Cruise ports of call: Cozumel, Belize & Mahogany Bay

[Deleted]

I'm taking my 9 yo son on a cruise and the ports of call are Cozumel, Belize & Mahogany Bay.  Has anyone cruised to those areas that can provide advice on what is best to do in each port?  I'd like to do one beach day, one snorkeling trip (maybe on a catamaran) and my son loves fishing so either a day fishing or an excursion where he can pet sharks or some other marine life.  And I am open to other cool ideas too.   It's just the two of us so I prefer more of a shore excursion rather than figuring it out on our own when we get there but I'm okay with grabbing a cab to a beach or something like that.  We've traveled a lot just the two of us, but I have never taken him out of the country so I am a little on the cautious side.

Thanks in advance for any help!

[gtkim]

Be sure to check out cruisecritic.com for lots of suggestions and companies to use.

In Belize we went cave tubing and had a blast!  I'd highly recommend it.  I think your son is at a good age to really enjoy it.  We booked through vivtours.com

[sunshinedaydreams]

For Belize:

I didn't cruise, so I'm not sure if this is offered as an excursion, but I would absolutely do the ATM Cave if it's offered. There aren't many photos online because someone dropped a camera on a skeleton and put a hole in it, but trust me, it is AWESOME.

You swim (a very short distance, maybe 50 feet or so) into a cave, then wade through the water to get to an upper level chamber where there are tons of pottery, tools, and a couple of skeletons eroded into the floor of the cave.

You learn a ton about the Mayan culture and the significance of caves in their culture.

I hate water, don't swim well, and I LOVED it.

[starryfish]

Mahogany bay in Honduras was fantastic! As soon as you walk off the boat, there is a beach on the right side. You can rent chairs umbrellas and floats. They have food and drink there. The water is fabulous. I highly recommend doing this as your beach day

I would do snorkeling in Belize. We used www.belizeshoreexcursions.com I think. Cheaper then the boat.

[majesty318]

I recommend Mr. Sancho's in Cozumel for a beach day. I've been there a bunch of times during cruise stops. They have a nice beach, pool, some water sports, and a great all you can eat/ drink package: www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g150809-d1862550-Reviews-Mr_Sanchos_Beach_Club_Cozumel-Cozumel_Yucatan_Peninsula.html

[dana2006]

Your best bet for snorkeling is Roatan/Mahogany Bay. Take a taxi or rent a car (car rental booth right next to where you get off the ship) to West End beach. Get a table operated by one of the hotels there (we ordered pizza and drinks and had use of the private beach all day). It has the BEST, EASIEST snorkeling I've found anywhere in the Caribbean, and I've snorkeled a lot, lol. The beach is really nice too. The water is so calm it's like a bathtub.

[jenmjm]

Click on the Western Caribbean label on my blog (below) - Kindle won't let me paste. Love Roatan! Amazing reef in front of Infinity Bay resort!

[daisypaloma]

First time out of the country - your kid must be very excited.  How fun!

DH and I took the same cruise last year. 

We snorkeled in Cozumel.  We saw so much fish only a few feet from the shore, it was the best snorkel trip I've done.  We hung out at Playa Uvas.  But the neighboring Chankanaab I believe is more family-friendly.  Playa Uvas cost us $12\pp to use their facility (beach, kayak, beach chair, umbrella etc.).  I believe Chankanaab is about $40 but it has tons more to offer.   This is about 30 minutes from the port, and I believe the ship offers the shore excursion to Chankanaab.  There is also a small ruin in the island that we checked out.  That may be good to do with your kid. 

In Belize we did the cave tubing which was pretty awesome and I think your kid would really love it.  It's an hour plus drive to there, so I would recommend you book it with the ship.  Bring very comfortable footwear (water shoes, etc.), it's about an hour to walk to/from the start of the cavetubing.  Also, you have to trek your own tube so bear that in mind.  I would recommend leaving anything valuable back at the ship as there's no locker.  You'd have to leave your valuables in the van while you go on this hours-long adventure.

Some ships leave early from Roatan so be mindful of that.  We scuba dived so I can't give you much info.  I don't think the West End is worth a trip unless you're going to do some beach/ocean activity (it's just like any other beachfront town that sells expensive knick-knacks).  I would just hang out at Mahogany Beach.  I think there's a family-friendly club near West End with slides, etc. (we saw it while in the boat for the scuba) but I can't find it online.  Also, Roatan has had some safety issues when we were there last fall, so I recommend going with a group if you decide to venture out of the usual tourist spots.

Grand Cayman was nice but very expensive  if you just stick around the port.  I would venture out and take the shuttle/bus to the end of seven mile beach, and hang out and walk back if you can handle it, or take a bus back, since they are plentiful.  There's tons of snorkeling opportunities up and down the beach, so I would invest in purchasing your own snorkel gear before you leave for the trip which should cost you no more than $20.  The bus fare is $2 so it's not too bad if you get tired.  They drive on the other side of the road so make sure you and your kid pay attention to that when you cross road(s).

