bguppies

Playa Mia for sure

Thanks so much for all the great info. Luckily in January 2020 did another bucketlist trip where we spent a week in London (at the Tower hotel right next to the Tower of London with Tower bridge just outside our window)and a week driving around the Cotswolds. (and a super nice tour of Highclere Castle to feed DW's Downton Abbey fandom) Sadly we skipped a daytrip by train to Edinborough and another to Paris as we were having such a great time in London with severely uncrowded tours of Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's Cathedral, Parliment, etc. We are excited to get to see Greenwich and maybe we can carve some time to get to the British Museum, Portrait Gallery, etc. (the tours at the other sites were so in depth and behind the scenes, we stayed much longer at each instead of hitting multiple spots each and every day)

Thank you so much

Looking at doing the "Into the Mignight Sun" cruise on Viking the last week of June (in Norway) and the first week of July (Scotland/London) 2025. Bergen - 6/23 and 24. Geiranger - 6/ 25 Sea Day - 6/26 Lofoten (Leknes)- 6/27 Tromso 6/28 Honningsvag (Nordkapp) - 6/29 Sea Days - 6/30 & 7/1 Shetland Islands (Lerwick) - 7/2 Orkney Islands (Kirkwell) - 7/4 Edinburgh - 7/4 Sea Day - 7/5 London (Grenwich?) - 7/6 & 7/7 If anybody has any input about things to do in any of these port stops or the quality of these stops, we would be greatly appreciative of anyone's experiences with these ports. Gonna take us a couple of years to save up for this trip, so we really want to ensure the best itinerary we can for a once in a lifetime cruise.(at least for us) If anybody has any other tips about weather, daylight times, etc. those days at those ports would be appreciated also. (ANY input would be appreciated)

Just did the Sunshine and Pride in the past few months and NO 24 hour soft serve. Pretty soon Carnival will cut back Guys burgers to a couple of hours at lunch and the buffett in two hour windows at each meal. The days of cruising your way and eating on your schedule are swiftly coming to an end.

If you are on a Carnival ship (Princess, HAL etc.) you'll be at Puerto Maya pier. If you are on RCL (Celebrity etc) you be at international pier. (literally right next door to Puerto Maya) If you are on NCL or some smaller lines you'll probably be at the old pier downtown, which is a few miles north of the other two piers. The two main dolphin excursions are both on the way to Nachi from either southern pier. To find out the cruise schedules just use google and type in cruise port schedules and Voila.... (you can't link to any in here.) The Island of Cozumel posts the schedules for the current week with the finalized pier schedule each week.

Yeah let the people determined to do the Dolphin swim do that on their own first, as it will be closer to any cruise pier. (our group did that a few years ago. DW refused to lose one minute at her favorite spot in the world, Nachi, for a dolphin encounter. LOL) Then have the ones just wanting a fantastic beach day go straight to Nachi and you can have them set aside some palapas or loungers by the pool for the rest of your group arriving later from the dolphin swim. Remember Nachi has a limit of 125 people a day, so make sure not to wait too long to book it. (Especially if it one of those heavy passenger days with multiple huge ships [Oasis, Mardi Gras, etc], or 10-12 average sized ships scheduled to be there that day)

Got some more on our trip in early December at Los Cinco Soles. Price went up a bit since the last time we bought some, but what hasn't. Still way cheaper and better than artifical vanilla in the spice aisle at the grocery at home.

In what dimension is there more to do in Costa Maya than Cozumel? Maybe if you don't leave the pier area, since Costa Maya has a pool (but no beach) and restaurants and shopping versus just restaurants (better) and shopping (better) in Cozumel. The island itself has 10X more variety of things to do than Mahahual and a much wider variety of beach days than Mahahuial. Plus a larger, more developed town (San Miguel) to explore than Mahaual. Now Costa Maya does have easier to access, decent Mayna ruins closer than Cozumel. I will give it that.

Been on the Western in December, January and February a few times. Usually it will be warm enough to swim at those stops in those months. (you can google average temps at all your ports for the months you'll be visiting to make up your mind to your preferred water temp. I grew up further north and 70's in January/February seemed hot then. Now I've lived in Charleston, SC for 20+ years and 70's is barely above our normal winter day. 60's) But I wll say, cold snaps still reach somewhat south. One of our cruise from Tampa in Mid January, it was snowing in Tampa as we left and the temperature in Cozumel was 70 with very chilly waters. But that is the exception rather than the rule.

