jbrinkm

I was too! And was really bummed that I never realized that the Solarium Bistro offered breakfast! But perhaps is wasn't offered on my April sailing either - why I didn't ever notice it listed...

We found Freedom class to be perfect when my kids were that age, especially if you think that you might continue cruising with RCCL in the future as they get older. They have the rooms with the 2 pullman beds if you are trying to stay in one room. They have plenty to do and you may get a deal because these are slightly older ships. We really loved having Oasis class to upgrade to when my kids became teens - and we'll have Quantum class to also look forward to at some point in the future as they become older teenagers.

Ok, apologies. That stinks, actually, that you would no longer have a choice. I should have said that was how it was for us in April - we could opt-in or out.

Yes, I had some sticker shock around flights too! Even Frontier... Houston was only $100 more than Florida ($400-500 vs $500-600) for my kids' spring break so we decided to do Allure again. The only reason we didn't mind purchasing at that price is because we're getting some refund money from a flight issue in Europe last summer where airlines are required to compensate you...

The replica ruins ARE part of Chankanaab and are included in the admission fare. Sorry if I was unclear - we paid $40 for admission to Chankanaab ($10pp x 4 of us) and the only thing we did in the park was go to the ruins. We didn't do anything else in the park all day, just stayed at the Cabana and snorkeled. So for US, we paid the $40 admittance fee to just go walk around the ruins. But the admittance fee lets you in to do whatever you want in the park and on another day, we might have done more inside the park itself. We didn't anticipate how much we would enjoy the snorkeling right off the Cabana Beach and spent a LONG time doing that. The park is not included if you just book a Cabana. When you check out, they ask if you want admission tickets and how many. They were $10pp in April and have now gone up to $13pp. The key is "bracelet in your individual guest fee." If you're not going to Chankanaab, you don't pay an individual guest fee, just the price for the Cabana. We actually didn't get bracelets either, just paper tickets. And I don't know if someone would have been checking earlier in the day, but no one cared or noticed about us crossing over to the park, even though we had tickets in hand when we did.

Cabana beach looks like $95 for up to 6 people now, and you have to pay an additional $13 for a ticket into Chankanaab. Last April it was $80 with $10 admission tickets to Chankanaab. Before covid, I've seen posts that it was $200-300. With the cabana, you get snorkeling gear, towels, a fruit plate and we got water but now it says guacamole. There are hammocks but no kayaks. Not sure Cozumel is the best place to do recreational kayaking due to current.

ooof so never mind on my proposed theory then...

Those of you who have not gotten the refunds yet, did you cancel items that you purchased a while ago, but cancelled when you saw the lower sale price to repurchase? I'm wondering if I got my refunds relatively quickly because they were for items I had JUST purchased then changed my mind and went with something else (I bought soda + voom during the sale then changed to beverage package and separately voom).

We do two cabins now also, since the kids have turned into teens (how did that happen!?!). Connecting rooms last April were only slightly higher than two non-connecting rooms of the same class. For this April, when I tried to do connecting vs rooms next door to each other, the price ended up $1000 more! So we did rooms next door, not connecting this time and spent that money on extras during the Black Friday sale, instead.

Does your room have the overhead Pullman beds like the Freedom class, or just the sofa bed? Our first two cruises with kids were inside rooms for all four of us and it worked out just fine, but we had the overhead beds and that made a huge difference in the space. The kids absolutely LOVED those beds (but definitely needed a personal light of some sort for any middle of the night movement!). We did use some of the tricks listed above. Also magnetic hooks are useful for so many things. We found the cabin to have all sorts of little nooks and crannies where we could be creative about storage. We also removed the life vests from the closet and put clothes in there on the shelves - storing the life jackets just under the bed, after shoving our suitcases under and pushing them all the way back. I'm attaching some pictures of hacks that were helpful for us when we squished in together in the room. The storage for the wall of the shower was really helpful also because there was only one tiny storage shelf in there. If your kids don't shower on their own yet but still take baths, you might have them practice before the ship because it is really hard for an adult to help a child in those tiny showers & bathrooms. As far as deck selections, if you do a search online with your specific ship and best decks or best rooms there is a popular site that will list their favorites and you can read about pros/cons. Also if you are using a TA they could probably help recommend their favorites to you.

I assume per person? When you have a family of 4 or 5 people, that really adds up. Plus if you come in the night before, it doesn't work, does it?

