Has anyone don the Grand Cayman/Roatan/Belize/Cozumel itinerary?

[BahamaMama1214]

We are new to all of these ports (Also new to the Glory) and would love any recommendations/tips! :)

[BTromboneFrack]

We've done this itinerary twice. Wonderful time. Grand Cayman is famous for snorkeling and "Stingray City." Do the stingray trip if you haven't done it yet. The stingrays are very passive and they rub up against you like a bunch of cats. They also have a turtle tour that we've never done.

 

Roatan has a beach we went to with some of the best snorkeling around. That was in 2006. When we we back 3 years ago, much of the coral was bleached, but the deeper water was still good. Roatan has been built up quite a bit since 2006. It is much more tourist friendly than it used to be. the trips around the island are beautiful.

 

In Belize, we went cave tubing in the jungle which was a lot of fun, especially for our kids. We trekked through a tropical jungle to a river, got on some inner tubes and let the river take us through some pretty cool caves. They gave us head lamps so we could see all the stuff in the caves. When our sons went back to Belize several years later, they did the dolphin swim. LOVED IT.

 

The last time we went to Cozumel, we took a day on an all inclusive beach. It cost us a bit, but it was our anniversary. Gourmet meals, all the booze you could want and a beach that was VERY secluded. One year, we did a night time snorkel tour there which was cool. Cozumel is a great place to watch the dock runners. For some reason, quite a few people are always late to the ship, and you can see them running down the street at the last minute to try to make it on board. The whole upper deck of the ship cheers them on!!!

 

All our excursions have been through Carnival, but I hear there are good ones to do outside of the "system." I think you'll enjoy these places. The weather is always warm and the water is clear blue.

[BahamaMama1214]

Grand Cayman is famous for snorkeling and "Stingray City." Do the stingray trip if you haven't done it yet. The stingrays are very passive and they rub up against you like a bunch of cats. They also have a turtle tour that we've never done.

 

My DH was gravitating towards one of the Stingray City tours, we'll have to look into that some more!

 

Thanks for all your help we're so excited!

[ILCruzr]

Great itinerary. Did it on the glory in 2013....west bay beach in roatan is awesome. We used victor bodden. It was cheap and a great tour. He's highly rated. Stingray city is awesome! Enjoy!

[sanger727]

We did this itinerary on the glory a few years ago. Did stingray city and dolphin swim through island marketing. Stingray city was awesome and were happy w island marketing. Had a small group w 3 families on the stingray city part of the tour. We saw the cruise line tours pull up in big double decker boats. They customers saw how much we were able to do with our guide, feeding and petting the sting rays, and actually came over cause their guides had way too many people.

 

We did cave tubing with cave tubing.bz. It was good, think all the tours are about the same.

 

In Cozumel we did a snorkel catamaran through orbitz shore excursions (had a credit). Nothing special but was good.

 

Roatan was our disappointment of the trip. Took a private tour around the island. Just didn't feel like there was anything special to see or do there.

 

 

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[BahamaMama1214]

Great itinerary. Did it on the glory in 2013....west bay beach in roatan is awesome. We used victor bodden. It was cheap and a great tour. He's highly rated. Stingray city is awesome! Enjoy!

 

I'll have to check into that! We love just a plain old beach day ;)

[BahamaMama1214]

We did this itinerary on the glory a few years ago. Did stingray city and dolphin swim through island marketing. Stingray city was awesome and were happy w island marketing. Had a small group w 3 families on the stingray city part of the tour. We saw the cruise line tours pull up in big double decker boats. They customers saw how much we were able to do with our guide, feeding and petting the sting rays, and actually came over cause their guides had way too many people.

 

We did cave tubing with cave tubing.bz. It was good, think all the tours are about the same.

 

In Cozumel we did a snorkel catamaran through orbitz shore excursions (had a credit). Nothing special but was good.

 

Roatan was our disappointment of the trip. Took a private tour around the island. Just didn't feel like there was anything special to see or do there.

 

 

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I'll have to check out Island Marketing then! Would much rather do any excursion with a small group!

[mishka422]

I've done that itinerary twice and really love it.

Grand Cayman, definitely do sting ray city. The turtle farm is great also but doing both in one day was tiring.

