Harmony Western Caribbean shore excursion questions

[ThreesCompany_]

If these are covered elsewhere on the forums, feel free to point me there! I did search, but there are so many sub-forums...

 

We sail on HOS 4/14/18 from FLL going to Labadee, Falmouth, Jamaica, and Cozumel. It's my first time on Royal, and over 20 years since I've cruised. I've looked through the cruise planner at the RCCI offered excursions and have seen some interesting ones. We are a party of 6, so the cost of excursions adds up quickly!

 

If you've visited these ports, what do you feel are the must-do excursions?

 

Have you booked a non-RCCI excursion and how was it (cost/value etc.)?

 

My husband wants to do Tulum, but Cozumel is also the port for the Stingray swim, which my daughter really wants to do. Is a stingray swim offered at another port, even if non RCCI?

 

Finally, is there enough to do in each port if you opt to NOT do a shore excursion?

 

Thanks so much for your advice!

[Badgeaz]

The. Sailboat excursion in labadee is nice. I booked that thru royal.

[rtazz17]

We do only royal based excursions because we almost got left behind when a private excursion truck broke down and we were late getting back. Royal sponsered excursions will never have to worry bout that. Ship will wait for a late excursion if its rccl based. Not worth ship leaving without you. Once you almost miss the ship you wont do anything other than rccl based ones. You will have to fly home from there or fly to next port of call. This does happen.

 

As far as recommendations? Depends what you like

 

Enough to do in port? Well jamaica you will not want to leave the gated area because its dangerous. They will tell you that. Haitti and cozemel have vendors etc that will hound you most of the time. We do excursions most times or stay on ship.

[Newfie Girl]

We are on the same sailing next month and I'm struggling with what to do in Falmouth.

[ThreesCompany_]

We are on the same sailing next month and I'm struggling with what to do in Falmouth.

 

Glad to know I'm not alone! I'm looking at both jaital.com and Courtney Taylor tours, both of which seem to have some good reviews on this site.

[silentbob007]

The. Sailboat excursion in labadee is nice. I booked that thru royal.

 

Anything at Labadee is going to be through Royal since you can't leave the port area. I've done jet skis there just because I tended to trust them more than random ones in Mexico or other islands (which may be a poor assumption).

[theSHAH]

Anything at Labadee is going to be through Royal since you can't leave the port area. I've done jet skis there just because I tended to trust them more than random ones in Mexico or other islands (which may be a poor assumption).

 

 

Seems like solid logic to me. Anyone working there has to get permission from Royal. The area is literally enclosed and protected by armed guards. Hard to imagine they'd be able to get away with anything shady