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I hear a lot of good things about these lamanai ruins but they aren't offered by carnival, which is who I'm sailing with. I'm a little nervous since it is a tendered port taking a tour not offered by carnival so my only options are altun ha Mayan site & river Wallace, altun ha & Belize city tour, and xunatunich Mayan ruins with lunch. If I did choose to do ruins it would probably be one of these. Any thoughts?

 

I feel like the ruins is recommended more for first timers from what I've read so far from you guys?

 

Thank you so much for sharing and helping make this decision! We travel in September! :D

If you choose to do Altun Ha I would recommend doing a private company rather than through the ship. It is not as far away and a shorter tour so there should not be any reason to not make it back in time.

We used Coral Breeze Tours a few years ago for a private tour for our group of 14, it was a wonderful time! We also did Lamanai this year through the ship and although the Lamanai site is larger and very nice, we enjoyed our private Altun Ha tour much more.

Like the previous poster said, there are only a few chairs but when we were on the Dawn in January it was not very crowded and most times there was at least 1 extra chair available. When we went to use the pool it was hot outside and the hot tub was way to hot to sit in when it was so warm out and they drain all the TRex pool area at night.

I have snorkeled in Roatan, Cozumel, and Grand Cayman all just right off the beach and hands down I would vote Roatan is the best but both the others are good.

In Roatan, we went to Maya Key with the cruise excursion and the snorkeling was the best I have ever seen in the Caribbean or Hawaii and I have snorkeled all over both. The reef is amazing, very dense and tons of fish! The day we were there it was a bit over cast and windy with kind of a strong current, the viability was still great but we did get cut up on some coral because we were pushed into it by the current. I cannot imagine how great it is on a clear day.

In Cozumel we snorkeled right off the beach at Playa Palancar and although there is not a reef there were lots of fish and it was a good time. Same off of Seven Mile Beach in Grand Cayman.

If you go on a guided boat tour they will take you to the best places.

As far as fog I have always been fine with a defogger but I know on many snorkel boat tours we have been on they use baby shampoo and rub it around the mask then dip it once in the water.

I have a purge mask and hate it, I can't wait to get a new one. I don't see any benefit to it and it hurts my nose.

Here is some great info on Wreck of the Cali and Eden Rock that I found, with pictures and video:

http://blog.sunplay.com/blog/snorkeling-the-wreck-of-the-cali/

http://blog.sunplay.com/blog/snorkeling-at-eden-rock/

Here is some great info on it I found, with pictures and video:

http://blog.sunplay.com/blog/snorkeling-the-wreck-of-the-cali/

I cannot get pics to attach for some reason so here is a link to an album with a few pics:

https://playapalancarcozumeljan2014.shutterfly.com/16

Can you please elaborate about how far out this is? How deep is it at the buoys? Is there any snorkeling right there around the beach area not too deep? Any pictures?

I would guess it is maybe 25-50 yards out to where the snorkeling is good. The day we were there the water was very calm and it was an easy swim. The water is pretty shallow the whole way, I could easily dive down and touch the bottom, maybe 10-15 ft at the most. The water near the shore is not as clear so to see.

I am having trouble getting the pictures to post but I'll keep trying.

We have been to all these ports twice with our kids 7,4,1. Here is what I would recommend.

Belize: Don't let people talk you out of this one, it is my favorite port! We took our kids on ruins tours both times. Especially with an infant I think this is a great choice. I would probably recommend Altun Ha as it is the closer ruins site and not such a long commute. We booked a private tour which allowed us more flexibility and was cheaper than the ship tour. It is about an hour drive but hopefully at that age he might nap? Otherwise bring snacks and a few toys. Then bring a hiking backpack or carrier along and away you go, if he is anything like my kids at that age he will be super happy to be outside and mom and dad can enjoy the ruins.

Roatan: Maya Key is good, especially if mom and dad want a chance to snorkel. Great beach with shade to hang out with baby and take turns snorkeling. Also they serve lunch and have animals also, on Carnival you board a small boat right off the ship that takes you there and then when we were there they had multiple boats going back throughout the day so you only had to stay as long as you wanted to and not the entire time.

Cozumel: On one trip we rented a car for the day and went exploring on our own, the other time we did a beach day at Playa Palancar. If you are looking for another beach day I would highly recommend it but if you want to explore a car rental was pretty cheap and it is pretty hard to get lost there.

Hope you have a great time, we love cruising with our kids!

Playa Palancar, if you can swim out a little ways near the buoys, there are some sunken barrels and things that have lots of species of fish around them, one member of our party saw a stingray and several people were finding starfish. Also a great beach to hangout at, no cover charge, food and drinks are excellent and decent priced, and service is great. Love this place!

We purchased online at www.sunplay.com prior to our last cruise and loved the stuff we got.

Really prefer my own gear to the rented stuff, not only for hygiene but also better quality and more comfortable. I also second the dive socks comment, makes the fins so much more comfortable and if you are snorkeling right off the shore it helps with the sand too so you are not having sand stuck in your fins and rubbing on your feet.

We did it in January. If you book it online just make sure you print out your confirmation and take it with you. They bumped us and tried to tell us we were not on it and would not give us the tickets, luckily we had the email confirmation showing we had booked and paid 2 months prior.

It was kind of a fight getting our tickets from the shore excursion desk, had to enlist the help of the concierge.

Once that was taken care of though it was a good excursion :)

Palancar is wonderful! Beautiful, quiet, no cover charge and the food and service is excellent and not to pricey. There are a few very small huts there with people selling things but no one is pushy. We loved our day there, we arrived at about 10:30 and nearly had the place to ourselves until probably 1 when it got a little busy but nothing terrible. Decent snorkeling right off the beach too.

