mn_puckluck

We just got back from a similar itinerary, here were our experiences: Nassau: We did the RCCL sponsored Blue Lagoon Beach break. You take a boat ride to an island where you can sit on the beach, look at dolphins/stingrays/sea lions, and do some snorkeling. The beach was very nice, the water was a touch cold this time of year. The provided lunch was decent, but nothing special. Cozumel: We took the ferry over to Playa to do the sponsored Xcaret excursion. The park was fantastic. Floating down the river was really cool. However, I would NOT recommend doing anything that involves the ferry. First of all about 25% of the people on the ferry got sick (they hand out medicine and bags when you get on, so that should have been a sign). Secondly you spend about half the day waiting or traveling. Roatan: We did the Fun n Sun tour from Bodden's tours. This was awesome!! It's $30 a person. First they take you up to a high point on the island to get some pictures of the ship, then you drive around and tour the island. At one point, the bus was basically driving on the beach. The you go to this animal sanctuary where you get to have these goofy chaupin monkeys that climb on top of you, grab your hat, etc. They also have a hug-a-sloth thing which my kids loved. There are some other cool birds and animals there as well. When that is done they take you West Bay Beach. It was around noon when we got there. This is one of those white sand, warm clear blue water type of beaches you picture in the Caribbean. They have a section near the 'coral' at the end of the beach were they were hundreds of fish in knee deep water. We also hopped in a small boat from of the one of the vendors walking around and did some snorkeling out a little farther into the ocean. It was nice because the tour operator bartered with the guy for us. It cost us $20 for the short ride and to use some of their snorkeling gear. They are flexible with the group on the bus (it was about 20 people in our case) on when you want to leave. We left about 3 for a 5:30 departure because many of the people in the group did not want to stress about getting back in time. It is about a 15-20 minute ride back. They would have let us stay until probably around 4 if the group had preferred to stay at the beach. Costa Maya: We rented two golf carts and drove to the beach. One of the carts actually broke down so we had to push it with the other cart. A bit stressful, but a funny story looking back! The beach was nice and they had some places for us to sit. They have other tram type things that take people to the beach if you would want less of an adventure. The port itself it built up really well. It kind of feels like an Epcot center interpretation of Mexico, so it's maybe not super authentic, but lots of shopping and things to look at. In general I had a much better experience when we went on our own as opposed to going through the ship. Mostly because of the cumbersome process of getting herded off the board. However, I am glad that we did them through the ship for the first couple because we didn't have to worry about making it back. I wasn't as concerned on the last 2 stops, since they wouldn't have been the worst places in the world to be stranded at ?

Hello, we are on the same ship and stops (Allure - March 3) with my extended family (14 of us) and would like to do a beach day in Nassau, so I figure I would just add to this topic. The beach that is walk-able doesn't seem like a great option, crowds and quality? We are debating between shelling out the money to pay for the RC Blue Lagoon beach break excursion or trying to take a taxi or bus to one of the other beaches. Wondering if anybody here has thoughts on trying to get 14 people back and forth to one of the other beaches via public transportation? Also, any recommendations on which beach to go to?