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Cruise line excursion transportation?


lyralpha
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Hi

 

I'm new to cruising, and we are going on Royal Caribbean Liberty of the Seas to Cozumel, Grand Cayman, and Falmouth with our 2 littles--16 months and almost 4. We are debating booking excursions through the cruise line vs independently. What kind of transportation do the ship excursions provide? For example, to Chankanaab in Cozumel? I'm a bit concerned about taxis without car seats (particularly for the little one. We have a Ride Safer vest for the older one).

 

Thanks!

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Our oldest has been on 4 cruises, from ages 2-6, and our youngest went on one cruise at the age of two. We do bring car seats (thankfully the oldest only needs a booster now) and use them on the plane, and store them in the closet on cruises. We try to only book private excursions for just our family since it is much better to control the itinerary and be able to stay longer with kids and leave whenever they get bored. If you do this, make sure to request transportation with seat belts in the back seats, since not all cars in foreign countries will have them.

 

Our only excursion we ever undertook that was a disaster was the only cruise line excursion we took with children. In Panama, the Coral Princess docks at Gatun Lake and only allows passengers who have signed up for a Princess tour to leave the boat, as per Panama Canal Authority regulations. The boat returns back through the locks and then docks in Colon, where passengers on Princess cruise tours are able to reboard. We signed up for a short tour Gatun Lakes Cruise and Locks so we would be able to give our son a nap before he got overtired. Unfortunately, we were not informed until the day before Panama when it was too late to switch tours that there would be a substantial gap between when our tour ends, and when we would be allowed to reboard the ship. We were told at the end of the tour that we would be allowed back on the ship in an hour when it docked. The ship arrived on time one hour later, but no one was allowed to board for another hour, and the Panamanian authorities would not tell us when we would be allowed to board. That led to two very long hours standing outside of an elevator at the port in Colon with a screaming toddler who needed to nap. If we had known about this gap ahead of time, we would have either chosen a longer tour with the Embera Indians or simply disembarked in Colon and taken a cab from Colon to the nearby Gatun locks (although if you are planning this, please check the operating hours at Gatun locks, since I don't know what time they close, and the docking time for the Princess boats at Colon can vary based upon canal traffic). People without children who take short Princess tours in Panama are not likely to experience significant problems with the delay in reboarding the ship, since there is a very affordable supermarket and several restaurants with free wifi in the Port of Colon.

If you choose to take ship tours, make sure you confirm the details of the shore excursion office ahead of time. I think if you are just visiting Chankanaab you won't have any trouble on a cruise line excursion (unless your kids get tired and want to go back early which probably won't happens since I think they'll really like it there). Cruise line tours generally use large buses for transport, and you would not be required to use a car seat with them. A private excursion for just your family would be cheaper and let you control the itinerary, but you would need to schlep the car seats.

In Grand Cayman, your children would love the turtle farm. Also, bring a bag to the first breakfast buffet and take yogurt, fruit and cereal back to the room so you always have snacks on hand for your kids. You can take the sealed boxed cereals with you on excursions, so your kids have something to eat and you can distract them for a little while when they get whiny or bored.

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Sorry - I forgot to mention it is possible that some private vendors may provide car seats. This is much more likely to occur in Europe than in the Caribbean/Central America, but is possible (at least one vendor in Costa Rica offered this to us.) But you honestly won't know very much about the car seats, or if they are the right size for your child until you get there. Oh, and if you are taking the kids on boats you might also want to bring your own life vests, because kids get very cranky if a life vest is too tight. We learned that the hard way on one excursion, and thankfully they had a second larger one or it would have been a very long afternoon.

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With the cruise line you would be on a bus. You can post on the RCI board to ask about that specific one.

 

I would not count on any car seats on private excursions and I would be very concerned about not using one in a vehicle or taxi.

 

Keith

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