Any tips for booking own excursions?

[dassus]

We are sailing in January and we are looking at booking our own excursions instead of going through Carnival. Can anyone suggest a good and trust worthy independent tour company?

 

We are going on the Valor leaving from Miami Jan 18th going to Grand Cayman, Roatan, Belieze and Cozumel. I would appreciate any info on all of these places.

[momofzeke]

Hi, welcome to Cruise Critic! :D

 

There is a great section of the boards called Ports of Call. Each port has it's own board. You can get tons of info on those sections. Go to the bottom of the page, where it says "Forum Jump"......click on Ports of Call and then on the port you are researching.

 

The Valor is a great ship. We did Eastern Caribbean itinerary on Valor, but I have been to some of the ports you mention on my Miracle cruise. Which types of excursions are you interested in?

 

We did ship excursions in Belize and Grand Cayman, but in Cozumel there is a wonderful beach called Paradise Beach. You can just grab a taxi and get there on your own. That was our favorite day of our Miracle cruise.

 

Good luck!

[Thirsty Cruiser]

We are sailing in January and we are looking at booking our own excursions instead of going through Carnival. Can anyone suggest a good and trust worthy independent tour company?

 

We are going on the Valor leaving from Miami Jan 18th going to Grand Cayman, Roatan, Belieze and Cozumel. I would appreciate any info on all of these places.

 

While it really depends on what sorts of excursions you are interested in, for the most part you can arrange your own excursions without involving a tour company. I would encourage you to check out the individual ports in the Port 'O Call forums, but I can give a few ideas here:

 

Grand Cayman: Many vendors offering stringray tours where the tender drops you off. You will have no problem finding one. Also, I have rented a jeep through Andy's Rentals and had a blast exploring on my own. If you are adventurous and can handle driving on the left, give this a shot.

 

Cozumel: Take a taxi to Chankanaab for excellent snorkeling, or to Paradise beach for dranks, food, service, water toys, etc. In either case, you can catch a taxi dockside that will take you right there, and there are always taxis to take you back. No need to pre-arrange this.

 

I have been to Belize and Roatan, but have only done the ship's excursions there. I did hire a driver in Belize the second time there who drove us around "sightseeing", but there was not much to see in Belize City.

 

Hope this helps.

[BoBandy]

Like both replies already mentioned, you can get great info from the Ports of Call forum. We planned all of our own excursions on our Jan cruise. Any questions you may have will usually get quite a few replies. Just a quick note for Belize. If you're interested in cave tubing, zipline or both, we went through Major Tom. He was great to work with and comes highley recommended from our group. We had a great day in Belize.

[falkcor]

We are going on the Valor leaving from Miami Jan 18th going to Grand Cayman, Roatan, Belieze and Cozumel. I would appreciate any info on all of these places.

 

i just went to grand cayman on tuesday 9/30 - and i HIGHLY recommend moby dick tours' stingray city and coral snorkeling trip.

 

they're consistently the #1/2 rated 'best thing to do' on tripadvisor.com, and always #1 sting ray city tour and with good reason. here's their website:

 

http://www.mobydicktours.com/

 

you can read reviews on tripadvisor here:

 

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g147365-d641547-Reviews-Moby_Dick_Tours-Grand_Cayman_Cayman_Islands.html

 

i'll be adding a section about the tour to my review of the destiny, which you can watch for here:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=857024

 

the tour was about half the cost of the carnival tours (40 adult, 35 child), was a very comfortable sized group @ about 20 people, and was all-around a great time. boat ride out to the sand bar to snorkel for about 45 minutes, then about 45 minutes with the sting rays, then a boat ride back to the dock. transportation to and from port included.

 

here's a picture of our nice, SMALL group:

 

 

and here's a picture of the snorkeling @ the coral reef:

 

[dassus]

You all have given me great suggestions. Thanks.

[MAO]

We are sailing in January and we are looking at booking our own excursions instead of going through Carnival. Can anyone suggest a good and trust worthy independent tour company?

 

We are going on the Valor leaving from Miami Jan 18th going to Grand Cayman, Roatan, Belieze and Cozumel. I would appreciate any info on all of these places.

 

 

Come join our roll call:) It's very quiet but I check in every day, often don't post cuz it would be to myself:p I would welcome more chatter and the ladies over there are very nice to chat with when they stop in;) I have also posted some info. that I have found on our ports

Myssie

[Ken076]

With independents, check the Ports of Call for recommendations, and Try to assure that you won't be charged if the ship schedule changes and you don't show - as in pay the independent when the tour is completed. ken

[blessedwith12]

I went on my first cruise in March and booked independent excursions for Cozumel (Nachi Cocom) and Calica (Edventure Tours). I found out about both of these excursions from the Port of Call boards and I am so glad I did. At first, I was very nervous about doing independent tours, but once I heard all the info from other cruisers, I was really comfortable doing it and had a great time.

[TakeMeAway1001]

We are sailing in January and we are looking at booking our own excursions instead of going through Carnival. Can anyone suggest a good and trust worthy independent tour company?

 

We are going on the Valor leaving from Miami Jan 18th going to Grand Cayman, Roatan, Belieze and Cozumel. I would appreciate any info on all of these places.

 

In GC we have used Captain Marvins twice and had a wonderful experience both times. You can find them through google :)

 

In Roatan a few weeks ago we reserved a driver for the day and were able to pick the activities we wanted to do. We chose sightseeing/monkeys/beach & snorkeling. We used Victor Bodden Tours and requested Tex for our driver, there is lots of info on the Roatan board.

 

In Belize we used cave-tubing dot com for the second time. Last year we did the tubing and this time we did the ATV Jungle Tour, both times we had an awesome time.

 

Cozumel found us at Paradise Beach for the second time. It's a great, relaxing beach day with plenty to do and see and the food/drinks are really good. This year we tried parasailing there and had such a fun time.

 

I have some pics in my review if you want to take a peek :) Have fun!

[nanuak]

We used Captains Marvins in Grand Cayman, Sunset Beach in Montego, and Nachi Cocum in Cozumel. We are two mature adults, no kids (this trip).