Texas Gigi Posted November 30, 2007 #1 Share Posted November 30, 2007 We will be taking a family cruise the week before Christmas. We will have a 7mos. old and 10 mos. old. ;) We will have ports in Montego Bay, Grand Cayman and Cozumel. Any suggestions on excursions? Dolphin encounter or dolphin swim? Beaches? Can we take turns snorkeling and take one of the snorkeling excursions? We are open to private excursions such as hiring a captain and boat. Any and all suggestions are much appreciated. :confused: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MommaOML Posted November 30, 2007 #2 Share Posted November 30, 2007 January 2006, we cruised on the Inspiration and ported at both Grand Cayman & Cozumel. Our son was 6 months at the time. We did the island tour at Grand Cayman and I totally regret it. The "air conditioned bus" was a mini bus, with extra seats installed to maximize its capacity. There was no air conditioning. It was outrageously hot, and incredibly uncomfortable. Our comfort level was directly influenced by the fact that we both had backpacks with us, because we were also planning on doing a beach break after the island tour. Since GC is a tender port, and despite having booked the island tour through Carnival, it was still a good half hour AFTER our tour was to have started that we got to shore. Then, there was mass confusion and our tour started an hour and a half late. Oh, and we stood around for what seemed like forever at the turtle farm (never did find out why) and that delayed our tour another half to three-quarters of an hour. All told, we didn't have enough time to even think about taking in the beach. Happily, we did receive a full refund for the beach excursion after I explained the situation at the excursions desk. So, my suggestion - just hit the beach in Grand Cayman, don't worry so much about going to Hell (it was totally un-exciting, and I was stuck in the bus nursing my baby while my HB ran in and mailed us a postcard as a souveneir), and do some shopping right there where you get off the tender. In Cozumel, we did the Playa Mia Beach Park and it was excellent. We sat under an umbrella, took my son into the ocean (which was a wee bit chilly, but at least we can say he was there!), he had a nap, and it was fantastic. We had time afterwards to do some shopping in Cozumel (vanilla, Del Sol, etc). Highly recommended. Have a fantastic cruise! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vettecruiser1 Posted November 30, 2007 #3 Share Posted November 30, 2007 What would be a good place on 7 mile beach to take a 8 month baby in G.C. Would like a beach that has some restrooms, maybe a pool if they don't charge and shade. Like to know in advance so I can tell the cabby. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wanderingfool Posted December 1, 2007 #4 Share Posted December 1, 2007 We're taking our (will be) 9 month old on a cruise for New Year's - Eastern Caribbean. We decided to do some beach excursions exclusively. Like MommaOML, we had a bad "air conditioned" tour bus experience in Los Angeles at the end of our Alaska repo cruise; the "new" bus (it did actually appear new) had totally defunct a/c and all of us nearly melted in the heat. No more tour buses in hot places after that, at least not until the little guy is bigger and is at a somewhat reduced risk of heat stroke. 7 mile beach in Grand Cayman is extremely beautiful and easy to get to via taxi or minibus so it is very easy to do on your own. The upside of this is that if it gets too hot or the kids get fussy, you can go back to the ship early (if tenders are available.) Speaking of beaches and shade, one thing you may wish to consider is purchasing your own portable sun shelter in case you can't obtain a beach umbrella or get stranded longer than you'd like waiting for a cab/bus back to the ship. For anywhere between $30 to $70 you can get a pretty large one (can fit mom and/or dad too), portable and light (less than 5 lbs.) with a high U/V protection rating (blocks 97% of rays.) You can also get u/v protectant baby clothes (onesies and two pieces) which helps add to the SPF over and above just sunscreen. I just mention this because I really stressed on the beaches in California when I "only" had sunscreen for my son, when a shelter would have added an extra element of protection for pretty cheap. :) Hope you have a great cruise! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leighuf Posted December 10, 2007 #5 Share Posted December 10, 2007 if going ON YOUR OWN to a beach in a port like GC or Cozumel, what to do about carseats? :confused: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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