Need help with shore excursions on Carnival Miracle Western Caribbean Cruise

[Janiekins]

Taking the Western Caribbean Miracle Cruise on February 18, 2007 with hubby and 2 teenage sons. Our itinerary includes Grand Cayman, Costa Maya, Cozumel and Belize. Can anyone recommend great shore excursions for each destination. Would you recommend going thru an outside company for the excursions? If so, I would love names and recommendations. Thanks in advance.

[yst347]

All these can be booked privately saving you money:

 

1) Stingray City in Grand Cayman

2) Beach day at the pier in Costa Maya, no excursion needed

3) Swim with the dolphins at Chankunab Park in Cozumel

4) Cave Tubing in Belize

 

The Grand Cayman and Belize port of call boards contain tons of recomendations for private vendors in these ports. Read them and book the one that sounds best to you.

 

The dolphin swim requires advanced reservations. The link is on the Cozumel board.

[CVL105]

First of all, definately book with outside operators if you can. It's less expensive and less crowded.

 

Grand Caymen

I second Stingray city. When we were there we used Captain Marvin's (www.captainmarvins.com). We had a fabulous time. There were alot less people on our boat and it was more personal.

 

Costa Maya

If you're looking to shop in one port, this is it. Lots of shops in one area, it's like one big market. There's a pool with a swim up bar and a beach right there. Great prices (if you bargain) on all the items there. Just be carfeul, I bought two rings and were guaranteed that they were silver and the one started chipping and there was copper or something underneath (only silver plated I guess). My mom paid a decent amount for these two rings and to have it do that was disappointing. But it was such a beautiful ring that my mom had it reset in white gold for me.

 

Cozumel

We went scuba diving here, which is amazing! Snorkeling was really good too according to family members. We just got off the ship and there were tour companies all over the pier. We just went with one that gave us a good price. We ended up being the only ones on the dive boat, which was great!

 

Belize

Here we took a boat out to Goff Caye (see my review in the Belize thread). They took us out snorkeling and then took us to the island for a little bit of R&R. GREAT snorkeling! Beautiful Caye! I have pictures in the thread too. Again, here we just got off the tender boat and there were tour operators everywhere. Just grabbed one and went with them! Some of my family did the "Mayan Ruins" here, not sure if it's called "mayan" but it's similar. Said it was cool, but I believe they said it was buggy so bring bug spray.

 

No matter what, have fun and enjoy! It was a great cruise that my family thoroughly enjoyed!:D

[grayling111]

All these can be booked privately saving you money:

 

1) Stingray City in Grand Cayman

2) Beach day at the pier in Costa Maya, no excursion needed

3) Swim with the dolphins at Chankunab Park in Cozumel

4) Cave Tubing in Belize

 

The Grand Cayman and Belize port of call boards contain tons of recomendations for private vendors in these ports. Read them and book the one that sounds best to you.

 

The dolphin swim requires advanced reservations. The link is on the Cozumel board.

 

Wow... looks like I've booked the right things to do for our group... only thing is we're also doing ziplining along with cavetubing in belize.

we've got several teens going.

[WorkingMomNeedsaVacation]

We are on the Miracle the same week as you. I was wondering the same thing. DH wants to go scuba diving at a couple of ports, but so far, no scuba excursions are posted on the website. Strange! I am a little nervous booking independetly since we will likely have a lot of tendering. I'm interested in others' replies as well.

[yst347]

We are on the Miracle the same week as you. I was wondering the same thing. DH wants to go scuba diving at a couple of ports, but so far, no scuba excursions are posted on the website. Strange! I am a little nervous booking independetly since we will likely have a lot of tendering. I'm interested in others' replies as well.

 

Cozumel will have the most to offer for scuba. It is a scubadiving meca. Perhaps the ship is reluctant to offer scuba because of liability. If you google "scuba cozumel" I bet you will find many operators.

[CVL105]

We are on the Miracle the same week as you. I was wondering the same thing. DH wants to go scuba diving at a couple of ports, but so far, no scuba excursions are posted on the website. Strange! I am a little nervous booking independetly since we will likely have a lot of tendering. I'm interested in others' replies as well.

 

We literally walked off the ship and they were lined up ready to sell their scuba/snorkeling trips. If you tell them once you get there that you are on a cruise ship and what time you need to be back, I'm sure they will guarantee you're arrival back at the ship on time. We were there pretty late at port, but we definately had plenty of time. We scuba dived, went back to the ship, showered, ate dinner, and still had time to get back off and go to Senor Frogs.

 

BTW - scuba diving in Cozumel is to die for! It's beautiful and the drift of the ocean just carries you along!

[tankersbabe]

Grand Cayman: Captain Bryans to Stingray City...WONDERFUL!

 

Belize: Xunantunich through the cruise ship

 

Costa Maya: Grab a taxi and head to Majahual

 

Cozumel: Grab a taxi and head to Paradise Beach or any other public beach!

 

Have fun! We LOVED the Miracle!

[new2cruising2006]

I will be on that same cruise and i am wondering the same thing.

[seashell36]

I agree with Tankersbabe about the Cozumel choice! Get a taxi to Paradise beach! It is great and there is something for everyone!

 

In Grand Cayman I would say the stingray city with Captn Bryan!

[flyingb]

Taking the Western Caribbean Miracle Cruise on February 18, 2007 with hubby and 2 teenage sons. Our itinerary includes Grand Cayman, Costa Maya, Cozumel and Belize. Can anyone recommend great shore excursions for each destination. Would you recommend going thru an outside company for the excursions? If so, I would love names and recommendations. Thanks in advance.

 

I did the 'Jungle Beach Break' in Costa Maya. It was wonderful, very reasonable too. They had an open bar and really beautiful beach with water toys and lots of beach lounges. You could also swim with the dolphins for an extra charge. That was expensive. Have a wonderful time.

Luv's Crusin'

[RockyMtnMama]

We are considering this same cruise (on Liberty or Miracle) and it is mostly because we want to go to Costa Maya and visit these ruins. http://www.chacchobenruins.com/ I want to do the tour where you visit the ruins and then prepare and eat dinner with a Mayan family in their home.

[cabruntz]

We were on the Legend in Feb at Belize. We took the cave tubing with Yhony Rosado at http://www.CAVE-TUBING.COM. They were very professional and took great care of us. He answered all my questions by e-mail promptly. They were half the price of the ship tour and had much less people the the ship tour. We got there by van instead of bus, about 30 mins faster, we had only our party with us, 5 people because one other couple did not show. Yhony stayed at the port to wait for the other people so as to not delay our group.

[Carnival Queen]

Grand Cayman: Captain Bryans to Stingray City...WONDERFUL!

 

Belize: Xunantunich through the cruise ship

 

Costa Maya: Grab a taxi and head to Majahual

 

Cozumel: Grab a taxi and head to Paradise Beach or any other public beach!

 

Have fun! We LOVED the Miracle!

 

I agree with these as far as Costa Maya and Cozumel (Paradise Beach is one of my favorites). In Grand Cayman, we always jump in a taxi and head to Cemetery Reef (part of 7-mile beach) - beautiful, unspoiled, uncrowded beach (no facilities though). And in Belize, we also used Yhony and cave-tubing.com - they were excellent!

 

We also loved the Miracle - went two years in a row. Have fun!