Western Caribbean Itinerary - Excursion suggestions needed

[misterf]

My gf and I are going to Grand Cayman, Roatan, Belize and Cozumel this April and are looking for a general idea of what to do at each port before researching each place in depth.

 

My gf isn't a fan of scuba diving or anything involving deep water (including the submarine tour I've heard about), is fine with snorkeling though. Also doesn't want to do the Stingray tour in GC.

 

Looking around Carnival's site as well as some of the posts, it seems the choices available to us would be:

 

Beaches

Snorkelling

Dolphin Encounters/Swims

Ziplines

Cave Tubing

Parasailing

Visiting Mayan locations

 

Am not really interested in city tours...

 

So, I assumed we would zipline in Roatan (everyone seems to rave about it) and go cave tubing in Belize.

 

From the list above, are some of the ports of call better than others for those choices? I know its all subjective, but, for example, does Cozumel have better snorkelling excursions than Cayman?

 

Thoughts? Thanks for any suggestions!

 

I posted a similar thread in Carnival's forum, but someone replied that I posted in the wrong place. I didn't want to duplicate this, but not sure what else to do so am posting in all 4 Ports of Call forums.

[Will in sunny FL]

The snorkel tour with the local lunch on Caye Caulker with Coral Breeze is a hard one to beat. Their web site will give you the details - http://www.coralbreeze.com

We go with them twice each year & really enjoy this trip.

Good luck.

Bill in FL

[kslack]

My gf and I are going to Grand Cayman, Roatan, Belize and Cozumel this April and are looking for a general idea of what to do at each port before researching each place in depth.

 

My gf isn't a fan of scuba diving or anything involving deep water (including the submarine tour I've heard about), is fine with snorkeling though. Also doesn't want to do the Stingray tour in GC.

 

Looking around Carnival's site as well as some of the posts, it seems the choices available to us would be:

 

Beaches

Snorkelling

Dolphin Encounters/Swims

Ziplines

Cave Tubing

Parasailing

Visiting Mayan locations

 

Am not really interested in city tours...

 

So, I assumed we would zipline in Roatan (everyone seems to rave about it) and go cave tubing in Belize.

 

From the list above, are some of the ports of call better than others for those choices? I know its all subjective, but, for example, does Cozumel have better snorkelling excursions than Cayman?

 

Thoughts? Thanks for any suggestions!

 

I posted a similar thread in Carnival's forum, but someone replied that I posted in the wrong place. I didn't want to duplicate this, but not sure what else to do so am posting in all 4 Ports of Call forums.

 

We have just returned from our Carnival Cruise with this itinerary and loved the ports. We booked all private tours after doing extensive research so I thought I'd share the information with you.

In Cayman we went with Captain Marvin and did the stingrays and snorkeling. We were very happy with the service we got with Captain Marvins. They have lots of different excursions on their website http://www.captainmarvins.com/index.html . The snorkeling was excellent! If your gf doesn't want to do the stingrays, she can always stay on the boat for that part, you're there for about a half an hour. The scenery is beautiful!! If you do go with Captain Marvin's for snorkeling make sure to bring bananas with you from the ship, the fish go crazy for them! Makes for great photo ops. Afterward we went over to the pier and booked a ride to the turtle farm with a local taxi/tour company. There are lots of companies on the pier looking for business and you can make deals with them. They are not pushy at all there. Be sure to go for lunch at Corita's Copper Kettle. Any local can tell you where it is, only a few blocks from the pier.

 

In Cozumel we did a very non-touristy excursion and learned how to cook traditional Mexican cuisine from a local in her home. We booked through this website:

http://cozumelmycozumel.com/Pages/CozumelCookingClasses.html . What a great experience and there was still plenty of time afterward for shopping or visiting the beach. The food was out of this world and was very hands on. Highly recommended!

 

In Belize we booked a tour of Altun Ha and the Belize Zoo with Vitalino at http://cavetubing.bz/ . They are one of the original cave tubing companies. They do customized tours as well and are the most reasonably priced company out there. Vitalino is so incredibly knowledgeable about the ruins and the zoo, other people from other tours were joining in and listening to him speak. Highly recommended! The zoo was the best part of our tour. It's a small privately run zoo with orphaned and injured rescued animals all indigenous to Belize.

 

In Roatan we booked with Victor Bodden. It is the only way to go. I can't recommend them highly enough. For only $30 pp we had a private car and driver for the day and he took us anywhere that we wanted to go. Our tour included a fabulous scenic lookout spot where there were some ladies that had their wares for sale (tip, buy here!! The same products were more than double the price at the pier). Then we went to the Iguana Farm, the Butterfly Gardens, The Monkey House (you can zipline here too) and the most fabulous lunch at Half Moon Bay recommended by our driver Lionel. We also made special requests to stop at the Firehall and La Clinica Esperanza. Lionel was a fountain of knowledge about the island and we never felt rushed at any of the spots we visited. It was the most interesting port of call, and also the shortest :(, although it's a small island so you can get a lot of stuff in. You can see their website here: http://www.boddentours.com/

 

Hope that helps!

Kathy

[J Star]

I would try to talk your girlfriend into doing the stingray city tour with Sato's tours is Grand Cayman we did it a few years ago and will be doing it again this July and it is awesome. You snorkel first and then go to see and get in the water with the wild sting rays which was great!

 

http://www.sotoscruises.com/

 

I have been on 7 cruises and stingray city is one of the best tours I have done.

 

JJ

[misterf]

Thanks for the suggestions!