o-state girl

o state girl - It's my wife and I doing the tour and I believe the tour can only accomadate 3 people max in the car (besides the driver and guide). We should meet up for drinks afterwards though!

I believe that we are going to spend part of the evening in Havana at the Fabrica de Arte Cubano. It's kind of like an art gallery/bar/music venue all rolled up in an old factory building. I think it's around 2 CUC to get in. So we thought if we don't love the place, it's not much to lose.

You might look at Shoreexcursioneer.com. They have a back to ship guarantee (if you miss the ship as a result of their tour, they will pay up to $500 to get you to your next port of call.

Sailing out of Tampa on Majesty of the Seas.

 

Arrive Havana:

Thurs Sept 27 2:00 pm

 

Depart Havana:

Fri Sept 28 4:00 pm

 

Reached out to Blexi and he said "You could do the tour on sept 27th starting at 3pm and finishing at 9pm or on sept 28th from 9am to 3pm."

 

I'm kind of leaning to doing the 3 pm - 9 pm option. Then hitting some local bars for some live music and drinks, maybe! Two questions:

1. Has anyone done a tour with Blexi outside of the normal 10 am - 4 pm time? We're not big on museums or cigar factory so I am not worried if something closes at 5 pm. We just want to experience Cuba, soak in all of the sights, and enjoy the local culture. If we do the later tour the first day I was thinking we could do the Strawberry walking tour the next morning at 10 am
   
2. For $30 CUC more Blexi said we could get a convertible instead of a hard top. I'd prefer a convertible, but not if the heat, etc is still too much at the end of Sept.
   

If anyone has experience they chould share, I would really appreciate it! Thanks a lot.

We are on the exact same sailing that you are. I was leaning toward trying to do the tour on day 2 because I wanted to see Fusterlandia (it closes at 4 pm). I was considering doing a walking tour on the first day through Freewalkingtourhavana.com since their afternoon tours start at 4pm (I felt like that might give us enough time to clear customs, exchange money, and walk to the tour meeting point. JCC 27, want to split a tour with Blexie?? LOL.

I can't attest to all of the children's activities on the boat, but I have sailed on 3 of the Carnival Fantasy class ships (Elation, Ecstasy, and Fantasy). The size of the ships seemed pretty similar to me. There are fewer dining options on the Vision, but I felt the quality of food in the buffet may been better on the Vision. I really liked the small size of the ship, and the crew was really friendly, but it doesn't have many of the bells and whistles that some of the newer RCI ships have. I wouldn't hesitate to sail the VOS again, but take my opinion with a grain of salt because I am 42 with no children...except for one adorable pup.

My favorite Belize excursion option, is the jungle cave tubing with cavetubing.bz . They will pick you up from the port, take you on a short hike through the rainforest to the river, and then you will float down the river through a cave system. Afterwards, they take you to their private restaurant for a Belizean lunch (usually a stewed chicken with red beans and rice) including rum punch for the adults. Right now, their website has a cruise ship special for $35, but I'm not sure if that is a seasonal special and if it will be available during your cruise. I have been on this excursion twice and would not hesitate to go again.

For Cozumel, if you have animal lovers among your group, the Cozumel Humane Society welcomes volunteers to help walk or socialize with the animals. The location is walkable from the Puerta Maya and International cruise terminals.

Have you considered just taking a taxi to Chankanaab in Cozumel? Admission is about $21 each, and it's very easy to get a taxi to/from. They have a nice beach and snorkel lagoon, but there are other things there your husband might enjoy like a sea lion show, botanical gardens, dolphins and manatees, and some Mayan cultural exhibits.

From what I understand, the ruins in Cozumel are not much to see. If you are set on seeing ruins, I would definitely use your Belize stop to do the ruins. I have done the Lamanai ruins there. It involve both a bus ride and a boat ride to get to them. It is a long day, but it was worth doing once. There are also excursions from Belize City to the Altun Ha ruins. I have not been there, but I am pretty certain that they will be better than those in Cozumel.

Or if you are wanting to do much exploring, several of the rental car agencies that are located at MIA airport will shuttle you from the cruise port to the airport to pick up a car. Then you would have freedom to roam and then drop it off back at the airport when you fly home.

If you are an animal lover, the Cozumel Humane Society can always use volunteers to walk dogs and help socialize the animals. It is within walking distance to the Puerta Maya and International terminals. My folks and I were even able to help with one of their spay/neuter clinics earlier this year by monitoring the animals post-surgery.

