Just booked our Cruise! Excursions??

[Haley87]

We just booked our cruise aboard the Carnival Magic!! This will be our 3rd cruise and 2nd on the Magic :) we are super excited. So we are going to Mahogany Bay, Isla Roatan, Belize and Cozumel. So we need to get some ideas about what to do in Belize and Mahogany Bay.... We are thinking about the Mayan Princess All inclusive beach break in MB and not sure about what there is to do in Belize..... Are there any private beach breaks or beach places in either place that we could save a few bucks because it's $100/adult and $50/kid for the Mayan Princess AI. All we want is to sit on a beach, have a couple drinks and relax. Belize zoo looks fun but not sure how that works. Thanks in advance, any and all suggestions, ideas, not to dos, and reviews would be awesome.

[funinthesun1964]

The big attraction in Belize is cave tubing. We are going next month.

 

You should check out the section of the boards "Ports of Call" then "Carribbean" , then Belize and whatever other ports you will be visiting. Lots of information and reviews over there.

[Haley87]

Oh cool thank you. I am pretty new to the forums lol so I'm not good at navigating through it.

[funinthesun1964]

Oh cool thank you. I am pretty new to the forums lol so I'm not good at navigating through it.

 

You will soon be an expert!!!! Good luck and happy cruising!

[mikel24m]

We just booked our cruise aboard the Carnival Magic!! This will be our 3rd cruise and 2nd on the Magic :) we are super excited. So we are going to Mahogany Bay, Isla Roatan, Belize and Cozumel. So we need to get some ideas about what to do in Belize and Mahogany Bay.... We are thinking about the Mayan Princess All inclusive beach break in MB and not sure about what there is to do in Belize..... Are there any private beach breaks or beach places in either place that we could save a few bucks because it's $100/adult and $50/kid for the Mayan Princess AI. All we want is to sit on a beach, have a couple drinks and relax. Belize zoo looks fun but not sure how that works. Thanks in advance, any and all suggestions, ideas, not to dos, and reviews would be awesome.

 

Our favorite itinerary

 

In Roatan we use Victor bodden tours.Very cheap day catered to what you want to do.Our favorite port in the caribbean.Our favorite guide is Tex you can request him

 

Belize cave tubing. Private not through the ship Check out cavetubing.com and .biz

 

Cozumel all inclusive Mr Sanchos $45 pp all you can eat and drink.We were their in October and had a great time.Food was awesome

[tinaw1969]

Cave Tubing!! Lots of fun. Good exercise too!

Go to Cavetubing.com Book thru the Island (much cheaper)

They are excellent...take you by luxury air conditioned bus. Serve a little booze to sample. Then after you get a homemade lunch of tamales! yum!

They get you back to the ship with PLENTY of time to spare. I think we were back 2hrs before sailing! I rate Cavetubing.com 10 out of 10!!

[QTPieRye]

Thanks for posting this thread! We are going to the same ports, but on the Liberty, so I am enjoying all of the info!

 

Has anyone done shark / ray alley in Belize?

[jkeller527]

We just booked our cruise aboard the Carnival Magic!! This will be our 3rd cruise and 2nd on the Magic :) we are super excited. So we are going to Mahogany Bay, Isla Roatan, Belize and Cozumel. So we need to get some ideas about what to do in Belize and Mahogany Bay.... We are thinking about the Mayan Princess All inclusive beach break in MB and not sure about what there is to do in Belize..... Are there any private beach breaks or beach places in either place that we could save a few bucks because it's $100/adult and $50/kid for the Mayan Princess AI. All we want is to sit on a beach, have a couple drinks and relax. Belize zoo looks fun but not sure how that works. Thanks in advance, any and all suggestions, ideas, not to dos, and reviews would be awesome.

