Shore excursions with a baby for Roatan, Belize, Grand Cayman

[jojo pops]

Hi,

 

We'll be travelling with our eight month old daughter this January on the Carnival Legend to Belize, Cozumel, Roatan and Grand Cayman. What suggestions do you have for suitable shore excursions we can go on with her? I'd like to take her to the beach or walk through towns and want to avoid bus trips and car rides as much as possible. I've tried reading through some other threads but I don't have a lot of free time! Any suggestions are appreciated.

[LHP]

Hi,

 

We'll be travelling with our eight month old daughter this January on the Carnival Legend to Belize, Cozumel, Roatan and Grand Cayman. What suggestions do you have for suitable shore excursions we can go on with her? I'd like to take her to the beach or walk through towns and want to avoid bus trips and car rides as much as possible. I've tried reading through some other threads but I don't have a lot of free time! Any suggestions are appreciated.

 

Roatan docks right at the beach...just be sure to keep the little one in sun screen.

 

Belize has a tour to the zoo that you can book at a kiosk right there at the pier when you tender in. You can ask HOW FAR. I have not taken this tour..but just going to the zoo might be an option.

 

Grand Cayman....a short taxi ride to Seven Mile Beach if you want another beach day.

 

Cozumel...an 8 minute taxi ride to Chankanaab Park (entrance fee $16 per adult) OR just push the buggy over to the International Pier and enjoy a SMALL sandy area at Senor Frogs 1/2. There is also a ship tour that goes to El Cid who has a pool and is CLOSE to the pier (within walking distance)

 

Remember that Belize and Grand Cayman are tendered in...so I could bring an umbrella stroller for easy handling.

 

Cozumel is an easy stroller push...I have not been to the new pier in Roatan, so I can't comment on that.

 

Have a wonderful cruise.

[Tapi]

Hi,

 

We'll be travelling with our eight month old daughter this January on the Carnival Legend to Belize, Cozumel, Roatan and Grand Cayman. What suggestions do you have for suitable shore excursions we can go on with her? I'd like to take her to the beach or walk through towns and want to avoid bus trips and car rides as much as possible. I've tried reading through some other threads but I don't have a lot of free time! Any suggestions are appreciated.

 

I don't have information about specific excursions for these ports, but I wanted to share our experience with you.

 

We just sailed with our 12 month old son aboard the Fascination. We chose that itinerary specifically because the ports of call were "stroller friendly" where we wouldn't need to take a tender ashore, or take taxi cabs or buses to get places. It was a VERY wise decision! We also brought a semi-umbrella stroller. Another VERY wise decision, not only because it was easy to move around the ports of call, but because we could fold it under the bed and out of the way. The crib provided by Carnival was strategically placed in a corner of our cabin, so it was mostly out of the way!

 

About excursions, if you check out the Carnival website, several will have a bottle logo. This means that babies are allowed and will not need a ticket (they will go in arms free of charge).

 

However, use your best judgement. "Babies Go for Free" doesn't necessarily mean "Baby Appropriate". We booked the Seaworld Explorer in Nassau which was a fairly short excursion and had the bottle logo so we considered it to be an easy excursion to bring our baby on (At least the description made it sound like it would be easy! :rolleyes:). We stood in line for a pretty lengthy amount of time waiting for the excursion to depart. The advertised two hours for the tour turned into a little over 3 hours. We had 4 transfers (from pier to boat, boat to semi-submarine, semi-submarine to another boat, and boat back to pier) which can be challenging when you are holding a stroller, baby bag, and a baby who has decided to take a nap during the excursion!

 

Thankfully, our little guy didn't need a #2 diaper change during the excursion, but we would've been hard pressed to find a spot to change him, since we were tightly packed with other cruise passengers on the boat and then the semi-submarine with no bathroom facilities.

 

In hindsight, booking a ship sponsored excursion is something that we would've done differently.

 

We truly enjoyed our cruise, but we were a bit naive about how things would go! Still, it was wonderful to watch our little guy discover new things. It was a memorable experience!

[golfadj]

Roatan's beach did have a lot of shade and is an easy walk. Perhaps 1/2 mile each way. You are right by the ship so no problem to go back for lunch if you want.

[2206]

Rum Point in Grand Cayman is lovely. The water is shallow, there is shade, and it won't be crowded.

[cb at sea]

You really need to take the time to read a guidebook on your ports. It will truly enhance your shoretime. Libraries are free, or buy one in a bookstore. You won't be sorry.

[jojo pops]

Thanks for your information. It is much appreciated. The beach in Roatan sounds good, I'll check out the info for the park in Cozumel and look at Rum Point for Grand Cayman. I'll also do some research as well. : )