Excurion Advice Grand Princess

[mma3]

My family and I are fisrt time cruisers. We are sailing on the Grand Princess out of Galveston on 3/10/07. We will be going to Belize, Roatan Honduras, Cozumel and Costa Maya. Are there any must do excursions for these places? (especially Honduras) We will probably break into two groups one very active and the other a less adventurous.

 

Do you book these ahead of time or on the ship?

[LonghornKJK]

There is a board for each of those ports in the Ports of Call section of Cruise Critic. The excursions in each port are discussed in great detail and the boards are pretty active.

 

Even though I went on this cruise last November, I've learned much about what to do for our repeat cruise in December.

[Stevesan]

You can, and should, book your excursions on line. ShoreX on line usually open up between 90 and 120 days prior to sail date. Check your "Cruise Personalizer" on the Princess web site. It will indicate when shoreX open up.

Booking early is a good tactic. The most popular fill up early.

Charges for on line bookings appear on your statement while on board the ship. You do not prepay. That's another good reason to book early. Passengers often book tours because they might want to go on the excursion, knowing they can cancel later. You can cancel without penalty up to about two days before the excursion is scheduled to go.

 

Have a great first cruise. Grand Princess is a marvelous ship and the itinerary is first rate for water sports. Especially snorkeling/scuba diving.

 

If you want to snorkel at Coz, be sure to take a boat tour. Before Hurricane Wilma shore snorkeling at Coz was excellent. Unfortunately, Wilma virtually destroyed the near shore reefs. However, we snorkeled the more remote Palancar Reef just last March and it was terrific. Lots of coral and a great variety of fish, including some Manta Rays. Some independent tours will combine Palancar and Columbia Reefs. They are near to one another and both are easy drift snorkels. If your time in port allows, try booking with an independent like Eagle Ray Divers or Manta Ray, just be sure they go to the outer reefs, not the near shore. You'll have a better experience. The ship's NW Palancar Reef tour is a good choice if timing doesn't work for an independent.

I haven't been to Roatan since 1999, but there was excellent beach snorkeling at Tabyana Beach. The cruise ship was Mercury which had a Tabyana Beach "tour". A snorkel guide accompanied us, but the reef is extensive and immediately accessible from the beach. About a hundred yards from the beach is a 60 foot wall dropoff. The wall is a marvelous, cathedral like, location. The main advantage of the "Tour" was having access to the shuttle bus which made R/Ts to the ship about every hour. Maybe Princess has something similar. If not, just take a taxi.

[joanne1]

Stevesan - are you saying book with the ship or not book with the ship?

 

mma3 - LonghornKJK is correct doing your research can really help you enjoy the ports. On our first cruise we didn't know about this site and we didn't know what to do . . .

 

Our favorites so far are:

Costa Maya - I would say do not stay at the port . . . yes it has a huge pool and shops but it's not an experience. We took a private tour to the ruins with Ivan (ports of call board). We took a bus into town and then met them at their location. Even if you do not do a tour GO INTO TOWN!! It is an amazing little beach with a few bars and restaurants along them. Great massages for cheap . . . this is probably one of the only ports that we would love to go back to.

 

Cozumel - Paradise beach - a great way to spend the day . . . but get there early. They have chairs, sand, and service. They also have toys that you can rent, and a snorkelling excursion on their catamaran. Check out their website and the ports of call board.

 

Belize - tubing with Yhony (cave-tubing.com) great experience, very helpful guides!!

 

Sorry can't help you with Roatan Honduras. We have never booked through the ship, always book private but if you had a very long drive to do or were short for time I MIGHT book through the ship. We just find that with independent tours you get a much better tour, better service, not nearly as packed and a lot cheaper. Have a good time and in case I didn't tell you . . . check out the ports of call. :D