booking your own excursions - western caribbean

[wnorman]

i never book through the cruise lines - too expensive. Do an independent swimming with stingrays in grand cayman. In roatan, hire Cinthia or her crew through roatancabtours@yahoo.com Tell her Wendy from Canada referred her to you - you won't be disappointed I have used her 2 times and will be using her again in October. Do an island tour, beach time - whatever you want!! She is fantastic.

[pack your bags]

So glad to hear the positive reviews on the Nativeways tour and Nachi. We are booked for both in September!!!!! Definitely booked on the recommendations from this site. Getting soooo excited :D

[jrtbmoore]

We did Cozmel last year and booked Nachi Cocum. It is a private beach that allows only 100 people a day in. The price is $49 and includes lunch and all the drinks you want. we took a taxi there and back and had no problem. They also offer differant excersions from Nachi Cocum if interested. we did para sailing and snorkling and it was wonderful.

[MrsBlair]

I didn't read the other replies, so I apologize if I repeat anything.

 

We just did this itinerary in April and are actually doing it again next April.

 

In GC we did a private tour with Nativeway. The owner of the company took us in her car all over the island - we went to Hell, the Turtle Farm, passed by all sorts of "sights", went to the rum factory, and she dropped us off to do the catamaran out to Stingray City. It was a phenomenal day. When we go next April we will probably contact her again to see what else she can show us.

 

In Belize we did the Altun Ha Ruins and River Wallace tour. I was not a fan. I found Belize to be kind of a drab port and it took an hour to get anywhere. I did some research for next April and found a private tour through Coral Breeze Tours to go to Caye Caulker. The boat will leave directly from the port and take us straight to the island. It looks awesome. I've heard mixed reviews on the cave tubing excursions.

 

In Cozumel we took a cab to Paradise Beach, stayed there for a few hours, then went to Margaritaville. I think you'll have fun no matter where you go here... It's a great port.

 

In Roatan, we did the Jolly Roger Catamaran and Gumbalinda Park. The tour would have been great if it wasn't for the ride there and the outrageous heat and humidity. I didn't do my research before hand to realize that we would be on a bus going up and down and through steep mountains and cliffs. It scared the crap out of me. If you have no worries with heights or cliffs you'll be fine, but something to consider. We ended (our group of 4) coming back early and going to Mahogany Bay Beach. I wish we would have just spent the day there and we will be next April. I'm really looking forward to it actually.

 

Regarding your comment about taxis, you'll be fine in GC and in Cozumel. I would recommend against it in Roatan and Belize.

 

Have a super fun cruise. Make sure to let us know what you did and how you liked it! Enjoy!

[chillinvillian]

In the Caymans there are tour people at the end of the peir on the streets that will give you a tour of the island in an air condition bus for about $10 a person.

 

Ours stopped at

Hell

The dolphin cove/turtle farm you will be charged $15 to go into the turtle farm

Rum place for rum sampleing torogue (i know i mis spelled it)

7 mile beach

and basically all around island with good history and insight on the island.

[Kristi Williamson]

Nachi Cocum in Cozumel ROCKS! We've been all over the Caribbean and this place is one of our favs!

 

As for Roatan, we love Fins and Flippers, but the "new" beach that Carnival has set up is nice, too. It's free, it's close and it's easy. We've heard great things about Victor Boden, as well.

[Luluwa]

I find that booking our own gives us a better, cheaper and less crowded tour. We do research these tour guides on the port of call pages to make sure we are dealing with reliable people.

 

I do not have the patience to wait for 30 slow moving people to get off a bus while sightseeing.

 

Loading and unloading 10 person vans works a lot better.

 

Have you ever heard of www.shoreexcursionsgroup.com? :rolleyes:

[scchasgal]

Roatan Mahogany Bay Beach is owned by Carnival. There will not be any charge to go there except the cab to get there BUT you have a fairly good chance of docking there since the Dream seems to miss it a lot and the Legend docks there.

[tjjbcolombe]

We used Nativeways from a recommendation here on CC and had a great time!

 

We did the Rum, Rays and Reef..but they also have the Rays and Island tour.

 

http://www.nativewaywatersports.com/tour_details.htm#Stingray%20and%20Island

 

Were there a lot of people on the ships? what types of things did you see on the snorkel ? I have heard that they will drop off at 7 mile beach on the way back too..we are supposed to go in October ..

[DEBnGAB]

Were there a lot of people on the ships? what types of things did you see on the snorkel ? I have heard that they will drop off at 7 mile beach on the way back too..we are supposed to go in October ..

