Carnival Glory - any advise? Belize, Cozumel, Costa Maya, Nassau

[springisch]

We (my husband and I) have cruised twice with RCL, this is our first time with Carnival. Any pieces of advise for our cruise with Carnival Glory?

We are also checking out excursions for Belize, Cozumel, Costa May, & Nassau. We are pretty adventurous...we zip lined in Puerto Vallarta and love to snorkel.

We would appreciate anything!

Thanks!

springisch

[Azure Moon]

Welcome to Cruise Critic and Carnival!

In addition to the suggestions for excursions you'll get here,

click on the link below and it will take you to the Ports of Call board on this website. You will find lots of great ideas, tips, etc. for excursions in the ports you will be visiting.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=5

 

When we went to Belize, we went on the Belize Zoo and City tour. When we were in Cozumel, we took a tour to Tulum Mayan Ruins.

In Nassau, we walked along the water to a free public beach not too far from the port and it was across from the lighthouse.

 

Happy cruising!

 

[Heidi n Lauren]

We just returned from Glory with that itinerary, here's a link to my review. Maybe you can get some ideas from it.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=893166

[nybumpkin]

We're sailing on Glory in February - Eastern, not Western - but we've sailed previously to Belize, Costa Maya and Cozumel. For any of these ports, I'd recommend the "ports of call" board for details.

 

Belize - We went cave tubing with Major Tom. Over on the Belize thread on the Ports of Call board, you will find lots of reviews of cave tubing tours. Ours was great, and I've read lots of good things about other independent tour guides offering cave tubing tours. It's not a "lazy river" tour - there's work involved in the tour.

 

Costa Maya - We took David and Ivan's "Mayan Experience" tour, which is a tour of the Chacchoben Mayan ruins followed by a visit to the modern village of Chacchoben with lunch provided by a Mayan family. It's definitely not your ordinary tour. Don't be worried about the food - everything is prepared with purified water.

 

Cozumel - We've gone to Paradise Beach twice and had a great time. On our first visit we also went to Cozumel Mini Golf and my kids are still begging to go back.:)

 

As for sailing on Glory, we've sailed on her sisters Conquest, Valor and Liberty already. The most confusing aspect about these ships seems to be the layout on decks 3 and 4 - these are the dining room decks, and the galley is between the two dining rooms. Just understand that the easiest way to go from one end of the ship to the other is on deck 5 (Promenade) or one of the decks with cabins.

 

Hope this helps!

[summercruisin']

DH and I did pretty much the exact same as nybumpkin on our cruise to Cozumel, Belize and Costa Maya. I've been to Cozumel 4 times...did the Mayan Ruins 1st time, snorkeling at Chankanaab 2nd time, Paradise Beach 3rd and 4th (wonderful, with and without the little ones!). All are great choices...would love to repeat any of them (well, might choose Mayan ruins if we went a different time of year. In summer, it was 108, and there is very little shade! :eek:)

Loved cave tubing in Belize, and LOVED the ruins and just hanging out at the port in Costa Maya. I can't wait to go back there! What a good day!

Have fun!

[LizaMM]

We (my husband and I) have cruised twice with RCL, this is our first time with Carnival. Any pieces of advise for our cruise with Carnival Glory?

We are also checking out excursions for Belize, Cozumel, Costa May, & Nassau. We are pretty adventurous...we zip lined in Puerto Vallarta and love to snorkel.

We would appreciate anything!

Thanks!

springisch

 

I loved the Glory!!!

 

As far as the ship goes....it depends so much on the things you like to do. Reading reviews is great and checking out the Capers (Carnivals daily newsletter) is the best. I like to bring a highlighter and mark up the things I find interesting and then carry it with me and glance at it from time to time.. sometimes I follow through and other times I stay put on my lounge chair on deck!

 

As far as the Ports of Call...I agree...check out the message boards.