I second that, just take a cheap taxi ride to 7 Mile Beach. Sand is amazing there, lots of things along the beach too.

I have not snorkeled in Belize but I have been to Lamanai. I assume you have other opportunities to snorkel on your itinerary so I would say Lamanai as it is the only place you can experience it. It really is amazing, the boat ride up the river is fun and it feels like you have entered another world...truly the middle of the rain forest. It is a long day but in my opinion worth the journey at least once.

Like others have said if you can do a suite it is wonderful not only for the bath tub but for the butler who will keep your fridge stocked with milk and whatever other snacks like fruit and cookies that the kiddos love and the DVD list if you need them to lay down and watch a movie to get them to rest a little.

On Dawn kids under 3 can't go to the kids club but they do have a separate room with toddler toys you can take them into play as long as a parent stays with them and they also do some fun activities.

The kids T-Rex pool on the Dawn is great too. There is a small pool with a small slide that is great for the little ones.

They also have the Kid's Cafe inside the Garden Cafe Buffet, our 20 month old and our 4 and 7 year old really liked it. It is a small buffet stocked with kid-friendly food and small tables and chairs just their size. It works great to go there, get them set with their food and then Mom and Dad can take turns hitting the regular buffet while the other one supervises.

Umbrella strollers are great because they are light and fold small, and the ship is big and by the end of the day they are pretty tired of walking.

The staff on the Dawn when we went in January was wonderful with the kids, they all loved our 20 month old and she had so many staff friends by the time we left, they all knew her name and stopped to say hi every time they saw her.

We loved cruising on the Dawn with our kids. Hope you have a great time.

In January, we cruised on the Dawn in the 2 bedroom family suite in kind of the same situation with a large group booked in different rooms. My younger sister came along as our nanny and although she was booked in a different room with some of the other members of our group she stayed with us in the 2nd bedroom and that was not a problem at all.

For most of the suite perks like priority boarding, tendering, and preview to the chocolate buffet no one cared that she was with us. However for Cagney's they do only let you have the number of people actually booked in the room. That was the only place we ran into an issue.

I would book something, the Mayan Ruins in Belize are wonderful.

The cruise port is pretty average as far as what is inside the port but it is right in the middle of Belize City and I would not recommend just wandering around outside the port, and the country is beautiful once you get outside the city.

We went to Playa Palancar in January with our kids 7, 4, and 1. We had a great time, it was not super crowded and the water is shallow so they could walk quite a ways out. There are tons of shells for the kids to collect and sand to play in. They have great food and are not pushy trying to sell you things. There is no cover charge so all you pay for is food and drinks. A great place to spend the day!

I found this site with some great info on snorkeling in Grand Cayman, and it includes videos so you can take a look and see if it looks like it is worth it to you:

http://blog.sunplay.com/category/grand-cayman/

There are several places I am hoping to try on my next trip there. On my last trip we just snorkeled of the shore at Seven Mile and it was not the best place I have ever snorkeled but still enjoyable and the beach is lovely. Best Sand I have ever experienced :) I know that sounds funny but I love sand!

Use bug spray if you go to Lamanai too! I had some but our guide told us we would not need it, I against my better judgement believed him and ended up getting eaten, even though I never saw any bugs we got lots of bites!

We were on the Dawn in January with our 7 and 4 year old, they never wanted to leave the kids club and in the evening they have a fun theme party every night. The shows are okay for kids but I know mine would have been bored in them.

Here is a great site I found that reviews most of the snorkeling spots on St. John including pictures and video:

http://blog.sunplay.com/category/st-john-2/

I love St. John, my personal favorite is Cinnamon Bay but in my opinion you really can't go wrong with any of them, hopefully this will help you decide.

I have been researching lots of the same things getting ready to book our next cruise with a stop in Cayman and I just found this great video of Stingray City on an excursion with Captain Marvins, it looks like so much fun.

http://blog.sunplay.com/blog/stingray-city-part-one/

It is on my list for our stop to Grand Cayman.

We did a great private tour of the Altun Ha Ruins with Coral Breeze Tours.

We have done both Altun Ha and Lamanai. They are both wonderful.

If you are looking for something shorter Altun Ha is a lot shorter, we booked it through Coral Breeze Tours and it was wonderful. However, when you don't book with the cruise line you do not get priority tendering and depending on the weather it can take a long time. When we were on Carnival it took us 2 hours to get off the boat, making us an hour and a half late for our tour. Luckily, Coral Breeze was still there waiting for us and assured us we still had plenty of time to complete the Altun Ha tour, it is a smaller site than Lamanai but still great.

Lamanai we did through NCL because of the distance and not wanting to get left by the boat in case there were any delays. We made the right choice. The tour was not as intimate, 1 guide for an entire bus load of people so we did not get the same experience as we did with our private guide with Altun Ha, but this site is amazing. It is about a 1 hour bus ride, then a 1 hour boat ride up the river to the site in the middle of the rain forest. We did not see much wildlife on the river but once we got to the site there were lots of howler monkeys in the trees and a jaguar footprint in the mud. It was like another world. I am not sure if all the cruise lines set it up the same way but with ours we were supposed to get lunch on our way back at the place we got back on the buses. Our boat broke down on the way back and it took them a bit to get it fixed so our guide called the lunch place and had them prepare us a box lunch that we had to eat on the bus instead. It was decent food and we got back to the port about a half hour before the last tender at 4:30. A long day considering we were the first people off the boat in the morning at about 7:30 :)