bguppies

If the product was as good as it used to be. the price hike might be justifiable to some, due to simple inflation. But as the current Carnival product is NOT as good as it was before the stoppage, with more amenities and perks being taken away each month. Even at the old prices, I wouldn't consider it the best bang for your buck anymore.(still decent for now)

LOL first thing I thought... The bar has been sooooo lowered.

Thanks for that info..

Mayan Ruins, cave tubing are usually the go tos. Plus world class snorkeling excursions.

Well said... Never gotten a villa, but done a cabana many times. I always thought it was an extravagant expense at $199 or $299 but it made DW's cruise every time. I think even she would balk at these new prices.

I love Nachi Cocum too, but it is all the same couple of miles of beach. Paradise Beach, Playa Mia, Mr. Sanchos and Nachi Cocum all in a row on the West Side. Same stretch of sand and coral free water. (just differen Amenities) So if anything affects one beach, it will affect all of them. I've been to Nachi 8-9 times now and only once, like a decade ago, had a day with alot of sargassum that affected our day. (wish I could remember what the date was) It was fine by the pool area, but they had guys shoveling sargassum into wheelbarrows all day long on the beach. With that huge bloom in the Atlantic this year, I'm pretty sure every Caribbean beach will be affected at some point this year. You might want to check the port schedule for your day in Cozumel and see how many ships are in port. (or more importantly WHICH ships. One of the RCCL Allure size monstrocities or Mardi Gras size ships from Carnival have 2-3 times the passenegers than the pre-2000's era ships in the fleets.) Any day with 8 ships or less is a standard to light day. (again the large ships count like two) You need to book Nachi earlier than a week out on a heavy day, with their per day limits. If your lucky enough to be in Cozumel on a light day, You'll be fine waiting until a week out to book. We've been lucky enough to be there on a day with only about 20 people total there all day and been there a few times at capacity. (and its never felt crowded) Best of luck on your day. (and figuring it out) Hope you enjoy your time in Cozumel.

Cozumel is the best port stop for all day, all inclusive beach passes. Help us help you by narrowing down your group (demographics) and their wants for the day. Quiet, less crowded day. (Nachi Cocum) Livlier atmosphere, no crowd limit. (Mr. Sanchos) Place with lots of inflatable toys for kids, Place with nice kiddie pools and water sloide for kids. (Playa Mia) Thats just the description of three of the main places discussed in here, all on the same couple of miles of sand on the island. If you define what you want from your day, there are a few in here who can recommend many more places and options for you.

Go to Dollar Tree and pick up some cheap sand toys that you can pack to go, but leave behind when your kids are done playing. Sucks to have to take them, but nice to not have to bring home.

Bigger pool but no limits on guests per day. Been to Nachi 6 or 7 times now and never seen the pool or loungers overcrowded like I've heard reported at Mr. Sanchos and Paradise Beach since the restart. Limiting the crowds to 125 a day with plenty of seating for everyone is wonderful. If we ever couldn't get in at Nachi, we would probably try Paradise Beach finally. (but hopefully that day never comes)

We always try to win 1 Ship on a stick each cruise we take. (luckily DW is smarter and she cruises way more than I do.) If we win early on the cruise we just play for fun and let 2nd place get a Ship on a stick. Sadly our last few cruises, and even though the Ship on a stick has gotten MUCH cheaper, they seem to rarely give them out anymore, preferiing to give out the medals instead. Our last cruise on the Pride it was up to the very last event in the main atrium, the final night, a name that song/artist/year contest, that most people thought I had a chance but DW pulled it out. (there was a girl and her Dad that had been killing the music trivia the entire cruise that everybody assumed would win. They were REALLY knowledgeable) Thankfully DW kept her collection of one from every cruise intact.

When we were on the Sunshine in September, a family sitting next to us kept checking their cell phones and feeding the answers to their kid, who astonishingly won. (even though the hoist saw the Father cheating and admonished him to stop, yet let the kid win anyway.) Maybe enough people got tired of the cheaters and complained enough or just quit attending. Saw something similar on the Pride in December too.

That sounds like every place along the Malecon in Mahahual.... Probably need to get out of town to Maya Chan or Almaplena, etc. to avoid the people selling their goods.

Yeah, then definitely try an excursion with direct tender from the ship, to save yourself alot of extra travels with the kiddos. Hopefully somebody who has done one of the direct trransport beach breaks will chiume in for you... Good luck.

Let us know how the Sargassum is..... I hope you luck out.

