Saving money at ports?

My husband and I decided to take our kids (2 and 4) on a last minute budget cruise. We have been hitting the debt hard for a couple of years and my husband got an extra generous bonus last month. We found a good deal, decided to take a little family vacay, and then back to the penny pinching! :)

We are visiting Cozumel, Roatan, and Belize and my initial thought was just to grab a cab and hit up a few places on the cheap at each port. I've never been one for organized tours anyways. Silly me - we obviously haven't done any traveling as a family without utilizing our personal vehicle and I didn't think about the logistics of that in a foreign country!

Because of this, we have decided to just stay at port in Roatan and walk to Carnival's beach. It's surely not the off the beaten path beach we would prefer, but not having to deal with transportation issues won out on that one. Plus, the kids just want some sand and water, right?! Have a big breakfast, bring packaged snacks to the beach, and have a late lunch back on the ship later. In Belize, we were going to walk to the old government building and check out the market outside the gates, but it seems that everybody is suggesting that we don't go out of the port w/o an organized tour so I'm thinking that we may just explore the port some and then take advantage of the less populated ship for a while.

I've pretty much come to terms with budgeting at those two ports and not dealing with the hassle of carseats. However, Cozumel is a different story. I was able to find a reputable private tour company that rents out carseats w/ their cars. I've planned what we would do and the cost of everything and it looks to be about $300 for the day. We could swing that within our budget, but it would make everything else very tight and not leave much room for incidentals. If we don't do this, then it will probably be another little look at the port and then back on the ship for the day.

I guess that my question is, have you ever not fully taken advantage of port time and regretted it? I only have one cruise "under my belt" and everything was planned by others so this is the first time that I'm planning things out and I don't want to budget the fun right out of it!

Roatan and Belize are a couple of my favorites now. I'd been there a decade ago and didn't have an organized tour but went there a couple years ago and loved it. My husband and I determined that if we want to just mill around a tropical town and save money then we would do all inclusives. I absolutely regret all the ports I never bothered to research and take full advantage of the exotic locations our ship took us. If your kids like water activities, the snorkeling is great. Search on the ports boards. We went to caye caulker and shark ray alley.

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Belize does present a unique opportunity with being able to do activities via boat rather than land transportation and needing a car seat. I had found so many inland things that we wanted to do, but I should look into Caye Caulker and others more. My family isn't into the idea of snorkeling much, but I would like to. Of course, the budget comes into play, but I may be able to find something along those lines that we can work with. I have been doing a ton of research on these boards and finding so much useful information. Thanks for your input.

Check out the "ports of call" section of CC. There is so much information on the ports you will be visiting.

I'm learning that you don't have to take an excursion through the ship to have a fantastic time in port.

Enjoy your cruise!

We save alot of money by not buying many drinks onboard, bringing on pop and wine, not going to the casino, specialty restaurants, naming our price on hotels, frequent flier miles, etc. We "splurge" on the port excursions, but we use cruise critic for advice and use public transportation in ports where it's relatively safe, which compared to what the ships charge, is a great deal. I understand it's more difficult and expensive with kids, but hopefully you do take advantage of your surroundings.

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That seems a bit ridiculous for 4. You can bring a car seat from home and then that takes car of the car seat issue. I would just store them next to the bed. I also recommend the family board for kid friendly tours as Cozumel has a lot to do.

When we were there we went to Paradise beach, but I will admit I didn't want to hassle with the car seats so they sat on my lap for the 15 minute trip there and back in the taxi.( I have twins so I know about trotting two car seats). I took the car seats, but they were such a pain that only in the U.S. did we use them.

If you are flying they usually let you check a car seat and booster for free per child.

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If you haven't already, check out the ship's excursions. You may find a few that are inexpensive and offer something interesting, even though they may not last more than a few hours. This would let you spend some time in the cruise terminal, on an excursion, then back aboard for the rest of the day.

Get a guidebook from your local library...read up on your ports. You don't have to "miss out" on anything! Read up on what's available, and figure out HOW to do it. We seldom do any excursions....either ship's or private. We research our ports, and DIY. It's quite easy, and we have a great time! Research is Key to being "frugal"!

Thank you all for your input. I really appreciate it. My husband has pretty much decided that he does not want to drag around our own car seats and not using a car seat at all is not an option for us...so that complicates things a bit. I guess that I will go back to the drawing board and see what I can figure out!

