Things to do on a cruise to Cozumel and Grand Cayman?

Question

I am going on the Carnival Inspiration in April, and it is the first cruise I have ever been on. In fact, it's the first time I will ever have visited a place outside the states. I am totally excited, and I'm looking for some fun things to do while on the cruise, and in Cozumel/Grand Cayman Islands? I'll be on the ship for a week, and then in Florida for another week. Any suggestions or past experience stories will be great! Best answer will be chosen.

Answer 1

Yay i'm going on this cruise with family and close friends on Sept 21st.

Same ship, same destinations... Can't wait!

Answer 2

The beach at Grand Cayman is a MUST!!!  Also at Grand Cayman do the Sting Ray Experience.  As for Cozumel there is great shopping!  Look for great deals on Loose cut Gems.  The locals in Cozumel will drive you nuts if you let them while you are shopping.  They have a hard time taking NO for an answer.  Just say no thanks and keep walking.  You should be able to have a blast!

Answer 3

Been on the same cruise to the same places, you'll love Carnival! It really depends on whether you enjoy being around the people you go with. I went with my parents and 2 brothers, so it was a blast!

In Cozumel I can't tell you more, please don't do anything on the mainland besides shop for awhile! We took a 2-hour bus ride to these Mayan ruins in Cozumel and it wasn't worth the money, and we could have been at the beautiful beaches there. Take some tanning oil and get a nice tan there. In Grand Cayman there are also some great beaches, so don't take them for granted. There are small boats there that take your group to Sting Ray City for a nice price, and you get to touch the stingrays...it's priceless! Aboard the Carnival cruise, there is so much to do, but there are few clocks in public places, so make sure you bring a watch when you go. I missed many of the scheduled events when I went because my cell phone was off for the whole trip (to avoid the extra cellular fees) and I had no watch.

I hope you have a LOT of fun; cruises are expensive but they're very worth it if you prepare and kick back/have fun!

-Aaron

Answer 4

on one cruise a couple of years back we stopped at Grand Caymen. we did the Stingray City excursion. it was pretty cool being out there in chest high water with the stingrays.

on another cruise we stopped at Cozumel. the wife shopped and the guys went to Carlos' & Charlie's and got hammered.

this last cruise (last month) we stopped at Cozumel again (since Costa Maya is not yet ready after last summer's hurricane hit) and my buddy and i chartered a fdeep sea fishing boat. didn;t catch anything, though.

Answer 5

Couzmel has awesome shopping. Its known for its great deals on jewerly.  My favorite store is Los Cinco Soles. They have a lot off neat Mexican stuff. There is also a very nice beach called Paradise Beach located on Couzmel. I was there in July. They have a good bar, good food and lots of water actvites. But I just sat in surf and chilled lol. The time before that I went on a jungel hink in the middle of the island. That was really neat. if you look on Carnivals websight you'll fund all sorts of neat shore exursions. I'll give you a link to an awesome website that is for all things crusieing. You'll get tons of info from everything to entertantiment to what to do in port and such, its neat. You'll learn a lot about your ship and see real peoples photos of it and what they do.

You'll be pleanty busy on the ship. They have tons of activites or you can just curl up on a deck chair and read or nap and whatch the ocean go by. Ships are awesome. I love them. You'll never be bored.

I suggest you to eat as much as possible since the food is all sooooo good and free. Your on vacation, eat! And if your worreid about what you eat theres places to exercise. Theres spas, classes, pools, backstage tours, everything. Plus nightly broadway productions. you'll be overwelmed.

I'd advise you to book any excursions tho Carnival. its for your own good and safty.

In FLA there is Disney, Universal Studios, amazing beaches and tons of things. Look on line and search the local area your staying in. you should find some great stuff to do in FLA.

Hope this helped. You going to have a great time!

I've never been to Grand Cayman.

