Port Adventure - Western Carribean

itsodisney

Earning My Ears
Joined
Jun 3, 2014
Any tips or suggestion which Port adventures are worth it, fun and safe for 9yo. We'll be on Disney Fantasy on January 7 2017 SWDAS. We are thinking of doing
1. Cozumel - Secret River & Playa Del Carmen OR Xcaret?
2. Grand Cayman - Deluxe Sting Ray City Sandbar & Snorkel OR Adventure to Stingray City Sandbar (not sure what really the different between the two) OR Island Tour & Stingray Swim
3. Jamaica- Bobsled Jamaica & Dunn's River Falls OR Any suggestion?
I appreciate the help and any information, tips , suggestion/recommendation from those who had experience on any of the port adventures.
Thank you!
 
We are planning our first western. And one of the things we are considering is how burnt out we are going to be on the Jamaica day since it would be the 3rd day in a row in port. We plan on doing a Disney excursion at each and the 1st two stops will probably include a lot of water, beach and sun. We considered the Bobsled in Jamaica but it is a very long excursion so we are probably going to do something that is not as long and out of the sun. Like the Rum Tour.
 
We recently did the Tranopy Adventure which had both zip lining and the bobsled in Jamaica. It was a 6+ hour excursion but we didn't do anything big in Grand Cayman, as we had done a tour there before. We saved the big excursion for Jamaica and enjoyed it.
 
grand cayman, we loved sting ray city sand bar. I don't remember which company did ours, but there were lots of charter boats on the sand bar and the sting rays and sand bar were awesome. I'd choose that over the stingray swim
 


We did Xcaret 2 yrs ago with 9 yo boys and 5 yo. The older ones really enjoyed swimming in the underground river. It is not terribly deep and you wear life jackets. Bring/rent fins and goggles if you go as you move faster. It is long. There is also a nice beach, small aquarium and tons of sea turtles which you can get very close to. We had a wonderful time. We are going on another western next year and plan to Try Xelha. I was not impressed with our excursion in grand Cayman but my youngest was too little for stingrays. We enjoyed the water park at Jewel Beach resort (you can find more info on web about it). It was not huge like Atlantis but very clean and not very crowded. The resort also had good snorkeling off the beach.
 
We recently did the Tranopy Adventure which had both zip lining and the bobsled in Jamaica. It was a 6+ hour excursion but we didn't do anything big in Grand Cayman, as we had done a tour there before. We saved the big excursion for Jamaica and enjoyed it.
Thank you CamColt, I didn't pay attention to this one but I guess this is much better than our choice, so we'll do the Tranopy Adventure instead. I hope we'll have a good weather, I don't know what to expect on January weather in Jamaica Thanks again.
 
grand cayman, we loved sting ray city sand bar. I don't remember which company did ours, but there were lots of charter boats on the sand bar and the sting rays and sand bar were awesome. I'd choose that over the stingray swim
Didn't you get it from Disney? would you recommend getting the port adventure on other company instead of getting it directly from Disney? I read its cheaper but Id like to know more tips on doing that. Thanks for the reply
 


Thank you CamColt, I didn't pay attention to this one but I guess this is much better than our choice, so we'll do the Tranopy Adventure instead. I hope we'll have a good weather, I don't know what to expect on January weather in Jamaica Thanks again.

I did the same thing. For some reason I never read what "Tranopy" was all about. I really wanted to do the bobsled, but no one in my family had interest in the falls and I didn't see anything else that offered the bobsled, so we had settled on just a zip lining excursion. For some reason I reread the excursion list and then I caught what the Tranopy was, and it was perfect!

I'll be hoping for good weather for you. :thumbsup2
 
And one of the things we are considering is how burnt out we are going to be on the Jamaica day since it would be the 3rd day in a row in port. We plan on doing a Disney excursion at each and the 1st two stops will probably include a lot of water, beach and sun. We considered the Bobsled in Jamaica but it is a very long excursion so we are probably going to do something that is not as long and out of the sun. Like the Rum Tour.

This. It is really about your own expectations/stamina.

We did Tulem Ruins, Dolphin Swim and Turtle Farm, and then Horseback Riding and Dunn's River Falls.

I knew going in that it was going to be tough to do them three days in a row. I also know we had a hearty, "Type A" group, who likes to "do" things. (Really, I have to cure MYSELF of that someday.) I also knew that we'd have been hard pressed to decide which of them to drop, as it was the first cruise for most of our group.