Everything in Belize is a trek, because you start with that long tender ride to the port area. (which isn't in the greatest area to just wander from the port area like some other ports.) You may want to look into an excursion that leaves straight from the shipo, to an island beach break or something similar, to save you entertaining two small kids through too many trandportation steps to get to one. Honestly, if Belize was smack in the middle of my cruise, I might just stay onboard and let the kids enjoy a less crowded day in the pools and on the slides, etc.(just make sure to lotion up. I stayed onboard once and didn't lotion enough and got the worst burn ever, just walking around the ship. Not even swimming or laying out. Belizean sun is brutal)

4 ships in Cozumel is a super light day... Enjoy the lighter than normal crowds. (pretty sure 6-7 is a more average day and 8+ would be heavy. Although with the size of every fleet's new ships, which ships are in port matter more than how many now a days. 1 RCCL monstrocities or 1 Mardi Gras/Celebrations equal 2 or more older ships from the fleets) I miss the days when Nachi limited to 100 people a day. But its been 125-130 the last few times we have been there and barely noticed the difference. Reports from Paradise Beach and Sanchos since the restart, frequently sound overcrowded.

We were Carnival fans but the product has gone downhill since the restart. So if you didn't enjoy your cruise before the pandemic, I'd seriously doubt you'll find the state of the fleet any better these days. (Probably find it worse) If you are just looking for "transportation" between Australia and New Zealand and aren't looking for the service and product of an older cruise, then a cruise on an older Carnival ship might work for you. Hope you enjoy your time whatever decision you make.

Unfortunately it seems to only be running on days with only one ship ,docked . (if you're lucky) When we return again in December its only 3 ships. (down from 4 lasy December)☹️

We did an independant excursion and where we were I had to keep kneeling down to get my chest in the water. Might have been deeper where the ship excursion was as they were in a much bigger boat so they may have needed a little bit deeper water.

Not sure about things to do for two 18 year olds at Nachi, but as to the other stuff. Same beach as Mr. Sanchos (right next door to the north) Occasionally if the tide is going out, it can build a bit of a shelf to step down a bit. Good seating options with palapas strewn about the beach with 4 loungers per underneath each. Also covered beds by the pool and chairs and loungers surrounding the whole pool. (just google the millions of pictures of Nachi on the web to see the spacing.Vs. goggle Paradise Beach or Sanchos or Playa Mia and see the rows of chairs lined up beachside there) Space between the seating unlike what I've seen at the other beach clubs where they line the chairs up in tight rows like going to a show. I've had shrimp tacos many times for my lunch choice. Not a huge drinker so I can't speak to the quality of the alcohol,(I know some people want a certain brand of scotch or rum or vodka) but the drinks I've always gotten at the swim up bar in the pool have been very good. Hope that helps answer some of your questions. We prefer it for its non-crowded 125 person limit and non-18 vibe.

I can vouch for this. On our last Pride cruise, it was full, and when we boarded, there was a wet spot with a large fan blowing on it in the entrance hallway to the room. (Seemed more like after a deep cleaning of somebody yacking or something in the hallway or something else. If it had been the bed, would have been a different story. ) DW had chosen that particular cabin for its proximity to everything we like to do on a cruise. Just before dinner I get a call from Guest Services saying I had requested a cabin change. (which is hilarious, as I have zero say in which cabin, or even which cruise we are on) I guess our cabin steward had told his supervisors that we had requested it, due to the fan in the hall of the cabin. (we hadn't even met him yet) I appreciate the thought he had , not wanting to inconvience us, but the cabin the wanted to move us to, would have been much more logistically difficult for DW to get around with her walker. We wound up staying in our chosen cabin and dealing with the fan for another day and took a couple of free meals in lieu of changing cabins. (thanks to our steward I guess)

Looks like my experience in Costa Maya in April 2014 in Mahahual. Even had it happen in Cozumel once, just not nearly as bad. With the size of this year's bloom, that might be a light day.

Thta was my first thought. Stingray City in Grand Cayman. \

I feel for the beaches in Mahahual because they get clobbered year after year once the Sargassum belt starts up each year. This year just looks insane. I wish I kept a link to the video from Krazy Lobster a couple of years ago (before it got as bad as the past few years) where a 2 foot long, 10-15 pound Iguana was easily walking on the Sargassum floating on the water, it was so thick in June/July.

Right click on the picture and hit copy link address in a search bar and it'll take you to the original article it came from. A simple google search will take you to many articles with different satelitte maps of the sargassum "blob". (The one i posted just showed the clearest)