ABQrobin

Personally, we love the Vista and are going on it a 3rd time coming up very soon. It is a new ship, gorgeous top to bottom. Much fancier than the ships you have been on previously. As for the ports, all ports are good either way. Yes, the Celebration will be the NEWEST ship. We have been to all of those ports so it just depends what you like to do in port.

We used Shoreexcursioneer.

I don't know which beach yet, as I said it is booked for next month.

I have the "Fun-n-Sun" tour booked with Victor Bodden next month. We visit the Sloth and Monkey place, then go to a beach club at West end. Check it out. Includes transportation and entry fees at both.

Nope. It will not open in Nov. I had it booked and they sent us a refund and said that the island will not be ready in Nov at all.

there are quite a few great dive operators at Roatan and Cozumel who will take cruisers, but it all depends on your arrival time. They aren't going to hold a dive boat to wait on ships that are after a certain time unless there are enough divers to warrant.

Our one and only time doing assigned dining we had one couple who came late EVERY night. It was so rude. I don't know why the staff allowed them to stay and not tell them to go to YTD room. They finally got the message by day 5 and changed. We haven't done assigned time since.

If you are tendering outside of Belize city, like most of the cruise ships.... no, there are not nice beaches close by for snorkeling. The good snorkeling can only be reached by a boat to one of the islands off shore.

When did I say that????? All I said was that the submarine goes underwater.... the OP asked about a glass bottom boat and I wanted them to kknow the difference.

Glass bottom boat stays on the surface. The submarine in Cozumel goes totally underwater (not for people with claustrophobia!)

Dec-Feb you can have El Norte conditions... which is a northern wind that makes it very cold, lots of heavy wave action, and boats not going out for excursions. Water is too rough to swim. It doesn't happen the whole time, but it does happen and when El Norte arrives it usually lasts 2-3 days.

I assure you, my photos I posted are from La Choza which I took on our cruise Feb 2020.

Might also be La Choza.... in the same area and same architecture. Its our favorite in town.

Diving in Roatan is awesome, he won't be disappointed. Lots of fishlife and nice reefs.

Have you contacted Blue Reef to see if they will pick you up there, or are you planning to meet somewhere else? Also, make sure that you can make a 10am pickup and that they have enough divers to go out. Many dive ops have a required number to make it worth the gas to get to the reefs. No sure which cruise line you are using, but if they have a dive op excursion, then they will pick up and drop off at your pier next to the ship saving you taxi to and from the pickup spot away from cruise piers.

yes, it is possible. Our first cruise was in Oct and when we were there, Belize had been enduring a week of non-stop rains so all tubing excursions were cancelled. That whole region of the Caribbean has rain during Oct-Nov, sometimes hurricanes and such, but you can also have beautiful sunny weather. No way to predict.

It is really easy diving and like diving in an aquarium. Enjoy!

We have been to Bonaire twice for 7-day land vacations, so I can honestly tell you there are ZERO bad dives in Bonaire. It is the shore diving capital of the world as many reefs are just walking distance right off the shore line. We did do both shore and boat dives there and most dives are pretty similar. That said... go with whomever you want for diving there, you seriously cannot go wrong. a video to let you see:

We had such great luck with the bears... but be aware that you may not see bears early in the season. The salmon don't start the run until late June-early July. Our guides said we got really lucky as even during the run they have some days that have a low bear activity. It really was a fantastic day for us and I am glad we did it. Ketchikan is such a short port and there is so much to do there!

One of the reasons we cruised in late August this year was the salmon run = bears! We booked the Ketchikan Bear Country and Wildlife excursion thru our ship (Carnival) but I think you can book the same thru independent companies if you want. It is held at the Alaska Rainforest Sanctuary just outside of town... so only a 20 minute bus ride. Check out my video:

We have done the ferry several times and gotten stuck in Playa and extra hour. Granted we were in Cozumel on a land tour so we didn't miss a ship, but we were late back to resort once and missed our dinner time and they were not happy and only made us something quick and made us sit downstairs on the patio. I just don't trust the ferries, especially if there are many ships in port as they can contract the ferry for the day and leave the regular ferry service with only 1 in middle of day. Lines can get very long to get on, too.

We liked our cove balcony on the Magic back in 2014. Haven't had one since but do think we will sometime. In port you can look down and see fish in the water. On Sea Days it can splash a bit onto the balcony so we had a bit of salt on the chairs to wipe off but no biggy. And they are shady! Never noticed the noise, but then it was our first cruise and we were so happy about everything we may not have noticed it.

We did a walking tour on our own... we googled it and there are several routes posted online. We walked from port up the hill to the Queen"s staircase and waterfall, then the fort, then back down to the bus pickup spot and took that #5 bus(?) to the big food restaurant spot, ate lunch, then walked from there back to port shopping along the way. Made for about a 4 hour trip. You can make the loop as big or small as you want.

EVERYTHING on the east side of the island is primitive.... meaning NO ELECTRICITY...meaning CASH only. Food and drinks and anything else must be paid in cash. Don't go over there and run out of money.

Do a Discover Scuba....