So in the end, I'm glad we did it, but it was a lot of bus rides, long days, etc. Oh and all three of them got back at least an hour later than advertised. That was fine with me as it meant less rushing and more time on the excursions, but if i was planning on hours of shopping or something afterwards, I would have been out of luck.

As it happened, the last day, in Jamaica, horseback riding and the Falls, was my personal favorite, but after that, I was so glad for the day at see, and we didn't do much but swim in the ocean at Castaway Cay.
 
One recent addition to the list of port adventures in Cozumel is Chichen Itza. It was not offered for our last two Western cruises in November '14 and '15 and I was excited to see it listed for our upcoming trip after Thanksgiving. The one huge disclaimer is that the transport takes 3 hours total each way and you, supposedly, only have 70 minutes at the actual site. Clearly, that's not going to work for most families, especially with younger kids. Still, for anyone seriously looking at the Tulum excursion, I would personally much rather go for Chichen Itza. We made the 3 hour drive from Cancun after our Fantasy cruise in '14 and, for adults with an interest in history, I would strongly recommend taking a closer look before writing it off. Chichen Itza is so special that it is a privilege to be able to experience it at all.

We are bringing a 9 year-old ourselves in November, and, because of that, and because we are bringing guests who have not cruised before, we will be going to XCaret again. We very much enjoyed our first visit: the park was beautiful and very well kept, there was lots to see for the whole family, and both the beach and the food were excellent. Last year, we rented a 10-person van in Cozumel for four hours. That was enough to get around the island, see the tequila factory, spend an hour at a really nice beach near the harbor, and be back at the ship by 1 pm.
In Grand Cayman, we will be doing a half day beach trip. We have done the turtle farm (no longer offered by DCL) and the Native Forest + Hell in the past. Both were fine, but we've concluded that more than two full day port adventures is too much for a week. To be honest, the most memorable experience was the 15 minutes we spent at a beautiful spot along 7 mile beach.
Jamaica is our own favorite port. We've done Dolphin Cove+Dunn's River Falls and Rafting on the Martha Brae. The rafting was beautiful and peaceful and great because some of us had limited mobility. Dolphin Cove/Dunn's River is the best port adventure, we've ever had, and we'll be repeating it again this year. I decided against the bobsled after reading reviews on another site that the lines can get "unbearably" long on days when 4 ships are at port in Falmouth and Ocho Rios.

The photos below are from Chichen Itza. The bottom one shows a field that was used for some sort of ball game where you had to get the ball through circular loops extending from the walls. There was an acoustical echo effect that was pretty cool. Just a lot of really neat stuff to see there.

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We are thinking about doing Secret River too. I have heard bad things about the ferry though. We haven't done it before. DH and I did the falls in Jamaica before DS. I think we will either do the falls only or the falls & the bobsled. DH is afraid of heights, and I think the zipline would put him over the edge. DH and I did a stingray snorkel on Royal Caribbean. It was fine, but I think we will do the Catamaran, Reef, & Kittiwake snorkel again. We really enjoyed it the first time, but we all really like to snorkel.
 
Didn't you get it from Disney? would you recommend getting the port adventure on other company instead of getting it directly from Disney? I read its cheaper but Id like to know more tips on doing that. Thanks for the reply

Doing an excursion privately vs. through the cruise line really comes down to your comfort factor. The biggest advantage of going through the cruise line is IF something happens that delays you, Disney will hold the ship as long as possible - and if they cannot wait until the excursion is back they will get you to the ship and take care of you until they do.

Yes, those who run private excursions do NOT want to make people miss their ships, but they do not have the power to have a ship held - so I would check very closely with them exactly what their policy is SHOULD something happen that makes you late.

My personal policy is if there is extensive travel to the location involved I will go with the ship-based excursion (I also travel solo - so there is the insurance the ship provides for getting back, but also for me they are usually the more economical option as private tours are usually based on 2, 4, or more people).

I know directly from a crew member on HAL that things DO happen. Three summers ago in Alaska, there were people on excursions from two different HAL ships as well as people from those ships who did the same excursion through a private tour. It was a helicopter to dog musher's camp excursion - and the helicopters were unable to get back to get anyone because of fog and weather conditions. The cruisers were all put up at the musher's camp (and yes, this IS true - there was a girl who worked at the camp who was on either RadioLab or This American Life who talked about it) until the helicopters could get back to them. Once back in town, the HAL excursion cruisers were put on a boat or a train to meet up with their respective ships. The lodging at the camp and the boat/train were covered by HAL for those on their excursions. Those on private excursions were on their own and having to negotiate with their provider for payment and transportation.