Also try a TA. They sometimes have group rates that can be a good deal or can get you a discount you didn't know about.

We had fabulous snorkeling right off the shore the The Cabana Beach (adjacent to Chankanaab). SO many colorful fish. We just walked right into the ocean (rocky entrance but there are steps there to get in) off the beach. When you book a Cabana, you get towels, snorkeling gear, a fruit plate and obviously the use of the Cabana for the day. If you want rays and turtles, you won't get them here, but if you just want fish, I highly recommend this spot. The only downside is that the food wasn't great, just ok. I've heard good things about snorkeling at Money Bar too but haven't been there myself. We did boat snorkeling one other time in Cozumel and really didn't like it much. There is a strong current and you float really fast - I felt like I had very little control over where I was going and if I wanted to circle back to something, I couldn't. Also didn't have as many things to see as right off the shore. The shore snorkeling also has current but slightly less - just use flippers and you'll be fine. We just went back and forth, back and forth, along the shore and kept seeing different things each sweep through. Taxis in Cozumel are pretty organized. There is a price list posted and it doesn't take that long to get anywhere down the coast. Most places will just call for you to get a taxi back when you're ready to go, just a 15 min wait. Everywhere takes US dollars.

Hmmm... I was thinking about going there for the 1pm Discover Scuba, grabbing some lunch at the restaurant beforehand after our morning activity, but I really don't want to be dealing with a bunch of people on ship excursions, especially because if it is really crowded, it might take more time. Although there are only 4 ships in port the day we'll be there. I just looked at reviews on Tr1pAdvsr (can I say that name?) and it seems like a LOT of people end up here from different cruise lines. When we snorkeled from the Cabanas last year, I wonder if part of the reason there were so many fish is because the place was so empty that day...

It's funny - we're going back and forth with each other on several threads!! I just replied about the Cabanas... It was hard for me to tell at the spot where Sand Dollar Sports goes out if there were lots of fish while you were . I saw a few on your website @mitsugirly from your pics but couldn't tell if they were plentiful. I am LOVING the underwater webcam though. It is my new meditation - I bookmarked it on my browser. There are SO MANY FISH there right now, in the dark!

https://thecabanabeach.com/ Just go to "book", put in your date, and hover over the cabana and it will give you details. Prices have gone up for discounted entrance to the park as well - $13pp. So $95 + 3x$13 = $134 (vs $78 for just the park entrance fee). Your price would almost double. The more people you have, the better the rate turns out to be due to the discounted park tickets. Also you save more with adults rather then 12 and under kids. For us, the Cabana and snorkeling were more appealing than the rest of the park with all the upcharges to do stuff. We ended up spending that $40 to just go walk around the Mayan replica for 45 minutes - but that was also later in the afternoon. But if you want to do the SeaTrek or Snuba anyway, then you lose some of the benefit of getting the snorkeling equipment for free. Is it "part" of Chankanaab? Some say it is, some say not. IDK 🤷‍♀️It is adjacent to the park with a rope across the space where you can go from one to the other. We had our tickets and got to the rope, and stood there staring at it for a minute. No one working there, no directions for what to do. We just went over/under and no one cared. There are different people running the Cabanas - although Chankanaab seems to have a variety of vendors inside anyway. We had Cabana 2 which added a bunch of walking in hot air and hot sand to even get to that rope. And my oldest had gotten really sunburnt earlier in the day, so was miserable. The higher number cabanas would be much closer and it looks like some of the dive places are towards the southern end of Chankanaab, close to where the Cabanas are. But yeah, Chankanaab is all a hike. Much larger than I anticipated.

If you decide that you want a full day activity, I think Maya Chan might be worth a second look. I haven't been, but have a reservation in April and I've been researching extensively (reading posts, watching videos). It's a little further than the Mahahual, but not too far. The place looks beautiful and spread out. There are sand toys for the little one and clear bottom kayaks (not sure if toddler can go on a kayak? but would be fun for them to see under the water if they can) and lots of room to just run around. Floats for you if they want to just hang out in the water and splash. Paddle boats for a little ride. And each space has a hammock and a cushioned bed for an afternoon nap. Plus you don't have to worry about food & drinks with the AI price.