I'd choose Western although I can find worthwhile things to do at most ports. You'll have a difficult time finding any beach better than HMC. Gorgeous clear water and soft, sandy beach are tough to top. (been to most of the western and eastern ports and have none yet to equal HMC's combo of soft sand and clear water. Some have one or the other but not both. Closest might be Grand Cayman. Bimini in the Bahamas was close too, but the sand at HMC was slightly better) I love Cozumel for the ton of options there and the wide diversity of beach days available to you there.From quiet AI beach day with limit on people per day (our choice, Nachi Cocum) to a similar beach with a more raucous atmosphere- Mr. Sanchos, a kids beach - Playa Mia, to a similar beach with a little bit of all of the above- Paradise Beach, to beaches on the wilder Atlantic side, smaller, closer hotel beaches, the rocky Money Bar, etc. etc. etc. (check the Cozumel board here for a ton of great firsthand accounts) I also had a great time in Roatan (getting away from Mahogany Bay. Not a fan of the cruiselines created fake beach tourist trap areas) Hired a driver beforew the cruise who took us to a few spots we wanted to see, then to a West Bay beach area that had fantastic snorkeling from the shore and gorgeous beaches. (again check the Roatan board in here for a lot of great firsthand info) Depending if your cruise is during seaweed season or not in Costa May will probably dictate how your day will go there. There is a nice pool in the fake touristy cruiseline area there. (but no beach area) Most people take a short cabride into town (Mahahual) and spend a day at one of the beach bars there. (again check the Costa Maya board in here for firsthand info) To get more targeted information, it might help people guide your search by laying out what kind of things you'd like to do for excursions at the ports Do you enjoy lazy beach days, All Inclusive drinking days, snorkeling or more active things, exploring Mayan Ruins, etc.

Our last two cruises in September and December they were repeatedly using the Library for private functions.

We did this excursion on our cruise. They have nice facilities and two nice, large pools and a gorgeous white sand beach with super clear water. Unfotunately since it is a resorts world resort owned by Richard Branson (Virgin Voyages) they had a DJ who started playing current dance music non-stop around 10AM and even though we were down as far away from him as we could be, it was still loud down at our end. (walked to the bathroom and it was super loud down at his end) Would have been nice to relax to some quieter caribbean music playing in the backround instead of thumping, loud dance music. So if the music wouldn't bother you, the facilities there are fantastic. (some pretty good videos on you tube that walk around the facilities go you can see what they look like.)

It all depends on how early customs clears the boat for debarkation. I've been on cruises where they have to repeatedly call the same handfull of people down to a bar to meet with a customs official and the boat starts debarkation a little late until those people check in with the customs official who gets onboard. More often than not, it is on time or a little early. Our last cruise out of Tampa in early December was flying back from Costa Maya due to a forecast of heavy fog debarkation morning. We were docked already when I woke up to hit the bathroom at 2 AM. (instead of the usual 4-5 AM that the ships arrive back to port) We went down to the theater (where the platinums were supposed to wait for priority debarkation) before 7AM and they had already taken the platinums down 15 minutes earlier. (luckily we were waiting for the disabled debark after checking our luggage.) I'd say we have had maybe two cruises (ot of 15-20 ish) since we hit platinum that started debarkation late. Another couple that started a bit early and the rst were usually right on time. (7 ish)

5 ships in Cozumel is a light day. Like c-leg5 already stated, WHICH ships are docked with you is what really matters. 5 Oasis, Excell size ships will easily outnumber passenger counts of 10 older, smaller ships. We always do Nachi Cocum partly due to their 125 person limit and have NEVER seen them run out of loungers, Agree with a kiddo, Playa Mia would be a much better choice but I can't comment on how crowded it gets. ( i know since the restart it sounds like Mr. Sanchos and Paradise Beach are packed quite a bit now.)

Cozumel isn't even on the mainland. Best isolation from the cartels you can get in Mexico.

The island is 7 miles long and 1/2 mile wide. Golf course would take up most of the island if they built one.

Been with Chip from Stingray sailing 3 or 4 times now and you get a fantastic day with them every time. (100 X better than an overcrowded ship excursion) And like already stated start your own roll call to get the ball rolling for your cruise.