Hence my policy of the further away the location of the excursion, the more likely I am to use a ship-based excursion.
 
I was going to ask the same question. This is great advice. Does anyone know the cost differences between going through DCL or private?
 
I was going to ask the same question. This is great advice. Does anyone know the cost differences between going through DCL or private?

It varies a lot by excursion, but my personal experience in the 8 different excursions, on three stops, that I looked at, the difference was $10-$20 per person, for trips that were $100+ per person, so like 10-20% cheaper. Personally, I was hoping for a much bigger discount by not going through DCL, so in the end, we stuck with the comfort and reliability of using the CL. Another thing that I liked about booking through DCL (besides the convenience of booking, and the reassurance of not missing the boat) was meeting up on the ship to begin the tour. This to me, was better than getting off the ship and trying to figure out where to go.
 
The only reason we are looking at going with a private tour is we have a group of mixed ages. So I have a 16 and 14 yr old along with some adults that want to do the Tropany and Dunn River Falls tour, but we also have a 3 yr old and 6 yr old. I know from my research that at both locations my younger two will have plenty to keep them busy playing in the water at the base of the falls, butterfly garden, tower and pool at Mystic Mountain, sky tram etc and we will have enough adults to watch them / switch off. The Disney excursions don't take this into account so we would have to split up and do different trips or deny my older boys the opportunity to experience those excursions they want to enjoy.
 
We are thinking about doing Secret River too. I have heard bad things about the ferry though. We haven't done it before.

We took the ferry on our first trip. The waves were medium, not bad, but, although I am not prone to sea sickness, it really wasn't pleasant. It was one of the reasons we decided to stay on Cozumel on our second trip, but the sea turned out to be very calm that day. We are taking the ferry again this year, but I will be keeping a very close eye on the weather forecast 3-4 days in advance and cancel if there is any risk of even moderate wind. Also, I think there are several different ferries and some are worse than others. I hope DCL sticks with the same one, Mexico Waterjets, so my expectations will be accurate. If someone in my party had problems with motion sickness, I would either stay on the island or take medication before getting on the ferry.
 
We took the ferry on our first trip. The waves were medium, not bad, but, although I am not prone to sea sickness, it really wasn't pleasant. It was one of the reasons we decided to stay on Cozumel on our second trip, but the sea turned out to be very calm that day. We are taking the ferry again this year, but I will be keeping a very close eye on the weather forecast 3-4 days in advance and cancel if there is any risk of even moderate wind. Also, I think there are several different ferries and some are worse than others. I hope DCL sticks with the same one, Mexico Waterjets, so my expectations will be accurate. If someone in my party had problems with motion sickness, I would either stay on the island or take medication before getting on the ferry.

I have read the gamete from no problems to something that sounded like a vomitorium. None of us get sea sick, but I don't do well when others vomit:crazy2: I think we will probably do it anyway, but I will try to ignore what's going on around me. Plus, I have some nice, really strong mint smelling stuff.
 
I do have seasick tendencies so I took Bonine that morning. I felt uncomfortable on the ferry, especially the ride back, but didn't get sick. They had a large supply of seasick bags that they handed out to anyone who even felt might need one. One boy did get ill, but his mother got him into the bathroom before it happened so none of us had to see/hear/smell it.
 
Didn't you get it from Disney? would you recommend getting the port adventure on other company instead of getting it directly from Disney? I read its cheaper but Id like to know more tips on doing that. Thanks for the reply
Sorry, I just saw this, I was back on the ship last week. For grand Cayman, I would still 100% book through disney. For 3 reasons:
1- I feel like it's safer, especially for areas in Mexico and the Caribbean.
2- If the excursion runs late, the ship waits for Disney excursions
3- On our last cruise we had to skip a port due to a hurricane. Disney cancelled and refunded excursions right away

I did book some of our Alaska excursions through an outside company, but for Grand Cayman I would do Disney again

.
 
Sorry, I just saw this, I was back on the ship last week. For grand Cayman, I would still 100% book through disney. For 3 reasons:
1- I feel like it's safer, especially for areas in Mexico and the Caribbean.
2- If the excursion runs late, the ship waits for Disney excursions
3- On our last cruise we had to skip a port due to a hurricane. Disney cancelled and refunded excursions right away

I did book some of our Alaska excursions through an outside company, but for Grand Cayman I would do Disney again

.


Thanks - This is super helpful. I was planning to go with the Disney excursions.. but saw all the options out there and thought maybe i was missing out on a great deal or something really cool. This just sealed the deal for me... Disney it is.
 

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