 

 

If you are just wanting a great beach with drinks then no reason to leave the CARNIVAL Mahagony bay. THere are shops places to eat and drink. Chairs are there and you can get all that you are wanting for no charge. THere is a zip line outside by the shops and if you want to do and island tour there will be lots of drivers outside the gates. THere are plenty of shops and there is really no reason to leave if you do not want to

[jkeller527]

We just booked our cruise aboard the Carnival Magic!! This will be our 3rd cruise and 2nd on the Magic :) we are super excited. So we are going to Mahogany Bay, Isla Roatan, Belize and Cozumel. So we need to get some ideas about what to do in Belize and Mahogany Bay.... We are thinking about the Mayan Princess All inclusive beach break in MB and not sure about what there is to do in Belize..... Are there any private beach breaks or beach places in either place that we could save a few bucks because it's $100/adult and $50/kid for the Mayan Princess AI. All we want is to sit on a beach, have a couple drinks and relax. Belize zoo looks fun but not sure how that works. Thanks in advance, any and all suggestions, ideas, not to dos, and reviews would be awesome.

\\

 

If you want the beach break there you will have to book an excursion. THere are private vendors for beach breaks that will be less than ship excursion. Bannister island or Geoff Cay will be less than the 100 pp.

 

No beaches with out a tour coming off the ship. There are places further out but too far to go from a ship. Good drinks at Wet Lizard.

[Haley87]

What about the West Bay Beach in Roatan? Can you go directly there or is that only something through an excursion? Thanks

[mikel24m]

What about the West Bay Beach in Roatan? Can you go directly there or is that only something through an excursion? Thanks

 

Do yourself a favor google Victor bodden Roatan

 

West bay is beautiful and west end too

[Haley87]

Do yourself a favor google Victor bodden Roatan

 

West bay is beautiful and west end too

 

Yeah, I e-mailed him last night. Thank you all very much!

[vg247]

Thank you everyone-

 

We're going to be on the NCL Dawn and stopping in Roatan March. I'm wanting a nice day on the beach and enjoy the water and sun, realizing that Mohagany bay is a cruise beach..I guess it's expected that it will be crowded and this has me visualizing crowded beaches like Waikiki..

 

Victor Bodden's excusions to West Bay Beach seems enticing, but all we care for is spending quality time on the beach (and snorkel if any chance permits)until time to leave for our ship and dont care for the other details of his tour like Monkey Business (animal) portions.

 

...so what it comes down to is what would you all recommend based on our preferences above?

[Warmer Climes]

We are on Dawn next month and are going back to Maya Key. It's a ship excursion only. The launch picks you up right at the pier and runs back and forth to the island all day. Lovely beach, snorkeling, nice lunch, cheap drinks, pool also.

 

If you do an Internet search for images of Maya Key Roatan you will see how nice it is.

[vg247]

We are on Dawn next month and are going back to Maya Key. It's a ship excursion only. The launch picks you up right at the pier and runs back and forth to the island all day. Lovely beach, snorkeling, nice lunch, cheap drinks, pool also.

 

If you do an Internet search for images of Maya Key Roatan you will see how nice it is.

 

Thanks so much for this additional recommendation, all the beaches look so spectacular..this is getting hard to decide (in a good way)

[rjm11]

vg247, we are on the same cruise as you on the NCL Dawn. In Roatan, note that NCL docks at Coxen Hole not Mahogany Bay, so if you are thinking of one of the Mahogany Bay excursions, you'd have to taxi over there.

 

I second the suggestion of Maya Key booked through NCL's website for Roatan. We did it last year, and it was fantastic, Really beautiful snorkeling from a pier out into the water (so easy my young kids could do it).... great beach with calm swimming area.... great included buffet lunch with fantastic sea bass (also BBQ chix, rice and beans, etc).... drinks for purchase were not expensive.... replica Mayan ruins.... and an animal rescue right on site for the kids to see rescue animals (monkeys, leopard, birds, crocodiles, etc). There is also an area sectioned off in the water on the opposite side of the beach that has sharks, rays, and sea lions, and sea turtles (rescued). You can snorkel with the sharks/rays if you want, or interact with the sea lion, both for additional cost (but it was free to look at all that stuff). When we were there they also had a bucket of newly hatched sea turtles they were getting ready to release.

