Excursions or not?

It has been quite some time since we have been on a cruise. We are traveling in late October to the western Caribbean. There are four ports of call. We really want some beach time. I noticed there are "excursions" for beach chairs, etc. Does anyone know if there are any amenities if you elect NOT to pre-pay for chairs, cabanas, etc. Years ago when we cruised with another cruise line, there were plenty of beach chairs on the private island, so we did not have to pay to use these. I just don't want to arrive and realize that we have nowhere to relax. Also, for sightseeing excursions should we book through the ship or wait until we arrive? Any suggestions would be much appreciated!

It would help to know the ports you will be visiting so people here can make specific suggestions.

Thanks for the tip! We are traveling on the Carnival Magic. Our ports of call are: Costa Maya, Mexico; Mahogany Bay, Isla Roatan; Belize City; and Cozumel.

Get yourself a guidebook on your ports from your library.....there is NO NEED to do an "excursion" for a beach day! Read up on your ports...a bit of research will save you a bundle!

On all but the private beaches, you will pay for chairs and umbrellas, if you don't want to sit on your towel, but it's still cheaper than paying a "guide" to take you to a beach!

A guidebook will tell you EVERYTHING about where you're going...about food, transportation, shopping, beaches, points of interest, and safety issues! Know something about the places you will visit!

Thanks!

Go to the ports of call area and look at each port. There you can see what others do and ask questions. 😎

is a touristy thing, but they have lots of excursions, we just got off there and got a hat and had a few drinks on a recent cruise

so only one time there, don't really know much else but there are fake(ish) ruins and real ruins I think you can do on a tour

----------------

mahogony bay has a neato beach dealio

once again the port is a touristy thing, but climb up past the customs house and duty free thingy and you can walk a series of suspended bridges or buy a skyride ticket for ride all day pass to the beach, the skylift will drop you 30ft from the water! you can ride all day back and forth and there is a bar and lunch available there, beach chairs are free there

lots of tours there but we haven't tried any, maybe good to stay with a ship tour if you do one there

----------------

belieze

tender port at least when we've been there on carnival

so, a crapshoot on whether the weather will allow tender service, inside the walled compound there is the usual touristy stuff, but its actually fun because there's a marina there too, good bars, and if you need meds.....

but, only the bravest of the brave set their own tours there, we did walk outside the compound there on our own just to say we did it the first time we were there and it was sketchy! you had to fight your way thru the prostitues offering hair braiding and massages to get outside, they had a big wide gate and plenty of security and police making sure the ladies stayed on their side of the line!

ships tours can even be sketchy here but if I said 99% safe, then one out of a hundred has a problem, I'm not sure what the real percentage is, but Id not worry too much.....:o

------------------------------

Cozumel

a favorite port, carnival has their touristy thing again for a port, just get an idea of where you can get out of it before getting off ship and head across the thing and take a taxi to town, one of the best walking around shopping, drinking and eating places you can go to!

we always hear good things on the tour groups but we have never taken one there, just haggled for jewelry, drank the free beer and soft drinks while haggling and eaten some killer food there!!!! sometimes in more ways than one:eek:

Google each port name, hundreds of entries. Also, Tripadvisor.com for each port-forums and reader reviews. Frommers. Fodors and Lonely Planet books and web sites. More info than you ever wanted.

We took a ship's excursion in Belize - picked up by a catamaran right from the ship and taken to what we called Gilligan's Island. Beautiful snorkeling. Those from our group who just went to look around Belize City, were pretty disappointed in it. Costa Maya was lovely pulling in, but we didn't have an excursion booked, just decided to walk around. We walked to the pier and there were so many army (?) personnel carrying guns near the shops, that we just got right back on the ship and sat by the pool. I would have a plan in place for both Belize and Costa Maya. Again, as others have said, look at the port listings for more info. I wish I had read up more on Costa Maya before we went there.

Belize is supposed to have some of the best snorkeling anywhere, but since I don't snorkel I can't attest to that. Also some excursions to ruins, didn't do those either. Tender boats here, and the water was extremely choppy the day we got there. It was hours before anyone could get off. Later in the day it turned out beautiful, so if you don't like the weather, just wait a while. ;) Nothing but shops and bars at the port of Belize. Just an excuse for us to get off the boat and say we'd been there!

Mahogany Bay is beautiful, apparently safe right around the port, but mostly all those supertacky Carnival shops (if I never hear the word "tanzanite" again... :cool:) and some touristy shops and stalls where you can haggle over prices. There's a ski lift-type ride ("flying chairs" I think they call it), was $12 for full day of rides from port to beach and back. Or you can walk to beach, not that far. Very pretty island. I think they have a zipline excursion you can take there.

Cozumel is a mixed bag with just about everything, so it really depends on what you like to do. I can tell you there are some nice all-inclusive resorts that sell day passes for less than $100 each, which includes watered-down fruit juice drinks and simple food. Some have wi-fi too. But they are beautiful, with private beaches, pools, etc. We went to El Cozumeleno, it was about $70 each two years ago. Taxi ride from Puerto Maya (the port where our ship the Dream was docked) for four of us was about $20 each way, that's total for four of us. Took about ten minutes to drive. We could have just stayed around the port, but it was nice to check out an all-inclusive resort property.

Haven't been to Costa Maya, so can't comment on that. Reading some of the threads under the ports section will give you lots of good info.

Some recommendations. I saw someone was not impressed with Cozumel All inclusive beach days. BUT I know two that get good reviews Mr Sanchos and Nachi Cocom. And it is not watered down fruit drinks only, you can order just about any drink from the bar, and many different beers. Nachi Cocom right now is $55 and food is good also last time we went. Short $15 taxi ride. But we have also just walked around Cozumel, it probably has the most variety of things to do.

Been to Roatan once and did Little French Key, you can google it, was beautiful. Check it out.

Hi, GABorn, I see you will be going to Cozumel. I highly recommend a recommendation at a day resort, NachiCoCom on Cozumel.. We have been there twice and enjoyed it both times. It has a lovely beach with lounge chairs and palapas - those palm frond thatched roof ''umbrellas" right on the beach. The charge last year was about $50 usd pp, and included lunch (delicious) chosen from their menu, as well as unlimited drinks served on the beach.

Taxi far was around $6.00 pp I think, each way. A great way to spend a day in Cozumel. And best of all, they limit reservations to about 100 persons, so the place is not overrun at all!

Enjoy!

Donna

Belize - We have done several different "on your own" type days here. Found snorkel tour operators on trip advisor that we were happy with. Snorkeling here is amazing. Have also done cave tubing, also via private tour operator. We haev no done a beach day here and Im not sure how easily this is done without an excursion.

Roatan - We have done several things here as well - none of them cruise sponsored excursions. You could just stay in port and enjoy the beach, but it can be crowded. You could go with Victor Bodden and have a driver for the day ( which is what we do mostly) and can spend time on a much quieter beach and do whatever you want before and after. Its like having a neighborly cab driver available to you the entire time you are on the island. You could also spend the day at Little French Key - which costs more but is pretty amazing.

Cozumel - We always do Mr Sanchos and I would highly recommend it if you want a day of lounging,floating,eating & drinking.

Costa Maya - We did the mayan ruins with The Native Choice tours. It was a nice tour, but I don't feel the need to do it again. Maya Chan is also a popular beach day spot. I just don't feel that CM competes with Coz for a beach day. On this same itinerary, CM is our "stay on the ship" day.

Trip advisor is your best tool for planning excursions.