NCL Jade Cruise Excursion Questions

[Kiss The Cook]

Hello, fellow cruisers! This is my first post on here, my husband and I are going on our first cruise in March on NCL to Costa Maya, Belize, Honduras, and Cozumel and I would like some advice on excursions, please. 🙂 

1-       For Costa Maya, we are thinking about going to Maya Chan Beach Club, but I see mixed reviews on the food. Can anyone give their input, please?

2-       For Belize I think we are just going to keep it simple and go to the pool, the lagoon, and possibly kayak. We just don’t want to take the transportation for an hour and a half each way for excursions on the mainland. Is there enough to do on the island to make a whole day of it?

3-       For Honduras, we are looking at going on an island tour, the sloth sanctuary, scuba diving, the chocolate factory, lunch, and a rum factory tour with Real Deal Roatan Tours. Has anyone on here used them, and were they a good company?

4-       In Cozumel, we’re looking at going snorkeling or scuba diving, but I’m having a hard time finding a dive shop that is located near the NCL port Punta Langosta and I’m worried about port time with Cozumel being such a busy port. Any suggestions are appreciated 😊

 

I want to make the best of our vacation, but I’m also not sure what all to expect as far as ship disembarkation time at each port and timing with excursions, do you think I’m overplanning the trip for it being our first one? We want to have things planned, but I want to make sure that everything we book is refundable in case we don’t make it into one of our ports. 

 

Thank you in advance! 

[ggTexasGal]

10 hours ago, Kiss The Cook said:

Belize

Is there enough to do on the island to make a whole day of it?

At Harvest Caye you will be able to walk off the ship shortly after it docks.  And, you may return to the ship, or leave the ship, as you please (multiple times if you wish). You might choose to pay to eat on the island, or, you can return to the ship for lunch/snack, and go back out to the island again.

People complain about the walk, yet it is approximately a quarter of a mile to the entrance.

Trams are available if you choose to wait to ride one.

The island itself is approximately a mile long (yet, not all of that is assessable to everyone!

It might be very hot there! However, there are misting tubes throughout the nature cages/displays which offers the chance to view some animals, birds, and plenty of lovely plants.

The island does have some shops offering Belizean's goods.

Hopefully, you will enjoy a wonderful day.   Use sunscreen, early and often!!!

[Kiss The Cook]

ggTexasGal - Thank you so much for the information, that helps a lot 🙂 And yes, I will be sure we apply lots of sunscreen 😄 

[Firstin87]

If you are doing excursions through NCL, timing is not a problem.  If you are doing them 'on your own', this might help.  You'll be able to disembark soon after the ship docks and must be back on board :30 before sailing time.  Private tour vendors are aware of this and have you back on time, but I highly recommend researching your vendors.

 

Just off the Jade and if you are doing excursions through the ship, our experience was that the shorex staff were very disorganized and there was no/poor communication between them at the pier.  No signage about where to meet for each tour.  Asked a shorex staffer, they pointed "over there", and when we got 'there', we asked another staffer who told us our group had not lined up yet.  Ha!  A few minutes before our tour was to depart, that staffer came and took us to the bus that was full of people waiting for us.  Had the vendor not been doing a head count, we would have been left behind.  So, ask staff for where to meet, ask other staff, and ask other passengers in lines what tour they are on until you find your group.

[Kiss The Cook]

On 2/21/2024 at 11:58 AM, Firstin87 said:

If you are doing excursions through NCL, timing is not a problem.  If you are doing them 'on your own', this might help.  You'll be able to disembark soon after the ship docks and must be back on board :30 before sailing time.  Private tour vendors are aware of this and have you back on time, but I highly recommend researching your vendors.

 

Just off the Jade and if you are doing excursions through the ship, our experience was that the shorex staff were very disorganized and there was no/poor communication between them at the pier.  No signage about where to meet for each tour.  Asked a shorex staffer, they pointed "over there", and when we got 'there', we asked another staffer who told us our group had not lined up yet.  Ha!  A few minutes before our tour was to depart, that staffer came and took us to the bus that was full of people waiting for us.  Had the vendor not been doing a head count, we would have been left behind.  So, ask staff for where to meet, ask other staff, and ask other passengers in lines what tour they are on until you find your group.

Thank you for your insight! I am leaning more towards actually not booking excursions until we're on the ship to see how we feel and how much we want to do, but if we do book, we will book with the ship just since it's our first cruise and I don't want to chance being left behind. I will be sure to ask and ask again to make sure we don't miss the buses 🙂 Thank you again!

[c-leg5]

31 minutes ago, Kiss The Cook said:

Thank you for your insight! I am leaning more towards actually not booking excursions until we're on the ship to see how we feel and how much we want to do, but if we do book, we will book with the ship just since it's our first cruise and I don't want to chance being left behind. I will be sure to ask and ask again to make sure we don't miss the buses 🙂 Thank you again!

You won’t be able to book Maya Chan through the ship and advanced reservation would be recommended.

[Kiss The Cook]

1 minute ago, c-leg5 said:

You won’t be able to book Maya Chan through the ship and advanced reservation would be recommended.

Ok, good to know! I'm thinking maybe we'll just get off the ship and hang out in the free pool right off the pier, get some drinks and food, and do some shopping and keep it low key 🙂

[Firstin87]

Sounds like a good plan for your first cruise.  Want to let you know that if there is something you really want to do in a port, book in advance.  Excursions can fill up and you could miss out if you wait.  You might want to look at YouTube videos of the ports you’ll visit.  My favorites are Paradeejay and David and Ben, but there are many who do a good job acquainting you with what is at each port.