Advice on NOT booking any excursions?

[adira]

My honeymoon cruise rapidly approaches and I am really, really excited. The only thing making me raise an eyebrow are the ports of call. We are headed to Montego Bay, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel.

 

While I have had friends who have vacationed in Jamaica and LOVED it, I'm nervous about this port because it sounds seedy. I am not interested in paying a lot of money for an excursion just to say I did it, and I'm wary about booking one privately because I have read about the private tours being pushy. I would love to do something adventurous, but I don't want to be rushed and part of me is thinking that we are already paying a lot of $$ just to go and there are certain extras we are planning on (chef's table! Yay!), so why pay a bunch of money for something that I might think is a mediocre experience after the fact? (FYI: I tend to relate to the more cynical viewpoints). This is a port I'm starting to think about passing on. However, I would love to experience a little of the "real" Jamaica (meat pies?) and adventure, so any advice is appreciated.

 

Grand Cayman seems to be all about snorkeling and sting rays. I'm not a fan of sting rays (I have a slightly irrational fear of sea creatures and upon flinging the fears away and swimming in the gorgeous waters of Costa Rica, I was promptly stung by a damn sting ray, just to have them mock me the next day when I went snorkeling and was immediately looking down on an entire population of the lil jerks, all of whom aimed their stingers at me menacingly), and while snorkeling is cool, I'm just not a huge enough fan to really want to spend money on it. (The really weird thing? I'm a biologist. Just not a marine biologist.) This port sounds much nicer than Jamaica, and we will likely wander around a bit, but so far, nothing here has grabbed my attention as something we MUST do (as opposed to Jamaica, where I want to explore the whole country, I just don't want to be bothered while doing it. I think I want to be away from cruise ports, if that makes sense).

 

Finally, Cozumel. We really want to do the bar hopping tour here, but so far, it's just the two of us who have signed up, so we don't know if it will happen while we are there. Other options are to go and hang out and an all-inclusive. However, it seems like the shopping and local restaurants/bars are the best in this port, so it seems like if we don't make any plans, we will still find stuff to do.

 

Has anyone cruised and not done any excursions? Or, are there any excursions that you think I should try, based on reading my post and feeling like we are kindred spirits? ;)

 

Thanks for your advice!

[cb at sea]

First....get a guidebook on your ports, so you'll know what is where, in all of the places you'll be visiting.

 

We NEVER do "excursions"....we aren't into climbing falls, swimming with wildlife, etc....

 

We will do beaches (all are easy on your own), or shopping...wandering...stuff like that.

 

The thing is, you have to have INFO!!!! Research is key to having fun on your own! Read the guidebook, figure out if anything there appeals to you, and then you can determine if you actually need to PAY someone to take you to do it! In most cases, you can go it alone!

[firefly333]

You do know you dont have to do ANY excursions. Just enjoy the cruise. The ship will be quiet, its a great time to relax and lay out in the sun. Eat lunch onboard when there is no crowd.

 

Iv walked into Montego Bay by myself (and Im female) and never felt threatened .. that being said if I was on my honeymoon, Id want some alone timie.

[Deb in Cali]

Since this is your honeymoon, why don't you schedule a couples massage that day? On many of the cruiselines they offer specials at the spa while the ship is in port.

[Colorado Kat]

Check out the Ports of Call thread on this web-site. Lots of good info.

 

Seven Mile beach on Grand Cayman is glorious, and easy to do yourself. $5pp cab ride, can wander spot to spot. There are lots of bars close to the pier in Grand Cayman, but Americanized ones. (Margaritaville, etc.)

 

Cozumel is very easy to do alone, as well. There are two different piers, one in town, and one a cab ride away. Lots of shopping, and little restaurants and bars. I remember Carlos & Charlie's as being fun, but I was last there 22 years ago. (I've been to Cozumel a lot lately - just not that particular bar.) Several nice beach clubs, all-inclusive, or pay-as-you-go. (I adore Paradise Beach)

[Keith1010]

Adira, congratulations on your honeymoon cruise.

 

I am not big on Jamaica. I find many of the locals to be quite pushy and "in your face". I would recommend doing a ships excursion here. This is not the place to be adventurous. Things could go wrong. I can't stress enough just dong a ships tour.

 

Grand Cayman is much nicer than Jamaica. You can take the tender from the cruise ship into port which is right at the town. The town is nice to walk around. There are all sorts of store, places to eat or get a drink and even a museum and some other sites to see. You can also go to the beach.

 

Cozumel is nice. There are a number of places you can go to on your own for drinks and entertainment. Again, no tour is needed here and there are places right near the dock.

