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CRUISINMAMA...I've got a question for you


Casachic

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I know that you just came off of the West Carib route... Were there any great excursions for the kids or should we just beach it. I really don't want to be on a bus or cab for too long and my kids will have fun doing anything. My boys are 7 & 9 and I'd appreciate any input from you or anyone else of fun things for us to do in Labadee, Montego Bay, Grand Cayman or Cozumel. We live in South Florida so the beach is not a huge novelty but the kids still love it.

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Since your boys are older than my girls (mine are 3 and 7) you MAY have a better time finding a great Western excursion than I did. :(

 

Gabriella's age prevented us from doing some of the better excursions. And Morgan (the 7 year old) REFUSED to swim with the sting rays. lol :o

 

What we would have done if the kids were old enough would have been the Jeep or ATV adventure tours, or the river tubing tours in Jamaica.

 

I heard the Ocho Rios falls climb was just a LONG day for kids. Friends of ours went with their kids and they said the 2 hours on the bus was dull. That the falls was a big "tourist trap" (don't kill the messenger, I am only reporting what I was told...lol)

 

Those that did the tubing with their kids had a blast. And all I heard from other kids that WHOLE week was the stingrays. Especially from the boys. They all seemed to love that excursion.

 

And when you get to Labadee...do NOT MISS Dragon's Breath Point. It will only take 10 minutes out of your day and it gave us some great pictures and even I thought the breathing dragon (water in between rocks) was cool. Just take the tram to Dragon's Breath (about a 2 minute ride).

 

Oh and Labadee JUST added zip lines. Don't know if you boys are old enough though. There ARE water trampolines and a little water adventure park at Labadee, it's $15 pp per hour. Friends of ours were a little angry that they had to pay $15 pp for that but maybe your boys will enjoy it.

 

We ended up doing lots of beach excursions...but those won't interest you if you are from Florida. :)

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Thanks so much.

 

Do you know how far the tubing place is from Montego Bay? I honestly don't want to be on a bus for very long with the kids.

 

I just looked it up...30 minutes :)

 

Here's the description

 

 

 

River tubing is great fun for the entire family and a unique way to stay cool while enjoying the tropical countryside of this beautiful island. Your tubing safari begins with a 30-minute transfer to the start of the tubing tour. On arrival, your guide will issue you a specially designed inner tube and life jacket. After an orientation and safety briefing, it's time to let the adventure begin! Relax and cool off as the current carries you down the scenic river. There is interesting commentary along the river highlighting the rivers natural beauty which usually remains unseen. See the streams entering the river, the amazing plant life and birds. While on this tour you will tube through areas of Jamaica that are still unspoiled. At the end of the river one can enjoy complimentary refreshments and get ready for the transfer back to your ship.

Note: It is recommended that guests wear bathing attire under their clothing and wear aqua socks or sneakers.

 

Minimum age: 6 years old.

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We were in Ocho Rios rather than Montego Bay and did river tubing down the White River. DDs were 11 and 20. They both said it was a highlight. We all wished it had been longer! I'll bet your boys would love it!

 

In Grand Cayman the must-do excursion is swimming with sting rays, of course. My 11-year-old DD is a bit timid about trying "adventurous" things, but once she got into to the water with the sting rays she had a blast. Any time she got a little scared she just grabbed on to me--we had a blast. Her favorite thing in Grand Cayman--second only to the sting rays--was the turtle farm. We did an add on to our sting ray tour with Captain Marvin and went to the turtle farm. If we go back, we'll take a cab to see the turtles since we felt the time was too short there. You get to hold the smaller turtles (there's a link in my signature if you want to see pictures of them) and you catch them yourself. We spent quite a bit of time watching the turtles and really wished we had more time!

 

In Cozumel we did a beach day since the two days before were very active and we just wanted to relax. We went to Playa Uvas and I had a massage on the beach while the girls did the clear kayak tour. If you wanted a more active beach, I understand Paradise beach is really good and that they have a lot of water toys there.

 

If you go to the ports of call boards, you can find out more specifics about some of the excursions in your ports and would probably get a better idea of what your family might like.

 

Have a great time!!

