Which port to do a beach day? (cruise)

[lavenderblue]

For vacation this summer my kids and I are going on a Carnival Cruise. The ports are Cozumel, Belize, and Mahogany Bay (Honduras). They want to do a beach day at one of the ports and having never been to any of these places, I'm wondering if anyone has an opinion on which would be best. Based on the excursions available at each port I'm leaning towards Mahogany Bay, but I can be convinced to do it somewhere else. 

[ssmjlm]

If Mahogany Bay is Roatan, you can walk to a decent sized beach. I would rent a clamshell, but otherwise it's right when you get off the ship and you just walk the path to the beach part.

[Tacocat]

Cozumel has tons of beaches, you can easily grab a taxi and go to one in 5-10 mins for pretty cheap.

[rikki]

I’m literally at Mahogany Bay/Roatan on a cruise today. The beach was so warm and gorgeous. It’s nearly 100 degrees, so we were in the water most of the time. We didn’t see any excursions we wanted to do here, so we rented a giant donut water hammock and floated the day away.

[rubytue]

I haven’t been to mahogany beach. So can’t comment on that. Other than I think it’s a “private island” type set up, but not an island.

Belize - are you going to real Belize or “Fake Belize”? The later being NCL’s private island area? If the later, that is a good beach day because it’s really designed to be a beach day, and everything had been set up as a beach day setup

Cozumel, I’ve never done anything but a beach day (I’m a Mr Sanchos fan). But, if you have two cruise industry private island type ports, then I’d do something else here.

[rikki]

Also, on our last cruise my son and I did the Rio Secreto at the Cozumel stop (ferry to mainland) and it was so interesting. He loved it. Highly recommend.

[katfco]

No beach recommendations but we did the exact cruise a few years ago. Is it on the Glory? DD and I did horseback riding in Roatan and there was a small beach after

[definitelyO]

can you do a beach day at all of them? what are your other options: on the boat or an excursion vs. beach?

[anelms]

Mr sanchos is my favorite all inclusive to book for a beach day in Cozumel. Belize is better to do an adventure type excursion or snorkeling activity. Mahogany bay has a great free beach so is definitely a way to save some cash

[lavenderblue]

Mar 26, 2024 17:47:17 GMT -5 definitelyO said:

can you do a beach day at all of them? what are your other options: on the boat or an excursion vs. beach?

My daughter is really in to History and she wants to do an excursion where we see ruins, so we'll do that in one port. And me and my son are interested in doing some nature stuff where we get to see animals and what not. So that leaves us with one port to do a beach day. 

[lavenderblue]

Mar 26, 2024 15:37:44 GMT -5 rubytue said:

I haven’t been to mahogany beach. So can’t comment on that. Other than I think it’s a “private island” type set up, but not an island.

Belize - are you going to real Belize or “Fake Belize”? The later being NCL’s private island area? If the later, that is a good beach day because it’s really designed to be a beach day, and everything had been set up as a beach day setup

Cozumel, I’ve never done anything but a beach day (I’m a Mr Sanchos fan). But, if you have two cruise industry private island type ports, then I’d do something else here.

I guess "real" Belize? There are tons of excursion options through the cruise line that aren't the beach. Of course, I haven't really dug in to the specifics and don't know if those things are like a super long bus ride from the port or anything. 

[lavenderblue]

Mar 26, 2024 15:40:42 GMT -5 katfco said:

No beach recommendations but we did the exact cruise a few years ago. Is it on the Glory? DD and I did horseback riding in Roatan and there was a small beach after

It's on the Liberty. It's an older ship, but we sailed on the Elation last year which is also considered an older ship and thought that it was great. 

[lavenderblue]

Mar 26, 2024 21:35:29 GMT -5 anelms said:

Mr sanchos is my favorite all inclusive to book for a beach day in Cozumel. Belize is better to do an adventure type excursion or snorkeling activity. Mahogany bay has a great free beach so is definitely a way to save some cash

I assume that we could just get a cab at the pier and take that to Mr Sanchos? I was just checking that out online and it looks like a nice option. 

[rubytue]

Mar 27, 2024 7:55:47 GMT -5 lavenderblue said:

Mar 26, 2024 21:35:29 GMT -5 anelms said:

Mr sanchos is my favorite all inclusive to book for a beach day in Cozumel. Belize is better to do an adventure type excursion or snorkeling activity. Mahogany bay has a great free beach so is definitely a way to save some cash

I assume that we could just get a cab at the pier and take that to Mr Sanchos? I was just checking that out online and it looks like a nice option. 

