Breakaway, Nov

[mdsgu]

Going on Breakaway in November at Thanksgiving. 8 adults (age range 39-85), 2 kids (ages 9 and 8). We booked the ship because it is at Thanksgiving out of New Orleans and we did the Carnival Dream last year.

 

Our ports are Cozumel, Belize City, Harvest Caye, and Costa Maya. Not the snazziest selection, but what are some good excursions? We aren't any "thrill seekers;" we do enjoy fun in the sun and relaxing with a drink. As we've been talking, my mother-in-law advises not even leaving the ship in Costa Maya. We could let the kids have at the water slides and ropes course all day, I suppose.

[BirdTravels]

Costa Maya has a nice port shopping area with a pool. Get off the ship and st least walk through the port shopping.

 

Scan (qucikly) through our live post on a similar itinerary a month ago. We were trying to do snorkeling in all ports and Costa Maya has a good trip that catered to beginners through experts.

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2666700

 

The link above is from the Getaway who is the near-twin sister of the Breakaway.

 

Don’t forget to register your kids for the Spash Academy on the first day and plan to have them there on the first day to make friends.

[www3traveler]

I love Costa Maya's port area. There is a group of men performing an ancient Mayan dance way up in the air off of large pole. Drummers sit on top of the pole and several men sway and dance to the rhythm as the descend to the ground.

[Georgia_Peaches]

We are on this cruise as well! Forty-six days! Like you, we are not as excited about the ports of call but we are so excited to get out of town for a week. The only firm plan we have is for Cozumel in which we will take a ferry ride over to Playa del Carmen. Everything else we'll play by ear.:cool:

[clcjdn]

Did you join the roll call? There is a pretty large list of people for those events. We are also on this sailing. The only excursion we have planned is Mr Sanchos in Cozumel. This will be our 4th or 5th time there, so its our go to when in Cozumel!

[MNcruisingcouple]

In Costa Maya there is a cute little beach town just a little way from the port. Take a taxi, about $6/person round trip. There are always taxis available so no worries coming back. In Belize City we did cave tubing with VIP and it was very fun. We had ages 12 to 70 and everyone enjoyed it. One year we also did a Mayan ruins which was more interesting than I expected. Have a great trip!

 

 

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[Paphillyguy]

While it was a few years back, We loved Costa Maya. We did not have anything planned. We went to the small little town and walked around. It was beautiful.

[mdsgu]

Costa Maya has a nice port shopping area with a pool. Get off the ship and st least walk through the port shopping.

 

Scan (qucikly) through our live post on a similar itinerary a month ago. We were trying to do snorkeling in all ports and Costa Maya has a good trip that catered to beginners through experts.

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2666700

 

The link above is from the Getaway who is the near-twin sister of the Breakaway.

 

Don’t forget to register your kids for the Spash Academy on the first day and plan to have them there on the first day to make friends.

 

Thank you! We always register the kids for kids' camp, whatever line we are on. Our son, who is 9, thinks he is usually too cool for it, but our daughter always enjoys going.

[alphie1991]

We are also on that cruise (me, husband and daughter 12) and have joined the roll call. Going to NO a couple of days in advance and staying over one night at end because I did not want to fly home the Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend!!

 

I booked swim with dolphins in Cozumel (directly with company in Chakanaab), snorkeling in Belize City with Coral Breeze Tours and snorkeling at Harvest Caye and Mayan Ruins in Costa Maya (both through NCL).

 

Looking forward to a nice vacation!!

[Lena_TN]

Girl's trip on this cruise!!  I can't wait!

 

Have not been on the Norwegian cruise line.  Has anyone ever done the room upgrade?  Is it worth it?

[pinklucky61]

new to ncl, not new orleans. can you use drink package as soon as you board? i know will probably have to pay local taxeson drinks

[AlexandNessa]

The Almaplena resort is fantastic in Costa Maya. Lovely beach,  great food,  great drinks, very quiet and relaxing.  We want to go back to Costa Maya, just for that.  The resort takes something like only 20 day guests a day.  We've been to Msya Chan, but prefer Almaplena.

[seemoreroyals]

21 minutes ago, pinklucky61 said:

new to ncl, not new orleans. can you use drink package as soon as you board? i know will probably have to pay local taxeson drinks

yes

[Georgia_Peaches]

On 10/3/2018 at 9:51 AM, mdsgu said:

 

Edited October 29, 2018 by Georgia_Peaches
duplicate post

[Georgia_Peaches]

On 10/3/2018 at 1:13 PM, Paphillyguy said:

While it was a few years back, We loved Costa Maya. We did not have anything planned. We went to the small little town and walked around. It was beautiful.

Well now you're making me rethink Costa Maya.  The problem for me is the port time, 7AM-2PM.  Not a big window and I really don't want to be "scheduled".  Not sure how much time we will have after we get up at our leisure and have breakfast.

