Looking for port ideas for Grand Cayman, Cozumel.

Does anyone have any port ideas for Cozumel or Grand Cayman?

My husband is interested in the Mayan Ruins, but I am not sold on the idea.

As for beach options, I was looking at:

Grand Cayman - Royal Palms Beach Club

Cozumel - Mr. Sanchos Beach Club

Any insight, reviews, or additional suggestions are much appreciated!

Tons of info on the Ports boards, here:

Grand Cayman:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=147

Cozumel:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=210

IMO Stringray City is a must do. Seven Mile Beach is beautiful but then, so is the entire Caribbean!

When we did stringray city, we used a disposable underwater camera and the pictures we came away with were amazing. We have pictures of us holding a stingray. They are huge and feel like a mushroom. Really cool to feed them. I would definitely look at tours outside of those offered on board depending upon your timeframe on the island.

As for mayan ruins--if you are ever going to see them, this is the time and this is the place. Boat ride to the ruins can get a little rough but the ruins are worth seeing along with learning about their culture.

Other than ruins, I have scuba dove in Cozumel and the water is good visibility. Or there is always shopping.

We ate lunch at a sidewalk café and I heard my wife say "OMG these prices are outrageous!" She forgot to translate from pesos and thought 750 was pretty steep for a cheeseburger! We have laughed about that for 15 years!

Happy sailing! Cozumel is a port town which means you can come and go as you like. Cost of a taxi to town was about $10. No tender boats makes the day much more relaxed. IT's nice not having to wait for the tender to take you on or off the ship.

PAGGS

Does anyone have any port ideas for Cozumel or Grand Cayman?

 

 

 

My husband is interested in the Mayan Ruins, but I am not sold on the idea.

 

 

 

As for beach options, I was looking at:

 

 

 

Grand Cayman - Royal Palms Beach Club

 

Cozumel - Mr. Sanchos Beach Club

 

 

 

Any insight, reviews, or additional suggestions are much appreciated!

Sit on a beach vs have a once-in-a-lifetime face-to-face with history?

If you are a little bit active The Amazing Cozumel Race was one of the best excursions i have ever done.

Lois

In Grand Cayman we did the swimming with the stingrays and it was just awesome! Can't wait until we go back so I can do it again!

In Cozumel we like low key and quiet so we prefer Nachi Cocom. $55pp includes all drinks (alcoholic & non) and an appetizer, main meal and a dessert. Although it has been our experience they will bring you whatever you want to eat & not adhere to the one of each. They only take 100 people a day so no worries about over crowding.

Note: if you have active kids they might prefer Mr. Sanchos because Nachi is very low key.

Have a great cruise!!!

Stingrays in GC for sure.

Cozumel - Chankanaab Nat'l Park - wonderful off the beach snorkeling, great food, some ruin samples, tequila tasting, seal show, crocodiles, swimming.

$2. coupon on their site.

OR Cozumel Bar Hop to the other side of Cozumel.

Captain Marvin's Stingray City tour https://www.captainmarvins.com/ in Grand Cayman is fantastic.

We enjoyed a beach day at Nachi Cocom http://www.cozumelnachicocom.com/ in Cozumel. If you are going to see the Mayan ruins (which are fascinating) I would recommend a ship's tour since I've read of late returns of the boats to Cozumel.

Stingrays in GC for sure.

Gotta do it at least once. Take the boat to Stingray Sandbar. Highlight of our cruise. Don't forget the water camera.

Cozumel - Chankanaab Nat'l Park - wonderful off the beach snorkeling, great food, some ruin samples, tequila tasting, seal show, crocodiles, swimming.

$2. coupon on their site.

The dolphin encounter in the park is another highlight. They swim up to you and you can pet them. Much like the stingrays

Unfortunately, leave the camera in the ship. They don't allow cameras inside the encounter. They make you buy their overpriced pictures. Still, you gotta buy a picture just to show everyone you were there.

If given a choice between the stingrays at GC or the dolphins at Cozumel, definitely take the stingrays.

Last year we went to mr. Sanchos in Cozumel and had a blast. Party of 18, we pre booked online, we booked 3 adults for all inclusive and they enjoyed it, they are older (60s). The rest of us including kids booked the all day unlimited beach pass. We all rode together in the taxi vans and when we got there, got our wrist bands for our particular selection.

The all inclusive could join us on the beach but we could not join them in their section. We played on water toys and enjoyed the beach chairs and miles of beach for the day. We all left at the same time. It cost about 10 to ride the taxi per person, and took about 10 mins. Highly recommend!

Stingrays in GC for sure.

 

Cozumel - Chankanaab Nat'l Park - wonderful off the beach snorkeling, great food, some ruin samples, tequila tasting, seal show, crocodiles, swimming.

$2. coupon on their site.

 

OR Cozumel Bar Hop to the other side of Cozumel.

An excellent choice! :D (OP - link if you are interested: http://www.cozumelbarhop.com/)

Agree with the Stingrays in GC as well.

We did the stingray sandbar and it was great. Last year, we went swimming with turtles, and that was even better! No time limit, and dozens of turtles.

We also really enjoyed Chankanaab. On a side note, we found the prices in their gift shops to be better than any other shopping area.

