Excursions Question

[sarahtxag]

We are new to cruising and are taking the Triumph out of Galveston on Christmas Eve. Should we book our excursions through Carnival or local vendors? Is it really necessary to book in advance or should we just "play it by ear"? Our ports of call are Cozumel and Progreso. We are traveling with our 2 sons who are in their 20's. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

[MangoFamily]

We did the same itinerary 2 years ago on the Ecstasy..it kind of depends on what you are interested in. We travelled with our 7 year old son. For Progresso, we wanted to tour Mayan ruins. We emailed with Autoprogreso prior to the trip. It was 49 per adult, and 35 for our son. We absolutely LOVED it! We met with the Autoprogreso reps at the fountain just through the port shops as arranged. They personally walked us to the bus that took us into town, where we waited about 1/2 hour for our tour to depart. The market that they drop you off at is a bit shabby, but lots of vendors to peruse. Its about an hour 20 minutes in a small van to the Uxmal site. We only had 7 of us total on this tour, which was very nice and intimate. They ruins themselves are spectacular and you can climb on one of the pyramids. We were there about 2 hours before our van took us directly back to the pier. I would highly recommend this tour. Very friendly guide, felt very safe, and going fast on a Mexican freeway is an experience in itself! We met back up with some fellow cruisers that night onboard. They had done Chiten Itza through Carnival, paid 3 times as muchand were over run by local sellers, They also didn't get to climb on any ruins! Don't book through the cruise line. Uxmal is a very beautiful ruin and still pretty uncommercialized. For Cozumel, there is so much to do there and it is a very beautiful island, very safe to book on your own and still make it back to the ship. We did the Dolphin Encounter at Chankanaab Park. Google it. Much cheaper than through the line again. Just take a 7 dollar taxi on your own. Google is your friend on this, just look up Cozumel and you'll find lots of local tour guides with plenty of options.

[sarahtxag]

Wow. Great information. Thanks!!!

[Irishlinny]

We almost always book independently...much cheaper. Haven't been to Progresso, but have been to Coz 3 times. We also did the Dolphin swim at Chankanaab Marine Park. It's a great place with a pool w/swim up bar, restaurant, a large beach area, snorkeling right from the shore, amongst other things. Not a good sandy bottom swimming beach, though. Cab ride is more like $15 each way now...about $20 to get in (more if you do dolphin or sea lion encounters, etc).

We also did the Cozumel Bar Hop bus which was GREAT! They take you to about 4 different beach bars on the Eastern side of the island...much more rustic and natural over there. The bars are so unique and the beaches (while not great for swimming) are gorgeous. The guides are also wonderful!

Last year we did Nachi Cocom which is an all-inclusive $49. You get a cab ($15) and spend the day there. Great place...pool with swim up bar, hot tub, great beach with palapas for shade. All drinks are included, along with a 3 course lunch...waiters come to you on the beach. Very relaxing as they only allow 100 people per day. You would definitely want to book this one ahead of time. They also have some water sports there.

I always book my excursions ahead of time whenever possible...I'm not a wing-it kind of person:o...but you can certainly do that if that's how you want to handle it.

Check the Ports of Call - Shore Excursion section of the threads for more ideas. Hope you enjoy you're first cruise...watch out or you may become one of us addicts;):D

[CasinoQueen]

For the port of Cozumel.....I recomend Nachi Cocom. It is a beautiful beach resort. For about $50 you get all you can drink...frozen drinks, mixed drinks, soda etc and a meal . Plus a pool wth a swim up bar, hamacks in palm trees. Yoir own beach chairs. It is really a nice place to spend a day. www. cozumel nachi cocom.net

[k2excursion]

No need to go through Carnival at these ports.

 

Cozumel: Nachi Cocum is mainly geared for couples and older crowds who want nothing but quiet and relaxation and booze. Not to say that your sons wouldn't still be able to enjoy it, but I think they would have way more fun elsewhere. I'm in their age range too, and Nachi is definitely not for me. I loved Paradise Beach. Not too crowded, nice beach, water toys that you can climb on (a climbing mountain, slides, etc). Free admission, $2 beach chair, $12 for the water toys. If you don't do the water toys, they do expect adults to spend $10 on food/drinks. Anyway you slice it, cheaper and more fun than Nachi, for a young adult. You can see pics of Paradise Beach in my Triumph review. The link is in my signature.

 

I also liked Chankanaab Park. I need to warn you, though, that you cannot book dolphin programs on your own with them anymore. They recently changed their policy, forcing people to book it through Carnival. So if you're with certain other cruiselines, like Royal, or staying at a hotel, you can do the dolphin programs for half the price that Carnival cruisers are paying. It isn't right, but that's what they're doing now. You can still go to the Park on your own and just enjoy their beach, the nice snorkeling, and everything else they have there. Admission is around $20 each. I have Chankanaab pics in my Dream: 4-17-2010 review.

