Shore excursions

[jessbaby]

What shore excursions do you recommend for:

Key West
Grand Caymen
Cozumel
Castaway Cay

[TheWog]

Have not been to any of these yet, but planning on doing Stingray City in GC when we go. and cozumelhomes.com dune buggy excursion in Cozumel. CC is a great day to just enjoy the beach. I may do the banana boat ride and may go parasailing. these book quickly so book early if you want them.

Stingray City do on your own and you will be fine. Capt. Marvin's, Sotos and Nativeway are all ones we hear great things about. We will be just doing a beach day in GC when we go this time (RCI in January) as we want to do SC with our 7 year old son, so that will wait for Disney.

[airtime247]

We took our first Disney cruise on the Western in May.

We did the trolley tour in Key West. This was a nice way to see the sights in Key West without all the walking. We were pretty worn out after a week at WDW beforehand. If I remember correctly, the trolley was $18pp and made 10 stops around town. The drivers were very informative and they told you what there was to see at each stop. You could get off and get back on a later trolley which arrived every 30 minutes. We stopped near the Southernmost Point, Key West winery, Hemingway house, etc.

In Grand Cayman, we did the Captain Marvin's half-day snorkeling trip. This was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. They made three stops - the coral gardens, sting ray city, and the barrier reef. The cost was $39 including transportation. Their office was only a couple of blocks from the pier. They also made a DVD of the trip available for purchase which made a great souvenir! From what I understand, they lost one boat and two stops from their trips in the hurricane. You may want to email them for details on what is still available.

In Cozumel, we took a cab to Chankaanab and snorkeled on our own. This was a great snorkel site and was very inexpensive to get in (<$20). They have dolphin swims there which looked like a lot of fun. A friend we traveled with did it and had a great time. The park itself is neat to walk around and is nice having a beach to lay out on without having to worry about getting hassled by locals. It wasn't a great beach for swimming but the snorkeling was very nice.

In Castaway Cay, we didn't do any excursions. We don't have any kids so we just snorkeled right away and then spent the rest of the day at the adult beach. Castaway was by far the most beautiful place we stopped at on a cruise.

I hope this helps!

-steve

[vsouthworth]

Jessbaby, when are you going. Got word a few days ago that the Magic will NOT be stopping at the Grand Cayman port for the Oct 9 and 16 cruises. They have replaced it with Costa Maya. Until the Cayman's recover from the Hurricanes they will not return to that port.

Vernon

[jessbaby]

actually im not going until next October. Will they always redirect to another port or can they just make another day at sea?

[sistergroove]

We went to a new beach in Cozumel called Paradise Beach. It was great and had wonderful facilities. It had an open air restaurant (good nachos) and bar, a big inflatable rock climbing wall in the water, kayak boats, snorkeling equipment, beach chairs and umbrellas, and a couple pet parrots for the kids to pet. Restroom was very clean, beach was beautiful, water crystal clear, kids loved it. It's an easy cab ride from the dock. And all of it is free! (well, except for food of course). I tried to find the web site for you, but I couldn't. The best I could do was ...cozumelmexico.net. Click on beaches, and then on the little umbrella that says Paradise Beach. There is a better web site where I emailed the owner (retired American firefighter), but I can't seem to find it.
I had heard that Playa Sol was equally good, but they charge an admission fee. I think that Playa Sol was just up the beach, because I could see their rock climbing wall in the water.
Have fun!

[JanetMarie]

GC has such lovely shops that I would not take an excursion, rather simply walk around town and shop!

[zjones]

We were on the Magic for the August 14th cruise. Our favorite excursion was Catamaran Racing in Key West. It was fabulous and we loved being out on the water. You have approximately 6-7 passengers and your captain. The captain teaches you how to sale the cattamaran and everyone has a job to do. After learning everything you race against other catamarans and have a victory celebration with rum punch when you return to the dock. It really was a special part of our trip. Afterwards we took the Conch Train Tour through Key West to see all the sights (we did this on our own, but booked the catamaran racing through disney).

We did not make it to Grand Cayman because of the hurricane, but in Cozumel my in-laws did the dolphin encoutner and really loved it, said it was one of the highlights of their trip.

I would definetly try to snorkel. We ended up in the Bahamas instead of Grand Cayman and had a wonderful snorkeling trip - it was amazing just like you were in the fish tank. If you can try to plan a snorkeling trip in there somewhere.

We hope you have a wonderful trip. We did!

Take care