 

Keith

[trish1c]

Congrats on getting married.

 

I vacationed in Jamaica about 10 years ago & would never go back for more than a long weekend. That said I will always be glad I did 2 excursions while I was there: cliff diving in Negril (I jumped, didn't dive) & climbing Dunn's River Falls. There were no vendors in Negril & our guide protected us from the vendors at Dunn's River. That is not a tour I'd do without a guide. Pack water shoes; the idea of "renting" shoes from them is too skeevy for words.

 

We didn't book any excursions on our last cruise. I meet up with a few CC folks to do one in one port that my traveling companions had no interest in. There is not requirement that you have to do anything.

 

In Cozumel we booked privately through one of the guides recommended on that Port of Call board & went to the Mayan ruins. Although the bus ride was dreadfully long, DH loves history & I was reassured to know that the world will not end in December 2012, despite the hype. At the pier where we docked there was a perfectly nice little "town" with a swimming pool & a fake beach with limited water access. If I ever go back, I would perfectly happy to just sit there all day for free (other than my bar bill :D )

 

I've never been to the Cayman's but the suggestion to go to Seven Mile Beach sounds great.

It's your HM; do what will make you happy.

[msbask]

I'm not a fan of sting rays (I have a slightly irrational fear of sea creatures and upon flinging the fears away and swimming in the gorgeous waters of Costa Rica, I was promptly stung by a damn sting ray, just to have them mock me the next day when I went snorkeling and was immediately looking down on an entire population of the lil jerks, all of whom aimed their stingers at me menacingly

 

Love your sense of humor! Best of luck to you on your honeymoon!

[karen&roy]

We have done a few excursions but mostly always go on our own and prefer it. Grand Cayman..Why not just take a taxi to seven mile beach and hang out.You can walk there also from the ship but its a hike:o They have all watersports you want to try , or just rent a chair and drink foo-foo drinks all day :p The water is not deep there and the fish are amazing. There are many spots for public access. Just ask cab driver the best place.

Cozumel..We always go to Chankanaab park. there is an entrance fee. We watch people do the dolphin thing, or walk the gardens. Mostly we like to sit under thatched little huts on the beach..have some nachos and have the guys bring us drinks all day;) My boyfriend does snorkle there but I prefer to just sit in the shallow part w my drink of course:D check out the website caribbeanportreviews and have a blast!!

[mitsugirly]

Congrats on your upcoming marriage and honeymoon.

 

You don't have to do an excursion (if you are meaning booking with the cruise line). You can do them on your own.

 

Go to the boards here at cc and check each individual port you are going to and do a search or make a post in each area on what you are wanting to do and you will have a lot of people giving you info on their experiences and recommendations. That's how I always plan our cruise. I never do the ship excursions. They would cost 3x's the amount that is really charged.

 

As for Jamaica....boy can I tell you a story about that place (we went back in the 80's and it scared me to death and I vowed I'd never visit that place again). :eek:

[Terrrii]

In 2007 we tried, for the first time, a shore excursion NOT run by the cruise ship. It was run by Marva Shaw. You can see her website at knowjamaica.com. We climbed the Dunn's Falls (tried to do it w/o the guide, and this lasted all of 3 minutes, so we went with the guide), tubed the White River, and went to Reggae Beach. We never felt unsafe, but that was 4 years ago, so I can't speak for now.

 

Whatever you do, do NOT take the path out of Dunn's Falls that goes through the souvenir vendors. You will be trapped on the long winding path with vendors hassling you and being extremely rude.

 

On the tube ride, there is a spot where the guide stops and has everyone get out onto shore. And, lo and behold, there is a souvenir shop there! But it was low pressure - nothing like at the falls.

 

We LOVED Reggae Beach. It was very private and quiet. We saw a few locals there, but nobody paid any attention to us or hassled us. You have to go through a gate to get in, so I got the impression it was a private club or something that Marva had access to. Here's someone else's opinion: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/archive/index.php/t-837024.html

 

We were super happy with Marva Shaw. The only thing that was more difficult than doing a cruise-run excursion was finding Marva. The port was a madhouse, but we kept following signs and asking around, and we did find the place to wait for her tour. We are not super savvy with stuff like that, so if we could find her, you can too.

 

Have fun, have a great wedding, and a romantic honeymoon!

[ladyjane]

You've got three ports that are pretty easy to do on your own. As other's have mentioned:

 

Grand Cayman - 7 mile beach is absolutely gorgeous and you can get there with a short cab ride. There will be cabs available as soon as you get to port and they'll take you out and you tell them what time you want to be picked up and they'll come back for you. We paid a cab driver a minimal amount (can't remember how much) to take us out to hell and back to 7 mile beach and a few hours later she came back to get us. It was a great relaxing day.