Roatan, I liked just laying there on the beach by the port. I rented a clamshell for the day and my son did a clear kayak in a lagoon area. He really enjoyed that.

Best tour I did in Belize was through Carnival and it was called Altun Happy and river Wallace. It went to the Mayan ruins at Altun Happy and then you boarded a boat to travel down the river back to port. We saw Cayman, all sorts of tropical birds, howler monkeys, manatees, bats, iguanas, and some of the locals going about their daily business as we drifted by their houses. It was really great!

Cozumel, Mr. Sanchos! All inclusive beach day. Look it up. It's a short cab ride from the pier. When we did it it was about $50 per person and was all you could eat and drink. They have a pool on the beach with a swim up bar. It was lots of fun and relaxing at the same time.

 

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[CRocks]

Great itinerary, also did this on Glory (sailed her many times). As said, Stingray City a must in GC. In Coz, Chankanaab Park is nice or the trip to Tulum is unforgettable! Only problem with Tulum, it'll take most the day + you won't see much of Coz. Cave tubing most popular in Belize, snorkeling also great. Loved Roatan, we just took the ski-lift to the beach + spent the day.

[A&Jfamily]

I have to disagree that with the poster that said that there wasn't anything to do in Roatan. This is our favorite port. Look at Victor Bodden or Island Marketing - craft your own island tour combined with things that interest you. West Bay beach there is fantastic with he best from shore snorkeling I have found. Gumbalimba park has beautiful gardens and monkeys. There is more than one animal sanctuary on the island - Bodden has his own at his place where the zip lining is. Island Marketing took us to another where the first time ever, we were able to hold a sloth! "Sid" was the sweetest thing I have ever held - including my own children!!!:D We have also been to the iguana sanctuary; they roam free, you can feel them, and they will lean into you to have their sides petted just like a dog. The local food is delicious; get them to take you someplace they recommend.

[siestakeys04]

I've done this itinerary on the Glory in 2010.

 

Grand Cayman-7 mile beach

Belize-Nothing

Roatan-the beach right off the ship

Cozumel-Nachi Cocom

 

We had a really great time with the kids 10 and 14 at the time.

[evandbob]

I've done this itinerary about 15 times and it never gets old.

 

Cayman: options are :

Sting Ray City, 7 Mile Beach, and various snorkel tours - maybe even combine all 3!

 

Cozumel: Mr. Sanchos, Nachi Cocum or Paradise Beach are pretty much along the same strip of sand; shopping in San Miguel, the main town (go off the main street and explore a few streets inland); island tour.

 

Roatan:

Tabyana Beach (on West Bay Beach), Little French Cay and Maya Cay are great combo beach/snorkel stops; independent island tours; avoid Mahogany Bay

 

Belize: Caulker Cay, many snorkel spots on the largest reef in the hemisphere, cave tubing, rappeling and zip lining, Mayan ruins like Xanantunich or Lamanai, not Altun Ha.

 

Have fun doing your research (google and trip advisor are your friends, as well as CC port of calls ) and making your decisions.

[FloridaMommyof3]

I've done this itinerary and it's great. Also went to the iguana farm, went into the monkey cage and held a sloth (which is AMAZING!!). Like another poster above, we did Mr. Sanchos in Cozumel - so much fun and the waiters work so hard to make you happy so tip well if you go.

[blessedwith12]

This is a great itinerary.

My recommendations:

Caymans - Nativeway Tours stingray city and Rum Point. I LOVE Rum Point and Nativeway is a first class tour operator. Sharon knew how much I wanted to see Rum Point and instead of canceling our tour because we ended up being the only 2 people booked, she arranged it so we could still go with another tour and they made a special stop to drop us off and left a guide with us and had another guide come and pick us up. They went out of their way to see we had a good day.

 

Nachi Cocom: Beautiful beach, wonderful food, small crowds and fantastic service. Book through Island Marketing, I believe.

 

Belize: Book something! Not a great place to just hang out at the port. We took a water taxi and went to Caye Caulker. We had quite an adventure and you can read about it through the link in my signature!

 

Roatan: I second someone else's recommendation of Victor Bodden. We had Tex as a guide and really enjoyed our tour and stop at the beach.

 

Hope this helps!

