DavidsNana

Just got back from Caribbean Princess Cruise 4/1-4/8 and we missed Roatan/Mahagony Bay and Costa Maya ports due to high winds and seas. So we only made Cozumel and Belize out of the 4 ports. We also were lucky to get to go ashore in Belize due to rough seas for the tenders. We were waiting in the theater for our Cave Tubing excursion to be called to tender. One group left and then we waited and waited for over an hour before we were taken to the tenders. Found out later from one of the ships officers that I spoke to ashore, that the wait was due to the seas kicking up and that it was touch and go as to whether or not we would be allowed to tender. We finally make it but everyone was so late that the tours were delayed so instead of the ship sailing at 5 pm, we sailed at 7:30pm as the tender line was so long that it took that long to get everyone back aboard. A Royal Caribbean ship was docked at Cozen Hole on Roatan while we sailed by! Princess did give everyone a $75 non-refundable credit to use as a goodwill gesture for us missing the two ports even though it was not in their control.

Based on a recommendation from a post here a few months ago, we decided to take this excursion 4/3/23 on our Caribbean Princess cruise. It was easily booked online via email on their website. A $30 deposit needed to be made ahead of time and was required to be paid via Zelle. I had never used Zelle before but found it easy to use once set up via my bank account. The remainder of the excursion $95 per person was paid the day of the excursion. We exited the port and crossed the street and walked a short distance (maybe 1/4 block) to the Pemex station and 7/11 store. We were met by the Trikes Cozumel rep and were taken by cab to a place just a short ride away where the trikes were waiting where we paid the balance and the driver (or drivers) were given instructions on how to operate the Trike. We then got on and were lead by the guide and his photographer/assistant around the island. The assistant took lots of photos with her cellphone which are posted to their Facebook page and are free for the downloading which was very nice as most places make you pay for pics. Also, they would take pictures of us using our own cellphones. We made several stops to rest or switch out drivers if you wanted. One stop was at a place on the wild side of the island where they had drinks to purchase that were made from all fresh ingredients. We had a virgin pina colada and it was delicious. These drinks were $8 each. It was a very pretty beach area. We also stopped for the included lunch at a beach and ate at a prearranged place across the street from the beach with a nice view. There was a choice of beef, chicken or fish fajitas which came with rice and beans (black bean puree) and corn tortillas. The fajitas were piping hot but the beans and rice were just warm and could have been warmer but everything was delicious and the portion of fajitas was more than most of us could eat. Water was provided by Trikes Cozumel but other drinks had to be purchased. There were 3 in our party, we had 2 cokes, an extra bottle of water, guacamole and chips and salsa and it was $20. Again, everything was very tasty. The only caution I would advise is that there were probably 30 stairs to get up to the lunch pavilion. Helmets were provided and required to be worn during the ride. The staff were great, very safety conscious, warm, welcoming and accommodating. Part of this tour includes tequila tasting and none of us were interested in that so we bypassed it and just had a little longer to ride. We were dropped off at the end of the tour about a block from where you cross the street at the port. My adult grandson was our driver and the reason we took this excursion as he loves vehicles of all kinds and wanted to do this. It was something other than the beach to do and was fun.

I had forgotten all about the lobster claws. They were delicious. Those were the days!!

@ThrakI'm sailing on the Caribbean Princess again on 4/1. Now watch, since I opened my big mouth and said it worked for me on the last two cruises, I probably jinxed myself and it won't work this time!! LOL I can only hope.

I had a different experience than Thrak. Just got off the Sky Princess on March 4th and I was able to see my son moving around the areas that he was in such as the buffet one morning and the shops area one afternoon. And on the Caribbean Princess in March 2022 I was also able to see him moving along his route coming from the shops down to deck 5 Piazza. Now on the other hand, he was not able to track me at all for some reason or another. Maybe I was just lucky in being able to track him the way I did. I was using a relatively new IPhone SE and I am far far from being tech savvy.

