Just off GLORY! Fantastic family cruise. ASK AWAY!

All of them! We've been to all of them multiple times (my husband and I, but not the rest of the family).

 

Grand Cayman: We booked Stingraysailing dot com and they were awesome to us. Rough water, so we missed the snorkeling and could not sail, so we took a motorboat and still made it to the rays. Then we went to Paradise Grill for a little snorkeling, Turtle burgers & soup and some cocktails. The only bad thing of the day was the Looooong tender lines. Last tender was supposed to leave the dock at 2:00 pm. We sat at the port from 1:30 pm and got on one of the last tenders at 3:15 pm. LONG wait!!

 

Roatan: We took a private tour with Rony's tours. We had Carla as a guide, and Arnold as a driver. We had a fantastic tour on a hot day! The kids Zip-lined and snorkeled right at the beach.

 

Belize: Cavetubing for the family was OK. Not fantastic, but they had fun. We just walked around town. It was really, really hot and humid, so we didn't do much.

 

Cozumel: Money Bar for lunch and snorkeling. We had a blast here. The kids had one of their favorite days here. The water was amazing and we had some great food!!

 

Ohhhhh I would love to hear more about the Money Bar. What did the kids do/like?

Ohhhhh I would love to hear more about the Money Bar. What did the kids do/like?

 

the kids just really wanted to snorkel. We go there and were the only/first people to arrive so we took over a few tables and the kids got right into the water with their gear. Not all of them had snorkel equip, so one of the guys went to rent some fins and masks. While doing so, he negotiated a snorkel "tour" out to the reef (swimmable) for 7 people. All the kids and one Dad did the snorkel tour and they LOVED it. Then back to the pier area where they spend a good hour jumping in off the pier. The water was crystal clear, and deep enough to jump in (about 5-9' deep). We all had food (awesome) and plenty of margaritas and beer. A gentleman came around with a parrot for photos. We agreed to purchase ONE frame if we could take photos of the kids individually with the bird with our own camera. So we got one group shot and a frame for $20 and then a ton of other pics with the bird for free. The staff was lovely and catered to our every need. I would recommend it for a nice day, waterfront, with good snorkeling and great food. Very relaxing and easy.

Did you buy your own snorkeling gear? Thanks

 

 

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Did you buy your own snorkeling gear? Thanks

If this was directed at someone specifically and not just a general question, my apologies.

 

I think a good place to start is determining how serious you are about snorkeling. We had never done it before our cruise last year, but wanted to give it a go. I had read plenty of comments about rental gear. A couple of the most common cons were the worry of cleanliness (especially the mouthpiece) and that sometimes the masks were stretched out from repeated use, causing them not to fit very well. We decided not to go with rental gear, but we also didn't want to go all out on buying our own since the experience was new to us and didn't know if we'd ever do it again. So we just bought some fairly cheap mask/snorkel sets at Walmart and took them with us. I think they were $13-$15, maybe one step up from the cheapest they had. We tried it on our own, not a tour, and ended up liking it and are looking forward to doing it again on our next cruise. That gear worked well, I'm sure we'll just use them again.

If this was directed at someone specifically and not just a general question, my apologies.

 

 

 

I think a good place to start is determining how serious you are about snorkeling. We had never done it before our cruise last year, but wanted to give it a go. I had read plenty of comments about rental gear. A couple of the most common cons were the worry of cleanliness (especially the mouthpiece) and that sometimes the masks were stretched out from repeated use, causing them not to fit very well. We decided not to go with rental gear, but we also didn't want to go all out on buying our own since the experience was new to us and didn't know if we'd ever do it again. So we just bought some fairly cheap mask/snorkel sets at Walmart and took them with us. I think they were $13-$15, maybe one step up from the cheapest they had. We tried it on our own, not a tour, and ended up liking it and are looking forward to doing it again on our next cruise. That gear worked well, I'm sure we'll just use them again.

 

 

 

Thanks that helps as we have been looking at amazon and my family would use it twice in half moon cay and probably grand Turk!! We leave next month

 

 

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Thanks that helps as we have been looking at amazon and my family would use it twice in half moon cay and probably grand Turk!! We leave next month

 

 

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We all have our own masks and snorkels. The kids got the new full face masks this year and really enjoyed them. The adults prefered the conventional masks. We don't take our fins with us, as they are easy to rent if needed. Having your own gear is just plain easier. No need to check anything out, size it, return it, etc. Just put it on and go. FREE SNORKELING everywhere! Nice!

Thanks that helps as we have been looking at amazon and my family would use it twice in half moon cay and probably grand Turk!! We leave next month

We enjoyed snorkeling more at Grand Turk. HMC has a nice white sandy bottom, but that's it, no other features. We did see a few fish. Might have better luck if you venture a little farther out, closer to where it gets deep, but that was our first try at it and were still getting the hang of it. At Grand Turk, we snorkeled on the opposite side of the pier from where everyone goes. The crowds go to Margaritaville and the beach in front of it so went to the other side, kind of in front of the NASA exhibit. There's a couple rows of lounge chairs under the trees and only a few other people when we were there. We saw more there than at HMC. Fish, crabs, a live conch, etc. Basically if you go farther down the beach in either direction, you get away from the big crowds. Have fun!

How was the muster drill? We were on the Glory last April, and it was the LONGEST one we ever had. (Something to do with a new head count system, and waiting for certain passengers to show up.)

Aside from that, another good cruise for us!

We're booked on the same Glory Cruise in the near future so my question is regarding their tender process. In the past, as I recall, cruise lines give early preference to tenders to excursions bought through the cruise line then to people who just want a trip to shore through some numbering system. Is this still the case & can you explain this "numbering system" and what the earliest time off the ship might be if you don't have a booked excursion? Specifically, we wish to get an early Stingray City Tour leaving time afterwards for a snorkel @ Eden Rock located near the tender port in Georgetown. With the ship scheduled to leave @ 3PM (but you still waiting to get on a tender back to the ship at 3PM) it seems like our plan is possible. Your thoughts or anybody else's??