 

I have sailed to Belize 2 times and both of those I booked snorkeling excursions with Carnival. The plus is that since this is a port you will tender at when you book directly with the cruiseline the excursion boat greets you at the ship rather than having to tender to port and go from there. I did Goffs Caye in the morning one time and it was wonderful! Great snorkel and then tiny little Island beach and back to the ship for lunch then tender over to shop.

 

In Cozumel I also really enjoy Paradise Beach for a simple relaxing day at the beach. Chankanaab Park is great for the Dolphin swims and also has many things to do....even a Mexican Cooking Class which is different.

 

Costa Maya is one of my favorites! I walked through the port area and got a taxi ride over to Majahual.....absolutely loved the beach there and you can kayak, get massages etc,

 

You can cave tube or zipline in Belize but I would think that if you like to snorkel this is a great place to do that and it does not take have to take up the whole day.

[hkolln]

We are also checking out excursions for Belize, Cozumel, Costa May, & Nassau.

 

Been on the Inspiration to Belize, cozumel and costa maya.

Our website has all our cruise info (it's in my signature)

 

Belize: We did river tubing w/xstream cave tubing. We went during the low water season so it was hard to use the tubes down the river but inside the caves we could float. I enjoyed getting away from the port and seeing nature up close. It is so different!

 

Costa Maya: We packed 2 backpacks full of school supplies (1 for the HS and 1 for the kindergarten) and had a taxi take us to the Majahual HS from the port. We then visited with the kids and dropped off the school supplies. Then we walked to the kindergarton school and played with the kids, brought them some school supplies and candy and really had an awesome time! Our 10 yr old daughter loved it! Getting out there and spending time with the kids was the best.

 

Nassau: haven't been here yet but am going to the bahamas in 2010 on an anniversary cruise. Would love to hear what you decide!

[scrappynancy]

Welcome to cruise critic. I have been on a Carnival cruise 3 times and have loved all three. I agree with what someone has said about the highlighter and the capers. This year on the Miracle I was determined to do everything that I wanted to do and did not have enough time. A lot is scheduled to keep you entertained throughout the day. If you want to just lounge around there is a lot of places to do that. If you want to be active there is a lot going on for that too. So it just is up to what you want to do.

 

As for the ports of call yes deff check out the ports of call boards there is a lot of info there.

 

I have been to Belize, Cozumel, Costa Maya and Nassua.

 

In Belize we went Cave tubing with cave-tubing.com and it was fantastic. We went to the shore ex desk and told them we had a tour that was not with Carnival and had to get off the ship early. We were the first tender off the ship after the ones that the boats pick you up. the trip was awesome and Yhony and his guides take very good care of you. We did not have to do much but pick our butts up. If you are going to go cave tubing while in Belize I would deff reccomend cave-tubing.com.

 

I have been in Cozumel 2 times, first time went to Chankanaab Park and swam with the dolphins. 2nd time went to Plya Del Carmen and went to the caves and then beach by jeep. Both were fun and both were ship excursions (first was Roryal Carribbean and the 2nd was Carnival)

 

In Costa Maya once and went to the beach break it was a Royal Carribbean ship tour and it was fun.

 

In Nassau went swimming with the sting rays it was great fun. They took us to a little island and we swam around and fed the singrays and had some lunch. It was a Carnival ship excursion.

 

I hope this helps and hope you enjoy your cruise.

[Yemaya]

Springisch - when is your cruise? We are doing the exact cruise on Glory in September 2009. Not sure which excursions we are going to do yet - we have some time to figure that out. Reading what everyone else does helps I think. We have been to Nassau so we have an idea of what to do there. We went to Blackbeards cay (small island) and fed stingrays and relaxed on beach - this time we will likely do paradise island.

[Yemaya]

double post - my work computer sucks.

[springisch]

WOW! Thank you all for your responses! That helps tremendously! I will also check out the ports of call message boards. We will be sailing on Jan 24 so it is approaching fast!

Thanks again!!