Carnival Cruise to Jamaica, Grand kayman, and Cozumel. Recommendations?

Question

I'm sending my parents to a 7-day cruise going to Grand Cayman, Ocho Rios-Jamaica, and Cozumel this March for their 25year anniversary. I got them a state room with a balcony. I want to know any recomendations for the Cruise itself and for excursions at this three places. Can they take more than 1 excursion at each site? if so which ones are best.

Answer 1

Hi Beachgirl!

Ok, I have a tendency to ramble on with my answers but  I'll try.

Jamaica: we walked right off the boat, hired a taxi van and got a great tour of the island, including Dunn's River Falls. That's where you actually join a group (or not) and walk "up" this terraced falls through the trees. It is a fun and wet day. But on the same tour we went to Shaw Botanical Gardens. Very beautiful with the best over look of Ocho Rios. As well as a stop in this central market place. Sort of touristy but you can get Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee and Havana Cigars, but make sure you don't pay the asking price. Bundle souveniers and the like together at the same store and tell them the price you'll pay ( at least half of the list price), if they don't agree, just leave the store and come back later. Believe me, they will remember you. But Blue Mtn coffee is $32 lb in the states and you can get it there for $24 without haggling. So if you don't like to work them down in price then cool, but you can get it for $14-16 lb if you haggle.

Grand Cayman, the first time we took the island tour that stopped by "h**l" and the turtle farm. Not much time at either and too many drive by's. The next time there was 6 of us in a group and we charted a boat for about $350 total. They took us to Stingray City (great fun with the manna rays climbing up your back) and to Coral Gardens, where a moray eel scared me to death but he was friendly! Maybe your folks can contact Nativeway Sports on the net and see if they have a group charter.

Cozumel: I have visited 5 times and have done the mayan ruins (not much if you have seen others), the 4X4 jeep tour (fun but rough) , snorkling (good but not great), visited Chankannaab State Park. It has grown immensly from the first time we visited. It was quaint. Now , it is a great beach area, with gardens, food kiosks, beach bars, water sports, dolphin experiences, etc...I would assume from you name that you would probabaly have a great time there. Someone else could probably give you a tip on a more private or secluded beach if that is to your liking. but my fav, since it is usually the last stop on the cruise is to shop for souvies, jewelry (great deals) and eat lunch at Casa Blanca (great food) on the SE corner of Plaza del Sol (1 block from the ocean) .

I hope you can use a portion of this. Your parents will have a great time no matter what.

Take care,

=CD=

Life's a cruise....relax!

Answer 2

Cayman Grand Island tour is fun, In Cozumel, they may want to do some shopping and if they get hungry the Pirate themed steak and lobster tour is a good time. Loved the food on that one.

Answer 3

Ocho Rios is beautiful, but if you walk around town you will be asked hundreds of times if you want a taxi, drugs or a 'good time'.  Definitely take an excursion to Dunn's River Falls.

Grand Cayman is fun just to walk around.

Cozumel was wiped out by Hurricane Katrina, but they've done a good job of restoring the tourist locations.  I was there last year and the dock was destroyed, so people had to tender in.  All the vegetation looked like someone had stripped it - just stalks rising up.  However, the people were great, wonderful food, great shopping.  I highly recommend buying silver jewelry there - good prices and extremely good quality.  The pieces I purchased show no sign of tarnish and I wear some of them every single day.  They have things there that are hard to find elsewhere like swimming with the Stingrays (but after what happened to the Crocodile Hunter, I might shy away from that), SCUBA, snorkeling, and I think there was an excursion to swim with the dolphins.

Answer 4

Oh, can I adopt you?  Can I give you my daughters e mail addresses so you can give them some hints? ---Well, I've been in Cozumel and it is beautiful- great snorkeling as there is in Grand Cayman Island-- my daughter has been to Jamaica- I would really look into Ocho Rios- Jamaica has a lot of parts that aren't too safe anymore- just go to our state department site and it will give you the warnings for each country-----make sure they only drink bottle water in Cozumel--- even to brush their teeth and probably the same for Jamaica-----please can I adopt you??? Honestly, you are one wonderful daughter, your parents are very, very lucky to have you.

Answer 5

you can take more han 1 excursion at each site but they are expensive, i went to cozumel and grand cayman. at cozumel i went on this four-wheeling thing to the beach, it was really fun and it was absolutely beautiful, the port there is amazing for the night after their excursion and it has a beautiful sit down resturant as well as a bar right on the water. as far as grand cayman, personally i didnt really care that much for grand cayman, it was beautiful in itself but the carnival cruise i was on, we didnt get to spend a lot of time actually in the city because we signed up for an excursion, which was snorkeling...which was AWFUL it consisted of the type of snorkels you use in the swimming pool and we didnt see or do anything special at all, it was a waste of time and money, so for grand cayman i would suggest either to let them explore the beautiful city or something other than snorkeling because its a rip-off. as far as jamaica went, my third destination on carnival was actually another city in mexico...so i'm not sure. carnival cruises are very fun and if you want to pamper your mother...look into the beauty salon on the boat, i had a cut and color and the stylists were amazing.

Answer 6

Usually you should have enough time for 2 excursions. When I went however, hurricane Charlie was on our tail so we only got to spend about 6 hours at the destination. In Grand Cayman, do the snorkeling. They take you out to 3 spots about a mile from the shore and you snorkel and see the coral. Then they take you to a sandbar about 3 ft. deep and you can pet and feed the stingrays. In Cozumel we went horseback riding. I'd recommend that and perhaps driving some buggies. We skipped Jamaica because of the Hurricane sadly But we were booked to go horseback riding on the beach and kayaking down a river. If you can book your excursions before you go its much much cheaper. While they stay in their rooms they can watch on the tv to view all of the excursions available.

Answer 7

What a wonderful trip they will have!!!  And what a wonderful daughter they have!  My husband and I have been on this cruise and really enjoyed it.  We love Jamaica - and have stayed in Montego Bay 3 different times - but went to Ocho Rios on the cruise and did the Dunn's River Falls -- SO much fun.  Went snorkeling in Grand Cayman - which was also great.  Cozumel is a GREAT place.  We've been there a couple of times on cruises.  Although we haven't been there since the hurricanes went through, I think they are working on getting things back in order.  But my favorite part of the island was the "Other" side (the north side of the island) and I don't think it had as much damage.  Rent a vehicle and drive around --- just beautiful!!!  Not near as crowded or commercialized.  There's a lot of areas that don't even have electricity - but we stopped at a restaurant and had the BEST platter of seafood, fish, etc. that they had grilled - and the atmosphere right on the beach was excellent!!!  I'm sure they'll enjoy the whole trip!