Costa Maya & Belize - Kid Friendly Excursions Please?

So I went a little crazy yesterday (post vacation blues I think) and booked Independence of the Seas for February.

So now I have to figure out what to do in Belize and Costa Maya - never been to either one.

Any suggestions? The kids are 4 and 8. I need excursions that they can do. No cave tubing...lol.

Any beaches?

we are also going to Costa Maya and Belize on our Carnival Glory cruise in Jan. I am an extreme planner so naturally, I'm already picking out our excursions. I think the Belize Zoo looks great! belizecruiseexcursions (dot) com has something for Belize Zoo and Old Belize tour but I think the price is a little high. I haven't poked around more for pricing just yet, but I think the kids would love that!

In Costa Maya, they offer Dophin swims. I don't know if you've already done that with your girls. We were also just looking at doing a beach day.

I know that's not a ton of information for you, but those are our preliminary plans right now!

I wanted to add that the beach we are looking at in Costa Maya is Uvero Beach =)

In Belize you could go to Cucumber Beach - a man-made beach area around a lagoon about 5 miles outside of town near the historical area called "Old Belize" - its a beautiful beach, changing rooms, showers, palapas, a little restaurant/bar, a water trampoline, rope swings, and a lifeguard. It is real easy to take a taxi there. You can check out the photo gallery on oldbelize.com.

Al's Gal - yep I think the zoo is a good idea. Thanks!

Mamajules - I'll check out the pic gallery.

We took a ruins/river cruise tour while we were in Belize. Lots of fun and lasted the entire day. First, we were loaded onto boats (12 per boat) and took a lengthy trip down the local river. While on the boats, we saw monkeys, iguanas, huge spiders, turtles, and various other wildlife. Very relaxing.

Here's a pic:

After a quick stop for a local lunch, we boarded buses for a drive to the Altun Ha ruins. FABULOUS ruins! We were actually allowed to "climb" (via a staircase :)) onto the top of one of the pyramid-type structures.

It was very hot there though.

Also--be forewarned that many people have a "low" view of Belize since the area is not very-well developed. It is NOT St.Thomas!

We had fun!

Thanks Celebrat! That was the exact tour I was looking at.

And I guess I forgot about Costa Maya being destroyed by the hurricane. :( So that is being rebuilt...

http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=2657

I can ditto the recommendation for the river/ruins cruise - we did it with children about the same age as yours, maybe each a year younger. We booked this through the ship - even though we always arrange our tours on our own. Tendering takes a long time in Belize, and it is a long-ish tour. I'm glad we went with the ship. We were on the last tender, which they held for us!

One note - when you board the boats for the river portion near the tender dock - make sure everyone is seated and hold on to the kids! :eek: Our driver really opened it up, and we flew! He slowed down considerably once we entered the river.

Also, this may be overkill for you, but I'm a paranoid mom: after we climbed the ruin at Altun Ha, I got our kids down before everyone else started to go down, and I made them go down the stairs on their bottoms. Even though no one saw, they were humiliated....but they were safe! (I just had visions of one of them tumbling down this long set of uneven stone steps and fetching up at the bottom with one or more broken bones, and who knows where the nearest qualified medical assistance would be - we were a long way from the cruise dock.)

In Costa Maya we did the Chacchoben tour with Ivan and (I think) David. It was an excellent tour. The site has largely been left in it's natural state, so a lot of it is shaded. They included interesting facts about the local flora and fauna, in addition to focusing on the ruins. After, we opted to have them drop us in Majahual (sp?), rather than returning us to the pier. There, the kids swam (very calm, as there is a sand bar off the beach that breaks the waves - or, at least there was:( ), we had lunch at a place on the beach with our feet in the water, and did some great shopping (DH and I took turns while the other kept an eye on the kids in the water.) It was maybe a 5 minute cab ride back to the dock, and cabs were plentiful.

Have fun planning! :)

We did the river cruise/ruins tour and absolutely loved it. We saw so many animals along the river and while hiking we loved it. Then we came to the ruins, they were absolutely amazing. You do some hiking but it is not strenuous. We were gone most of the day but it didn't seem like it - a wonderful day all in all.

