First western carricbean Cruise

[nbhwarrior]

Hi Cruisecritics

 

I will be cruising the weastern carribean with my wife and son (15) at the beggining of September. this is not our first cruise although it will be visiting the ports of Cozumel, Belize, Roatan and Grand cayman. I will be looking to do some (non-cruiseship) shore excursions. I will probably choose to of the above ports to do them. I am looking for any suggestions of what ones to do and where and any suggestions of local reliable tour companies.Also of the above four ports which are the easiest to access the beach e.g. walking, or taxi ride etc. I would also appreciate any other expirieces on this part of the world you are willing to share.

 

Thanks

[mrsfuzzmo]

lots to do in the ports. You will have a great time.

 

You will def. want to book and excursion of some sort in Belize. It's a tender port with only the "cruise shopping" area accessible easily and safely without an excursion.

 

Roatan (if you are at Mahogany Bay) has a beach right there (or you can take the chairlift), but i would suggest an excursion there as well, to either Zip line or sail/snorkel. Both are wonderful there.

 

Grand Cayman, while a tender port, lands you right smack in town where you can shop, eat, drink and book excursions. DO NOT miss Stingray City!

 

Cozumel, depending on where you dock, has lots of local safe options for beach, shopping, lounging, activities.

[RMH]

Of the four ports you mention, I have only been to two of them - Grand Cayman and Cozumel. Of the two, I would definitely do an excursion on Grand Cayman before Cozumel. As mentioned above Stingray City is a must see. 7-mile beach is also beautiful and can easily be combined with the Sting Rays. Snorkling is quite good and there are other areas to visit that get good reviews (Hell, Rum Point, Turtle Farms)

 

There are several reliable tour groups for Stingray City, NativeWay and Captain Marvin being the two I am familiar with. Do some research on these boards and read their websites. There are a lot of different options with the Stingray City visit (snorkling, beach, sailing, etc), so the difficult part will be deciding how to do it all!

[robhawk]

Did cave tubing/ zip line excursion in Belize. DD was 16 & DS was 13. Use a private tour. It is half the money with only 12 people in our group with two guides. Best excursion I have ever done!!!

[CruzieSue]

Grand Cayman, while a tender port, lands you right smack in town where you can shop, eat, drink and book excursions. DO NOT miss Stingray City!

 

Georgetown, Grand Cayman, is the only place we visited that I wanted to go back and just do a walk-about on our own. Like other poster said, lots of choices to "shop, eat, drink and book excursions" and feel safe doing it.

 

And I agree wholeheartedly ... DO NOT MISS STINGRAY CITY, even if you don't want to get in the water with the stingrays (they're just swimmy teddy bears !!!). The trip out there and being out there is just gorgeous and amazing !!!