 

Cozumel - you can do some shopping right in town and hit a few bars if you like. You can also take a cab to the national park just down the road and do snorkeling on your own or explore the park.

 

Montego Bay - I haven't been here, but have been to other areas of Jamaica and this is the one country that I'd probably schedule something. Be prepared to be harassed about buying stuff from the locals. THey can be very pushy.

[tophatgirl]

Congrats on the impending wedding/honeymoon. Why did you choose this exact route if you aren't interested in "pushy" Jamaica and "stingray" Cayman? I would also read the ports of call section of this board.

[Sheffie]

In Cozumel, if you want to go to an all-inclusive for the day, check out Nachi Cocum. We did this last year and really enjoyed it.

 

http://cozumelcruiseexcursions.com/cozumelbeachbreak.htm

[adira]

Congrats on getting married.

 

I vacationed in Jamaica about 10 years ago & would never go back for more than a long weekend. That said I will always be glad I did 2 excursions while I was there: cliff diving in Negril (I jumped, didn't dive) & climbing Dunn's River Falls. There were no vendors in Negril & our guide protected us from the vendors at Dunn's River. That is not a tour I'd do without a guide. Pack water shoes; the idea of "renting" shoes from them is too skeevy for words.

 

We didn't book any excursions on our last cruise. I meet up with a few CC folks to do one in one port that my traveling companions had no interest in. There is not requirement that you have to do anything.

 

In Cozumel we booked privately through one of the guides recommended on that Port of Call board & went to the Mayan ruins. Although the bus ride was dreadfully long, DH loves history & I was reassured to know that the world will not end in December 2012, despite the hype. At the pier where we docked there was a perfectly nice little "town" with a swimming pool & a fake beach with limited water access. If I ever go back, I would perfectly happy to just sit there all day for free (other than my bar bill :D )

 

I've never been to the Cayman's but the suggestion to go to Seven Mile Beach sounds great.

It's your HM; do what will make you happy.

 

Snort at your use of skeevy and also that you were reassured on the 2012 thing (I'm pushing for 02/02/2020. Get in on the ground floor now! :D). Oh, and snorting is a good thing. It's like actually lol-ing.

 

 

As for Jamaica....boy can I tell you a story about that place (we went back in the 80's and it scared me to death and I vowed I'd never visit that place again). :eek:

 

Story? I like stories......

 

Congrats on the impending wedding/honeymoon. Why did you choose this exact route if you aren't interested in "pushy" Jamaica and "stingray" Cayman? I would also read the ports of call section of this board.

 

Because we wanted to go on a cruise, not necessarily to any specific place. Plus, we didn't want to have to drive very far since we live in Houston. <shrug>

 

Thanks for all the advice! I'm thinking more and more that we will either hang out on the ship or just see what there is to do when we get there.

[mitsugirly]

Ok here's my story.

 

My husband and I went to Jamaica (we were suppose to go to the port with the falls-can't think of it at the moment, and didn't). Once we got off the ship, everyone approached us over and over to buy drugs. My husband went into the restaurant and I have to say I was so scared waiting on him to come back out and people wouldn't leave me alone.

 

A taxi pulled up, we told them we wanted to go to a beach. We got in and it took about 1 hr to get there. Along the way to the "beach" we made several pit stops at homes were he would run in the house (these houses were beyond the ghetto and had goats living in them) and them he'd come back out then go on to the next one.

 

We finally arrived at the beach to find out you had to pay to get in and it wasn't very big or pretty. BUT, before we went in, the driver informed us that it was hard to get a taxi back here and if we would pay him the total fare, he would be right back to pick us up and whatever time we told him. Being dumb and our first cruise, we did it. It cost us $80! :eek: But he assured us he'd be back at the time we told him we wanted to return.

 

So....we paid to get into the beach, walked out onto the beach...RIGHT THERE IS OUR FRICKEN SHIP!!!! :mad: We could have walked there in about 10-15 min!! I was SO pissed that we had been had.

 

Ok, we got over that initial shock and decided to sit down on the beach for a moment.

 

Behind us were homes with marijuana plants that were taller than the house itself (this is NOT an exaggeration either). There were 2 guys standing around the plants (there was a fence around the yard) and the guys had huge riffles. Standing guard and ready to rumble, as though it looked. Hmmmm :cool: Next to a public beach. Wow.