 

Progreso: We also did the Uxmal tour through Autoprogreso. It is a little cheaper, but strangely enough, we had less time there than the ones who booked through Carnival. Usually, Carnival excursions are the ones who get short-changed on time. If you want ruins, definitely go with Uxmal instead of Chichen Itza. If you want a nice beach, you'll have that at Cozumel. Progreso has a suitable beach. You can take the free shuttle from the ship into town, then walk the couple of blocks to the beach. Once there, you can do whatever you want. Theoretically, you could spend $0.00 total at this port, and still have a nice beach day. People talk about their cheap massages on the beach.

 

If you are not a big "foodie" kind of person, I would recommend not even caring about paying extra for lunch while you're exploring the ports. Eat a big breakfast on the ship, and eat when you get back on board. For me personally, there's no reason to waste time or money on food. I'd rather be exploring and enjoying whatever we're doing.

[PenguinLife]

It really is a trade off, if you book through Carnival and something happens like the tour bus breaks down, the ship will wait on you, or they will arrange transport to the next port. If your own your own, well your own your own. Don't think the tours don't get delayed, last time we were in Progresso the ship was a few minutes late departing because of a delayed Carnival tour, the bus was allowed out onto the pier next to the gang plank, instead of parking in the usual bus lot about a 5-10 minute walk from the ship and as soon as the passengers were aboard the ship left.

 

Ike

[TriciaEMTB]

I booked through carnival on my first cruise in November. I probably will again just because i'm a big worrier, but I did price check. The prices through carnival and through the facilities themselves was about the same. I booked two, only ended up doing one...

 

The one I did do, on the way back the bus got a flat. We weren't late back to the port, but it kind of drove home the "expect the unexpected" point and if the price isn't ridiculously different I will probably be booking again through carnival on my future cruise.

 

Don't write off carnival's excursions automatically, do your research!

[ronkay]

Second paradise beach in Cozumel, we have been there twice and both times had a great time and a good value, $10 cab fare. the best Guacamole and Ceviche

[katiepe]

I booked through carnival on my first cruise in November. I probably will again just because i'm a big worrier, but I did price check. The prices through carnival and through the facilities themselves was about the same. I booked two, only ended up doing one...

 

The one I did do, on the way back the bus got a flat. We weren't late back to the port, but it kind of drove home the "expect the unexpected" point and if the price isn't ridiculously different I will probably be booking again through carnival on my future cruise.

 

Don't write off carnival's excursions automatically, do your research!

I too am always nervous not using the ship's excursions but the difference in price in most cases is just too high for us. For example on one excursion alone there is a savings of 174.00 doing it independently On another the ship excursion is 67.00 more. That is ridiculous IMO. I do understand the cruiselines charging a lttle more but it seems to me if there wasnt such a discrepancy they would sell more and make up the loss.

[megmno]

Here are the general pros and cons of booking independently:

 

Pros:

Usually smaller groups

Usually lower prices

Sometimes more interesting excursions

 

Cons:

More risk that you might miss the ship

Possibly could lose deposit if ship misses port

 

My feeling is that I prefer private excursions if the risks are minimal. If we aren't venturing too far from the dock and/or if there is good local alternate transportation I would probably choose a private vendor. That way if the car/bus breaks down we can still get back on time.

If you choose to go private it's really important to check the reviews of the vendors. The Ports of Call boards here are a good source of information, as is TripAdvisor (which I believe is also owned by CC).

 

Also, the reputable vendors will give you your deposit back if your ship doesn't end up docking in the port for some reason.

 

When we were in Cozumel last year we went to the ruins in Tuluum, and used the Carnival excursion because it involved lengthy travel on both the ferry to the mainland and then on a tour bus. While it was an interesting excursion there was a certain "herd" quality to it, as compared to the private excursions we had in Roatan, Belize and Grand Cayman. (See my review below for details.)

[Crusin Hogs]

We have booked several on our own, Check out the operators reputation

on the ports of call board , Also make sure you will be back 1 to 2 hrs

before the ship is to leave. We did our own in Costa Rica ,and Panama

had a great time , Remember the private operators do not want to get a

bad reputation , This is their living . Smaller groups more personal than

large Carnival tours . Like in Costa Rica , They asked if we wanted anything special ,or see something that was not listed on tour ,(if reasonable) Our group wanted Costa Rica coffee to take home, Well

instead of buying at inflated port prices , We all went to the grocery

store in town , The guides went in with us ,showed us the differances in the coffee's, also got cheap vanilla .

[golfadj]

We almost always do private excursions and understand about cruising and getting back on time.

 

For your first cruise would suggest you do it thru the cruise line with the possible exceltion ofNachi.