Cruise Port Visit – Santa Marta, Colombia

Date of visit : December 2019

Cruise ship : Marella Discovery 2

The port of Santa Marta was a bit of a disaster for us! We decided in our wisdom to take a local taxi to a beach for the day…

After disembarkation we were serenaded by some local dancers, which was lovely and a great welcome, and then wandered through to the taxi rank – pure pandemonium! After negotiating a fare of $25 USD we set off for the town of Rodadero in search of the dream beach – disaster! Let’s just say it’s not the idyll one would imagine when conjuring up a Caribbean beach. After waving our arms about and trying to converse with the taxi driver in our broken Spanish (he spoke no English) we high tailed it back to the ship with our tails between our legs! 

Now, if you happen to be in Santa Marta for the day we’ve been told the National Park is the reason people visit Santa Marta, and there are some absolutely stunning beaches there, in fact the best in Columbia, and some spectacular scenery. We would suggest booking one of the ships tours here to make the most of the port call, and probably not try and book it yourself! We’ve learnt from our mistakes.. Sorry the review is so unhelpful :/