 

We decided to "people watch" for awhile. We seen some local kids walking up and down the beach selling ice cream to people on the beach. After awhile, I seen what they were actually doing. There were 3 of them. 2 of the kids would be in the front begging for them to buy the ice cream and distracting them, while the 3rd kid was ripping them off.

 

Needless to say, we did not move from our spot. I was petrified and we decided to leave. We WALKED back to the ship and decided we'd never go back there again. (Yes, we did pass the taxi driver walking back to the ship on his way to go back and get us).

 

IDK, maybe it was the part of town we were in (instead of going where we were suppose to) but hopefully no one else has an experience like this.

[ilovetexas]

In Cozumel, if you want to go to an all-inclusive for the day, check out Nachi Cocum. We did this last year and really enjoyed it.

 

http://cozumelcruiseexcursions.com/cozumelbeachbreak.htm

 

I'm with Sheffie. I was just at Nachi Cocum a week ago. $50 for the day (plus a $15 taxi ride for up to 4 people) gets you an uncrowded beach, all the alcoholic drinks you want, and a darn good lunch.

 

There was also a swim up bar in a fresh-water pool. Plus, they only allow 100 people per day so it doesn't get crowded. Reserve early; you will not regret it!

[adira]

Holy cow, Mitsugirly! That IS scary!

 

I'm leaning towards Nachi. SOOO many good reviews. However, we are really hoping to do the Bar Tour, which I know will be more money, but sounds like a lot of fun and a great way to see the east side of the island.

[mitsugirly]

Holy cow, Mitsugirly! That IS scary!

 

I'm leaning towards Nachi. SOOO many good reviews. However, we are really hoping to do the Bar Tour, which I know will be more money, but sounds like a lot of fun and a great way to see the east side of the island.

 

Yea, I can't remember if it was Montego Bay (which I think it was) or Ocho Rios. I think we were suppose to dock at Ocho (is that where everyone does the falls?) and we couldn't and went to the other instead.

[adira]

I think we may just hang on the boat for Jamaica, which is kind of a bummer, since I've wanted to go to Jamaica for a long time. I've had friends who have vacationed there and loved it, but they were in non-cruise port parts of Jamaica. I think that since the locals know that the crowd will only be there for one day, there is a different attitude. I am going to hold onto my belief that Jamaica is awesome and friendly, and one day, not on a cruise, I will prove it! :D

[JannyLyn]

How about Horseback riding? I'm sure every island has at least one stable that offers trail rides. Maybe even do a beach ride/swim with a picnic lunch. I'm sure you could book a private ride for just the 2 of you.

[Mrs007]

I haven't read this whole thread, so if someone has already suggested this please forgive. In Grand Cayman, look to your left when you get off the tender. Across the street on the left is Margaritaville. The first floor is the shopping and the 2nd floor is the bar/restaurant. However, on the 2nd floor they also have a swimming pool with a slide and small seating areas. Wear your suits, enjoy some nachos, tacos, etc and a few margaritas and soak up some sun. And then, buy your new bride a little bobble (ie jewelry) to remember the day.

 

Now, as far as your question about NOT taking excursions. I agree with not going ashore in Jamaca. And the OP suggestion as to getting a couples massage is great! Enjoy the quiet ship, have a fabulous lunch in the dining room, have a massage or manicure/pedicure, then make an appointment for a private shoot with the photographer. You could have some really special photos taken for your honeymoon album.

[Darlene.Gina]

Adira, Congrats on your marriage!

 

I have never been to Montego Bay, however in Grand Gayman I had the most memorable experience. My BF and I did a tour of the island which included the Tortuga Rum Factory. I remember it being inexpensive, and you were able to try as many rum flavors as you wanted, as many times as you wanted within an hour time period. After the rum factory we ventured off to this turtle farm(which sounds weird, but it was great!) and then went to a private beach for a few hours. It was great! And i highly reccomend it.

 

In Cozumel I believe all we did was go to the private beach, and to the local stores. Shopping is always fun!

[Silverman]

Loved the Stingray City tour!!! That was so freakin cool!!! Also did the Turtle Farm and went to Hell. You have to send a postcard from there!!! Just to say Youve been to Hell and back! Also loved Seven Mile Beach!!! Hope to make it back to Grand Cayman someday for a weeks vacation! Absolutley beautiful!!!

Also if you go to Carlos and Charlies in Cozumel, be careful of those yard Margaritas! That 180 proof tokillya will get ya every time!!! They made them strong for us! Dont remember going back to the ship after that night! But I do remember everything up to that point! What ever you do the main thing is to have fun!!!