 

Jayne

 

:)

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Since your boys are older than my girls (mine are 3 and 7) you MAY have a better time finding a great Western excursion than I did. :(

 

Gabriella's age prevented us from doing some of the better excursions. And Morgan (the 7 year old) REFUSED to swim with the sting rays. lol :o

 

What we would have done if the kids were old enough would have been the Jeep or ATV adventure tours, or the river tubing tours in Jamaica.

 

I heard the Ocho Rios falls climb was just a LONG day for kids. Friends of ours went with their kids and they said the 2 hours on the bus was dull. That the falls was a big "tourist trap" (don't kill the messenger, I am only reporting what I was told...lol)

 

Those that did the tubing with their kids had a blast. And all I heard from other kids that WHOLE week was the stingrays. Especially from the boys. They all seemed to love that excursion.

 

And when you get to Labadee...do NOT MISS Dragon's Breath Point. It will only take 10 minutes out of your day and it gave us some great pictures and even I thought the breathing dragon (water in between rocks) was cool. Just take the tram to Dragon's Breath (about a 2 minute ride).

 

Oh and Labadee JUST added zip lines. Don't know if you boys are old enough though. There ARE water trampolines and a little water adventure park at Labadee, it's $15 pp per hour. Friends of ours were a little angry that they had to pay $15 pp for that but maybe your boys will enjoy it.

 

We ended up doing lots of beach excursions...but those won't interest you if you are from Florida. :)

 

I am planning on bringing my DD's (5 & 7 then) on the stingray excursion. Did you find that most kids were older on that excursion? What excursion company did you use? Thanks!

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I am planning on bringing my DD's (5 & 7 then) on the stingray excursion. Did you find that most kids were older on that excursion? What excursion company did you use? Thanks!

 

Not cruisinmama, but we were on the sting ray tour on our last cruise. We booked with Captain Marvin and had a wonderful time. Most of the children on our tour were older than 5, but there were a couple of them who were about that age. All of the kids on our tour had a wonderful time except one, and she was about 12 years old--keep screaming and flailing around. :eek: But, every other child was doing great.

 

Hope that helps!

Jayne

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I am planning on bringing my DD's (5 & 7 then) on the stingray excursion. Did you find that most kids were older on that excursion? What excursion company did you use? Thanks!

 

I didn't do it because my 3 year old was too young and my 7 year old refused. lol ;)

 

I know there were a bunch of different tours...some on a shallow sandbar....some in deeper water

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Hey cruisinmama -- I have a 2 yr old son. We're doing Cozumel, Grand Cayman and Ocho Rios. We were thinking of doing Paradise Beach in Cozumel, beaching it in Grand Cayman and hanging out in Margaritaville in Ocho Rios. We're also from South Florida so we frequent the beach alot (not that we mind in these different ports -- would be nice to see a sparkling blue beach for once), but was curious as to what other excursions you have taken your little ones to in these ports.

 

4 more days for the TRIUMPH! Woo-hoo!

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Hey cruisinmama -- I have a 2 yr old son. We're doing Cozumel, Grand Cayman and Ocho Rios. We were thinking of doing Paradise Beach in Cozumel, beaching it in Grand Cayman and hanging out in Margaritaville in Ocho Rios. We're also from South Florida so we frequent the beach alot (not that we mind in these different ports -- would be nice to see a sparkling blue beach for once), but was curious as to what other excursions you have taken your little ones to in these ports.

 

4 more days for the TRIUMPH! Woo-hoo!

 

We've only done Western once (Did Eastern many more times) but what we did do was the Cozumel Playa Mia Beach Break. Was I totally thrilled by it? Nope. It had a beach. And a pool. It was 5 hours long which was just TOO much beach for me...lol.

 

We did the Butterfly Express tour in Grand Caymen. My husband said "Thank God it was EXPRESS" :eek: ;) It was nice to see but the guide talked about 30 minutes about the lifespan of the butterfly. The kids wanted to just walk around. By the time he finished...we did a few quick laps around and it was time to head out to the gift shop.

 

ON the Eastern I have taken my kids on the dolphin encounters. And at 2 years old Gabriella got a kick out of it. :D

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We did the Disney Wester Caribbean in March with two kids daughter age 11 and son age 9.