Answer 6

buy sunscreen!  The first time I went to Cancun, We went for a walk on the beach for an hour or so with only moderate sunscreen and the sun burned us SO BADLY that we spent the next 6 days and 5 nights recovering from severe sunburn in our hotel room.  Put the sunscreen on EVERY part of your body before the sun ever touches you, and bring plenty of it with you (including sunburn ointment-----that c**p is mega-expensive in the tourist trap so plan ahead and spend less).....When we got back, I complained to our travel agent who said that approximately 20% of cancun vacations go like this because people do not read enough about where they are going---evidently the travel agent feels no responsibility to inform you of this.  Dont drink the water unless it is in a clear plastic bottle and you can read the entire label (meaning it must be in english); this includes having Ice in your drinks.  My travel partner made the mistake of drinking the water from the bathroom sink one night in a sleepy dream and her sunburn was the last thing on her mind for the rest of the trip.

Cheese isnt cheese (goat cheese is like nothing you have ever had before) and milk isnt milk.  Tourist traps will make you ill physically and sell you cheap trinkets for a fortune----to see the real cancun; catch a private cab (any color but yellow with a sign on the top) and tell the cabbie to take you to his home neighborhood and let you shop in his market, in his shopping center, and in his area of town (where HE shops) where tourists do not go and you will find better deals on better stuff than all your shipmates.  Remember to eat sensibly in these situations (to avoid sudden and serious stomach pain followed by.........) and avoid street food vendors no matter how good it smells......and you will have a much better time than the 'tourist' areas can provide.

One last thing------when you take this shopping trip through the cabbies neighborhood, negotiate your price BEFORE he puts the car in drive, and pay him half up front and half when you are finished....you will end up getting bent over the meter otherwise.  These are shrewd people making a meager existance by any means possible and if that means sticking it to a few rich stupid american tourists then all the better!

So, dont be a stupid american tourist.  Negotiate the price of everything--no price you will see while you are taking this cab-shopping ride is etched in stone and everybody you are about to come in contact with  leaves room to "haggle".  Its like a giant yard sale down there-----if you have money in hand, the price is always negotiable.  So negotiate and know the price before you agree to pay----especially the cost of the cab.

Dont get burned, dont get burned, and, oh yeah, dont get burned!  By the sun, the water, or the shysters.

Have fun!

Answer 7

avoid Cozumel's commercial tourist area. Rent a moped and ride the bike around the island

Answer 8

Well ive been to both and ive got to tell you the only thing you'll want to do is shop and go to the beach thats really the only thing you can do but make sure you don't get stung by a jellyfish, I did.

Answer 9

Just relax and enjoy!  Carnival is a great cruise line and they have TONS to do on the boat.. they will give you a little newspaper everyday with stuff going on, like games and shows and when the midnight buffet is.. GO to that.. it is sooo fancy.  Take a few nice dresses and dress up on the ship.  Not every one did, but when I went, I loved the elegance of the whole thing.  At dinner, try new foods you have never heard of.  If you don;t like it, send it back and get something else... Be friendly with the staff and tip them well.  While in port you can take excursions that are set up by the ship, see if your trav agent already knows some or you can sign up when you get there.  If you are going alone, just be careful, but have fun and meet lots of people!

Answer 10

In grand cayman

Take the seaturtle/stingray city tour with the 4 wheeler or jeep. DO NOT take the bus tour. The bus tour is cooler, but in april you should be fine. When you take the jeep or 4 wheeler tour, you don't have to wait for huge families to finish looking at every little thing when everyone else is ready to move on and can take your time looking at what you really want to see. OH! One last thing on grand caymon. DO NOT take the rum punch boat. We did and our captain was so drunk it took us 3x as long as anyone else to get to stingray city and back because he was going SO SLOW. We were passed by the party boat and everyone else.....then he was really agressive with the stingrays and the girls. Very scary. When we finally got back we barely had time to get to margaritaville before it was time to get back on the boat. But definately stingray city and the turtle place <it's like seaworld where you get to pick up everything and take pictures :) >  We did the snorkel with myan exploration in cozumel. It was nice. Don't sign up for shopping there, shopping is everywhere in cozumel! I would recomend the myan jungle exploration with the zip line thing. That looked like so much fun.