[Jamericannn]

Answer to your question: Of course someone has done that itinerary. lol

 

My upcoming cruise will be that same itinerary so I've done some research. If you are going with kids you should definitely do the turtle farm in Grand Cayman. They have the package deal for the entire park which also includes the waterpark and alligator viewing. I would not book through carnival for this excursion. The price is $45 for adults, children under 4 free, I don't remember the price for 5 - 17 but I believe it is in the twenties. You can buy the tickets on their website and you get a 20% discount. This will turn out way cheaper that Carnival's price.

[IPlayWithString]

We've done the Grand Cayman/Roatan/Belize/Cozumel run several times.

 

Grand Cayman--we did the Turtle farm excursion and it was SO MUCH fun. We loved getting to hold/play with the baby sea turtles.

 

Roatan--one of our favorite places for ziplining. You just walk through the port area where all the shops, etc are and down the hill and it's right there. Maybe 15-20 min walk. You don't have to bring any cash (except for tips) because they charge your sign-n-sail card. They're very knowledgeable and polite and best of all, you don't have to know how to break (which isn't hard, but in the moment some people freak out and forget) because they do it for you. The final run is always the one right over the top of the jungle where you land on the roof of Fat Daddy's right on the beach. :D

 

Belize--Belize has been our hit or miss port. We've missed it once, due to high waves and wind and the other time was a total miss as well due to a cave tubing excursion gone wrong. We had purchased the Dark Night cave tubing experience through the ship and it really, REALLY went sideways. The hour and a half bus ride to the site wasn't bad..until we went over a rickety-looking bridge with water coming nearly up to the bus's wheels. And then when we GOT there, the tour guide assigned to our bus was like "Oops we can't actually take you cave tubing after all. You can either sit on the bus with no A/C because we're going to turn it off while we're parked OR you can go on a jungle hike that will last about 45 min. And you MIGHT get to go river tubing..we don't know."

 

The "45 min jungle hike" actually lasted 3 1/2 hours. :eek: :(, we weren't really given any water (tiny cups of water at one or two stops on the hike) and when we finally DID get to the river tubing part, they were in such a hurry they didn't bother to tie anyone's tubes together. I was sandwiched between my husband and son and had to hang onto their tubes (they were hanging on or being held on to by people on the other side of them) for the entire 30 min or so trip downriver. By the time I got out my arms hurt, my hands were cramped from hanging on and my back was really sore from never being able to find a comfortable position in the tube. We were rushed through "lunch" (this was included, but we didn't get to eat until after 3 pm and we'd eaten breakfast at around 7 with no other snacks so we were gnaw-your-own-arm-off hangry at this point) and ended up not getting back onboard ship until about 30-45 min after it was actually supposed to leave. The only thing that saved us was that we'd purchased through the ship, so they HAD to wait for us. It also gave us a recourse to get our money back (in OBC, of course) for this excursion gone wrong (Carnival actually went above and beyond to make this right).

 

 

Cozumel--we've actually done a couple of different things. We've done the glassbottom boat ride (walked right off the ship, saw a little white shack where they sold us the tour for about $100), we've done ziplining (it was ok. Not great. Not terrible) and our favorite thing to do is go to La Isla Passion via Twister Boat. Husband says it's like taking a roller coaster to the beach. You're in a smallish (30 or so passenger) speedboat that goes 70 mph and the captain/driver does spins in the water when you get closer into shore. :) The food is so-so, but the drinks are OK. Didn't care for their rum and coke, but everything else I tried was pretty decent. The beach is pretty good and they have some nice water toys for the kids or the more adventurous to play on (giant climbing towers, etc. My son tried it once, kinda freaked out once he got up there and I had to go rescue him. Plus it's out in deeper water than I personally feel comfortable swimming in but YMMV). On our last trip there, we went to the XPlor adventure park which, IMO, wasn't as great as it was made out to be. The ziplining was good, but I got winded trying to climb up one of the towers to get to the top because there were no steps (it was one big concrete ramp) and no real hand holds. The 'jungle tour by ATV' was really just some old jeeps rigged up like those old timey-cars you see at Six Flags that are on a rail..except without the rail. You couldn't go more than about 1-2 mph and it was really freaking boring. Then there was the canoe-through-a-cave tour...which they didn't tell you meant you were sitting on an uncomfortable plastic raft with a seat built in (two seats per raft, one in front of the other) and you were paddling by using wooden flip-flop looking things attached to your hands. I was by myself (Husband and Son were on one raft, I was on another) and by the time I got done my arms were really sore from all the paddling and trying to keep going in one direction (there's little, if any current, in the river to help you along). The food was so-so..not great, but not terrible either. It's just not something I would ever do again, personally.