 

Well worth it- we booked it again this year- you take a ferry over from right at the pier where the cruise ship docks, and you can stay as long as you like.

 

For Belize consider a trip to Bannister Island- also very lovely, though the snorkeling isn't good like it is at Maya Key.

[Haley87]

Thank you all for the recommendations. I am thinking if we were wanting to do more we'd go ahead an book Victor Bodden.

 

He does do whatever you want (you can go straight to beach or do other attractions) but just to book him it's $25pp and then you still have to pay for beach entrance. For us we just want to go straight to the beach and stay there all day and then shop at the end on the way back to ship.

 

So my question is how much do cabs or transportation usually cost in Roatan? I mean heck the $25pp would be a great deal if it's more for there and back transportation. Thanks again.

[jkeller527]

What about the West Bay Beach in Roatan? Can you go directly there or is that only something through an excursion? Thanks

You can go direct there or book in advance thru several of the vendors that are there. Victor Boden and Rony are the two big ones. Also will be taxi drivers.

[mikel24m]

Thank you everyone-

 

We're going to be on the NCL Dawn and stopping in Roatan March. I'm wanting a nice day on the beach and enjoy the water and sun, realizing that Mohagany bay is a cruise beach..I guess it's expected that it will be crowded and this has me visualizing crowded beaches like Waikiki..

 

Victor Bodden's excusions to West Bay Beach seems enticing, but all we care for is spending quality time on the beach (and snorkel if any chance permits)until time to leave for our ship and dont care for the other details of his tour like Monkey Business (animal) portions.

 

...so what it comes down to is what would you all recommend based on our preferences above?

 

We love Roatan and our last trip we used Tex as our guide and he brought us to Tabyana beach to a nice little beach bar/restaurant,we had had $6 lobster tacos ,cheap drinks and about waist high water tons of huge/colorful fish.Victor will cater to what you want to do

[vg247]

We love Roatan and our last trip we used Tex as our guide and he brought us to Tabyana beach to a nice little beach bar/restaurant,we had had $6 lobster tacos ,cheap drinks and about waist high water tons of huge/colorful fish.Victor will cater to what you want to do

 

Many thanks mikel and everyone ..how does Victor or the other taxi's there charge for trips that are not specific excursions (if we wanted them to take us anywhere, etc.)- are the taxi's metered..charged per distance, etc., I'm just imagining a bunch of cruise folks getting off a ship and don't want to fall into any tourist traps or be had since I'm with my spouse and like our vacation to be pleasant so just trying to anticipate and be able to avoid any things like that.

[vg247]

vg247, we are on the same cruise as you on the NCL Dawn. In Roatan, note that NCL docks at Coxen Hole not Mahogany Bay, so if you are thinking of one of the Mahogany Bay excursions, you'd have to taxi over there.

 

I second the suggestion of Maya Key booked through NCL's website for Roatan. We did it last year, and it was fantastic, Really beautiful snorkeling from a pier out into the water (so easy my young kids could do it).... great beach with calm swimming area.... great included buffet lunch with fantastic sea bass (also BBQ chix, rice and beans, etc).... drinks for purchase were not expensive.... replica Mayan ruins.... and an animal rescue right on site for the kids to see rescue animals (monkeys, leopard, birds, crocodiles, etc). There is also an area sectioned off in the water on the opposite side of the beach that has sharks, rays, and sea lions, and sea turtles (rescued). You can snorkel with the sharks/rays if you want, or interact with the sea lion, both for additional cost (but it was free to look at all that stuff). When we were there they also had a bucket of newly hatched sea turtles they were getting ready to release.

 

Well worth it- we booked it again this year- you take a ferry over from right at the pier where the cruise ship docks, and you can stay as long as you like.

 

For Belize consider a trip to Bannister Island- also very lovely, though the snorkeling isn't good like it is at Maya Key.