AJs was packed when we were there in April. We waited about an hour after arrival to do anything. There wasn't even enough room in the driveway for all the tour vehicles. We each got about 5 minutes with a sloth. The keepers knew everything about them, which one was best for the children to hold, their different personalities, etc. The Capuchin monkeys were hilarious! They warn you to take everything out of your pockets because they'll try to steal it 😂They would jump on our heads and shoulders at will. The one in the picture was fascinated with my phone camera to the exclusion of the treat the staff had given me. They have large guinea pigs there too that you can hold (my kids loved this), and a parrot that will sit on your head.

https://cozumelparks.com/en/chankanaab/ I may sound like a broken record saying this over and over on the forums, but you could consider booking a Cabana and getting discounted tickets to Chankaaab ($10pp when we were there in April). It made financial sense for our family of 4: cabana $80 (now is $95) + $40 Chankanaab = $120 for Cabana, snorkeling gear, towels, water and fruit plate VS $96 for just admittance to Chankanaab (my son was still 12 so would have gotten the $18 fare). The higher number Cabanas are closer to the little rope that separates the two parts of the park. The snorkeling was fantastic here, but we didn't do SeaTrek or Snuba. I hated Snuba the one time we tried it at Xel-Ha - everything kept getting tangled and it was really awkward. Sorry I can't help with any of the other questions... we just did snorkeling. I know there are a bunch of statues in the water by the park itself, but I didn't see any on the Cabana end. Water was cold and there was a current; we really needed our flippers here.

When we snorkeled off Cabana Beach, we saw a TON of different fish right along the shore line (variety of colors, sizes, types) and I'd love to have a similar experience with a shore dive. Are there specific places where we should be focusing? Do the shore dives just go from wherever their shop is located? I know that snorkeling is mostly best from the shore in the Chankanaab-Money Bar stretch of the island and gets worse as you go further south, but are there certain spots I should be looking for in a shore dive as well?

I think I'd rather go the dispute route than pay an extra thousand+ for items I know will be refunded but are just delayed, if it gets to the end of the billing cycle with no movement on those refunds. You get a temp credit for anything you dispute while they investigate. I guess it also depends on how long ago you bought the original items. The items I purchased last week but cancelled when I changed my mind and purchased a different option posted back on my account pretty quickly. The "fake" charges (pending but didn't buy anything just cycled back to planner) on mine finally completely dropped off this morning - those took longer than the refunds. If they are still pending, you can't dispute them. I wonder if they are working backwards with refunds? Since the purchase/cancellations from last week seem to be posting already.

They say this: "First-time scuba divers will enjoy an unforgettable educational diving experience. You'll receive 45 minutes of instruction from a PADI instructor before entering the water directly from the beach. Your instructor will guide you on a deep-sea exploration of fish and coral at a dive site with depths up to 25-feet, where you’ll discover “Cozumel’s Coral Reef Restoration Program" and its underwater wonders such as the bronze sculpture of Jacques Cousteau on your 30-minute scuba dive. Afterwards, trade your scuba equipment for a snorkel, or relax on the beach....The National Marine Park of Cozumel forbids the use of chemical sun protection if entering the water. Only UV protective clothing (rash guard) or biodegradable sun protection are permitted in an effort to protect our oceans." I'm pretty sure we're not going to do the ship option. Kids want to sleep a little longer and do something else in the late morning, probably ATV park, and then do the Discover Scuba in the early afternoon. I've now posted in the Snorkel/Scuba forum and I see you've already answered my question over there, thanks!!

We chatted with them before our last stop at Costa Maya and they seemed great. We found WhatsApp to be the best way to communicate. Their shop is right next to Jamie's if someone in your party wants to hang there with an AI package.

Thinking about doing a Discover Scuba on our upcoming cruise (RCCL). Wondering which you would recommend: Ship option (on sale for $83 right now) vs Sunset/Sandollar or other local provider vs one at Chankanaab so we could hang out on the beach afterwards. The ship option is discounted for a great price but starts at 8am, not idea for my family with 2 teens... We'd love to do 2-3 hours a la carte at Paradise Beach in the late morning, have lunch, and then head out to another site for a Discover Scuba outing afterwards. Has anyone done one of these on Cozumel?

I'm looking at the Discover Scuba options and the ship (RCCL) has a great price with the sale right now ($83pp). Has anyone done that? I'm wondering about the ship option vs Sunset/Sandollar vs one at Chankanaab so we could hang out on the beach afterwards.