The ship should offer at least one or two opportunities to play with stingrays.  I've done it once and that's good enough for me, but maybe your kid will have a blast doing it. The ships also offer beachside horseback riding which I've yet to do (I've done horseback riding before, but the beachside one sounds very glorious).

Hope that helps! Have fun! We wish we had more time to explore the islands.

[rubytue]

Feb 2, 2015 23:19:47 GMT -5 majesty318 said:

I recommend Mr. Sancho's in Cozumel for a beach day. I've been there a bunch of times during cruise stops. They have a nice beach, pool, some water sports, and a great all you can eat/ drink package: www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g150809-d1862550-Reviews-Mr_Sanchos_Beach_Club_Cozumel-Cozumel_Yucatan_Peninsula.html

I love Mr Sanchos! Last week I did an official excursion to playa Mia (my band was playing), the food was terrible, but the pool and water park looked fun for a kid. If you are thinking Cozumel for your beach day, I would not recommend playa uvas or nachi cocum with a kid - too laid back and adult oriented. Chakanaub (sp) is a park with a beach and lots of good review (and a swim with the someanimal - dolphin maybe). We've done mr Sanchos 3 times, plus playa Mia and playa uvas - so those are from experience.

Was Grand Cayman on the list? If so, take a snorkle boat to stingray city. H still talks about how awesome that was when he was 14.

Edit: auto corrects

[Deleted]

Feb 4, 2015 22:22:14 GMT -5 rubytue said:

Feb 2, 2015 23:19:47 GMT -5 majesty318 said:

I recommend Mr. Sancho's in Cozumel for a beach day. I've been there a bunch of times during cruise stops. They have a nice beach, pool, some water sports, and a great all you can eat/ drink package: www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g150809-d1862550-Reviews-Mr_Sanchos_Beach_Club_Cozumel-Cozumel_Yucatan_Peninsula.html

I love Mr Sanchos! Last week I did an official excursion to playa Mia (my band was playing), the food was terrible, but the pool and water park looked fun for a kid. If you are thinking Cozumel for your beach day, I would not recommend playa uvas or nachi cocum with a kid - too laid back and adult oriented. Chakanaub (sp) is a park with a beach and lots of good review (and a swim with the someanimal - dolphin maybe). We've done mr Sanchos 3 times, plus playa Mia and playa uvas - so those are from experience.

Was Grand Cayman on the list? If so, take a snorkle boat to stingray city. H still talks about how awesome that was when he was 14.

Edit: auto corrects

No Grand Caymen on this itinerary I think previous poster confused with another itinerary 

[Deleted]

Thanks for all of the great info! My son wanted to do the cave tubing but I don't think the hour walk would go over very well

[daisypaloma]

Feb 7, 2015 10:15:46 GMT -5 @bk said:

Feb 4, 2015 22:22:14 GMT -5 rubytue said:

I love Mr Sanchos! Last week I did an official excursion to playa Mia (my band was playing), the food was terrible, but the pool and water park looked fun for a kid. If you are thinking Cozumel for your beach day, I would not recommend playa uvas or nachi cocum with a kid - too laid back and adult oriented. Chakanaub (sp) is a park with a beach and lots of good review (and a swim with the someanimal - dolphin maybe). We've done mr Sanchos 3 times, plus playa Mia and playa uvas - so those are from experience.

Was Grand Cayman on the list? If so, take a snorkle boat to stingray city. H still talks about how awesome that was when he was 14.

Edit: auto corrects

No Grand Caymen on this itinerary I think previous poster confused with another itinerary 

Oops.  Reading fail. 

[Alyssa]

We hung out at Chakanab Park in Cozumel, it's groomed and pretty. The snorkeling was sort of blah though, not much rocks or reef to see the fish.

Cave tubing in Belize was fun, you can't be afraid of getting into dark water though. It is a little uneasy not knowing what's swimming in the water below your butt when everything is black. I was sort of shocked by just how 3rd world Belize City is. I didn't feel 100% safe and wouldn't recommend venturing off on foot past the vendors who crowd the dock area.

[love1999]

The time we visited Cozumel on a cruise we did an excursion to Passion Island. That would be a great option for your beach day. Small private island with a great beach.

We stayed in Belize versus stopping on a cruise but we really enjoyed cave tubing. We did a video of our cave tubing excursion that is on our YouTube channel if you'd like to show it to your son to see if he would be interested. We used Belize Nature Travel. Here is the video: youtu.be/W25i5LwofpU

Belize also has great snorkeling. We did multiple trips from Ambergris Caye. You could probably find an excursion to Hol Chan/Shark Ray Alley or Mexico Rocks, which are popular snorkeling spots off the coast. We did video of those too if you want to get an idea of the sea life and water depth to see how your son would feel about it

This is the link to our Mexico Rocks video: youtu.be/JiVSnUmb5-g

This is the link to the playlist of our 4 Hol Chan/Shark Ray Alley videos: www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLdAxgU3Jiq1qHDmwOJ_TCo68XjgqsbfG_

[CloudBee]

Cave tubing and snorkeling on the reef in Belize are big highlights!

In Cozumel you have the opportunity to swim with or interact with dolphins. Loved that.