KJones

If you only have 3 hours in Florence, you would be rushing through the Uffizi. I suggest walking the Boboli Gardens. If it's hot and humid (as is typical that time of year) you could visit the Pitti museum for some A/C. My favorite gelateria in Florence is Gelateria dei Neri (near Palazzo Vecchio), a little more expensive than other places but well worth it in my opinion. I Fratelli (Duomo) or Salumeria Verdi (Santa Croce) are great for panini. There is a small little restaurant inside the food market building at Sant'Ambrogio (Santa Croce) with a delicious pesto lasagne.

I do this as well. Verizon was $10 per day on my last cruise. Might be the better/cheaper route if you can schedule your chats to when you're in port.

I'd opt for the St. Maarten - San Juan - Labadee itinerary. San Juan has a fantastic walkable historic center. And while I'm not familiar with the tours in St. Maarten, I imagine they would be interesting, explaining the background of the island's split between French and Dutch control.

I'm not thrilled about the conditions either (or the cost!), but my family has been begging for years to do something like this. So I'm caving this time but then will never have to consider it again ? thanks for the advice to contact the facility!

We're signed up to do the dolphin excursion while in Costa Maya, which is supposed to end at 9:30a. The ship departs at 3pm. Would it be worth the time/money to spend the rest of day at Maya Chan? I imagine we wouldn't get to spend more than 4 hours there.