cruisefamilyCA

We just returned from an 8 day RC cruise that had stops in Costa Maya and Cozumel.

Here's my take on both:

1. Costa Maya - This is not a historic village. It is a circular venue manufactured to contain cruiser passengers and their funds. To me, it looks like a Disney-inspired rendering of a Mexican village. Some people like the safety and comfort of this insulation but it is not my cup of tea. They have created the port in a way that makes it difficult and confusing to exit the port area, Las Vegas casino-style. Once you get outside the village, there is not much in the immediate vicinity. We did none of the cruise excursions but booked a day-reservation with Almaplena Eco Beach resort http://www.almaplenabeachresort.com/.  Taxi service was very easy and was coordinated with Almaplena. All the drivers know how to get there. It's about a 20 minute cab ride and was insanely beautiful and secluded. Maybe 12 people were at the resort when we were there. So glad we did this. However, since it is not a cruise-sponsored activity, you'll get little assistance from anyone inside the port area. Stay in contact with Almaplena and you'll get in and back easily.
2. Cozumel - We again ventured outside of the cruise-excursions and spent the day at Cozumel Pearl Farm. Holy S___! Best family excursion we've ever taken. Spent 6 hours in completely secluded beach on the north end of Cozumel and saw no one but our hosts. Only accessible by boat. Too much fun to list here but check out my blog post on the day's events. So easy and fun. We had the run of the island all day and learned a ton about pearl farming! Full article here: https://www.maineterrain.com/tour-pearl-farm/  

Just got back from our Dolphin Encounter and had a great time. We saved almost $200 (family of 4) by booking directly through the Dolphin Encounter website instead of buying the Royal Caribbean excursion. It was hard to find clear answers to some of our questions online. Here is what we'd tell people trying to do the same thing we did:

- If you book directly with DE instead of through the cruise-line, you need to get from the Port of Nassau to the Dolphin Encounter ferry boat pickup site on your own. The cruise line is (understandably) not going to help you get there. DE will not help you either because they have an agreement with the cruise lines to stay clear of the port area. Buying the cruise excursion puts more $ in both of their hands.

- Buy your Dolphin Encounter online and print out the confirmation to take with you. Also be sure to bring the credit card that you used to make the purchase with you. If you don't have the credit card with you they will charge you again and credit back the extra charge at a later time. Not something I'd want to worry about having to deal with later.

- Here is how to get to the ferry boat pickup site: walk off the ship, a line of taxi drivers will be waiting (impossible to miss), look for a van that you wouldn't mind riding in (clean/air-conditioned, etc) and ask the driver how much to take you to Margaritaville for the Dolphin Encounter. It's a 10 minute ride, should run about $5 a person. Negotiate before getting into the cab.

- Once you're at Margaritaville, follow the white signs to Dolphin Encounter ticket office located at the side of the restaurant. Give them your confirmation and credit card. They'll give you wristbands and have you wait for the next ferry board which picks up on the dock behind the restaurant. The ferry boat picks up about every 30 minutes and does not cost anything to ride if you have a wristband.

- If your reservation is for 1:30, that is the time you need to be checked in at Margaritaville, not on the island. The ferry takes about 25 minutes to take you the actual Encounter location. Once you are checked in with a wristband you are good to go.

- The ferry will take you and about 75 other people to the Encounter location, some from the cruise lines others not. They give you a quick orientation and then ask you to sign a waiver. Stay at the end of the line and be one of the last ones to sign the waiver. They split the group into 4-6 subgroups to have the actual encounter. Everyone is in a rush to sign and get to the dolphins. There were only 4 clipboards to go around so we were the last to sign. They try to fill the sub-groups up to capacity before starting a new subgroup so the first 5 groups were maxed out with 20-25 people around their respective pools. The last group is less likely to be maxed out because it will only be the last few people to sign the waiver. We ended up in a very small group of about 8. I'm pretty sure each group had the same amount of time with the dolphins, so the smaller groups get more time per family.

- The ferry will take you directly back to the port, no taxi-ride needed. They are only prohibited from picking you up at the port, Again, no charge for the return ferry. Last ferry of the day is 4PM,

* Allow plenty of extra time to get around, don't schedule things tightly. Even though we got off the ship at 9:30, we booked the 1:30 Dolphin Encounter. Unless you're already familiar with getting around in Nassau, add 2x more time than you think you're going to need. Even though we tried to be very well prepared, we got sidetracked several times: streets do not run parallel, things are not well marked by US standards, the people we met were very friendly in general but gave us incorrect information more than once. Our cab driver dropped us at the wrong dolphin encounter (there are two companies in different locations - don't say "take us to the dolphins") sending us in a panic to get to the right place by 1:30. On the way back one of the workers at the DE almost put us on the wrong ferry going back to the port. The woman working at the ticket counter almost forgot to give me a voucher for the picture package we pre-paid for. I'm positive that they would have made me pay again for pictures without the voucher even though it's something that was on my receipt. Things like that wouldn't be a major issue in the US but it's different there.

I found things in Nassau to be very informal. Tip-seeking people will try to assist you even when they can't. I don't think anyone was messing with us it's just a very laid back environment which can cause stress if you are on a time schedule to be back on the ship. Allow for fluff time in your schedule, things do not run like clockwork.

Info accurate as of June 2017