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What excursions do you recommend for western carribean?


ElmoHongZito

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Our port days are in the following destinations…

Puerto Costa Maya, Mexico

Roatan, Honduras

Cozumel, Mexico

Coco Cay

Have not booked any excursions yet. We live in Miami and go to Dominican Republic yearly so I guess you can say that we will not be impressed by any average beach. That being said my wife loves the beach so at least one of our port days should include a beach getaway.

Would also like to know your thoughts on booking excursions thru the cruise or separate and if separate when to book (in advance or on the spot when we arrive to port).

Thanks in advance. 

 

 

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For Costa Maya, the Chacchoben ruins excursion is fantastic!  When I go in Feb, I'm going to Maya Chan in Costa Maya (3rd party excursion, not through RCL). 

Cozumel, I enjoyed the "clear kayak/beach snorkel" excursion after our original excursion was cancelled; in Feb I'm doing "three reef snorkel", but can't comment on how good it is yet. 

I've been told by some diver friends that Roatan has some of the best snorkeling. 

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2 hours ago, ElmoHongZito said:

Our port days are in the following destinations…

Puerto Costa Maya, Mexico

Roatan, Honduras

Cozumel, Mexico

Coco Cay

 

Would also like to know your thoughts on booking excursions thru the cruise or separate and if separate when to book (in advance or on the spot when we arrive to port).

 

 

 

You can Goggle any of these to check them out.

Puerto Costa Maya...Maya Chan Beach Resort...All inclusive

Roatan, Honduras...Infinity Bay Beach Excursion...All inclusive

Cozumel, Mexico...Nachi Cocom...All inclusive

Coco Cay...Chill Island...No reservations required

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14 minutes ago, Matt said:

Check out this article we just posted: Best shore excursion in every Caribbean cruise port

I can confirm the Costa Maya and Cozumel ones are spot on as that's what we do almost every time (just note if you want to do Maya Chan you'll need to book way in advance as they fill up very quickly).  I booked the Roatan suggestion for my next cruise after reading that post a few days ago since we have yet to find a must do there yet.

Any recommendations made by the blog have yet to fail me.

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The best excursion that we ever had was one through https://www.thenativechoice.com in Costa Maya. At the time it was billed as a cultural experience (dinner with a Mayan family) plus the Chacchoben ruins, but that exact one no longer exists. A lot of their staff are current and former educators. It was just wonderful and I would highly recommend any tour that they offer. There is currently one called “Mayan Family + Seven Color Lagoon Tour” and also “Chacchoben Ruins Tour.”

We also love Jaime’s Blue Reef in Costa Maya since we have now done a lot of the tours because we’ve been to Costa Maya so much. It is in a more rural part of Mexico, but not very far from the port. It is a small, all-inclusive with super friendly staff (shout out to Digby). But, you do need a reservation. http://www.jaimesbluereef.com  (Royal Caribbean blog also recently posted its own review of Jaime’s).

In Cozumel, we have done Mr. Sanchos many times and can *no longer* recommend it. The food and drinks are now more like fast food, it is too crowded, and the service is fair to poor. Nachi Cocom is highly rated and what we have reserved for an upcoming West Carib cruise. 
 

We prefer Mexico to many of the Caribbean islands, I think you’ll enjoy it!

 

 

 

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Thanks for all those that have replied. So far I am not really impressed with any youtube videos I have seen regarding Costa Maya. The resorts look kind of run down, looks like there could be excessive seaweed (including smell) with brownish water at times as well. I’m thinking we may just explore the port a little and then go back to the ship. 
 

As far as Roatan, my wife was suggested to go to Little French Key so we may do that. RCI only sells an excursion for Big French Key so we may just book that one directly with Litte French Key.

As far as Cozumel, I have not looked at anything at all yet. 

I am guessing where we end up spending the most as dar as excursions will be Coco Cay since my daughters will probably enjoy the water slides and looks like there are decent beaches there for my wife. 

