Walking Distance Beaches in Caribbean

[southernmomga]

Hello! We are travelling over Thanksgiving on a Western Caribbean cruise. The ports of call are Key West, Ocho Rios (Jamaica), Georgetown (Grand Cayman), and Cozumel. We will be with a 7 year old, 5 year old, and 10 month old. Which of these ports has a beach within (short) walking distance of where the ship will dock? We do not want to take a cab or bus. Thank you!

[cb at sea]

Key west isn't a "beach" destination.

GC has the best, easiest beaches....do take the bus...not a big deal..cheap and easy. All the beaches are public and have "facilities"...bathrooms, food, chair rentals, etc...

 

 

I wouldn't "walk" anywhere in Jamaica....

 

If you don't wish to get off the ship, that's fine, too...port days mean the ship will be yours alone (virtually!)

[southernmomga]

Thank you for the reply! :)

 

We do not want to take the bus with three children, one being an infant. I am not comfortable with taking the bus or a taxi without proper car seats/seat belts, etc. Also, we will have the stroller with us and I would rather not deal with the folding/unfolding.

 

What about cozumel?

[cruisehappye2a]

Cozumel has nice beaches but none that I know of within walking distance. We took a cab last time and would not do that with an infant.

[camorelli]

I agree with the other posters. I wouldn't walk anywhere with my kids in Jamaica. Key West really doesn't have beaches, it's more of a downtown shopping/walking port. We weren't able to get off at Grand Cayman, but I've heard there are wonderful beaches, accessible by taxi or bus.

 

Cozumel has wonderful beaches. Last March, we took a cab to Nachi Cocum. Can't walk there. But when we went in 2003, we walked maybe 10 minutes to a hotel resort that allowed you to pay $10/pp/day for use of their beach. It was nice and close too. They had beach rentals (snorkel gear), drinks for purchase, pool, hammocks. I'm sorry but I can't remember the name of it since it was so long ago. Seems like El Cid is right there at the dock, but I can't remember if that is where we went or not.

[southernmomga]

Thank you again! I will post specifically in the Cozumel forum to see if I can get more details. :) We live in a landlocked area so I would like to get the kids to a beach at least once on the cruise. :)

[Marie51]

Thank you again! I will post specifically in the Cozumel forum to see if I can get more details. :) We live in a landlocked area so I would like to get the kids to a beach at least once on the cruise. :)

 

I understand your concern about taking cabs but really it will be the only way to get to the beach in GC and Cozumel. I have done it with young children even though we did not have a car seat with us. In Cozumel we took a cab to Paradise beach and had a wonderful day there. In GC take a cab to 7 Mile beach. In Jamaica there is a small beach at Margaritaville within walking distance of the ship. Good luck!

[zenworks911]

We were just in Jamaica and walked to the beach to the left of the dock. It was a fenced off walk way and if you do not make eye contact with the vendors on the way they will leave you alone. Once we got in our beach chairs no one bothered us. We were asked several time while walking around to buy beer and weed but they did not pursue it after we said no. There were plenty of nice people around and we felt reasonably safe. It was a very cheap beach day$10 for chairs, $10 for lunch, $10 for hair braiding.

[CeleBrat]

Southernmomga--

 

We went to Fort Zachary Taylor Beach in Key West, and loved it. It is walkable, if your ship docks at the military base. From there, everyone MUST take a shuttle to town. (to clarify, it's a tram-type shuttle--open air.) As you exit the base, you can ask the shuttle driver to stop, and the entrance to Fort Zachary is nearby.

 

Check out my MSC review for pics.

 

CeleBrat