 

In Grand Cayman, we did Captain Marvin's Stingray/snorkel/island tour. Our island tour was just the 4 of us and it was awesome! The stingrays are a lot of fun and the snorkeling was great.

 

In Cozumel, we went to Tuluum. The boat ride over to the mainland was very rocky and the Mayan ruins were very hot, but the kids enjoyed the ruins and we had a good time.

 

Have a great cruise!

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INteresting about the butterfly excursion. I booked that for me, dd and ds, since my husband will be diving. I liked it cause it was short, but if it's 30 minutes of talking and 10 minutes of butterflying, then I'm not sure I want to go. Hmm...

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INteresting about the butterfly excursion. I booked that for me, dd and ds, since my husband will be diving. I liked it cause it was short, but if it's 30 minutes of talking and 10 minutes of butterflying, then I'm not sure I want to go. Hmm...

 

I can tell you to just WALK away from the talking butterfly guy...lol.

 

The shuttle was nice and short. The butterfly farm is actually a house with a netted backyard. The butterflies are all around. When we got there he said that it would be a short 5 minute talk. That was the longest "5 minutes" I have ever seen.

 

It was nice to see once. I don't know how old your kids are but maybe add in the turtle farm too?

 

I'll post some of the pictures from there so you can see what we saw. I had originally pictured a HUGE area of butterflies. It is basically a small backyard, netted in. Then they place fruit around so the butterflies land on it. There were 3 "aisles" that you could walk down. Each one about 30 feet long, then you turned the corner and walked down the next aisle.

 

You can see the entire one aisle HERE. It had a bridge.

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IMG_0777.jpg

 

IMG_0772.jpg

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Thanks again for your answer. I think I'll skip it. Like you, I was imagining a huge place with butterflies all around. My daughter has done the caterpillar to butterfly thing in school for the past two years, so I don't need to spend money for her to see it again. I'm thinking Grand Cayman will be a beach day for us! ;) Thanks again!

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Thanks again for your answer. I think I'll skip it. Like you, I was imagining a huge place with butterflies all around. My daughter has done the caterpillar to butterfly thing in school for the past two years, so I don't need to spend money for her to see it again. I'm thinking Grand Cayman will be a beach day for us! ;) Thanks again!

If you have time while in S. Florida, and you want butterflies galore, check out Butterfly World near Coral Springs. You can't believe the variety of butterflies and they have other exhibits as well.

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Butterfly World is about 30 minutes north of Ft. Lauderdale. It is inland. I loved it. They play Classical music and it is very relaxing. You can easily spend 3 hours there just going thru the tropical rainforest, then go to the bird area and feed the parrokeets or whatever they are.

 

We loved it.

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Yes, I've seen ads for that, so I guess that's what I was expecting in GC. We won't have time on this trip, but will add it to our "things to do in Florida that aren't Disney-related" list. :D

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I would love to know where you did the dolphin excursions on the eastern caribbean. We're going on the Mariner in July, stopping at Coco Cay, St. Thomas and St. Maarten. My 10 yo daughter would love to swim with dolphins.

Also any advice for other excursions would be great.

Thanks!

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I would love to know where you did the dolphin excursions on the eastern caribbean. We're going on the Mariner in July, stopping at Coco Cay, St. Thomas and St. Maarten. My 10 yo daughter would love to swim with dolphins.

Also any advice for other excursions would be great.

Thanks!

 

Darn, your "Bahama" stop is Coco Cay...which is beautiful...but no dolphins right there. We've done the dolphin swims twice in Nasau Bahamas, Paradise Island Bahama and once in Freeport Bahamas. They were stops on our Eastern Carribean itineraries along with St.Thomas and St.Martin.

 

I did a quick search and see there is a PRIVATE company (I have NEVER used them before...so I can't personally recomend them) but maybe you want to check them out. They do dolphin swims in St.Martin

http://www.offshoresunsations-activitycenter.com/offshoreactivities/dolphin.cfm

 

In St.Thomas there is a SHARK encounter for CHILDREN :eek: at Coral World for $29. We have never done the shark encounter there (we usually just walk around and see the observatory) http://www.coralworldvi.com/

But it is a great place for kids.

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