Little French Key

[Galleon1234]

Thanks so much for all the information. I am wondering if certain times of the year are better for snorkeling in Roatan? Such as October or February?

 

Thanks!

[mitsugirly]

 

Mitsugirly,

We are cruising NCL Getaway in April and have 3 ports that we haven't been to before. I love reading your reviews and we are always able to narrow down what we want to do to at least 2 places that you have been to or recommended and have never been disappointed with our decision. Our last cruise on the Anthem of the Seas, we were to go to Roatan, Costa Maya, & Belize but we had a last minute change of itinerary due to the weather. For Roatan, we had Maya Key booked, but now after reading some of these reviews i'm wondering if we should do LFK instead?

 

In Belize, i'm debating between Goff's Caye & Hol Chan Reserve, Shark/Ray Alley Caye Caulker

 

In Cozumel, our debate is Mr Sancho's or Playa Mia

 

I would appreciate any input. For this cruise it will just be my husband & I, we love the beach, like to snorkel, and really like atmospheres like Chankanaab that gives you a variety of things to do.

 

Man these questions are always so hard.

 

Roatan, I'm always going to go with LFK. It's just so beautiful and amazing there. If you must snorkel, do the boat out to the reef there. Or even kayak around the area.

 

Belize-Shark Ray Alley is just one of those "must do" items IMO. I mean think about when you return home and you tell all your family and friends "I swam with the sharks...on purpose" :D It's a good conversation starter. :p

 

Mr Sanchos and Playa Mia...hmm, we "liked" both but I really couldn't say I have a favorite between the two. Playa Mia was just more for the "kids sake" because of the water park. Don't get me wrong, we had fun at the water park area too (water slides and awesome huge pool). But, we also went when there wasn't many ships there and the place was dead. I've heard and seen pictures of it being super crowded. Mr Sanchos was ok. I wouldn't say our favorite, but we had a good day there and I'm all about experiencing different places. You just aren't going to beat Chankanaab, especially with all the things there is to do there. All the other places, you are just going to either have a beach or beach and pool, and nothing else unless you rent things to do with water sports.

 

Playa and Sanchos both have the water toys in the ocean as well.

[PhillyTravelBug]

21 days until I get to experience LFK!!

[Galleon1234]

Please report when you return:)!

[bren61]

Man these questions are always so hard.

 

Roatan, I'm always going to go with LFK. It's just so beautiful and amazing there. If you must snorkel, do the boat out to the reef there. Or even kayak around the area.

 

Belize-Shark Ray Alley is just one of those "must do" items IMO. I mean think about when you return home and you tell all your family and friends "I swam with the sharks...on purpose" :D It's a good conversation starter. :p

 

Mr Sanchos and Playa Mia...hmm, we "liked" both but I really couldn't say I have a favorite between the two. Playa Mia was just more for the "kids sake" because of the water park. Don't get me wrong, we had fun at the water park area too (water slides and awesome huge pool). But, we also went when there wasn't many ships there and the place was dead. I've heard and seen pictures of it being super crowded. Mr Sanchos was ok. I wouldn't say our favorite, but we had a good day there and I'm all about experiencing different places. You just aren't going to beat Chankanaab, especially with all the things there is to do there. All the other places, you are just going to either have a beach or beach and pool, and nothing else unless you rent things to do with water sports.

 

Playa and Sanchos both have the water toys in the ocean as well.

 

Kim,

 

Thanks so much for your reply. I have taken your advice and went with LFK and am very excited:).

 

In Belize, I decided to go with Goff's Caye since we have snorkeled with sharks and rays before, but when I went to book Goff's Caye with Shoreexcursioneer this is the reply I got...

 

IMPORTANT NOTE: Unfortunately, we cannot process your reservation for the Belize Goff's Caye Island Getaway and Snorkel Cruise Excursion (S1410) or any other excursion in Belize City due to the length of the distance from Harvest Cay to Belize City. We do not have any excursion in Harvest Cay to offer you now. Please check our website at the beginning of next year.

 

I'm going to call them personally tomorrow to see if they will offer it after January or may just book it through someone else.

 

After some thought on Playa Mia and Mr Sanchos, I think we will do Mr Sanchos since it's just my husband and I, and save Playa Mia for another time if we take our grandkids. I also didn't like the fact of them nitpicking about being in the kids section. My gosh, you were practically the only ones there, I could see if they were super busy and you were crowding out the little kids, but don't think that was the case:rolleyes: besides that fact, I like my drinks strong:D

 

I totally agree with you on Chankanaab, I love it there too, but we will be there the week before, with my Daughter and Granddaughter, doing a dolphin swim when we are on the RCL Harmony of the Seas. We are sort of doing a B2B with 1 day in between cruises and going 2 different cruise lines.

[mitsugirly]

Kim,

 

Thanks so much for your reply. I have taken your advice and went with LFK and am very excited.

 

In Belize, I decided to go with Goff's Caye since we have snorkeled with sharks and rays before, but when I went to book Goff's Caye with Shoreexcursioneer this is the reply I got...

 

IMPORTANT NOTE: Unfortunately, we cannot process your reservation for the Belize Goff's Caye Island Getaway and Snorkel Cruise Excursion (S1410) or any other excursion in Belize City due to the length of the distance from Harvest Cay to Belize City. We do not have any excursion in Harvest Cay to offer you now. Please check our website at the beginning of next year.

 

I'm going to call them personally tomorrow to see if they will offer it after January or may just book it through someone else.