@llarsenThanks so much again for all this wonderful firsthand information. My granddaughter-in-law saw her orthopedic doctor this morning and he says that he wants her to go and have a good time and they will do an MRI when we return from the cruise. He gave her a brace to use that she can lock in place while walking and unlock when sitting. He says that she should be fine with it and that the swimming is good and that using the brace will protect the knee from any more damage. Still not sure just what the problem is until the MRI. We are very grateful for this as she has never been on a ship before and is so excited that she has been pretty much packed for a month!! I so much appreciate your information and the time you have taken to relay it. I will write a review of our time at LFK and the sloths etc. when we get back and tag you so you will know how it works out. Thanks for the info about not taking the Princess 2 hour Scenic Wildlife River cruise. I just might have considered it on a future trip. I book a combo of Princess tours and independent ones. However, we were almost left in Costa Maya when we took my grandson on his 2nd cruise. He wanted to try Carnival so we did, he decided even at age 10 that he preferred Princess. Well, we booked an independent tour to Chacchoben Ruins with Native Way tours. They were wonderful but we were on top of one of the pyramids and another guide came running up and yelled to our guide that the ship was leaving early. We were supposed to leave at 5 pm and it was only noon. We scurried down from the top and the van driver drove as fast as he could back to the port. We were lucky as there was a big bus of Princess people on a ship's excursion that were still out so we made it 15 minutes before they did. They actually drove the big bus out on the pier as the ship was ready to cast off the last line and sail. If it hadn't been for that bus, we would have been left. The seas and wind had come up and the captain had decided that it wasn't safe to keep the ship tied up any longer than possible. So I wasn't surprised that we miss Costa Maya on our cruise. Since then, if the place we are going to visit is a distance away from the port, I go ahead and book through the ship. Thanks again for all your help. I think we are to have a reasonably nice day on Monday and I'm going to take full advantage of it. Enjoy! And yes, maybe we will meet again on a cruise or maybe in another airport.

@llarsenIt is entirely possible that we met in the Dallas airport during flight delays since you live in Murrieta and I live in San Diego. I wore my mask and met two very nice people in the Dallas airport who were also wearing masks. Might that have been you? If that is the case, yes it is a small world!! Thanks for the info on the snorkeling. Unfortunately, our plans may have to be changed. My grandson's wife slipped going to her car the other day and while she did not fall, she twisted a knee that she has had surgery on in the past. She is determined to go on this cruise, but we will see what the orthopedic doc says on Thursday. We may have to cancel (thank heavens for insurance) or at the very best, she will have to either use crutches, be in a knee brace and or we will have to rent her a wheelchair. Not sure how LFK will work with any of those, need to do some investigation. We were to cave tube in Belize but that is totally out at this point. As luck would have it, later in life, my late husband walked with a cane but needed wheelchair assistance for long distances and we travelled quite a bit. So, I am well versed in traveling with someone with limited mobility. I'm crossing my fingers that it is a minor injury that will only require a knee support. I have done the cruise line beach at Mahagony Bay and it can get very hot. When I have done it, I have pretty much stayed in the water and one time when there were 4 of us, we rented one of the bungalows and they have shade and if necessary, they have a/c inside. But that was pre-pandemic and the price was much less expensive than it is now. Not sure I could justify that higher price. Thank you for your continued help and info. If we can't get to LFK this time, then I'm determined to get there in the future and will put your great info to good use. I agree, I am so tired of this weather. I'm so looking forward to summer. Many thanks again for your help.

Had the same thing happen to me on our upcoming Caribbean Princess cruise. Booked private table for every night and everything was fine for months. Then one day checked as I always do every couple of days and everything was changed to shared table. Luckily, I was able to reinstate all our reservations for the same time except one night and had to make it earlier than originally did.