I did a similar cruise a few years ago. Generally I find the ship's excursions to be too expensive and too cookie cutter for me. I think my review of these places are in my signature. It was the one where I was on the dream.

We took a can to a beach in toatan and although I've never been to a port beach or cruise ship beach, from the people that I've exchanged cruise stories with, I now try to avoid them at all cost if I can.

Good luck and have fun!

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A lot of time we decide to stay on the ship and enjoy the ambience with fewer passengers. Your children are at the age that they'd probably enjoy the day with you on the ship.

The port boards are the best place to look ..

Please do not get into any taxi in Mexico/Central America without agreeing to price beforehand. Better yet, do not get into any taxi. Get a bunch of library books out on your ports, read Tripadvisor.com. Usually you can ride public transportation also.

, but it seems that everybody is suggesting that we don't go out of the port w/o an organized tour so I'm thinking that we may just explore the port some and then take advantage of the less populated ship for a while.

I'd suggest you pick up a sun shelter -- they run about $40 at places like Academy Sports. Bring along a mesh bag of sand toys and plenty of sunscreen and drinks.

Check out the on board day care (i.e Camp Carnival) You can leave the kids for several hours to enjoy play time with other littles, usually including some indoor and some outdoor time AND a nap.

Enjoy a little port time with the DH/DW, hang out and relax either on an excursion or away.

It's just as safe as taking your children to daycare at home. Especially if your children go to 'school' at home, they may appreciate the structure.

Some parents protest that they WANT to vacation with their children EVERY MINUTE... but both parents and kids can benefit from a little time apart.

My husband and I decided to take our kids (2 and 4) on a last minute budget cruise. We have been hitting the debt hard for a couple of years and my husband got an extra generous bonus last month. We found a good deal, decided to take a little family vacay, and then back to the penny pinching! :)

 

We are visiting Cozumel, Roatan, and Belize and my initial thought was just to grab a cab and hit up a few places on the cheap at each port. I've never been one for organized tours anyways. Silly me - we obviously haven't done any traveling as a family without utilizing our personal vehicle and I didn't think about the logistics of that in a foreign country!

 

Because of this, we have decided to just stay at port in Roatan and walk to Carnival's beach. It's surely not the off the beaten path beach we would prefer, but not having to deal with transportation issues won out on that one. Plus, the kids just want some sand and water, right?! Have a big breakfast, bring packaged snacks to the beach, and have a late lunch back on the ship later. In Belize, we were going to walk to the old government building and check out the market outside the gates, but it seems that everybody is suggesting that we don't go out of the port w/o an organized tour so I'm thinking that we may just explore the port some and then take advantage of the less populated ship for a while.

 

I've pretty much come to terms with budgeting at those two ports and not dealing with the hassle of carseats. However, Cozumel is a different story. I was able to find a reputable private tour company that rents out carseats w/ their cars. I've planned what we would do and the cost of everything and it looks to be about $300 for the day. We could swing that within our budget, but it would make everything else very tight and not leave much room for incidentals. If we don't do this, then it will probably be another little look at the port and then back on the ship for the day.

 

I guess that my question is, have you ever not fully taken advantage of port time and regretted it? I only have one cruise "under my belt" and everything was planned by others so this is the first time that I'm planning things out and I don't want to budget the fun right out of it!

I purchased Bubblebum carseat boosters for $30. They are inflatable in seconds, extremely easy to use, and deflate to store easily in backpack. I was pretty leery about using boosters, especially inflatable ones, being that my kids use fully steel frame 5pt harness seats at home. But these had a ton of great reviews online and a high marks from Consumer Reports so I decided to try them out. They worked perfectly for our trip to Las Vegas, so used them for cruise and worked great.

We have done Coz with young kids twice, both times same plan. Get a taxi, haggle to cheap, have him stop at his favorite street vendor and get a bag lunch, have him drop us off on the wild East side, and tell him to pick us up 3 hours later or so, wander the wild side, check out the surf, search for cool beach stuff, eat lunch, see only a few folks ( not counting cars) and get picked up at same place. easy fun, family time, no crowds

Get the inflatable car seats & take a taxi to Celeste's on the beach on Roatan, do the beach, have lunch there, & have pre-arranges pick up,back. Cozumel - taxi to Chankunab and snorkel/beach with the kids. Make sure you arrange pick up time back. It's been years since we were there but it was only $5 last time so pretty sure still budget friendly! There is an entrance fee for it is a National underwater park. Belize - stay on board or book an excursion - check out thread for your sailing...