Also be careful with your group. On our Sunshine cruise in September we were cruising with two other couples who had never cruised Carnival. First night DW had warned them about the difficulty of naviagting to the dining rooms on Carnival ships and told them exactly how to get to the dining room before splitting up for the afternoon. One of the other couples put in the dining request in the app when it opened at 5:20-30 ish. All 3 couples got the message our table was ready. so we all started to the dining room from where we were at the time. DW and I were pretty close so we got there in less than 5 minutes, but they wouldn't let us in to sit until all 6 members of our party were physically there. (even though DW was using a walker due to a knee injury) Which I couldn't understand, as many cruises as we did back in the days before YTD and we had to sit and wait at our table until all the tabelmates would arrive before the waiters would start taking orders. Why we couldn't just go to the table they had assigned us and wait there so DW could get off her bad leg. Needless to say the 2 newbie couples did not make it down for a few minutes. One couple got there 4-5 minutes later and again, they would not let us in to our assigned table since the other couple hadn't found their way down yet. (and now we had 3 out of 4 people with walkers) The other couple finally made it down five more minutes later but we had just been notified they had cancelled our table and when we went to check with the staff, they said we had to reapply in the app and start waiting again. (now with 4 out of 6 people with walkers and no seats available to wait) So if you have any flaky/flightly people who are horrible at making it to places on time or new cruisers in your group who might get lost, be careful with YTD.

The QR code you are supposed scan in the room hasn't worked on our last two cruises on the Sunshine (which hardly anything seemed to work on it) or the Pride. And when we asked at Guest Services, were told on both ships to just call and have the poor person answering the phone to read the menu to us over the phone. (Carnival's customer service has gone to crap recently)

Worked poorly for us on the Sunshine in September (mostly the chat functionj) and decently for us on the Pride in December.(we didn't waste our money for the chat that cruise) Nephew and his wife said it was completely non functioning on their cruise on the Sunshine the day after Christmas. Couldn't make dinner reservations, message each other or see their folio or read things to do on the ship or see any menus. So it seems certain ships have more trouble with the app (or their wi-fi) than others.

We have been to Cozumel 7 times now and been to Nachi 7 times and have yet to have a bad crowd experience. (only once did it seem like 125 people there and once we went and it was just us and a group of six German tourists from a RCCL ship.) Plus we never get our money's worth in liquor (as we aren't huge drinkers) but love the meals we get each time. Hope you have a great day at Nachi.

Great day for the folks on that ship. Only gotten lucky in one of the usually packed ports, when there was only two ships in Nassau. Great day.

I'm sure those of us old enough to remember, thought that exact same thing in the 70's and 80's about Pan-Am and TWA

7 ships is a pretty average day. Cozumel can dock 8 and tender a couple more ships in. Like somebody already stated, the amount of ships doesn't matter as much as the amount of passengers. (too many 6,00 + ships in the fleets now versus the old days of 2,000-4,000 pax ships) It would take 3+ of Carnival's Fantasy or Spirit class ships, to equal the Passenger count on 1 of Royal Caribbean's Wonder or Allure size ships. (or the new Mardi Gras sized Carnival or larger Princess or NCL ships.) Just check WHICH ships are in port with you and then make an assesment on how crowded the island will be that day. Wonder of the seas - 6,988 pax Symphony ots - 6,680 pax Harmony ots - 6,687 px Oasis ots - 6,771 pax Allure ots - 6,780 pax MSC World Europa - 6,762 pax I'll skip the multitude of P&O, Aida and Costa ships that don't frequent Cozumel Carnival Celebration - 6,631 Carnival Mardi Gras - 6,631 MSC Grandiosa - 6,761 MSC Virtuosa - 6,334 MSC Meraviglia, Bellisima, Seashore and Seascape - 5,632-5,877 Odyssey ots - 5,510 Spectrum ots - 5,622 Quantum ots - 4,905 Anthem ots - 4,905 Ovation ots - 6,905 Norweigien Encore, Bliss, Joy, Escape and Epic - 4,200 - 5,200 pax Most ships above are all 10-12 years old... Freedom, Liberty and Independance ots - 4,375 - 4,560 pax MSC Seaview and Seaside - 5,336 Majestic Princess - 5,660 Sky, Enchanted and Discovery Princess - 4,610 Royal and Regal Princess - 4,310 plus these 2,000 - 4,000 pax ships Disney Wish, Norweigien Prima, Celebrity Beyond, Navigator, Mariner, Explorer, Voyager and Adventure ots, MSC Divina and Preziosa, Fantasia and Splendida, and thats just from the list of the 60 biggest ships. Most of the Carnival ships are 2,000- 4,000, (Vista, Dream, Conquest, Spirit, Fantasy classes) lots of smaller Celebrity, Disney, HAL etc. too. So as you can see, when the Carnival Pride and Paradise were docked next door to just the Allure of the Sea earlier this month, she had almost double the pax that the two Carnival ships had.