Carnival Dream - Western Cruise Port Reviews?

[lola23048]

Hi everyone!

 

My husband and I will be cruising on the Carnival Dream - 7 day Western at the beginning of March. Our ports are Cozumel, Belize, Roatan & Costa Maya. I was wondering if anyone has any reviews or recommendations on what to do at these ports? Anything not worth doing?

 

Thanks so much!

[cruisecraze96]

Check out the ports of call boards too, those have been helpful for me. We will be on the Dream on 3/15 to the same ports.

 

I have decided to do

 

Chakanaab since my sister and the kids want to do a dolphin swim when in Cozumel

Cave Tubing / Zip Line with Vitalino Reyes in Belize (leaving 4 year old with mom)

Maya Key in Roatan

I think I am going to stick around on the boat in Costa Maya but my sister is going to go find a tour to see the ruins.

[wantocruisemore]

Cozumel - if you like snorkeling go to Money bar or Chankanaab. If you like beaches there's paradise, nachi or santos.

 

Belize - cave tubing or Mayan ruins

 

Roatan - doing Maya key for the snorkeling. If not into that do a tour with Victor Bodden.

 

Costa maya - taxi to Tropicante and have relaxing time on beach, or have them arrange for snorkeling for you.

Edited February 5, 2014 by wantocruisemore

[wb3690]

We did this itinerary last year. unfortunately weather stopped us from costa maya and roatan. so we ended up in nassau

 

cozumel we did mr sanchos. lots of fun all inclusive beach day

belize we did a tour of xunantunich mayan ruins very coold

nassau we went to blue lagoon beach day.

 

would love to go back and get to roatan for sure.

[vamartha]

Can't help with Costa Maya but my usual routine on that itinerary is Chakanaab in Cozumel, an excursion to Bannister Island in Belize (we used Coral Breeze) and then hire a guide in Roatan through Victor Bodden.

 

I've just discovered the website for Little French Key in Roatan though and will want to try it the next time we visit there!

 

Enjoy your cruise!

[brookeq]

I just did a review of our time on the Dream and reviewed each port. You can check it out here if you want:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1981086

 

Cozumel we went to Paradise Beach

Belize we did the Goff's Caye excursion thru Island Marketing

Roatan we went to West Bay Beach thru Island Marketing

Costa Maya, unfortunately we stayed in the port. But the plan was to go to Tropicane.

[Tapi]

Feel free to click on my Dream review. Link in my signature. :)

 

 

 

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[riclop]

Thanks for the review.

[Atlantian]

Just wanted to second the recommendation for Tropicante in Costa Maya. Incredibly nice staff - very attentive. It's not the "nicest" of beaches or places to visit but for such a short time in port, it was a welcome and very cost effective relaxing day on the beach. Good food to boot!

[lola23048]

Thanks for all these great reviews! We're not big snorkelers, so that's not something we'd do but we were interested in doing zip lining. Anyone have experience with that?

[JUGGER]

hi everyone!

 

My husband and i will be cruising on the carnival dream - 7 day western at the beginning of march. Our ports are cozumel, belize, roatan & costa maya. I was wondering if anyone has any reviews or recommendations on what to do at these ports? Anything not worth doing?

 

Thanks so much!

hi---we are too--sailing on the dream in march and going to the same islands--and the country of belize------recommend---buy your sight-seeing tiks from carnival-----do not go it alone--especially in belize------pretty little country--but------ from--irene and john--59 cruises on carnival--

[wbc12345]

Thanks for all these great reviews! We're not big snorkelers, so that's not something we'd do but we were interested in doing zip lining. Anyone have experience with that?

''

 

Last year, we did the zip lining, repelling, and cave tubing in Belize through the Carnival excursion. I am not afraid of many things, but I chickened out of the repelling! I thought the zip lines were fun, but the cave tubing was the best part of the excursion!

[carrieluvsgreg]

Thanks for all these great reviews! We're not big snorkelers, so that's not something we'd do but we were interested in doing zip lining. Anyone have experience with that?

 

 

We zip lined in Belize for my daughters 16th birthday cruise. It was at Jaguar Paw resort. It was amazing. We did a zip lining/cave tubing combo that included lunch and transports to and from for $80 each. (2009)

 

 

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[jcearth]

Cozumel - tons of great options here - beach, Chaakanab, ruins (if you have time), Amazing Race, cooking excursions. I did a submarine with my kids while my wife raced America's cup sailboats on our last trip.

 

Costa Maya - taxi to Mahahual and hit the beach (most places are free as long as you agree to purchase drinks or food from them - don't get suckered into Senor Frogs - my cousin paid $15 to be on the same beach as us)

 

Belize - book an excursion - not a very safe place to explore on your own - we snorkeled last time - cave tubing is always a popular option

 

Roatan - Carnival has a beach right by the port that is has free chairs, and rentals are relatively inexpensive ($6 for a floating mat). Some people prefer to go to West End or West Bay - Victor Bodden tours is popular.

