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DEL.ICIO.USExcursions
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Our excursions were one of our favorite parts of the cruise. We loved exploring Cozumel together, doing activities we would never do at home.
We took two excursions – snorkeling in the morning ($39 per person) and a sunset horseback ride with a Mexican dinner back at the ranch ($95 per person.) There was plenty of time in between to rest and we shopped a little before the horseback ride started.
Both staffs were very fun, but also professional. The snorkeling instruction was better than we had in the Caymans, and they seemed much more concerned with how well you were swimming. The cowboys at the ranch were fantastic (and very cute!). They instructed us on riding and explained the Mayan culture on the ride. There were two Mayan dances for our entertainment. The food was good on the ranch but I was concerned about whether to drink the ice in the margaritas. We had been instructed on the ship not to drink the water – but what about the ice?
Jennifer de la Cruz, said all of the excursions offered through the ship had been thoroughly checked out and it would be a reasonable expectation that the food would be completely safe, too.
We wished we had scheduled some beach time there. The snorkeling beach was not pretty. I would have tried to find a snorkeling excursion from a better beach.
I got mixed reviews on using the ship-run excursions from the people I interviewed. Ellen and Jim Tyson, of Arlington, Va., took the trip to the Tulum Ruins, which was supposed to run about five hours. Because people wandered off it took 7.5 hours. The Tysons were unhappy not to have enough beach time and scheduled an evening snorkel when they boarded the ship after Tulum.
Sally Fowler of Gainesville said her jeep trip was cancelled because not enough people signed up, so they just shopped. She was advised by an experienced cruiser on board to just head out to the street and tell the cabbie to take her the prettiest beach and that would work out.
That would make me nervous.
Experienced cruisers: What do you do on port days? Do you schedule your excursions through the cruise line? Have you had success wandering around on your own?
Tomorrow: The staff
Permalink | Comments (4) | Categories: Cruising
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By Mardie
May 24, 2005 10:44 AM | Link to this
RE: Lake Winnie. We used to go to see the entertainment, amoung other things, at the park. I remember standing next to Waylon Jennings in his rhinestone suit days, watching him sign autographs and pose for pictures. After about an hour of this, I asked him what would he do if his hand got tired. He turned and smiled at me and said “I quit.”.
By Ken Schwartz
May 26, 2005 9:53 AM | Link to this
We like to walk around on our own during most port days but the BEST excursion we ever took in the Carribean was in Saint Martin.
We went on 12 meter yachts used in the America’s Cup races and raced agains two other teams. We had never been on a sailing vessel like that before nor had most of the other ‘passengers’. You could decide to be an active participant or just sit and watch everyone else work.
I decided to be active and was assigned to be a grinder (I’m 6’ and on a good day 225 pounds) and shred the grinding with another gentleman somewhat larger than me.
My spouse took an inactive role (I think they had her hold on to the ‘Go Faster’ rope) but we both had a great time.
The fact that we beat the other two boats across the finish line was one of the highlights of the trip!
By David B
May 26, 2005 11:30 AM | Link to this
Have found that researching online and booking on shore seems to work as well as booking through the ship…However one thing to consider is that the cruise line I normally use has a policy that if you book through the ship, they will not leave without you should your excursion be late returning…In some cases this peace of mind is worth considering. Also some ship excursions are only available through the ship.
By Juice
May 27, 2005 12:12 PM | Link to this
On our cruise, we did not book any ship-sponsored excursions. What David B said is right, if your non-ship-sponsored excursion runs late, then the ship will leave you and it’s up to you to get to the next port of call. But even with that, and also slightly emboldened by my Spanish-speaking wife, we went non-sponsored at each port. (we were cruising western Caribbeans)
Overall, excursion prices will be cheaper and the trip more flexible. At Belieze, we booked a cave tubing excursion with an independent operator. We were able to haggle the price down about a third. A larger family after us was able to haggle it down further, and we of course went right back at him and got the price matched. Once at the caves (after a truly amazing rally-style driving through unpaved jungle road - itself worthy of an excursion) we floated down often pitch dark caves together. Being a smaller group, we bonded better and since he only does one tour a day and is not under the same time constraint as the bigger operators, we actually pulled aside a couple of times to let larger, ship-sponsored group of tubers pass. The ship-sponsored people looked like they were on a cattle drive, with them being the cattle! We took another equally amazing Paris-Dakar style rally drive back, passing old Grayhound buses filled with ship-sponsored folks, except for a short stop to chase down inner tubes that fell from the trailers (we all helped, and it was kinda fun). We talked to the driver and learned alot about the country and its customs. He was no corporate nodding head with smile surgically silk screened to his face. That was more adventurish and more “raw” I suppose, and certainly much more entertaining and exciting. Sure, the old Dodge Ram passenger van could’ve lost a tire and we could’ve been stranded by the single lane mud road cut through the jungle, but had that happened, I have a feeling I would be remembering that right now not altogether unfondly.
Other ports gave us fairly similar experience. We interacted with our guides I think more naturally, and their answers didn’t seem to come from a cruise-line issued answer booklet. I was struck by how different our table-mates’ experiences were from ours, even if we did the same thing.
And how decadent is grabbing a cab, asking him to find us a beach, and wait two hours while we luxuriously stretched ourselves before azure water that itself stretched beyond the horizon. “Yes, Jeeves, I believe we shall be returning to the manor. Oh, and take the scenic route back.” Not bad for $30.