the Marriott Residence where we were finally given a room. Read more