Mexico on the Dream, What not to miss?

[donrick1]

I am sailing on the Dream on 4/17/2010 and am going to three new ports and want to know what to see on what stops. We will be hitting Cozumel which I've been to twice already so am all set there. We are also going to Isla Rotan, Belize, and Costa Maya. Which one is the best to see the Mayan Ruins? In Belize I hear they have cave tubing but didn't see it listed as a shore excursion through the ship, does anyone have info on that even if I had to do it privately? I would love to try Snuba but again not sure which port to do that in if anyone can offer help!!! I am looking forward to exploring this big new ship and maybe grabbing some popcorn and catching a movie out by the pool with a fruity drink in hand. Here in Maine we are getting ready for a Nor'Easter so will spend the weekend daydreaming about the Islands to come!!!

[nybumpkin]

Here's what we did in each of these ports:

 

Roatan - We did a "Best of Roatan" island tour with Victor Bodden. We visited the iguana farm, Victor's house, had lunch at Blue Bahia resort, and drove around to some scenic overlooks. You can customize your tour; there are very good beaches, although we didn't go (it wasn't our "beach" day.:)) Website is boddentours dot com.

 

Belize - We did cave tubing with Major Tom, an independent tour. Website is cave-tubing dot net. There are several other tour operators available as well - there is contact information on the Belize board. While we enjoyed cave tubing (the caves are fascinating), it was a lot more work than I thought it would be.:o Carnival does not offer cave tubing anymore because of an accident last year that resulted in a passenger's death.

 

Costa Maya - We did a tour of the Chacchoben ruins with The Native Choice (David and Ivan), followed by lunch with a Mayan family at Chacchoben village. The ruins are about an hour away from Costa Maya - if you do only the ruins part of the tour, total time is about 4 hours. Adding lunch, it's 5 1/2 hours. Website is thenativechoice dot com.

[Sargent_Schultz]

The ship, of course!

[crewsweeper]

You can't go wrong with NYBumpkin's itinerary. Some alternative ideas:

 

Roatan: Another good choice for Roatan is Rony of Ronystours.com. Equally personable and can custom your day around what you'd like to do or see. You can also just veg at the Mahogany Bay beach.

 

Belize: Major Tom seems to be one of the better organized cave tubing companies. You can also do a couple of excellent ruins tours, Altun Ha or Xunantunich, in Belize. But use the ship's excurisons for these as they are a distance away and it's a long trek where anything can cut it close on the return. Or take a water taxi up to Caye Caulker for a real laid back old beach town feel, very similar to the West End on Roatan, and grab a seafood kabob from Carlos with his outside grill up near the Split.

 

Costa Maya: Carnival offers a power snorker excursion that would still leave you with time to visit the malecon in Majahual for the beach and grabbing a bite to eat.

[w8ing2cruz]

Hey donrick1 we will be on this cruise with you! We do have a roll call going but it has been fairly quiet. My husband and I have been to all ports except Roatan. We're not sure what we'll do this trip but here are our initial ideas:

 

Cozumel - Would love to do Tucan Sailing if the timing will work otherwise beach day at Paradise or Mr. Sanchos.

Roatan - Probably go with Bodden and just have him tour a little bit and end up at West End for a beach/snorkel day.

Belize - did the cave tubing last time around and while it was a fun adventure we will do something different this trip. Like the Caye Caulker plan but I wish we could just get picked up from the ship.

Costa Maya - grab a cab to Majuhal and chill on the beach just like we did last time and had a blast!

 

Have fun with the planning - hop on over to the roll call if you feel like it. Can't WAIT to see the ship!

[seadaisy]

When in Cozumel, if you have not already taken the ferry over to see the Mayan ruins at Tulum, they are very worth your time and in a spectacular setting.

[teach21566]

Please come join our roll call....the more the merrier

[RadChick]

Tabyana Beach in Roatan is gorgeous. Nice snorkeling.

 

In Belize, yup, cave tubing is the way to go!! I had a FANTASTIC experience with Yhony's company cave-tubing dot com It's sooooo much fun!