cath32

We cruised on the fascination a few years ago. We wanted YTD but it was full, so we picked early and wait listed YTD. When we got to the ship and got our S&s cards - they said YTD. We were a group of 3.

On our very first cruise, I was sure I brought my camera battery charger but couldn't find it anywhere!! Ended up buying an expensive replacement in grand cayman. Then found it in my suitcase later. The charger was a black box about 1"x2" and I just didn't see it against the black lining of my suitcase! :confused:

The one item we have taken every cruise that has been invaluable is a power bar!! With so many different rechargeables - phones, cameras, iPods, ereaders, etc - it has always gotten a lot of use.

Just go to guest services and tell them what limit you would like. This is what I have done with my kids in the past.

Roatan....consider just staying at the port. Carnival has a private beach that you can walk to from the ship.

Belize....we too, have done the River Wallace with Altun Ha. It was a good tour (with Carnival). I also really enjoyed the city tour/zoo Carnival excursion. The zoo is a bit of a drive. The animals are all native to Belize and are in enclosures which represent their native habitat. It was a surprisingly enjoyable day! On both of those excursions, we found the guides on the bus really informative about the country during our driving time.

I think our most recent tour with Stingray Sailing left the pier around 9am and then arrived back around 1pm.

We used water shoes for the tubing and Blue Hole. I'm pretty sure we also used them a couple of years ago for Dunn's River Falls.

Do you NEED them? I don't know. Since we had them, I didn't really worry about where I stepped or think about whether or not I would've been okay without them. For the blue hole, my husband thought the water shoes were a little bit slippier than bare feet, but you would still want something on your feet getting to and from the vehicles to the falls. For the tubing, there is a walk of a couple of minutes down to the river...and then shorter one at pick-up. I would for sure want something on my feet for those bits. Also - they stopped us half-way through and we all got out....a photo op and craft stop....and it was nice to have feet covered then as well.

We bought pairs a bunch of years ago, probably at Wal-mart or something similar, and may only use them once in awhile, but they are very handy to have and don't take up much suitcase room!

We used Peat Taylor tours a couple of weeks ago. We went to the Blue Hole and tubing....but he also has tours to Dunns River Falls.

They were easy to find when we got off the ship, and we had a great day with them.

We just stayed at the Hampton Inn Ft. Lauderdale North Cruise Port Hotel.

- free shuttle from airport

- free shuttle to cruise port

- really good breakfast included in price

- nice room

- excellent front desk service (they even had 3 staplers sitting on the front counter for all of the cruise passengers to attach their luggage tags in the morning!)

There was a plaza next door with a grocery store for last minute items and a few restaurants nearby.

We just did this, this past weekend.

We booked a car from Dollar. They have a free shuttle which picks you up at the pier and takes you to their port location which is at the entrance to the port. We returned the car to FLL later in the day. (Dollar and Thrifty share the same shuttle/location.) We just made sure we booked a car with a trunk to lock up the suitcases for the day.

We just went to Sawgrass Mills to shop for the day. It was raining when we got off the ship, so not the nicest day for sight-seeing.

We rented through Dollar last weekend.

They had a free shuttle that picked you up at the port and took you to their rental location at the entrance to the port. It is shared with Thrifty. We returned the car at the FLL airport.

We just used Peat Taylor Tours for the Blue Hole/Tubing excursion in Ocho Rios. We had a really great time and enjoyed our day. Everything went smoothly and we were back at the ship in plenty of time.

Just a note....

We had 2 tour guides with us for our group of 6 - my husband and I, and another group of 4 doing the same tour. They went everywhere with us. When we got to the Blue Hole - a different pair of 'blue hole' guides did the excursion with us. Our original guides stayed with the van/our stuff....but did not participate in this part of the excursion. The same thing happened at the tubing. A 'tubing' set of guides took us down the river...while our original guides took the van with our belongings and met us at the end. This was fine and everything was great....but the expectation is that all your guides are tipped.

I wasn't as prepared for this as I should have been. We only had $20's, so ended up giving each pair of guides $20....hopefully they all split with each other. I also don't usually bring a lot of extra money on excursions with me and while I was thinking we would tip our excursion guides....I wasn't anticipating all of the 'extra' guides.

That being said....we also did a ship excursion in Jamaica 2 years ago which was similar. We had guides who were with us for the day, but they were not the same guides who took us up Dunns River Falls....so you'd think I'd have learned from that! :)

Anyway - I just wanted people to be forewarned as I didn't expect/plan very well for this! Hope it helps!

I have sailed with Stingray Sailing twice - 4 years ago and last week. Both were excellent excursions.

I THINK that I have also done the 'Stingray and Island' tour with Nativeways - 2 years ago. I'm not 100% sure of the company name, but what I read on the website sounds like what we did.

Comparing the stingray portion ... Stingray Sailing uses a catamaran. There is lots of room on the boat and it is a really relaxing day. On both our excursions with them, they put the sails up for the return portion of the trip. Our Nativeways (I think) trip out was on a powerboat/speedboat of some sort. Both excursions were very similar once you got in the water with the stingrays.

I, personally, much preferred the catamaran to the powerboat. I found it made for a more relaxing, peaceful excursion.

We have been to Grand Cayman twice with teens.

The first time we went out with Stingray Sailing to visit with the stingrays and go snorkelling. This was on a catamaran and everyone had a great time!

The second time, we did more of a sightseeing tour of Grand Cayman including a visit to the turtle farm, rum cake factory, Hell and going out to see the stingrays on a power boat.

My youngest preferred the first trip - he is a doer and not so much a sightseer. The older enjoyed both.

We weren't at the turtle farm very long - just enough to walk around and look in some of the different pools, hold one of the smaller turtles and look at a couple of displays - maybe 30-45 min or so. (It was 2 years ago, so my memory may be off!) Both of them enjoyed this part.

Hope that helps!

Another vote for Stingray Sailing.

We used them last week, for the second time, and the excursion was just as awesome as I remembered from 4 years ago.

Sailing out on a catamaran with a small group of people makes for a really relaxing enjoyable day!

My husband is particularly fond of the Tortuga Coffee Rum Cream. We were there last week and picked up 2 bottles!

We booked a tour with Ephesus Shuttle in May. We didn't book a private excursion, but just signed up with the tour that said it would be a max of 20 people. The tour included the terrace houses which after having seen them, I would consider a 'must' if you're going to Ephesus.

We had a really nice van with lots of room. It ended up only being a total of 6 of us plus a toddler and we had a great tour with them. On the way home we were asked if we would like to go to a leather store. We all said 'no', and they took us straight back to the ship.

I would tour with them again!