Which western Caribbean excursions do you recommend for a 3 yr old and 18 mo old?

We will be on royal caribbean's Freedom of the Seas in the Western Caribbean. While we will take advantage of the nursery and adventure ocean program we'd love to take the kids with us to some of the ports. They love their dbl stroller so that is a plus. Are there any beach excursions or tours you recommend for us to have our kids tag along? they will be 3 yrs old and 18 months old? Keeping in mind at the beach that there is a shady place to let them hang out in when they need breaks from the sun? Our ports of call is Labadee, Haiti (private island) ;grand cayman; foulmouth, Jamaica ; and Cozumel, Mexico.

We will be on royal caribbean's Freedom of the Seas in the Western Caribbean. While we will take advantage of the nursery and adventure ocean program we'd love to take the kids with us to some of the ports. They love their dbl stroller so that is a plus. Are there any beach excursions or tours you recommend for us to have our kids tag along? they will be 3 yrs old and 18 months old? Keeping in mind at the beach that there is a shady place to let them hang out in when they need breaks from the sun? Our ports of call is Labadee, Haiti (private island) ;grand cayman; foulmouth, Jamaica ; and Cozumel, Mexico.

I'm sure you will get some answers here but also check out the ports of call board. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=587

Labadee IS a beach...with plenty of shade. And, you can come and go from the beach to the ship at will, so you don't have to stay all day!

GC is easy to get to the beaches via bus...Cheaper than a cab....all of 7-mile beach is public, with restrooms/food/ chair-umbrella rentals, etc....that's a great place to DIY.

Falmouth is a man-made port with nothing really close...you will need to book something there, if you decide to do more than walk through the shops at the dock.

Can't help with Cozumel.....not a fan of Mexico!

Thank you! Yeah I'm not crazy about Mexico either. We'll probably be booking an excursion through the ship or just staying very close by. Just need to decide what to book!

Would you suggest walking ourselves to the beach in Labadee or taking the shuttle I keep reading about?

Chakanaab in Cozumel is family friendly. This is easily done on your own, or through the cruiseline. You will find lots of threads on this in the Ports of Call section.:)

Grand Cayman has the turtle farm which may interest your children along with beach options. There will be info on this also on Ports of call.;)

Never been to Falmouth, but if I ever took another cruise that went to Jamaica, I would NOT get off the ship again here:eek:

In Labadee, it's not really a very far walk from the ship to the far end, but the shuttles are available if you want them--and with two little ones you might.

The 3 year old will like the small water park. They also have an area by it that is run by the kid's club, so he could stay there for a while. There's plenty of shady spots on that stop.

At Falmouth, if you search the ports boards, you will see various beaches that you can take a bus or van to and spend the day. Go with ones recommended. I wouldn't do anything else in Jamaica with small kids, like shopping, etc. There are some shops right in the terminal that don't have the high-pressure salesman ship.

On Coz, we went to Paradise Beach with young kids and they had a nice time. You can take a taxi there.

Here is my trip advisor review for Dolphin Cove in Ocho Rios, Jamaica. http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g147312-d274030-r154722766-Dolphin_Cove-Ocho_Rios_Saint_Ann_Parish_Jamaica.html Dolphin Cove is located right next to Dunn's River Falls, so you would be able to easily do both activities. Our two year old son really loved the dolphin touch program, and meeting all the other animals. We also had excellent jerk chicken at Scotchies. Richard Brooks at excursionochorios@gmail.com provided us with transportation from the Ocho Rios port, and you might want to contact him to see if he is available from your port. Dolphin Cove was the only excursion I've ever booked that actually cared if you came off a cruise ship, so tell them you are staying with friends when you make your reservation if you choose to visit them. They even request the name of your hotel and room number when you check in.

In Falmouth, I recommend Hilton Rose Hall. They have a great pool complex with some water slides and a lazy river. They also have beach access. Very family friendly.

We did Nachi Cocom in Cozumel with our 3 year old. It was wonderful there. Kids 3 and under are free, the food was very good, the water conditions were perfect for small children and there were very few people there when we went in September. It was very relaxing even tending to a 3 year old!

In Falmouth, we did Chukka Beach Break. The ride there was short, it was ship sponsored and the beach was great. Drawbacks were concern about the safety of my personal belongings on the beach and a very small number of vendors. Overall, we may do this again since there are so few simple beach day options in Falmouth.

For sure I would take them to the Private Island.

Keith

We took our then 22 mo old to Cayman, Cozumel, Ocho Rios, and NCL's private island. We did beach excursions from the ship for all of them. It was easier to not have to deal with transportation on our own. We had a lot of fun. In Cayman we went to Tiki Beach. That's also easy to get to on your own with a taxi/van from the pier. It's a beautiful spot and we had a lot of fun. Good shade trees to put chairs. The water was smoother when we walked down the beach a bit. I think that was our favorite day. In Cozumel we went to Playa Mia beach break. Crazy busy. Ship didn't arrive until 11 so we were there well after other had scoped out chairs. We had a really hard time finding a spot on the beach. But there is good shade along the back and once we settled in it was fun. If we would have found it earlier I would have spent more time on the pool side. They added a large pool and kids splash area. Our dd loved the splash area because she could walk around and play with the water features and didn't have to be held.

At that time our dd wasn't potty trained and couldn't go in the ship pools so we loved getting off the ship and going to the beach. Get a few pails and shovels and have at it!

We did Nachi Cocum in Cozumel with our 2 year old and had a great time! It is not crowded, as they limit the number of visitors each day. The food and service was great. They have a very nice swimming pool, a portion of it is just a few inches deep. My daughter loved that! They also had floating mats available for $7, and that worked nice for us in the ocean. There was a lot of shade, hammocks, etc. I highly recommend this place.

On Labadee, we were able to get a clam shell and that provided a lot of shade right in front of the water. We also got floating mats here.

You will have a great time!!