Yes--ditto the recommendation on booking ANY tour via the ship. Belize is a tender port, but for some reason you have to dock waaaaay off shore. So, tendering takes a good 20 minutes or more.

Also--most tours in Belize occur nowhere near the port. So, it is best to have the ship tour ENSURE that you make it back on to the ship, tender and all.

CeleBrat

I'm reading through some old threads here...

Michele, I'm taking the same cruise in March on Independence with my husband, daughter and MIL. My daughter will be 20 months old. I'm struggling with tours for her since most go right into her post-lunch nap time. The zoo sounds like a promising activity, but that's one you have to book on your own, right? She may also like the ruins/river cruise tour, but I am a bit nervous that she will have a total fuss out if she misses her nap. Any thoughts?

Also, a side note... I am *hoping* I will also be pregnant with #2 during this cruise (we're working on it!).

Caitlin

I'm reading through some old threads here...

 

Michele, I'm taking the same cruise in March on Independence with my husband, daughter and MIL. My daughter will be 20 months old. I'm struggling with tours for her since most go right into her post-lunch nap time. The zoo sounds like a promising activity, but that's one you have to book on your own, right? She may also like the ruins/river cruise tour, but I am a bit nervous that she will have a total fuss out if she misses her nap. Any thoughts?

 

Also, a side note... I am *hoping* I will also be pregnant with #2 during this cruise (we're working on it!).

 

Caitlin

Well since I posted this, I have been doing ALOT of searching. I think we are going to do the jungle boat to the zoo. I am getting the feeling from everyone that the ruins are just too long for some kids. And knowing my 4 year old, she is one of "those kids".

I really like the idea of the boat/ruins that Celebrat showed pictures of above...but I don't think my 4 year old can handle it just yet. She is just at that age. Now if it was my oldest child (at 4 years old) she would have been able to handle it...but she has a different personality.

So it looks like boat then zoo. And no I don't have to book it on my own. The Indy does have that tour listed. :)

For Cozumel - I am thinking a nice beach day at Passion Island.

Just be sure to check on here around the 2nd week of February. I am sure I will have a full report.

Thanks a bunch Michele! I hadn't noticed the excursion to the zoo, so I will have to look through them again. Depending on the times, I think that's the best option for my little one.

I'll definitely check back after you take your cruise!

Thanks again!

Thanks a bunch Michele! I hadn't noticed the excursion to the zoo, so I will have to look through them again. Depending on the times, I think that's the best option for my little one.

 

I'll definitely check back after you take your cruise!

 

Thanks again!

Not a problem. ;) It's called the Belize Zoo. We've been to alot of zoos but those that have been there say it's like walking into the animal's natural habitat....here is the website

http://www.belizezoo.org

I'm really looking forward to your review, we're leaving on 2/22/09 for a week going to Costa Maya, Belize, Santo Tomas & Cozumel and we are doing the River Cruise/Altun Ha Ruins tour in Belize so I can't wait to read your review on the river part of the tour.

Have a great time.

I don't know if your children could partake in a full day excersion, but if so you may want to look at the Lamanai and New River excursion in Belize if it is offered. It is through the ship. It takes all day but very fun. There is about an 1 hour drive on a bus to the river, then another hour on a boat ride, during this time seeing lots of animals and flora, then having a Mayan lunch. Tour the ruins, see and hear the howling moneys. Then repeat the trip. Last time we did it there were people of all ages (2-80s). It still remains our favorite land excursion of all times. For Costa Maya, I also would recommend the Chacchoben. It is about a 4 hour excursion, about an hour to and from there and 2 hours at the ruins. Both places have had little work done so there is a lot of natural growth but both areas are fairly flat, so walking is easy.

I've been to both of those ports and greatly enjoyed them. In Belize I would advise booking a tour b/c it is a place where the minute you get off the ship there are people hounding you to buy things, etc. I forget the exact name of the tour but we did a jungle land rover tour. Its a little bumpy but the kids loved it. Especially when we drove them through the big puddles. You are deep in the jungle and away from all the locals and towns. Plus you get to see a few caves and even get a pretty good tour of the island since you drive so far out. It too included a river cruise to get you to where the jeeps were parked.

