Cruise Excursions and Tips

If there's one thing I love, it's travel. The only thing I love almost as much as travel, it's sharing travel ideas and tips with other people. I have lots of posts on this blog, linked below, about various trips we have taken. I realized I had not ever done a cruise post, so this seemed like a good time.
https://athenajdavis.blogspot.com/2018/05/renaissance-weekend.html
https://athenajdavis.blogspot.com/2018/05/the-eastern-shore.html
https://athenajdavis.blogspot.com/2019/03/manatees-airboats-gators-sponges-and.html

Our Cruise Crowd
I am not sure how many cruises we have taken, I think somewhere in the neighborhood of 6-7. Of that number, we have taken a few just the two of us, a couple as a small family, and one as a family of seven. We are hoping to take another this fall with the two sets of grandparents.

Cruise Company
All of our cruises have been through Carnival, mostly because it's the cheapest and we are cheap. :) However, we have always been very pleased with Carnival and everything about them.

Cruise Ships
I was going to try and list the ships we have been on but I have absolutely no idea. My favorite ship (that no longer exists in this capacity) for a certain reason was Paradise, and that is because it was non-smoking. They don't have it as non-smoking any longer. In regard to the ships, we like the moderately sized to larger ones just due to being more steady in the water. The activities on the ships don't really vary a whole lot in my experience, and neither does the food.

Cruise Departure Ports
We have cruised out of Fort Lauderdale, Jacksonville, New Orleans, Port Canaveral, and Tampa. We really liked the ports at Tampa and New Orleans because they were both very easy to get in and get out of, and in Tampa, we found a cheap independent parking lot to pay for our van while we were gone.

Cruise Ports of Call
We have made stops in Cozumel and Yucatan (Progreso) {both Mexico}, Nassau and Freeport {both Bahamas}, Mahogany Bay Isla Roatan {Honduras}, Grand Cayman {Cayman Islands}, Belize, Ocho Rios {Jamaica}, and Key West {Florida}. Of all of our cruises, my very favorite itinerary was our last cruise to Belize, Honduras, Cozumel, and Grand Cayman. My very least favorite places to stop are probably Yucatan (Progreso) and the Bahamas.

Cruise Excursions
We have done excursions through Carnival, excursions through outside local companies, and excursions on our own. We have probably learned the most about the ports and excursions, and it's the part I love to share with people. Excursions through Carnival are ridiculously expensive. However, they are also vetted and subject to inspections (I would be nervous to do certain potentially dangerous excursions through companies I didn't know much about) AND you are guaranteed to get back to the ship, no matter what happens. So there are definitely pluses to those excursions.

I much prefer doing my own research and either using a local company or going off on our own. With Trip Advisor and other online forums, it's just too easy to glean off the experiences of others rather than making your own mistakes (although we have certainly made our own mistakes).

Jamaica:

• Dunn's River Falls- Through Carnival, a great day excursion to hike the cascading waterfall, could be done by anyone and we also shopped at the top. Really great excursion we have done twice.
• Zipline- Through Carnival, lots of fun with multiple lines and levels, we stopped for a local lunch on the way back.

Cozumel:

• Beach Day- We paid for this and shouldn't have, we should have just taken a cab to a public beach and snorkeled.
• Dolphin Excursion-This was a really incredible Carnival excursion. It was professional, felt safe, and was well done. The girls (and us too) loved swimming with the dolphins.
• Dune Buggies tour of the area (snorkeling, reserve and lighthouse, shopping, lunch)- I cannot recommend this excursion highly enough. We used a local company (I read a ton of reviews in advance) and they were AWESOME. We have recommended them multiple times to other people since that time. Carlos was our guide, and here is the link: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g150809-d651462-Reviews-Cozumel_Cruise_Excursions_Private_Tours-Cozumel_Yucatan_Peninsula.html

Yucatan:

• Mayan Ruins- We did this through a Carnival excursion. The bus ride was a little long, but the ruins were great. I can't find the specific name for it, but we also went swimming in a natural lagoon-type thing there. This particular stop (Yucatan) did not appear to be a place where you would want to go it on your own. There wasn't much there.

Nasseau:

• Atlantis- We did this as a Carnival excursion, but we will not do it that way again. Next time, we will just take a water taxi over and pay for a one day pass to Atlantis. Atlantis is an INCREDIBLE site and we want to go back another time.

Freeport:

• Shopping- We just walked around on our own through the market here.

Caymans:

• Stingray City- We have done this excursion 3 times, twice through Carnival and once through a local company. It's fantastic. 
• Snorkeling- On our last trip, we just walked down the street near the ship and rented snorkeling gear just off the beach area. It was great snorkeling. We have heard that Seven Mile Beach is also great snorkeling.
• Shopping- People talk a lot about shopping in the Caymans, and on our first trip, we planned to just do that. We realized very quickly that it may be cheap for one demographic of people, but NOT all. :) 

Belize:

• Goff's Caye - We got off the ship and walked left to the mall area, where we found local companies. We booked a tour to Goff's Caye and it was one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. It was a LONG water taxi ride, but well worth it. This was the best snorkeling we did on the whole cruise.

Key West:

• Local touring on our own- We just walked around Key West, toured the Hemingway House, went to the southernmost tip of the US, etc.. Beautiful area. 

Honduras:

• Local tour, zipline, shopping, animal encounter- We learned of this local company and guide (Jeffrie Bailey Johnson) from friends of ours who went to Roatan and IT WAS SO INCREDIBLE! The company is https://www.facebook.com/roatanfuntourshn/?eid=ARBasIjlJmvvJlW1GPUwwMdlpnT15EcLqtWGw6d5VgTI5S0otS9vS2RFtgQwyoXB5RnO9sfFVMT-Yzx7&timeline_context_item_type=intro_card_work&timeline_context_item_source=100001301448985&fref=tag . We just told Jeffrie what we wanted and he made it happen! We went to the animal park (not the one all the tours go to, but another one) and had some in our crowd who wanted to zipline, so they did it there. We told him we wanted to shop, but not at the port, so he took us to an awesome hilltop market with beautiful views. It was just an awesome day. He told us that next time we come, he wants to drive us to the other side of the island. He also offered beach and snorkeling, but we didn't want to do that on that day. 
• The Carnival beach beside the ship is really nice and easy to get to, if you just wanted to do it and not take an excursion.

Cruise Tips and Tricks

I highly recommend the early dining option if you are cruising at fall break, winter, or spring break. The return from the ports is very early, so it makes it easier to eat and see a show at that time. 

The drink plan is WORTH EVERY PENNY. Get it.