I watched this show, and I ended up crying because I am homesick for my cruise ships. I stay away during the summer due to high prices and temperatures, and I miss my home away from home.

I've used cavetubing.bz twice. I usually put my money in a waterproof neck wallet, and we were able to leave everything else locked in the van.

Are you sold on getting a Budget Rental car? Several of the other agencies will shuttle you from the cruise terminal to the airport rental locations.

You can drop donations at the information booth run by the Rotary Club in the cruise terminals.

There will be complimentary shuttle buses provided that will get you down the long pier into the downtown area. From the shuttle bus drop off point, it is an easy walk to the beach area (malecon).

Depending on when you are going, you may want to look at getting a car rental that you pick up at MIA (several of the rental agencies will shuttle you from the cruise terminal) and drop off at FLL. That way you will have maximum flexibility to see whatever you want in the two days before you go home. I did this the last time I cruised out of MIA. I had an AA reduced mileage reward that I could use from FLL, so I flew home from there.

We are actually planning on just filling the bags with goodies for each child then they keep the entire bag with everything in it

I just meant that it might be easier to stuff 4 or 5 bags inside of a bigger bag like a large backpack or beach bag. That way it would be less obvious that you were carrying anything besides the items you might need for a day at the beach, and it might be easier to manage while getting off the ship and in and out of your tour vehicle. We've donated in Roatan a few times (the last time on a tour with Rony), and we carted our stuff off the ship in a rolling duffel bag.

I would put the drawstring bags in a beach bag or a backpack to make it a little less obvious as you get off the ship. Just carry the empty bags back to the ship, donate them, or fill them with some goodies like coffee from the local grocery store or other souvenirs.

The Rotary Club also operates the info booth at the port. They will accept school supply donations and then coordinate their disbursement. Another good resource is rotatanchildrensfund dot com. We have donated supplies on three different occasions. The first time we had a couple of small backpacks full so we didn't go through customs. The second time we had 8 boxes full of supplies and the third we had two large rolling duffel bags full. We figured that much stuff would raise red flags while we were trying to debark, so we went to guest services a couple days beforehand and coordinated the customs paperwork with them. We met the Honduran officials in the dining room that morning before we got off in port. Easy peasy either way.

I have done this in Roatan a couple of times. The first time, we didn't have a lot of stuff (just a couple of backpacks full). We just carried them off the ship and dropped them at the booth. The last couple of times, we had quite a bit of stuff so we inquired at guest services. They set it up with the Roatan authorities for us to be able to take the items off the ship. We had 8 boxes of stuff when we were on the NCL Jade and they assisted us with a dolly and helped us roll the boxes to the booth. The last time we just put everything in two large rolling duffel bags and rolled them off the ship.

I always pack a really cute wall decoration sticker from the Dollar Tree. I hang it on the cabin door as an easy decoration/reminder that I am home, and it peels off at the end of the cruise with no residue left behind. I usually save the waxy paper that it comes on and put the sticker back on it at the end of the cruise so that I can reuse it.

Are you interested in doing any sightseeing before or after the cruise? New Orleans has more to see and better food. Galveston has more options for economical parking.

If you have a Dollar Tree near you, pick up some of their wall decor stickers. They will peel right off of the door at the end of the cruise with no residue left behind. Sometimes I even save the waxy paper that the sticker comes on and restick it to it at the end of the cruise to use again.

Do you like animals? If so, the Cozumel Humane Society is within walking distance of the International and Puerta Maya terminals. On our last cruise, they happened to be having a spay/neuter clinic, so my family and I helped with the animals that were recovering post-surgery. They also welcome people who will come walk or socialize with the animals.

If you are an animal-loving family, you can volunteer at the Cozumel Humane Society for the day. They can always use dog walkers or people to play with the animals for socialization. The last time we were in Cozumel, my parents and I were able to help the animals in recovery from spay/neuter surgery. We had a great day!

I found the passenger demographic largely depends on time of year, cruise length, and departure port. Royal and Carnival seem to pull a similar demographic. I'd give Carnival another chance.

I cruised a 5 day Valor in October and a 5 Day Vision of the Seas in January...both out of Galveston. There was a vast difference in passenger demographic. I preferred the RCL demographic in this particular case. I have even noticed a large difference between clientele on a 5 day Carnival vs. a 7 day Carnival out of Galveston.