feedback for excursions Western Caribbean

[vacationsforus]

FOS cruise on Aug 3rd. Looking for feedback on following excursions:

Green Grotto Caves & Dunns River Falls in Jamaica.

Stingray City Barrier Reef, 7 Mile Beach & Lunch Grand Cayman

Mayan Ruins Island Tour & Brach in Cozumel

Dolphin push, pull & swim, manatee interaction at Chankanaab in Cozumel.

All excursions booked through RC.

Thank you for any feedback :)

[Clarea]

Welcome to Cruise Critic!

 

Also check with your roll call here:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1907283

 

These are the people on your specific cruise.

[matj2000]

Sounds like way too much.

Dunns falls is nice if there isn't too many people.

Check to see how many ships are in the ports(Ocho,Falmouth,Montego) first.

The dolphin things have become more of a tourist trap.

[Peachy59]

I highly recommend watching "The Cove" before you do a dolphin swim.

[denamo]

FOS cruise on Aug 3rd. Looking for feedback on following excursions:

Green Grotto Caves & Dunns River Falls in Jamaica.

Stingray City Barrier Reef, 7 Mile Beach & Lunch Grand Cayman

Mayan Ruins Island Tour & Brach in Cozumel

Dolphin push, pull & swim, manatee interaction at Chankanaab in Cozumel.

All excursions booked through RC.

Thank you for any feedback :)

 

Have done the Mayan Ruins, Island Tour and Beach in Cozumel some years ago. We enjoyed this since it was one of our first cruises. Do you have two different groups doing the Cozumel excursions? Don't think you will have time to do them both.

 

Dunns River Falls is one of those must do once. I ended up using the stairs due to a past ankle injury and too nervous about the slippery moss on the rocks.

 

Stingrays are one of the signature excursions and another must do once. Seven mile beach is beautiful as well. Have never done one with the ship. Have done it on our own.

 

If you are not too apprehensive to do independent excursions, that would be the recommendation since most of your choices are available from independent vendors. Only exception would be the Cozumel ruins. Don't recall seeing anyone offering that one independently.

 

Have fun on your cruise!

[dacsmom]

I recommend doing Chankanaab on your own. It is close to the port and a very nice way to spend the day. It is $10 or $11 each way per taxi. They have great snorkeling, manatee, dolphin, and sea lion swims. there are taxi's lined up to take people to and from Chankanaab so there is never a wait.

[womack214]

Dunns River Falls is fun. You NEED to wear water shoes with a rubber sole or a sandal that straps to your foot. No way would I go barefoot. It is slippery at times. We went in October and water was chilly. Make sure to take plenty of cash for tips on that one!! They also DVD your trek up the falls and sell those. Think like $20-$30 for a DVD. It can get busy and they move quickly.

 

Dolphin swim in Cozumel was good. Not much feedback to give on that. Again pictures for sale from that as well. They have lockers to put your things in and bathrooms to change in. They have a gift shop as well.

 

 

We did not take water shoes with us and bought them on Oasis and had to pay $25 per pair. So take your own.

 

 

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[Grandma Dazzles]

FOS cruise on Aug 3rd. Looking for feedback on following excursions:

 

Dolphin push, pull & swim, manatee interaction at Chankanaab in Cozumel.

All excursions booked through RC.

Thank you for any feedback :)

 

Last week did the dolphin encounter in Chankanaab (held the same time as the push, pull and swim). All "dolphin" people were grouped together for the RC tour. Very poorly organized (already made this comment on the RC survey).

 

Main problem was the large number of people and only one guide. She was not good. She originally grouped people by language ability, but somewhere along the way forgot to speak any English! Huge group - was expecting a bus - instead fleets of taxis. Became a very much "hurry up and wait" program. Gathered at the dock at 10:15, stood in hot sun for about 45 minutes, and then taxis were pulled up. Mass confusion. Finally arrived at the park and again stood around waiting for instructions/directions.

 

The actual "dolphin portion" was good, but so much wasted time. Also, photographs were very expensive - $40 each. No personal cameras allowed.

 

Tour also was supposed to incluse sea lion show, which it did, but time was changed; again very confusing and meant spending much more time in park than planned.

 

Would go again, but not on an RC tour. Much better to take a cab there and do on your own. I am usually a big believer of ship's excursions because of the "safety of time factor" and not missing the ship, but this is one that is doable by yourself.

[NightOne]

I highly recommend watching "The Cove" before you do a dolphin swim.

 

+1

 

I personally would never do a swim with the dolphins excursion, but that is just me. :)