Costa Maya I loved! I haven't been back since its been rebuilt but everyone says its better then ever. We did another jeep tour where we drove to a far off secluded beach and had lunch(included) and swam. The water was so clear and we even found huge starfish everywhere. The drive was kind of long though. In all honest, they have a great pool and beach right when you get off the boat that doesn't cost a thing. Plus there are stores and restaraunts right there also. My only advise is get there early before all the chairs are taken.

I hope this helps. If you have any other questions about either island I would love to help. You can also e-mail me... Siestakim@aol.com.

Good luck.

Costa Maya thoughts...

On our honeymoon, my husband and I did a tour through David and Ivan which also included lunch with a Mayan family. The food was a little adventurous, but overall good. We were shown how to wash our hands with tiny amounts of water and how to make tortillas the way that the ancient Mayans made them. While it was warm eating outdoors and we were worried about the food/drink served, we did not get sick and we had an amazing time. (Being a geeky doc, I had brought Cipro and some other meds along on the cruise just in case...)

It may not be "fun," but it is certainly a very educational experience! My husband and I both agreed that we would definitely take our children on an excurions like this because of vast amount of education it provides (directly in the tour and indirectly by observing the locals' way of life)!

If this type of excursion interests you, just email me at my screenname and yahoo and I'll tell you how we booked it.

So I went a little crazy yesterday (post vacation blues I think) and booked Independence of the Seas for February.

 

So now I have to figure out what to do in Belize and Costa Maya - never been to either one.

 

Any suggestions? The kids are 4 and 8. I need excursions that they can do. No cave tubing...lol.

 

Any beaches?

We did the ruins tour in Costa Maya with David and Ivan (private tour, you can find it on the port of call board for Costa Maya) Dont know if your kids are into that kind of thing (maybe with a little preparation they might be)

Great tour.

As a (at the time) nursing mom, the tour guides were extremely helpful letting me sit in the van with the air conditioning on to nurse for 20 minutes.

I heard (from dinner companions) that the little town has the BEST coconut shrimp and they give $5 massages for 15 (or was it 30) minutes on the beach in town. (in Costa Maya)

We were supposed to head there again on the Voyager last April but the last tropical storm turned that stop into an at-sea day....We were bummed.

Sorry, dont know a thing about Belize.

Costa Maya thoughts...

 

On our honeymoon, my husband and I did a tour through David and Ivan which also included lunch with a Mayan family. The food was a little adventurous, but overall good. We were shown how to wash our hands with tiny amounts of water and how to make tortillas the way that the ancient Mayans made them. While it was warm eating outdoors and we were worried about the food/drink served, we did not get sick and we had an amazing time. (Being a geeky doc, I had brought Cipro and some other meds along on the cruise just in case...)

 

It may not be "fun," but it is certainly a very educational experience! My husband and I both agreed that we would definitely take our children on an excurions like this because of vast amount of education it provides (directly in the tour and indirectly by observing the locals' way of life)!

 

If this type of excursion interests you, just email me at my screenname and yahoo and I'll tell you how we booked it.

We did this same excursion in 2007 with our three kids. Our oldest son was taking Spanish 3 at the time, and he was able to speak with some of the family members - the grandmother gave him a big smile when he greeted her in Spanish. We enjoyed the lunch, although I think our two younger sons just filled up on tortillas and hibiscus tea. (The tortillas were just wonderful - you won't want to buy tortillas in the grocery store again.) I don't think I'd take very young kids on this tour - our youngest was 7 - but of all the tours we've done I think our kids got the most out of this one. Our middle son just took the photos to show his Social Studies teacher - who, for all his travels, hasn't visited a Mayan village!

Michelle....the first step to admitting you are an addict is admitting that you are powerless over cruising.....

:p

Michelle....the first step to admitting you are an addict is admitting that you are powerless over cruising.....

 

:p

Yep. I JUST said to my hubby "Hey the kids are off for 6 days over Thanksgiving...I could fit in a weekend cruise." :D

He said "Would you just STOP!" :mad:

Yeah I need a new hubby...LOL. :p:D