Which cruise itinerary from Galveston?

[Skippy]

Hi everyone! We are looking to go on a cruise this summer with the kids (ages 5 and nearly 8) and wondering which itinerary is best. I chose Galveston since we can drive there.

 

Our choices are:

Cozumel, Belize City and Roatan

Jamaica, Grand Cayman, Cozumel

Key West, Freeport, Nassau

 

It looks like the ships are Carnival or Royal Caribbean and I am fine with either. Which itinerary has the best types of excursions for kids this age?

Thanks!

[mikesteg]

Our choices are:

Cozumel, Belize City and Roatan

Jamaica, Grand Cayman, Cozumel

Key West, Freeport, Nassau

 

There are too many activities to really, say, but I'll give you our perspective on some ports:

 

Our kids (6 and 6) love the turtle farm on Grand Cayman.

 

Cozumel: we love Nachi Cocum, though your kids may prefer a place with more water sports. We were in Albuquerque for the first 4 years of their life, so they are playing catch up with swimming skills, hence no great desire to get crazy in the ocean... yet.

 

Key West... I love it, but haven't been there with the kids. Somehow it doesn't feel like a kids place.

 

Roatan: we're going in September, but no prior experience. It looks like beach/water of nothing. We'll enjoy that, but that's entirely a personal perspective.

 

Jamaica: I personally have had too many experiences with aggressive vendors to want to take my kids there. That said, we did Dunns River Falls recently, and that is really a "can't miss" excursion. However, our kids were too young, and the 5YO probably is a bit young also. We'll do this again when the kids are 10 or 12 and can (possibly) make it to the top.

 

Belize: I want to retire there, but haven't been there with the kids, so I can't say much on that front.

 

Freeport/Nassua: just like home, but with beach clubs. ;)

 

 

I few other things to consider:

 

- How often do you cruise, or think you might cruise? If frequent, then you'll get to Cozumel at some point regardless, so I would put that lower on the list. If this may be the only one for awhile, you might put Cozumel higher as the have a ton of practice and things tend to work smoothly there.

 

- Do you want to deal with tenders? (The answer is no. :D) That would be Belize and Grand Cayman, though GC is supposed to be building a dock in the next few years. If you have status or book a cabin to get priority tendering, this is much less of an issue.

 

- Are there any breaks between the port days? We are very careful about booking taxing excursions on 2 days in a row, and we just won't book 3 days in a row. It's too tough on the kids (and us.) If you agree that is a good idea, then the sequence of days may be a factor in what you choose.

[A&Jfamily]

Hi everyone! We are looking to go on a cruise this summer with the kids (ages 5 and nearly 8) and wondering which itinerary is best. I chose Galveston since we can drive there.

 

Our choices are:

Cozumel, Belize City and Roatan

Jamaica, Grand Cayman, Cozumel

Key West, Freeport, Nassau

 

It looks like the ships are Carnival or Royal Caribbean and I am fine with either. Which itinerary has the best types of excursions for kids this age?

Thanks!

 

Stay away from Freeport and Nassau. They are the least appealing not only in terms of things to do but they just aren't pretty. Very crowded, not green and lots of poverty.

 

I would pick Cozumel, Belize and Roatan because it has the most exotic feel. You can book wonderful beach excursions in Cozumel, swim with dolphins at Chankanaab etc. In Belize, I recommend doing mayan ruins at Altun Ha (you can climb one and they are only about an hour from the port) combined with the boat trip down the river wallace. And Roatan is our favorite port - book a private excursions and go play with monkeys and or sloths or go ziplining or go to West Bay beach and snorkel from shore.

 

Grand Cayman has less variety of activies than these other ports - their main draw is swimming with stingrays - and if you haven't been, this is a good stop for kids.

 

Jamaica however is another story. We booked a private guide - if nothing else to run interference with the locals and act as a personal body guard. The people for the most part are lovely, but there are some, that are just down right rude, pushy and aggressive (saying I need to pay to photograph a rock!) Also, you will see people doing such things as selling marijuana brownies on the side of the road...not something I would want to explain to my kids at that age. For this reason, we avoided this port until this past year when they were 11 and 17, and very experienced cruises. It is such a shame that a few "ruin" this island as it is one of the most beautiful.

 

Hope that helps.

[Skippy]

Thanks for the feedback. We did some more research and booked ourselves on a cruise out of Miami. The price was the same and we're using points to fly there. We're taking Carnival Splendor to grand Turk, the DR, Curaçao and Aruba.