[LREcruise02]

We are doing this same cruise at the end of March :). We have planned Chankanaab in Cozumel, water taxi to Caye Caulker in Belize, staying at Mahogany Beach in Roatan and also doing the Express Zip line there through Carnival, and doing Native Choice Chacchoben Extreme tour in Costa Maya to Chacchoben Ruins and Bacalar Lagoon.

 

These ports are all new for us except Cozumel which we have been to several times. I highly recommend Chankanaab there!

 

 

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[alligirl78]

Thanks for all these great reviews! We're not big snorkelers, so that's not something we'd do but we were interested in doing zip lining. Anyone have experience with that?

 

We hired a private tour guide to create our own tour in Roatan. We zip lined, went and visited the monkeys and then went snorkeling. The zip lining was a BLAST!

[carrieluvsgreg]

In costa Maya we take the bus to the waterfront and look for a great place for a massage on the beach. We usually pay $20 for an hour and get free wifi! It's a relaxing day!

[Athankfulheart]

Belize - would suggest that everyone do cave tubing at least once in their lives :) We all loved it the first time. Had planned to take kids in January and got stormed out of Belize :(

 

Roatan - Victor Bodden private tour. Loved this ! We don't love traveling in groups of 50 or more, so this was perfect. Went to Pirates of Caribbean Extreme Zipline, Half Moon Bay beach, The grocery store, sight seeing. Had Little French Key scheduled for this last trip in Jan and was also stormed out of Roatan :( Boy were we disappointed.

 

Costa Maya - Booked Maya Chan the first time and missed the port. Booked it the second time and then felt guilty not taking kids to ruins, so changed to Natives Choice to Chacchoben ruins. SO glad we did this after it pouring in Cozumel ( cancelled our Mr Sanchos day) and missing Belize and Roatan. It would up our ONLY excursion on this Jan sailing. We still want to get back to Maya Chan when we sail without the kids next time. The ruins were awesome and we liked the tour company. We were able to climb the ruins and there were very few people there when we went since it was early.

 

Cozumel - We stayed on the ship the first trip through and the second trip we got poured on . We cancelled Mr Sanchos rather than blow $350 on a pouring rainy day.

[Lidolounger]

Try 100% A gave in Costa Maya. Very small, authentic restaurant. Wonderful food. Great value.

[skyeman27]

Try 100% A gave in Costa Maya. Very small, authentic restaurant. Wonderful food. Great value.

 

Was in Costa Maya 2 weeks ago and 100% Agave is no longer in business, would recommend Tropicante...

[lola23048]

All of these responses are so great!! I think we definitely want to do cave tubing and zip lining. My husband saw something about the Pirates of the Carribean zip lining he was interested in. I also wouldn't mind doing a city tour either, but not interested in being in a big group of people. And would also love to try the local restaurants every chance we get. Would you guys recommend doing things through the ship? Or only at certain ports?

 

And any recommends on food at any of the ports? I know some of you have already made a few, but just wondering if anyone else had any?

 

Thank you all!

[MoreMouse]

If you want zip lining... the BEST place, of course IMHO, is Xplor park in Playa del Carmen. You can get on the ferry from Cozumel to go there. It takes about 30-40 minutes on the ferry each way. Not too far from downtown PDC.

 

That place is AMAZING! We went while on a land based trip from Cancun. They have cave canoeing, ATVs through the "jungle/caves,"

and zip lining. The zip line part has two circuits. Both are pretty equal. One of them zips you under a waterfall on the way down. The towers that you have to walk up are very steep. It's a LONG way up to most of them.

 

The best part is the cave paddling to me. You sit in the these little canoe-type (two-person) things and they give you hand paddles. You have to navigate through caves. You can also swim through one of the caves on another section through a river type thing. Water shoes are pretty much a necessity.

 

It's a very safe park. They have a fitting area for harnesses on the ziplines and double safety clips. They give you sport helmets that are are numbered and contain GPS type chips. There are a lot of places as you swim through, etc. that the system takes pictures of you as you go. All you have to do when you get home is type in your helmet code (you can also view them while you're there.) It's SOOOO cool.

 

They have beautiful grounds that have resting areas, trails, smoothie/coffee bars and a huge buffet. (buffet, helmets, life vests, and lockers are all included. The food is nothing to write home about of course. It's a huge covered place though.

 

Actually, you just need to go to their website to see everything. It's awesome. It's hands-down the BEST excursion we've ever done. I noticed that you can book it through Carnival now too. I wouldn't do it on my own. It's a whole park and you could spend all day there. I wouldn't want to get left behind doing it without a Carnival excursion. I think Carnival lists it as a 7 hour tour.