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Western Caribbean - Sept 2019


Brenna

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Hi all! Long time lurker of these boards, but this is my first time posting. 

My husband & I just booked Harmony of the Seas for Sept 2019 to celebrate our 1 year wedding anniversary!

Going to: Coco Cay, Costa Maya, Roatan & Cozumel

These are all new ports (except for Cozumel, but someone else planned our day there last time)

Does anyone have any recommendations for shore excursions? I'm a beach lover but my husband would like to have the option to do something a little more than sit on the beach all day

I am already counting down the days.... 

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CoCo Cay tends to be a beach day as it is RC private island however you could add an excursion like the zip line, balloon or water park.

Cozumel tends to be a beach day for our family.  Check out Nachi Cocum.  If you want a non beach day, you could try a food tour.

Roatan has fantastic snorkeling.  We did a 3rd party snorkeling excursion and has been our top snorkeling destination.

Haven't been to Costa Maya yet but it seems like another beach day.

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Here's what I would recommend.  

Coco Cay:  you could do a beach bed, bungalow, or cabana if you want to splurge and ensure some shade otherwise enjoy it as it is, a beach day that is an extension of the ship essentially

Cozumel:  been here several times and done a variety of things, the one I did most recent was a jeep tour.  We booked through an independent tour company and we had a personal guide for our family of four in an AC enclosed Jeep.  It was really nice.  We stopped at several spots around Cozumel island including a beach resort that included lunch and snorkeling.  It was originally going to be a dune buggy tour but they were able to switch us to the jeep tour when the dune buggy was cramped.  This was a blessing since it was hot that day and it worked out in our favor.  I have seen this tour offered where there are multiple jeeps that travel together and was customizable like our tour.  We opted to skip the tequila tour since we had young children with us. There are lots of reasonable priced all inclusive resorts here but due to a lack of unique things to do  in Costa Maya that day might be a good beach day.

Costa Maya:  Maya Chen resort if you want an affordable all inclusive, it's amazing,, if you want a cheaper non all inclusive option then try Mahahual.  There are some things to do including pools right at the port as well.

Roatan:  lots of nature oriented things to do such as snorkeling that is well above average for the Caribbean, also some animal sanctuaries nearby

Interested in your decisions and experiences since I am traveling that itinerary in October

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Our first time at Coco Cay it was still just the "beach day" type...but with the new updates, there will be the water park and lots of other things to do also.  When we go in July 2019, my boys (DH, 16yo DS and his best friend) will be doing the Waterpark/ZipLine "excursion"...I'll just relax at the beach...with a pretty drink and a good book.

We've been to Cozumel twice.  Both times we just took a short taxi downtown and walked around and shopped and ate lunch then headed back to the ship. 

We went to Costa Maya once, for our 25th Anniversary Cruise, and we took an excursion to a ruins site.  It was a bus tour and we both really enjoyed learning about the history.  One of the things available during that excursion was to have our Anniversary date "written" in old Mayan script on a parchment.  It is a fun memento of the trip and our Anniversary.

There are so many things to do.  In my opinion, you can't really go wrong.  Just find something you think you'd like to do and enjoy it.  You are on vacation.  Relax if you want, explore if you want. 

Edited by JennyB
wrong date
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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 ?

 

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We’ve been to Labadee, so figured we’d probably do the same as we did there in Coco Cay (plop down on some beach chairs with frozen drinks & a book in hand) 

The new Cabanas are tempting but I can’t seem to justify the price for just the 2 of us. 

 

Do you have a name for the tour you did in Cozumel? Sounds like something that would be right up our alley. We we’re thinking of going to Maya Chan in Costa Maya so wouldn’t wanna do all inclusive in Cozumel too (especially with the beach day in Coco. Cay). 

Sounds like snorkeling will be a good option in Roatan. Are there any favorite tours out there?

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3 hours ago, Brenna said:

Sounds like snorkeling will be a good option in Roatan. Are there any favorite tours out there?

I'm also interested in this!  Many of the popular tour operators that I keep reading rave reviews on seem to operate off the east coast of Roatan, which I've read is the less desirable side due to the possibility of choppy waters?  I haven't really read any comparisons of the underwater view of east vs. west.  I also keep seeing that snorkeling right off the beach in West Bay is supposed to be great, but am concerned about crowds and would prefer to have a guide with us.

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  • 5 months later...

We have finally booked all of our excursions for this cruise! We ended up going no snorkeling as my husband doesn't want to deal with his facial hair bothering him :34_rolling_eyes:

Cococay - currently planning on just hanging out by the pool, maybe by the beach. I've been eyeing the beach beds and may jump if the price goes down. Really devastated by everything going on in the Bahamas right now, but hoping we can still get here 

Costa Maya - we are going to Maya Chan! 

Roatan - we booked our first & only excursion through Royal (it was cheaper than any 3rd party site similar excursion I could find) We'll be doing the Jungle ATV Adventure & Beach Break (got it for around $75pp) 

Cozumel - going to Nachi Cocum for a beach day 

 

I figured I'd use this post to keep my thoughts organized about what we thought of all the stops! 

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4 hours ago, Brenna said:

We have finally booked all of our excursions for this cruise! We ended up going no snorkeling as my husband doesn't want to deal with his facial hair bothering him :34_rolling_eyes:

Cococay - currently planning on just hanging out by the pool, maybe by the beach. I've been eyeing the beach beds and may jump if the price goes down. Really devastated by everything going on in the Bahamas right now, but hoping we can still get here 

Costa Maya - we are going to Maya Chan! 

Roatan - we booked our first & only excursion through Royal (it was cheaper than any 3rd party site similar excursion I could find) We'll be doing the Jungle ATV Adventure & Beach Break (got it for around $75pp) 

Cozumel - going to Nachi Cocum for a beach day 

 

I figured I'd use this post to keep my thoughts organized about what we thought of all the stops! 

Good luck on your trip! We are taking the 8 September cruise with the same itinerary, provided we can get out of Wilmington this Saturday.  You at least dodged the hurricane.  I am beginning to wish we picked the 29th!

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Yes, hopefully we get lucky again (we were in Ft. Lauderdale just last weekend for my birthday)

Hoping you stay safe down in Wilmington, I have family in Southport and when the hurricane came through last year they couldn't get back home for 2 weeks 

Would be interested in hearing your thoughts when you get back!! We are so excited to try Harmony 

 

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