mdsgu Posted October 3, 2018 #1 Share Posted October 3, 2018 Going on Breakaway in November at Thanksgiving. 8 adults (age range 39-85), 2 kids (ages 9 and 8). We booked the ship because it is at Thanksgiving out of New Orleans and we did the Carnival Dream last year. Our ports are Cozumel, Belize City, Harvest Caye, and Costa Maya. Not the snazziest selection, but what are some good excursions? We aren't any "thrill seekers;" we do enjoy fun in the sun and relaxing with a drink. As we've been talking, my mother-in-law advises not even leaving the ship in Costa Maya. We could let the kids have at the water slides and ropes course all day, I suppose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare BirdTravels Posted October 3, 2018 #2 Share Posted October 3, 2018 Costa Maya has a nice port shopping area with a pool. Get off the ship and st least walk through the port shopping. Scan (qucikly) through our live post on a similar itinerary a month ago. We were trying to do snorkeling in all ports and Costa Maya has a good trip that catered to beginners through experts. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2666700 The link above is from the Getaway who is the near-twin sister of the Breakaway. Don’t forget to register your kids for the Spash Academy on the first day and plan to have them there on the first day to make friends. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare www3traveler Posted October 3, 2018 #3 Share Posted October 3, 2018 I love Costa Maya's port area. There is a group of men performing an ancient Mayan dance way up in the air off of large pole. Drummers sit on top of the pole and several men sway and dance to the rhythm as the descend to the ground. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Georgia_Peaches Posted October 3, 2018 #4 Share Posted October 3, 2018 We are on this cruise as well! Forty-six days! Like you, we are not as excited about the ports of call but we are so excited to get out of town for a week. The only firm plan we have is for Cozumel in which we will take a ferry ride over to Playa del Carmen. Everything else we'll play by ear.:cool: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clcjdn Posted October 3, 2018 #5 Share Posted October 3, 2018 Did you join the roll call? There is a pretty large list of people for those events. We are also on this sailing. The only excursion we have planned is Mr Sanchos in Cozumel. This will be our 4th or 5th time there, so its our go to when in Cozumel! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MNcruisingcouple Posted October 3, 2018 #6 Share Posted October 3, 2018 In Costa Maya there is a cute little beach town just a little way from the port. Take a taxi, about $6/person round trip. There are always taxis available so no worries coming back. In Belize City we did cave tubing with VIP and it was very fun. We had ages 12 to 70 and everyone enjoyed it. One year we also did a Mayan ruins which was more interesting than I expected. Have a great trip! Sent from my iPad using Forums 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paphillyguy Posted October 3, 2018 #7 Share Posted October 3, 2018 While it was a few years back, We loved Costa Maya. We did not have anything planned. We went to the small little town and walked around. It was beautiful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mdsgu Posted October 3, 2018 Author #8 Share Posted October 3, 2018 Costa Maya has a nice port shopping area with a pool. Get off the ship and st least walk through the port shopping. Scan (qucikly) through our live post on a similar itinerary a month ago. We were trying to do snorkeling in all ports and Costa Maya has a good trip that catered to beginners through experts. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2666700 The link above is from the Getaway who is the near-twin sister of the Breakaway. Don’t forget to register your kids for the Spash Academy on the first day and plan to have them there on the first day to make friends. Thank you! We always register the kids for kids' camp, whatever line we are on. Our son, who is 9, thinks he is usually too cool for it, but our daughter always enjoys going. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alphie1991 Posted October 5, 2018 #9 Share Posted October 5, 2018 We are also on that cruise (me, husband and daughter 12) and have joined the roll call. Going to NO a couple of days in advance and staying over one night at end because I did not want to fly home the Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend!! I booked swim with dolphins in Cozumel (directly with company in Chakanaab), snorkeling in Belize City with Coral Breeze Tours and snorkeling at Harvest Caye and Mayan Ruins in Costa Maya (both through NCL). Looking forward to a nice vacation!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lena_TN Posted October 29, 2018 #10 Share Posted October 29, 2018 Girl's trip on this cruise!! I can't wait! Have not been on the Norwegian cruise line. Has anyone ever done the room upgrade? Is it worth it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pinklucky61 Posted October 29, 2018 #11 Share Posted October 29, 2018 new to ncl, not new orleans. can you use drink package as soon as you board? i know will probably have to pay local taxeson drinks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlexandNessa Posted October 29, 2018 #12 Share Posted October 29, 2018 The Almaplena resort is fantastic in Costa Maya. Lovely beach, great food, great drinks, very quiet and relaxing. We want to go back to Costa Maya, just for that. The resort takes something like only 20 day guests a day. We've been to Msya Chan, but prefer Almaplena. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seemoreroyals Posted October 29, 2018 #13 Share Posted October 29, 2018 21 minutes ago, pinklucky61 said: new to ncl, not new orleans. can you use drink package as soon as you board? i know will probably have to pay local taxeson drinks yes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Georgia_Peaches Posted October 29, 2018 #14 Share Posted October 29, 2018 (edited) On 10/3/2018 at 9:51 AM, mdsgu said: Edited October 29, 2018 by Georgia_Peaches duplicate post Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Georgia_Peaches Posted October 29, 2018 #15 Share Posted October 29, 2018 On 10/3/2018 at 1:13 PM, Paphillyguy said: While it was a few years back, We loved Costa Maya. We did not have anything planned. We went to the small little town and walked around. It was beautiful. Well now you're making me rethink Costa Maya. The problem for me is the port time, 7AM-2PM. Not a big window and I really don't want to be "scheduled". Not sure how much time we will have after we get up at our leisure and have breakfast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rtkenmore Posted October 29, 2018 #16 Share Posted October 29, 2018 It's not a bad itinerary at all.. Have done essentially the same thing three times now. As everyone else has said, Costa Maya has a great little port area with a pool, shopping, restaurants, etc. right at the end of the pier. Take a taxi (or the little trolley shuttles) into Mahahual and walk the boardwalk for shopping/restaurants as well. The Crazy Lobster is usually a good place to eat. Cozumel... There are a couple of all inclusive resorts you can visit that include buffets, drinks, swimming, water sports, etc. and are a short taxi ride away... Paradise Beach, Mr. Sanchos, etc. Otherwise, there is a ton of shopping to do at the pier and just up the street. A great restaurant with wifi is Palmeras a short walk north of the pier. Our last time in Cozumel we actually just rented a car and did our own exploring (this was our 5th time so we're fairly familiar with the island). I wouldn't recommend if this is your first time though. Belize City we did the mangroves airboat tour which was actually very cool and provided for some great photo opportunities. Harvest Caye... Lazy beach day and pool day to be honest. We enjoyed the little motorized boats in the lagoon for a bit but that's the only excursion we did there. Drinks are NOT included on Harvest Caye so just be away that if you have the UBP, it doesn't work on the island. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rtkenmore Posted October 29, 2018 #17 Share Posted October 29, 2018 2 minutes ago, Georgia_Peaches said: Well now you're making me rethink Costa Maya. The problem for me is the port time, 7AM-2PM. Not a big window and I really don't want to be "scheduled". Not sure how much time we will have after we get up at our leisure and have breakfast. If you don't want to be "scheduled".. Then just enjoy breakfast, get off the ship and enjoy the port area and then take the shuttle/taxi to town to walk the boardwalk and shop. Maybe enjoy lunch in town and work your way back to the port area. We usually end up at the pool in port for the afternoon and enjoy a few drinks there. They have some drink deals with the big speciality cups/glasses.. I think like $12-14 for the first one and refills are like $3 or something. There are several good local craft shops in the port village too... Not too, too commercialized with the likes of Diamonds Intonational, Cariloha, etc. (although they still have shops)... Costa Maya port feels more authentic to me than Cozumel for instance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rtkenmore Posted October 29, 2018 #18 Share Posted October 29, 2018 17 minutes ago, seemoreroyals said: yes If you stay up late enough, you'll likely pass another cruise line sailing back into Nola. Pretty cool site to see. I love sailing out of Nola and winding our way down the Mississippi River. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davocabo Posted November 12, 2018 #19 Share Posted November 12, 2018 On 10/29/2018 at 4:58 PM, pinklucky61 said: new to ncl, not new orleans. can you use drink package as soon as you board? i know will probably have to pay local taxeson drinks Yes, you have tax on drinks while on the River and in port of NOLA...… doesn't add up to much.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pinklucky61 Posted November 13, 2018 #20 Share Posted November 13, 2018 thanks, that's where onboard credit comes in handy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruisecrazypat Posted November 13, 2018 #21 Share Posted November 13, 2018 On 10/29/2018 at 4:58 PM, pinklucky61 said: new to ncl, not new orleans. can you use drink package as soon as you board? i know will probably have to pay local taxeson drinks YES! You will pay LA taxes till in International waters Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kfamilycruise Posted November 13, 2018 #22 Share Posted November 13, 2018 On 10/3/2018 at 9:51 AM, mdsgu said: Going on Breakaway in November at Thanksgiving. 8 adults (age range 39-85), 2 kids (ages 9 and 8). We booked the ship because it is at Thanksgiving out of New Orleans and we did the Carnival Dream last year. Our ports are Cozumel, Belize City, Harvest Caye, and Costa Maya. Not the snazziest selection, but what are some good excursions? We aren't any "thrill seekers;" we do enjoy fun in the sun and relaxing with a drink. As we've been talking, my mother-in-law advises not even leaving the ship in Costa Maya. We could let the kids have at the water slides and ropes course all day, I suppose. Cozumel -- Fury Catamaran is great with the kids, Costa Maya -- Blue Kay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mollanjake Posted November 13, 2018 #23 Share Posted November 13, 2018 On 10/5/2018 at 5:47 PM, alphie1991 said: We are also on that cruise (me, husband and daughter 12) and have joined the roll call. Going to NO a couple of days in advance and staying over one night at end because I did not want to fly home the Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend!! I booked swim with dolphins in Cozumel (directly with company in Chakanaab), snorkeling in Belize City with Coral Breeze Tours and snorkeling at Harvest Caye and Mayan Ruins in Costa Maya (both through NCL). Looking forward to a nice vacation!! I'm on this cruise in March, would love to hear about Coral Breeze in Belize City, please post after your cruise. have a great cruise! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barric Posted November 24, 2018 #24 Share Posted November 24, 2018 We loved Costa Maya. Take a cheap taxi into town. Pick one of the beachfront bars. Several give you chairs and palm tree shade for the price of a drink. DW got a great massage there a couple years ago. And if you don't want a full hour massage, they will be eager to negotiate to the time and price you want. I put one of the chairs right into the water (no waves) and sat there with my bottled local beer, in view of the ship. Just plain great. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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