MichelleB

We visited these ports when my kids were 7 and 4. In Costa Maya we did an excursion with Native Choice that included the ruins and then we had lunch with a Mayan family. In Cozumel we went to Chankanaab beach park which had a little bit of everything. The kids and adults all enjoyed both excursions.

I second the hamper or laundry bag to contain dirty clothes. You may also want a white noise machine/app as it can be a challenge for 4 people to sleep in a tiny room.

We booked private transfers through Civitavecchia Shuttle Express. It will be much more convenient to have door to door transportation and the price was reasonable. We have not used them before, but they have good reviews and the communication through the booking process has been great. From what I've read the train is a good and economical transportation option. We decided against it because the train station in Civitavecchia requires a decently long walk with luggage plus a bus ride into port or a cab from the train station to the ship. We also preferred to stay near the Pantheon in Rome which is not convenient for train/metro access. I figured that the private transfers didn't end up being that much more expensive for our group and it will make our travel days much easier.

I am in a similar situation. I booked airfare using Air2Sea which departs FCO at 12:15pm (they offered a flight as early as 10:50 which seems really crazy). I plan to walk off with our luggage and will have a private transfer take us the airport. The ship arrives at 5am, but I'm not sure when I should expect to be off the ship...

We were in Costa Maya a few years ago and did the Mayan experience excursion through https://www.thenativechoice.com/. It was a well run, reasonably priced and enjoyable day. The tour included a visit to Chacchoben ruins and then a home visit where we learned about modern day Mayan life, made corn tortillas and had a wonderful meal.

As long as you're not being wasteful then it's not a problem at all. We've never encountered an issue and our wait staff has often brought extra food unprompted if they think we might really like something that wasn't ordered, may bring 2 items if we were indecisive, etc. My 8 year old is a big eater and often had a 2nd appetizer or 2 entrees and the wait staff was always happy to bring it.

We went to St. Maarten last summer and rented a couple of 2 person kayaks (kids were 8 & 11) through https://www.caribbeanpaddling.com/ and headed over to Pinel Island. They also rent single kayaks and SUP if you prefer. They arranged transportation from port to/from the French side of the island where we picked up the kayaks. The kayaking was fun and not too hard, the beach was nice and complete with a bar/restaurant and restrooms.

Hood to know that there are set times to disembark for Stay Awhile - so that won't work for us. Anyone know when I should expect last call to disembark and how much time it takes to get off the ship in Civitavecchia?

@FloatMe I agree that trains can be intimidating. We travelled around Italy via rail before and are staying near Termini so it should be pretty straightforward for us. @Kathleen were planning to use Stefano's Rome Cabs for transfer from port to FCO. I haven't used them before but they have great reviews. @F1guynz I do see the option in cruise planner. I think you can stay on board until 90 minutes prior to departure. Has anyone done Stay Awhile? If so, did you feel like it was worthwhile? Any other thoughts on how to spend a few hours between cruise and flight with a group of 9 + luggage?

Excited to be doing our first Med cruise on Explorer out of Civitavecchia in June 2020 and have a couple of questions about transportation and timing of getting to/from port. The ship docks at 5am and leaves at 5pm. Embarkation day - we'll be staying in Rome pre-cruise. Right now I have lodging booked in both Rome and Civitavecchia for the night before the cruise. I thought it might be easiest/best to stay in Rome the night before to avoid packing up for just one night (party of 9 - 4 adults and 5 kids) and taking the train to Civitavecchia in the morning and going straight to the ship. Disembarkation day - how long can I stay on the ship? Our flight doesn't leave FCO (terminal 3) at 3:45pm - so not enough time to do much but I'd rather not spend half of the day at the airport waiting to get on a 10 hours flight. We're doing a private transfer to airport so ideally I'd like to stay on the ship until 11 or 11:30 which I know is too late. Trying to figure out if it's worth it pay extra to stay awhile or if we should just plan on spending a little extra time at the airport.

We used them August 17, 2019 and had a great time. The only minor issue we had was that they wrote our reservation down as 2 double SUP vs. 2 double kayaks - I had a printout confirmation with me and it was quickly fixed. We were chatting with the owners and they mentioned that they were getting ready to leave for an extended vacation to the US which is likely the reason they're closed until October.