@llarsenI Think we were on the same Sky Princess Cruise 2/25-3/4. I was with my son and his girlfriend on that one. We did a private excursion and visited a sloth park on that one. It was really special to be able to hold them. the monkeys were fun but very high energy. So after hearing about them, my grandson and his wife decided they wanted to do the sloths on this cruise. I would recommend it if you like animals. Thanks for the snorkeling info and conditions that your husband experienced. The Sloth Pkg includes the snorkeling equipment so they will snorkel around the lagoon areas but I will tell them to not be expecting too much. I do have snacks with me that my grandson can eat but they do not allow outside food at LFK but seeing the pic of your husband's civiche and chips, I'm confident that we can order him something a la carte if they won't substitute something. Thanks again for all your firsthand information. It is invaluable.

@llarsenOh thanks so much for your detailed review and the pictures. I have contacted Larissa and made our reservations. We will be doing the Sloth and Island Pkg with the mini pigs for sure and then my grandson and his wife are tentatively planning on doing the snorkeling tour. They are going to wait until we get there and see how the seas and wind are that day before they decide. I'm looking forward to it and hope that the weather is reasonably clear that day. Glad that the island plate was good as our package includes that. However, my grandson is allergic to beef products (has to carry epi pens with him) and while Larissa said that they can keep the beef off his plate, I think to be safe, we will be ordering him something a la carte as his food can't even touch any beef products. Thanks so much again. If it were just me going, I would also not purchase the package but do things the way you did.

We were just at Lamanai on March 1st. I agree with ABQrobin no way 7 miles. The boat ride to the ruins is a hoot. It is a very large very fast speed boat, 4 large engines in the back. Lots of fun but not going to see wildlife except for a few white birds. When you get to the ruins, there are quite a few concrete steps to get to the part where you walk over the uneven dirt trail with roots and rocks. The concrete steps are not straight up but slopping. It is not a fast paced walk as the guide stopped to point out things to us. When we got to the first pyramid, Jaguar pyramid, there was a large grassy area that the guide stopped and gave a talk about. We then walked farther to the pyramid of the masks on the same kind of trail. We were then told that if we did not want to continue to the 3rd one which could be climbed we could go back the way we came to the river area with bathrooms and I think there was a museum but we did not have time to go in so I'm not sure about it. My son, his girlfriend and I continued on to the third pyramid which was about another 6 minute walk. I'm 75 and I had no problem with the walk. However, I have fibromyalgia which effects the muscles in my thighs and while I have no problems with regular stairs, I do have trouble with the really high ones. I was only able to climb up to the first level of the 3rd pyramid with a hand from my son on the first 3 steps. It was hot but if you stayed in the shade, it was tolerable. There was one older couple (I am guessing but I think they might have been in their 80's) decided to stop at the first pyramid and go back to the area where the buildings were. I thoroughly enjoyed this excursion except for the bus ride. I didn't mind the length of it but the microphone on our bus kept cutting out and so we only heard about 1/3 of the commentary of the guide on the way to the boat area. The lunch was tasty and everything was very clean. Somewhere on here ABQrobin has videos, I think on Youtube, of their travels. Take a look at them. They are fabulous. She gives lots of great info. I think she has one on Lamanai. Hope this helps anyone thinking about this excursion.

We just missed this port on Sky Princess March 2nd due to high winds 40 knots and heavy seas. I did not notice that the seas were very rough but man that wind was fierce. The captain seemed to hang around and see if it would die down but nope. It was very early in the morning, still dark but I was awake so went out on the balcony and pretty much knew we weren't going to be able to dock even before the announcement.

I might be there before you. We will be in Roatan on 4th. We are going to do the sloth tour, 3 of us do the mini pig encounter and 2 of snorkeling tour. So based on that, it seems that we will have at least a separate person for the snorkel tour and maybe for the mini pigs plus the waiter. That is why I was wondering. That is a lot of separate people to tip if it is individually. Thanks for the info though. Always appreciated.