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16 minutes ago, ElmoHongZito said:

 The resorts look kind of run down, looks like there could be excessive seaweed (including smell) with brownish water at times as well. 

Unfortunately, this port seems to always have lots of seaweed no matter where you go…It’s been there every time we’ve been there.  Most the resorts have a small army of people constantly raking the seaweed.

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38 minutes ago, ElmoHongZito said:

Thanks for all those that have replied. So far I am not really impressed with any youtube videos I have seen regarding Costa Maya. The resorts look kind of run down, looks like there could be excessive seaweed (including smell) with brownish water at times as well. I’m thinking we may just explore the port a little and then go back to the ship. 
 

As far as Roatan, my wife was suggested to go to Little French Key so we may do that. RCI only sells an excursion for Big French Key so we may just book that one directly with Litte French Key.

As far as Cozumel, I have not looked at anything at all yet. 

I am guessing where we end up spending the most as dar as excursions will be Coco Cay since my daughters will probably enjoy the water slides and looks like there are decent beaches there for my wife. 

Yes, Costa Maya has a seaweed problem so none of the beaches will be as pretty as the eastern Caribbean or Florida.  I would recommend not just going to the port though, either take a quick taxi to the town of Mahahaul to explore or just stay on the ship and enjoy the solitude.

I can't recommend Little French Key either.  The time we went it was beyond crowded and almost impossible to get a chair, much less a drink or food.  We only stayed a couple of hours before we gave up and left to get back to the ship early.  I would at least see how many ships are in port that day (including the Carnival port) before deciding as they obviously don't limit the number of guests.  The beaches and facilities were nice, but once again we couldn't really enjoy any of it with the sheer number of people.  It felt like a 2 oasis ship day at coco cay on steroids and with way less staff/bartenders.

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On 9/30/2022 at 12:07 PM, billdauterive said:

Yes, Costa Maya has a seaweed problem so none of the beaches will be as pretty as the eastern Caribbean or Florida.  I would recommend not just going to the port though, either take a quick taxi to the town of Mahahaul to explore or just stay on the ship and enjoy the solitude.

I can't recommend Little French Key either.  The time we went it was beyond crowded and almost impossible to get a chair, much less a drink or food.  We only stayed a couple of hours before we gave up and left to get back to the ship early.  I would at least see how many ships are in port that day (including the Carnival port) before deciding as they obviously don't limit the number of guests.  The beaches and facilities were nice, but once again we couldn't really enjoy any of it with the sheer number of people.  It felt like a 2 oasis ship day at coco cay on steroids and with way less staff/bartenders.

Good call! It looks like there will be 3 ships at the port that day which could potentially mean around 15k passengers. Uploading image to this post. 
 

Thoughts? I’m guessing that means little french key will be pretty slammed…?

570ED5F7-5F32-468B-BAD0-6D39C3C3855D.jpeg

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They do not want to pay the up charge to the cruise line. If they did it would cost the $84pp that the other beaches do. Glad they do not, at least for Nachi Cocom. I will take the $59 charge and pay the taxi fare for a real all inclusive exclusive beach, personal palapa and much better food. The best part is the bartender is super friendly and will fix our drinks exactly (strong) as we like them.

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2 hours ago, CrznTxn said:

They do not want to pay the up charge to the cruise line. If they did it would cost the $84pp that the other beaches do. Glad they do not, at least for Nachi Cocom. I will take the $59 charge and pay the taxi fare for a real all inclusive exclusive beach, personal palapa and much better food. The best part is the bartender is super friendly and will fix our drinks exactly (strong) as we like them.

And Nachi has a limited on people they allow in everyday where other beach clubs pack in as many as they can.  We love Nachi.  

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22 hours ago, ElmoHongZito said:

Interesting how for Cozumel they recommend 2 beach clubs (Nachi Cocon and Paradise Beach) however neither of those are on the list of excursions sold directly by Royal Caribbean.

 

I don't think it's that surprising. Royal Caribbean doesn't necessarily sell the best excursions out there in every port.

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