 

After some thought on Playa Mia and Mr Sanchos, I think we will do Mr Sanchos since it's just my husband and I, and save Playa Mia for another time if we take our grandkids. I also didn't like the fact of them nitpicking about being in the kids section. My gosh, you were practically the only ones there, I could see if they were super busy and you were crowding out the little kids, but don't think that was the case besides that fact, I like my drinks strong

 

I totally agree with you on Chankanaab, I love it there too, but we will be there the week before, with my Daughter and Granddaughter, doing a dolphin swim when we are on the RCL Harmony of the Seas. We are sort of doing a B2B with 1 day in between cruises and going 2 different cruise lines.

 

 

I hope you have a wonderful time at LFK.

 

I didn't realize you would be docking at Harvest Cay. That's probably the difference. I'm not sure how far away that is compared to Belize City. It might be too far of a boat ride for vendors to take on that responsibility. I have never been to Harvest Cay yet so really haven't researched it before.

 

Another place you could consider if you are really into snorkeling and loved the snorkeling at Chankanaab is The Money Bar. It's a small area/restaurant that's located along that strip and it's pretty much the same concept with a small "beach" above and steps that walk down into the water for snorkeling. It supposed to have excellent snorkeling. The cost is free to get in and they just want you to buy food and drinks while you are there. But, not much else to do there. It's the one place I have always wanted to go but haven't yet due to having my little one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Here's the distance from the cruise port.

 

[sportscruiser]

Ok just got back. We were there Thursday. Larry did not hand out tickets for our trip. We were the only ship and when we checked in the lady working counter said they were expecting about 175 for the day. Larry put us in a private car with Marvin and he zoomed passed the 3 busses to get us ahead of that wave. Marvin said they were expecting to do at least two more wave of busses before everyone got there. Once we paid they do now have these business card like tickets with numbers that are for drinks and food. So here is our experience. 175 was a lot better then the 500 we had last time. Most people seem to hang out in the lagoon as that is where we started the day until it got more busy. Then we headed to the area by the pizza bar which only had about a dozen people there.

 

I think the other reason people like the lagoon compared to the pizza beach/mermaid or the King Neptune area is once you wade in the water the ground is not soft but kinda rocky and pebbly compared to the soft sand. We did not care as both area had swim up bars and great service.

 

Animal update simba is still not back nor is a couple of the sweet monkeys. They did have rosita, Rico and Robert the monkey which came out to play. They do have a jag on the mainland cage that is pregnant with 2 cubs. Also the lion has been moved to his even bigger area and the lions old area is where the have a lion/jag mix cub. At first they said he was just a jag cub but finally the guy who takes care of him admitted that nope in fact it was a mix. I will try to attach a picture of him. Any way for $25 you can get in his cage and he will lick you like a dog and cuddle. Very sweet animal, much like simba. Also the lion lives his nose scratched.

 

With Marvin getting us there before the busses we beat the line and it seems like now they have 5 girls taking money, they said when people pay credit the machine slows down the process.

 

One last observation is when getting off the ship in coxen hole before you get outside there were a couple of booths that had signs for little French key and frenchies. I think what they were selling was just the transportation, then you could just pay as a walk up guest. Also big French key continues to grow on the other side of the lagoon, they now have water inflatables and other stuff. Since there was no carnival ship in port that area was dead LFK people were playing on there stuff and the BFK did not care. People would wade, kayak and paddle board over and no one said anything.

 

They must not have handed out the tickets at the pick up area since there was only 1 ship in port and they probably weren't worried about reaching their maximum.

[txhomeschoolmom]

Hi mitsugirly,

 

In a previous post, you mentioned repeat LFK guests receive a discount... did I read accurately? If so, how would we go about receiving/requesting the discount?

 

Thanks much,

Joy

 

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[mitsugirly]

Hi mitsugirly,

 

In a previous post, you mentioned repeat LFK guests receive a discount... did I read accurately? If so, how would we go about receiving/requesting the discount?

 

Thanks much,

Joy

 

Sent from my SM-N930T using Tapatalk

 

Yes, I believe it's 10% for returning customers if I remember correctly. When you make your reservation online, just put that you are a returning customer in the comments section. Then tell them again at the desk at Frenchy 44 when you pay and they'll discount it. :)

[txhomeschoolmom]

Yes, I believe it's 10% for returning customers if I remember correctly. When you make your reservation online, just put that you are a returning customer in the comments section. Then tell them again at the desk at Frenchy 44 when you pay and they'll discount it. :)

Excellent!!

 

Thanks much [emoji106]

 

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[browniegirl]

I can't seem to get an email reply from them.....odd!

 

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[MBS430]

mitsugirly,

 

these review are VERY helpful and informative.

thank you sharing it. love the pics!

 

 

 

mitsugirly[/i];50439679]We have been there with 2 ships in port and it never felt crowded. LFK has expanded so much over the last few years and there and several different beaches and areas to hang out that it just never seems crowded. The amount of people they take goes up because they have made more room for them. At the moment I can think of 6 different beaches and areas to hang out by the water. Then factor in those areas around the animals and decks and other areas that you can sit in the water and swim (with no beach) and you have plenty of places to go.

 

You won't find this as an excursion on any of the ships. (That's something from the past and only Carnival had a contract with them back then, but LFK did not renew the contract and Carnival made their own little island across from this place instead). So...that means that the only way anyone knows about this place is going to be on these boards (or other boards and places like trip advisor), staying on the island, word of mouth and so on.

 

We think it's absolutely gorgeous there and probably one of the prettiest places we've ever seen. Although I will admit that it doesn't have the same "feel" as it did back before they expanded (but then again, Carnival didn't have a place backed up to the same lagoon back then either).

 

I have reviews in my signature line if you are interested in seeing the place (there's several). They are VERY picture heavy. It might give you a better idea of what it's like there...even with several ships in port. :)