@cowboymouthLooking forward to your opinion.

@llarsen I have searched the website and cannot find anything about tipping at LFK. There seems to be numerous people helping one throughout the day. May I ask if they have a tip jar/box etc. to leave something to be shared with the entire staff or do you tip each person who helps you individually?

@travelin.sistersI so love the pics of your bears. No matter what has happened in my day, they always bring smiles to my face. So cute and the pics with the various crew members are just too cute.

Just off the Sky Princess last week and we booked and paid for the Plus Pkg before the price went to $60. I ordered 2 glasses of wine in the Crown Grille which were $16 each expecting to be charged an upcharge of $1 each plus 18% gratuity. When I checked my account, which I did several times that week, I was charged a $4 upcharge for each of them plus the 18%. I went to Guest Services and even had a printout from the Princess Website that others had found saying that the upcharge would only be for drinks over $15. The gal at Guest Services said no that we were only allowed up to $12 dollars and was very snippy when I showed her the printout. Offered to sell me the Plus Pkg at the increased price or the Premium Pkg. Nope not cost effective for me either way. So I thanked her for her time. 2 days later when I checked my folio the two charges were removed. So who knows what happened. There was another Guest Services Rep standing close by so maybe he told her that she was wrong or maybe he just took the charges off as a goodwill gesture. I don't know. None of us ordered anything over the $12 limit after that as we just didn't see anything that we wanted over the $12. That was my experience. So, so check your folio as others have said.

@llarsenThanks for your review. We will be in Roatan April 4th and am thinking of doing LFK with the sloths and mini pigs. Good to have a very recent review. I have been reading about this place for many years and then there seemed to be the dispute and bad reviews so was not sure. Your review and pictures makes me feel very comfortable doing this in April. Thanks again.

Thanks again for all your help. Hers is very new. I will forward this information to my grandson so they know. I have no experience with a CPAP at all so this is all new to me. I just remember taking my hair dryer and curling iron to Europe and the Orient many years ago and needed the proper plug adapters but they always had the option to switch between voltages. But then I'm 75. Heck, I remember on our first cruise on Sitmar, they had rooms down the hall that had hair dryers in them as you couldn't plug in your own in the cabin. Only shaver outlets. So all the ladies would be walking down the passageways with wet hair going to the hair drying room! I just love all these modern conveniences of today!

@Rick&JeannieThanks so much for this info. My grandson and his wife live in TN and I live in CA so I have never seen her unit. I told my grandson that I thought that it should be indicated on the machine if it is able to operate safely on both voltages. He is going to check it and if necessary call the company. I think it should have a "switch" for either voltage but "what do I know" LOL. I will pass this info on to him. Thanks again. So appreciate you taking the time to respond.

@Rick&JeannieDo you need a voltage adapter with this plug that you use for the CPAP? It is my granddaughter in law that uses the CPAP so I'm not familiar with the setup. Do most CPAP machines have dual voltage? Thank you.

@Dive Master& @omeinvThank you so much for your prompt replies. I will tell him about the EMT shears. Very much appreciated.

@wolft927Can you tell me approximately how much the jet ski rentals are at Paradise Beach and did you notice if there was a weight limit? We will have some pretty big guys in our party. We haven't been there in many years and they did not have the jet ski rentals when we were there. Thanks for the information.

My adult grandson wants to dive in Roatan when we are there. He will be bringing his own fins and mask and when he dives in the US he usually carries a dive knife just in case of an emergency, he is a trained rescue and recovery diver. Have any of you carried a dive knife onboard the ship and were you able to take it and bring it back to the ship through the security at the port in Roatan? The ship policy states that he can bring it onboard but it must be checked with security and then checked out when he goes diving. If you have ever done this, how has it worked? Is it a hassle? Thank you for any info you can give me.

I love your trip reports and pics. I am really looking forward to this. You are so informative and knowledgeable. Thank you. Have a fantastic trip/cruise.