[rtkenmore]

It's not a bad itinerary at all..  Have done essentially the same thing three times now.

 

As everyone else has said, Costa Maya has a great little port area with a pool, shopping, restaurants, etc. right at the end of the pier.  Take a taxi (or the little trolley shuttles) into Mahahual and walk the boardwalk for shopping/restaurants as well.  The Crazy Lobster is usually a good place to eat.

 

Cozumel...  There are a couple of all inclusive resorts you can visit that include buffets, drinks, swimming, water sports, etc. and are a short taxi ride away...  Paradise Beach, Mr. Sanchos, etc.  Otherwise, there is a ton of shopping to do at the pier and just up the street.  A great restaurant with wifi is Palmeras a short walk north of the pier.  Our last time in Cozumel we actually just rented a car and did our own exploring (this was our 5th time so we're fairly familiar with the island).  I wouldn't recommend if this is your first time though.

 

Belize City we did the mangroves airboat tour which was actually very cool and provided for some great photo opportunities.

 

Harvest Caye...  Lazy beach day and pool day to be honest.  We enjoyed the little motorized boats in the lagoon for a bit but that's the only excursion we did there.  Drinks are NOT included on Harvest Caye so just be away that if you have the UBP, it doesn't work on the island.

 

[rtkenmore]

2 minutes ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

Well now you're making me rethink Costa Maya.  The problem for me is the port time, 7AM-2PM.  Not a big window and I really don't want to be "scheduled".  Not sure how much time we will have after we get up at our leisure and have breakfast.

 

If you don't want to be "scheduled".. Then just enjoy breakfast, get off the ship and enjoy the port area and then take the shuttle/taxi to town to walk the boardwalk and shop.  Maybe enjoy lunch in town and work your way back to the port area. We usually end up at the pool in port for the afternoon and enjoy a few drinks there. They have some drink deals with the big speciality cups/glasses..  I think like $12-14 for the first one and refills are like $3 or something.  There are several good local craft shops in the port village too...  Not too, too commercialized with the likes of Diamonds Intonational, Cariloha, etc. (although they still have shops)...  Costa Maya port feels more authentic to me than Cozumel for instance.

[rtkenmore]

17 minutes ago, seemoreroyals said:

yes

 

If you stay up late enough, you'll likely pass another cruise line sailing back into Nola.  Pretty cool site to see.  I love sailing out of Nola and winding our way down the Mississippi River.

[Davocabo]

On ‎10‎/‎29‎/‎2018 at 4:58 PM, pinklucky61 said:

new to ncl, not new orleans. can you use drink package as soon as you board? i know will probably have to pay local taxeson drinks

 

Yes, you have tax on drinks while on the River and in port of NOLA...…   doesn't add up to much....

 

[pinklucky61]

thanks, that's where onboard credit comes in handy

[cruisecrazypat]

On ‎10‎/‎29‎/‎2018 at 4:58 PM, pinklucky61 said:

new to ncl, not new orleans. can you use drink package as soon as you board? i know will probably have to pay local taxeson drinks

YES!  You will pay LA taxes till in International waters

 

[Kfamilycruise]

On 10/3/2018 at 9:51 AM, mdsgu said:

Going on Breakaway in November at Thanksgiving. 8 adults (age range 39-85), 2 kids (ages 9 and 8). We booked the ship because it is at Thanksgiving out of New Orleans and we did the Carnival Dream last year.

 

Our ports are Cozumel, Belize City, Harvest Caye, and Costa Maya. Not the snazziest selection, but what are some good excursions? We aren't any "thrill seekers;" we do enjoy fun in the sun and relaxing with a drink. As we've been talking, my mother-in-law advises not even leaving the ship in Costa Maya. We could let the kids have at the water slides and ropes course all day, I suppose.

Cozumel -- Fury Catamaran is great with the kids, Costa Maya -- Blue Kay

[mollanjake]

On 10/5/2018 at 5:47 PM, alphie1991 said:

We are also on that cruise (me, husband and daughter 12) and have joined the roll call. Going to NO a couple of days in advance and staying over one night at end because I did not want to fly home the Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend!!

 

I booked swim with dolphins in Cozumel (directly with company in Chakanaab), snorkeling in Belize City with Coral Breeze Tours and snorkeling at Harvest Caye and Mayan Ruins in Costa Maya (both through NCL).

 

Looking forward to a nice vacation!!

 I'm on this cruise in March, would love to hear about Coral Breeze in Belize City, please post after your cruise.

 

have a great cruise!

[barric]

We loved Costa Maya.

Take a cheap taxi into town.  Pick one of the beachfront bars.  Several give you chairs and palm tree shade for the price of a drink.  DW got a great massage there a couple years ago.  And if you don't want a full  hour massage, they will be eager to negotiate to the time and price you want.  I put one of the chairs right into the water (no waves) and sat there with my bottled local beer, in view of the ship.  Just plain great.