 

 

Hi there,

The boats that take you out to Stingray City (via Nativeways) were not crowded at all....and when you see some of the other boats out there, its easy to see the difference.

 

On the snorkel, we saw a lot of nice coral, very colorful fish and I saw a few small squid.

 

The Rum Point stop is great...while you are on the boat headed over there, they pass out menus on the boat and then radio in the orders..and the food is there ready when you dock.

 

We had them just take us back to the port, but I am sure they would be happy to drop you off at 7Mile beach since its on the way.

[tjjbcolombe]

Hi there,

The boats that take you out to Stingray City (via Nativeways) were not crowded at all....and when you see some of the other boats out there, its easy to see the difference.

 

On the snorkel, we saw a lot of nice coral, very colorful fish and I saw a few small squid.

 

The Rum Point stop is great...while you are on the boat headed over there, they pass out menus on the boat and then radio in the orders..and the food is there ready when you dock.

 

We had them just take us back to the port, but I am sure they would be happy to drop you off at 7Mile beach since its on the way.

 

 

thanks .. That is good!!! Sounds like fun!

[DEBnGAB]

thanks .. That is good!!! Sounds like fun!

 

 

You're welcome. The next time we are in GC we will be using them again for sure. The guys on the boats were nice too...helping the kids get their fins on/off too at the snorkeling spot.

 

Hope you enjoy!

[morganboys]

It all depends on the excursion. Carnival reserves all the spots on some of the excursions which doesn't allow you to book on your own. When we were in Freeport last June I was going to book the dolphin excursion directly. When I called I was told that all the times were full. They explained that carnival books all the open spots there are when they have a ship in port. The only available times were after the ship left port. Therefore we had to pay $25 pp more to book through carnival instead of on our own.

[zqvol]

You are doing the right things but a word of caution.

 

We would allow at least 90 minutes extra to make sure we are back before the ship sails. Pretty much all of our tours are private ones.

 

In other words if the ship sails at 6 pm would want to be back no later than 4 30. If the tour takes you a long way from the port would even allow more time.

 

Can save a lot of money and get a better tour booking it yourself but if you are late getting back the savings will go away.

 

I agree with you but should add, that it is not important to be back on the ship 90 minutes early but if docked you need to be back at the pier so that it is a short walk, and if tendered you need to be at the tender pier for the same reason. That will allow more than enough time to get back on board at the scheduled time.

[Carpentercruiser]

We just got back from Roatan and a tour with Bodden tours. It was the highlight of our cruise. Our guide Kenny was great.

[jolly_cruiser]

Hello Everyone!-

As a first time cruiser, I wanted to take some time to pick your brains for advice. My friend and I are cruising on the Legend Aug 29-Sept. 6 in the Western Caribbean. I have talked to some people who have been on this exact cruise and we are so excited! After browsing some of the posts I was hoping some of you veterans could give us some advice. We want to look into booking some of our own excursions and were wondering what the best way to go about this is. Here are some of the excursions we were interested in through carnival:

Grand Cayman

- sting rays, turtles and hell

we'd be flexible to do whatever, but would like to check out all 3

 

Cozumel

- either the "deluxe sail, snorkel and beach party" or "playa mia beach break deluxe"

- we have heard good reviews from these excursions, and are wondering if we should just "wing it" and find a beach on our own or cough up the extra money?

 

Isla Roatan

-tabyana beach or mahogany bay

we have heard good things about both places- whach do you prefer for the money?

 

Belize

-cave tubing

I have already seen some posts about cave-tubing.com and we plan on booking through them to save the $.

 

My friend and I are both women in our 20s and would prefer not having to hire too many cabs/etc. that are outside of Carnival's services. We want to be safe, but save money where possible. What are your recommendations? Any other recommendations for first timers? We are already planning on taking full advantage of the food services and free lemonade/water on the ship. We are also planning on bringing our own booze in rum runners flasks. Thanks for any help you can give us! :)

 

In Isla Roatan do not miss the zip lining...it is a lot of fun...we booked it through the ship...

[med2cruise]

Just off of the Liberty Western Carribean we booked the Grand Gayman sting ray city on our own through Native Way - they were excellent! We had a great day. There were less than 25 people on our boat and we were at sting ray city before the crowds. The guides Anthony and Thomas were very good jumping in the water and catching the sting rays so that everyone would feel comfortable with them.

 

We went to Nachi Cocum in Cozumel - what an awesome day. Well worth the money spent, we were there with our 2 kids 19 and 21. We met other cruisers from different ships and had a great time.

 

Karen