Tons of info on the Ports boards, here:

 

Grand Cayman:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=147

 

Cozumel:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=210

Thank you very much. Although I have been a member of this site for two years, I am still learning to navigate the threads.

I agree with everyone on the stingrays. We took a catamaran boat out to stingray sand bar and it was incredible. Still my favorite excursion on any cruise I have done.

We used Native way in Grand Cayman. Stingrays, and Rum Point. Loved it.

If you go to the Tulum ruins in Cozumel you MUST take the ship's tour. You take the ferry to Playa del Carman then a long bus ride to Tulum. If you get delayed via an accident or what ever the ship will wait for it's tour before leaving Cozumel. If you go by your self or another tour and are delayed getting to the ship, the ship will leave without you.

There are small ruins in Cozumel. The smaller ones were not worth it at all and we never saw the bigger ones. Maybe you can Google Cozumel ruins?

Thank you to everyone for your kind suggestions. It will be fun researching these areas and activities this summer while I await my September cruise.

Stingrays in GC for sure.

 

Cozumel

 

OR Cozumel Bar Hop to the other side of Cozumel.

I heard that this is a great excursion.

We did the "Private Driver" and went to the wild side and loved it.

Having been to many tropical islands, nothing is like it.

For those that haven't been there, there is no electricity on that side.

There are no hotels.

There is nothing ...... but about a dozen bar/restaurants, all on the water.

We had a fantastic meal at one of them, Playa Bonita. Stopped at a couple others to take in the view as well as some beers.

I LOVED stingray city in Grand Cayman. It was amazing to be on a sandbar in the ocean among these majestic creatures. The swimming with the dolphins was part of this excursion too, but the stingray part was much cooler, because it was done in open water and not in a fenced in habitat. I used a water camera and got some great pictures of the stingrays. Another fun excursion on Grand Cayman is the turtle sanctuary. Cozumel is not my favourite place, but I did really enjoy the bottom fishing excursion (not the deep sea one though).

I heard that this is a great excursion.

 

We did the "Private Driver" and went to the wild side and loved it.

 

Having been to many tropical islands, nothing is like it.

 

For those that haven't been there, there is no electricity on that side.

 

There are no hotels.

 

There is nothing ...... but about a dozen bar/restaurants, all on the water.

 

We had a fantastic meal at one of them, Playa Bonita. Stopped at a couple others to take in the view as well as some beers.

I'll be on the Vista in March with some family. This sounds right up my Uncle's alley. I might have to save this one for that sailing.

An excellent choice! :D (OP - link if you are interested: http://www.cozumelbarhop.com/)

 

Agree with the Stingrays in GC as well.

Thanks for the link. Do you have an opportunity to swim at all on this tour?

Does anyone have any port ideas for Cozumel or Grand Cayman?

 

My husband is interested in the Mayan Ruins, but I am not sold on the idea.

 

As for beach options, I was looking at:

 

Grand Cayman - Royal Palms Beach Club

Cozumel - Mr. Sanchos Beach Club

 

Any insight, reviews, or additional suggestions are much appreciated!

i did mr sanchos in Cozumel and loved it. The service was amazing. The server even walked into the water to pass me my drink which never got empty by the way. The food was good, lots of chairs. They have kayaks you can use as well. Loved my day there.

If your ship docks downtown in cozumel there is tons of shops and you can walk for a long time exploring them. There is margaritaville and hooters and a bunch of other restaurants.

In grand cayman, once i went snorkeling and it was really awesome. The colors were amazing, saw lots of fish and even a stingray.

Another time i took the shuttle right as you get out to the street and went to 7 mile beach. I went to the royal palms as well but really didn't use their services so i can not comment on the food/drinks. The water was like bathwater and so beautiful. I just floated in the water for a few hours.

And on another stop i just shopped right as you get off and went to margaritaville.

We went to Mr. Sanchos last year in Cozumel. Had a ball! We booked online in advance on their website. We did 2 different types of bookings - we booked 3 of our party for the all inclusive - because they were older -in their 70's so they didnt want to sit in the sun on the beach, play in the sand and water , jet ski, parasail or play on the beach toys. The rest of our party - 15 people - we booked the beach day - we all rode in the taxi together and got our respective tags and enjoyed the day - all of the water toys are free - but the jet skis and parasailing cost extra. We had use of the chairs and umbrellas and had waiters come around for snacks and bottled water if we wanted to purchase , which we made some purchases but they were optional. It was a very good day, fun had by all. The ladies that had the all inclusive really enjoyed that too - they could use the pools and had a chance to eat at the buffet, they had all you could drink non-alc beverages but you could purchase alc. beverages if you wanted.

We were there from about 11am until about 4pm, then we caught the taxi back to the port. The price for the beach entry and chairs on the beach was relatively cheap, about 11 per person i believe. The all inclusive was about 50 per person but again this was for the "senior" members of our group to enjoy.

We have not done anything but walk around when we stopped in Cayman, but intend to do a beach or something this time.

Thanks for the link. Do you have an opportunity to swim at all on this tour?

Two of the four bar stops are on the beach. (Of the other two, one is on a hill above and the other has no beach but is on the water's edge). You can access the water if you want at the two, which happen to be the first and last stops. We did not as we preferred to stay dry.