 

This is very insightful, thank you so much...

[mikel24m]

Many thanks mikel and everyone ..how does Victor or the other taxi's there charge for trips that are not specific excursions (if we wanted them to take us anywhere, etc.)- are the taxi's metered..charged per distance, etc., I'm just imagining a bunch of cruise folks getting off a ship and don't want to fall into any tourist traps or be had since I'm with my spouse and like our vacation to be pleasant so just trying to anticipate and be able to avoid any things like that.

 

Victors company is more like a guided tour not a taxi.Basically you tell them what you want to do and they cater your whole day tour.This is the one we always do

 

http://www.boddentours.com/bestofroatan.htm

 

Im sure you can get to a beach via taxi but for $80 for a couple for the ENTIRE day you get to see the island in a different way(not sure what the taxi rates are but im sure it will be at least $20 each way).We love west bay beach and also West End which is a little diving community with shops and bars/restaurants.If you decide to book ask for Tex to be your guide,he is awesome

[vg247]

Victors company is more like a guided tour not a taxi.Basically you tell them what you want to do and they cater your whole day tour.This is the one we always do

 

http://www.boddentours.com/bestofroatan.htm

 

Im sure you can get to a beach via taxi but for $80 for a couple for the ENTIRE day you get to see the island in a different way(not sure what the taxi rates are but im sure it will be at least $20 each way).We love west bay beach and also West End which is a little diving community with shops and bars/restaurants.If you decide to book ask for Tex to be your guide,he is awesome

 

Thank you so much again, I understand their service now.

[vg247]

Thanks so much everyone: we have booked Victor Bodden for Roatan utilizing a personal tour guide for the day. Mainly we are just interested in a relaxing day on the beaches and nothing more. Any input on which beaches and resort areas that we should ask the driver to take us? From my research and what Victor shared there are resorts offering day passes for chair, fresh water shower use, etc. I like to hear about some experiences as to which resorts are best for this? He mentioned they are capacity controlled but others on the forum have mentioned some were over crowded at Bananarama so it would be nice to hear more from you all on this..

 

Tex is not available, but I'm sure we will be in good hands with Victors's group.

 

 

 

We are booked with Coral Breeze in Belize for the snorkel excursion and decided to do the Tulum ruins booked via NCL to change all the beach days up a bit, I hope we will have enough time to enjoy the beach at Tulum as well just for maybe an hour as pictures are beautiful there. Read that one barely has enough time to see the ruins and be in the beach, so it will be interesting how that day goes..

 

Many thanks again cruise experts..we are nervously excited, being first time cruisers!

[mikel24m]

Thanks so much everyone: we have booked Victor Bodden for Roatan utilizing a personal tour guide for the day. Mainly we are just interested in a relaxing day on the beaches and nothing more. Any input on which beaches and resort areas that we should ask the driver to take us? From my research and what Victor shared there are resorts offering day passes for chair, fresh water shower use, etc. I like to hear about some experiences as to which resorts are best for this? He mentioned they are capacity controlled but others on the forum have mentioned some were over crowded at Bananarama so it would be nice to hear more from you all on this..

 

Tex is not available, but I'm sure we will be in good hands with Victors's group.

 

 

 

We are booked with Coral Breeze in Belize for the snorkel excursion and decided to do the Tulum ruins booked via NCL to change all the beach days up a bit, I hope we will have enough time to enjoy the beach at Tulum as well just for maybe an hour as pictures are beautiful there. Read that one barely has enough time to see the ruins and be in the beach, so it will be interesting how that day goes..

 

Many thanks again cruise experts..we are nervously excited, being first time cruisers!

 

If I were you I would have your guide for the day take you to West end to look around and maybe get a bite to eat and West Bay beach some beach time.Tabyana beach is west bay beach.I tried to find my post about cheap lobster tacos and great waist high snorkeling but couldnt find it :) If you ask your guide im sure he/she will know

 

Enjoy your trip ,you will love Roatan