Edited December 8, 2016 by IPlayWithString

[Ohio Bucki]

I was on the Glory doing that itinerary one month ago. Nov. 5-12.

[tef43]

Yes, in 2003 on the (then) smoke-free Paradise.

[evandbob]

Yes, in 2003 on the (then) smoke-free Paradise.

 

My 1st cruise was the smoke free Paradise in Jan 2003, and my 2nd was the Paradise in August 2003. Both were Western itineraries. I've done the Western itin. on the Valor 7 times, and on the Conquest twice B2B, since the eastern leg was cancelled due to a hurricane.

 

I've stayed on Roatan at Infinity Bay twice, in Playa Del Carmen opposite Cozumel maybe 15 times or more, in Belize on San Pedro Island next to Hol Chan Preserve and the original Shark Ray Alley and had a Cayman Westin Hotel vacay cancelled due to Hurricane Ivan.

 

Did I say I enjoy visiting these countries and ports of call?

Edited December 8, 2016 by evandbob

[pghsteelerfan]

For Roatan: I did notice you mentioned that you liked just a plain old beach day when someone suggested Victor Bodden. We did a tour with Victor Bodden (Kayla was our driver) and really enjoyed our day, so highly recommend. But instead of the "Fun and Sun" tour (an island tour), we chose the "Best of Roatan PRIVATE" tour that he offers. That is also an island tour, but catered to the things you want to see and do. We wanted some decent beach time at the end at West Bay Beach, not the typical short time where you just have enough time to get situated then it's time to leave again. The private tour is a little more expensive, but not by much. If you're on a large tour and do want some time at the end to spend on the beach without feeling rushed, then I'd go for their private tour. We've been in the position, a few times, were tours were delayed by other passengers who spent too much time in shops, getting pictures, deciding it would be a good idea to use the restroom before the tour continued. Reputable tour companies do not want to get cruise ship passengers back late, it's would really damage their reputation. So if other folks on your tour are on their own time, the tour operator will cut stops/beach time to assure you get back to the ship. So just thought I'd put that out there.

Edited December 8, 2016 by pghsteelerfan

[originalgeek]

ANother 4 thumbs up for this Itin. We just did it in July on Conquest.

Cozumel we took the Carnival excursion to Tulum (it was our first time anywhere so we wanted to see some Mayan ruins) Fascinating trip, beautiful scenery - TONS of tromping around in the hot, July Mexico sun. Wore us out but it was worth it. Probably will go to one of the many resorts for a day offerings next time though.

 

In Belize we did cave tubing through Butts-Up Cave-tubing and had a wonderful time. Another hefty hike* through gorgeous rain forest and the pay-ff was the leisurely trip back down the river through caves and tropical scenery. Fantastic crew and way better price than the similar Carnival version of the trip.

*-We are in our 50s and out of shape and it was rough walking for us but the younger folks seemed to handle it well. No matter though as it was well worth the effort to us.

 

In Roatan we intended to hire a Victor Bodden tour to take us around the island. 80 bucks for two people and you get the driver to yourself the entire day. He'll take you anywhere you want to go. BUT on the first sea day we went to the Newbie Cruisers show in the main show-lounge and ended up winning a free excursion to Maya Key so we did that instead. Sweet little island with rescue monkeys and lizards and parrots and other animals and good food and cold beer and snorkeling off a pretty beach. We will get Victor Bodden next time as we want to see stuff on the main island too - (Wife REALLY wants to go to the cameo factory so I owe her a trip back to Roatan for that if nothing else).

 

In Grand Cayman we were worn out from the three previous ports so we just got off the ship and found a nice lady with a van who took us around to visit the high spots. Saw the turtle farm, dolphin swim place (visit, not participate), rum cake factory, various points of interest and Hell.

 

Loved it. Would do again.

