Excursion ideas ~ 11 and 7 yr. olds

[Jrsygrl]

We will be sailing the western Caribbean on FOS in June....does anyone have any good excursion ideas??? I have 2 boys...11 and 7 who are very active!

[crusinmama06]

Western Carib on FOS - Is it still Grand Caymen, Labadee, Cozumel and Mo Bay Jamaica?

 

Grand Caymen - go to Stingray City - no doubt. It was the talk of the ship when we were there.

 

Labadee - beach day. You could do the zipline or the water park (climbing ice bergs, trampoline)

 

Montego Bay (or Ocho Rios) - Do the falls climb, the river tubing or for a REAL adrenaline rush do the tree top canopy tour.

 

Cozumel - for me is always a beach day - you could swim with dolphins here

[Jrsygrl]

We go to Och. Rio in Jamaica....thought about ziplines in Labadee but my youngest isn't tall enough...would love to do Stingray City but heard the water may be a bit too rough for the 7 year old....I do have the rafting in mind that ends up on Shaw beach. Do you or does anyone have info on that??? I was also looking at the Jolly Roger pirate excursion as well. Keep the info coming!

[crusinmama06]

Is the 7 year old adventurous? Then I would do the stingray tour. There is one on the sandbar that isn't as deep. That's the one I would look for. He can get in and out of the water by getting on and off the boat. So if he gets there and it is too choppy, then he can wait on the boat. But I bet he will be the last one out of the water ;)

 

I hear the Jolly Roger excursion is a real kick. Which port were you going to do that in? They have them in many different ports.

 

So the youngest is too short for the ziplines? Then just use Labadee as your beach day. The water adventure park is a pay by the hour thing. What's annoying about it is that you have to pay for observing too. So if you go to the area to watch the boys, you pay. I decided to forget about the water park and just let the kids play on the beach. Our friends went to the water park for the hour and were angry when they returned. ;)

 

Ocho - yeah I would climb the falls. You are closer to the falls in Ocho than we were in Mo Bay. It would have been a long bus ride for us. Wear water shoes. And remember, it's like a 1,000 people climbing and all holding hands in a big long chain. It can be very slippery. Some have gotten hurt by slipping. But it's something that I would try if my kids were the age of yours.

[sandytoes03]

We go to Och. Rio in Jamaica....thought about ziplines in Labadee but my youngest isn't tall enough...would love to do Stingray City but heard the water may be a bit too rough for the 7 year old....I do have the rafting in mind that ends up on Shaw beach. Do you or does anyone have info on that??? I was also looking at the Jolly Roger pirate excursion as well. Keep the info coming!

 

 

It's really not very choppy. You are in the middle of the ocean but you are standing on a sand bar, and it didn't seem rough to me at all. There were a lot of people and a lot of kids there. They seemed to be having a ball!

[rebeccalouise]

My son never wants to get off the ship. You may find that your kids love the youth program and can't be bothered with excursions. Don't wrack you brain over entertaining them. You may end up saving lots of money.

[loveysbydesign]

We're planning to do the Dolphin Encounter in Cozumel as we have 3 kids...they'll be 2 1/2, 7 and 10 1/2 when we cruise..the 2 youngest will be free for us as paying adults so we only have to pay for us and our 10 y.o. ds. We're trying to decide between Stingray City in Grand Cayman of the Stingray thing on Castaway Cay (we're cruisin' DCL for the 1st time) Anyone have a recommendation as for which might be best for our kids ages??

[jaredcoreymama]

We are planning on doing the Xrails in Cozumel. Look under Wildtours.com or cozumel-tours. They look like a lot of fun. Our boys will be 10 and 8.

 

Labidee -- I can't believe that adults have to pay to watch! I guess we will be knocking this off of our list! How about the big slide -- Do adults have to pay to watch the kids use this?

[new2cruisewfamily]

Does anyone have info about the Adventure Ocean club of RCL on Ladabee? Is there a specific time the kids need to be in it or can you drop them off for an hour and do the zipline? :)

[crusinmama06]

Does anyone have info about the Adventure Ocean club of RCL on Ladabee? Is there a specific time the kids need to be in it or can you drop them off for an hour and do the zipline? :)

 

 

Yes, the AO pages are at the link in my signature. Just look for an itinerary that has a day in Labadee.

 

Generally, they open around 9am on Labadee. They close at lunch time. Then reopen after lunch.

 

So if you are going to do the zipline, book one that won't conflict with the times AO is closed.

[ncmomof2]

would love to do Stingray City but heard the water may be a bit too rough for the 7 year old....

 

I did Stingray City with a 3.5yo with no problem, so I think a 7yo would be fine. We booked through a private tour (sorry, can't remember which one, it was 6 years ago...:o) and I'd recommend that. We only had ~15 people in our group and lots of personal attention from our guide. The cruise line excursions we saw looked like they had 100-200 people all on one ferry-like boat.

[new2cruisewfamily]

Yes, the AO pages are at the link in my signature. Just look for an itinerary that has a day in Labadee.

 

Generally, they open around 9am on Labadee. They close at lunch time. Then reopen after lunch.

 

So if you are going to do the zipline, book one that won't conflict with the times AO is closed.

 

Very cool. Thank you!!!

[jaredcoreymama]

Check out jamaicaexcursions.com -- they have a family ATV and zipline tour available. Ages are 6 and up! My boys are looking forward to doing this. They even have mini ATV's for the kids to ride.

 

We are thinking about doing the Jolly Roger boat ride in Grand Cayman or swim with the dolphins. In Cozumel, we are going to do the ATXrails tour.

[TIMNANNA]

We are planning on doing the Xrails in Cozumel. Look under Wildtours.com or cozumel-tours. They look like a lot of fun. Our boys will be 10 and 8.

 

How did your boys like the Xrails? I'm considering taking my boys (9 and 6) when we get to Cozumel next year.

[MamaParrotHead]

I planned and planned for my two kids on our four port sailing (they were 6 and 10)...by the 3rd port, I realized they had as much fun just being kids on the beach than a lot of the things we'd done, so we ended up cancelling the fourth excursion and just went with the flow.

 

Stingrays, probably (there really isn't a whole lot else to do there IMO). Chankanaab was GREAT in Cozumel, you can do as much or as little as you want (the snorkeling there was pretty darn good). Ocho Rios, IMO, I'd skip the Falls. To me it wasn't anything spectacular, and between the videographer in your face every 5 feet telling you to say "Yeah Mon" and the slippery rocks, the cold water and the pushy guides (and vendors), not worth it (especially if you get a crappy guide, like we did, who took us up the hard way so it would be faster and he could ditch us and put his hand out for his tip and go snag another group at the top). If we ever go back, I may try the tubing, otherwise would be happy to just hang out in the Island Village/Margaritaville.