Yeah. It’s a short cab ride, and you can ask for it by name. Suggest prebooking if you want to go there. Their tamarind margarita is excellent, but my H recommends going easy on them 😂 Pretty sure his hatred of Cozumel is from cheap tequila. 

[rubytue]

Mar 27, 2024 7:46:40 GMT -5 lavenderblue said:

Mar 26, 2024 15:37:44 GMT -5 rubytue said:

I haven’t been to mahogany beach. So can’t comment on that. Other than I think it’s a “private island” type set up, but not an island.

Belize - are you going to real Belize or “Fake Belize”? The later being NCL’s private island area? If the later, that is a good beach day because it’s really designed to be a beach day, and everything had been set up as a beach day setup

Cozumel, I’ve never done anything but a beach day (I’m a Mr Sanchos fan). But, if you have two cruise industry private island type ports, then I’d do something else here.

I guess "real" Belize? There are tons of excursion options through the cruise line that aren't the beach. Of course, I haven't really dug in to the specifics and don't know if those things are like a super long bus ride from the port or anything. 

Seeing you mention the ship, you aren’t on NCL. And I just remembered NCL calls is Harvest Caye. They have done a good job with it. But it’s like taking a cruise to a resort.

[majesty318]

Mar 27, 2024 7:55:47 GMT -5 lavenderblue said:

Mar 26, 2024 21:35:29 GMT -5 anelms said:

Mr sanchos is my favorite all inclusive to book for a beach day in Cozumel. Belize is better to do an adventure type excursion or snorkeling activity. Mahogany bay has a great free beach so is definitely a way to save some cash

I assume that we could just get a cab at the pier and take that to Mr Sanchos? I was just checking that out online and it looks like a nice option. 

I also like Mr. Sancho's but they have gotten crazy popular in the past few years. Prebook or you might not be able to get in.

[mcmel]

I haven’t been to the other two, but I wouldn’t choose Cozumel because there’s so much to do. Go swimming with sea turtles, stingray, manta ray, etc.

[luckystar2]

Mar 27, 2024 7:42:37 GMT -5 lavenderblue said:

Mar 26, 2024 17:47:17 GMT -5 definitelyO said:

can you do a beach day at all of them? what are your other options: on the boat or an excursion vs. beach?

My daughter is really in to History and she wants to do an excursion where we see ruins, so we'll do that in one port. And me and my son are interested in doing some nature stuff where we get to see animals and what not. So that leaves us with one port to do a beach day. 

We did an excursion to Tulum to see ruins when our cruise stopped in Cozumel. It definitely was time consuming but the ruins were awesome and it’s a really beautiful location. We did it through cruise line since it was a long excursion to make sure we would make it back to ship.

I’d figure out which place has the best ruins excursion first. And then you can narrow down the beach day. Don’t want to choose a beach day at a place where there’s an awesome ruins excursion.

When we have done our cruises, we use the private beach as the beach day since there usually isn’t as many other excursions and the beach for those ones are super easily accessible.

[sonrisa]

Years ago, my husband spent a week learning to scuba dive in roatan. He had a great experience but said it had more mosquitos than anywhere else he’s ever been.

[rikki]

Mar 27, 2024 11:36:35 GMT -5 sonrisa said:

Years ago, my husband spent a week learning to scuba dive in roatan. He had a great experience but said it had more mosquitos than anywhere else he’s ever been.

Zero mosquitos yesterday. Wonder if it is seasonal. There were lots of ants though!

[daisyduck]

Definitely Cozumel for the beach day.

Roatan has some of the best snorkeling so definitely snorkel there. If Carnival offers this, you could go to Maya Key private island and have a combo of snorkeling and beach day. (I've done that excursion through Royal Caribbean and Princess, so I assume Carnival offers it.) The snorkeling is also fantastic off of Tabyana beach.

[silvercrayon]

Tabyana Beach on Roatan is a gorgeous beach! I highly recommend it for a beach day!

[anelms]

Mar 27, 2024 7:55:47 GMT -5 lavenderblue said:

Mar 26, 2024 21:35:29 GMT -5 anelms said:

Mr sanchos is my favorite all inclusive to book for a beach day in Cozumel. Belize is better to do an adventure type excursion or snorkeling activity. Mahogany bay has a great free beach so is definitely a way to save some cash

I assume that we could just get a cab at the pier and take that to Mr Sanchos? I was just checking that out online and it looks like a nice option. 

Yes. I do recommend reserving your spot online through their website ahead of time if there are going to be more than two boats docked as it can sell out