 

Since there are 2 tender ports on that itin (Belize and Grand Cayman) I would consider getting Faster to the Fun for priority tenders IF you aren't booking Carnival excursions - instead of waiting in lines, just go to guest services and they will escort you right to a tender boat to go into the cities. (other good reasons for it but those especially) - If you book Carnival excursions in those cities they will pretty much walk you to the tenders anyway.

[BahamaMama1214]

Cozumel, Mr. Sanchos! All inclusive beach day. Look it up. It's a short cab ride from the pier. When we did it it was about $50 per person and was all you could eat and drink. They have a pool on the beach with a swim up bar. It was lots of fun and relaxing at the same time.

 

I'll have to check Mr. Sanchos then! Sounds like a nice place!

[BahamaMama1214]

Great itinerary, also did this on Glory (sailed her many times). As said, Stingray City a must in GC. In Coz, Chankanaab Park is nice or the trip to Tulum is unforgettable! Only problem with Tulum, it'll take most the day + you won't see much of Coz. Cave tubing most popular in Belize, snorkeling also great. Loved Roatan, we just took the ski-lift to the beach + spent the day.

 

We looked at Tulum and Chichen Itza, as well as a tour of the Cenotes. But the travel time turned us off, and we were hoping for something to give us more of a feel of Cozumel our first time, so maybe Chankanaab!

 

Guess we'll just have to book a few more cruises back to Cozumel to see it all ;)

[BahamaMama1214]

Belize--Belize has been our hit or miss port. We've missed it once, due to high waves and wind and the other time was a total miss as well due to a cave tubing excursion gone wrong. We had purchased the Dark Night cave tubing experience through the ship and it really, REALLY went sideways. The hour and a half bus ride to the site wasn't bad..until we went over a rickety-looking bridge with water coming nearly up to the bus's wheels. And then when we GOT there, the tour guide assigned to our bus was like "Oops we can't actually take you cave tubing after all. You can either sit on the bus with no A/C because we're going to turn it off while we're parked OR you can go on a jungle hike that will last about 45 min. And you MIGHT get to go river tubing..we don't know."

 

The "45 min jungle hike" actually lasted 3 1/2 hours. :eek: :(, we weren't really given any water (tiny cups of water at one or two stops on the hike) and when we finally DID get to the river tubing part, they were in such a hurry they didn't bother to tie anyone's tubes together. I was sandwiched between my husband and son and had to hang onto their tubes (they were hanging on or being held on to by people on the other side of them) for the entire 30 min or so trip downriver. By the time I got out my arms hurt, my hands were cramped from hanging on and my back was really sore from never being able to find a comfortable position in the tube. We were rushed through "lunch" (this was included, but we didn't get to eat until after 3 pm and we'd eaten breakfast at around 7 with no other snacks so we were gnaw-your-own-arm-off hangry at this point) and ended up not getting back onboard ship until about 30-45 min after it was actually supposed to leave. The only thing that saved us was that we'd purchased through the ship, so they HAD to wait for us. It also gave us a recourse to get our money back (in OBC, of course) for this excursion gone wrong (Carnival actually went above and beyond to make this right).

 

I've heard such mixed reviews on this excursion, I feel like the experience is either excellent or awful with nothing in between. I'm so conflicted about it! Also, good recommendation for booking through Carnival for that one, especially if it takes THAT long :eek:

[BahamaMama1214]

For Roatan: I did notice you mentioned that you liked just a plain old beach day when someone suggested Victor Bodden. We did a tour with Victor Bodden (Kayla was our driver) and really enjoyed our day, so highly recommend. But instead of the "Fun and Sun" tour (an island tour), we chose the "Best of Roatan PRIVATE" tour that he offers. That is also an island tour, but catered to the things you want to see and do. We wanted some decent beach time at the end at West Bay Beach, not the typical short time where you just have enough time to get situated then it's time to leave again. The private tour is a little more expensive, but not by much. If you're on a large tour and do want some time at the end to spend on the beach without feeling rushed, then I'd go for their private tour. We've been in the position, a few times, were tours were delayed by other passengers who spent too much time in shops, getting pictures, deciding it would be a good idea to use the restroom before the tour continued. Reputable tour companies do not want to get cruise ship passengers back late, it's would really damage their reputation. So if other folks on your tour are on their own time, the tour operator will cut stops/beach time to assure you get back to the ship. So just thought I'd put that out there.

 

I'll have to look into that! Thanks for the recommendation!