bguppies

If the true reason for the Sargassum blooms each year is the fertilizer run off from the poor South American countries, it will just keep getting worse. Dirt poor farmers down there could give a crap about well off North Americans and Europeans cruise vacations or beach vacations in the Caribbean when they are just trying to survive. Same reason any global warming measures being taken by North American and European countries won't work as long as China, India and South American countries are so much poorer than us. They will do what they have to, to survive, screw the environment.

Sorry wasn't trying to give you any doubts about your choice with the maps and pictures. Just trying to give you a better picture about distances to walk with two small kids. (especially since 75% of the year it'll be ridiculously hot) DW and I are both getting older and mobility challenged, so we always have to take distances into consideration anymore.

Most excursions seem to meet down by the Mayan replica pyramid, so this map will give you an idea from once you get into the pier area. Just remember the pier itself is a very long walk.

How many ships are docked on your day? If yours is the only ship docked that day (doubtful anymore) they would wait until everyone from your ship arrives usually. But like was already stated, you don't always get to debark right on time, (especially on one of RCCL's monstrocities), Costa Maya has an extremely long pier to walk, plus the entire pier area to navigate through, just to get outside and walk to their offices. I would just check the other ships arrival times that day and verify with them how long it will take you to navigate to their offices

Half Moon Cay over Nassau 100% of the time. (and I love Nassau and find something great to do there everytime)

Is Costa Maya the port with the guys at the top of the 100 foot pole on ropes?

I'm with you about the "ancient" ships. The Pride is the perfect class of ship. Carnival just needs to do a better job of upkeep on the "ancient" ships. When we were on the Sunshine less than a year ago, she was swiftly turning into a rust bucket. (literally) Our balcony had rust everywhere and a small hole developing in the floor. Looking off the balcony, the winch for the lifeboats was so rusted, I can't imagine it worked anymore.

Hopefully you get a few more in person opinions, but one thing is the infrastructure hasn't quit being extremely young kid friendly.

That is what happens when you ban smoking on private balconies and throughout the entire ship except one outdoor, tiny venue on the Lido Deck and the Casino. You get a venue that should just have a handful of gamblers smoking, and add in all the other smokers trying to smoke indoors. There should be a large bar for smoking and a few other sensible venues to spread the smokers out a bit throught the ship.

Los Cinco Soles. 100% better tasting than the fake stuff at your grocery store. A tiny splash has more flavor than half a bottle of extract.

Not for much longer. Anybody know when the cruises and flights start ONLY taking the new IDs?

Tasty food.

How much are you looking to spend? There are no free beaches at any of the piers in Cozumel.'(International-RCCL or Puerto Maya-Carnival) Not like the private islands or Costa Maya or Roatan. From Carnival's Puerto Maya pier a cab for two runs us $17 to any of the the southern beach clubs everyone recommends. (Paradise Beach, Playa Mia, Mr. Sanchos and Nachi Cocum.) Not sure what a cab for 5 would run. If you have elementary school aged kids, Playa Mia looks very nice. (we are geezers who like a quiet beach day, so we go to Nachi Cocum everytime in Cozumel.) The more info you can give about the size of your group and your group's wanted activities, the better recommendations some of the frequent Cozumel visitors. (mostly what do you want your teens doing?) Here are some photos of Playa Mia.

This is the modern version of mine from 20 plus years ago. (again on Amazon)

Coleman version of this Columbia bag from Amazon. (Coleman looks a bit more luggagey. A bit taller and thinner) But you get the idea. If you just fill the cooler with clothes or shoes or towels, etc. and send in with other checked luggage, you don't have to worry about port security stopping you from taking it onboard.

I have a rolling Coleman cooler the size of the usual airline carryon. (looks like a softsided carryon) It has a hard plastic liner that goes inside. (so never leaks just dump out in the shower before repacking for debarkation) I just pack it as my luggage and unpack as soon as it arrives to the room and get the steward to fill it with ice ASAP. Ice up our two 12 pacls of drinks (that I just bring onboard in any old bag) and the cruise is started. Been easily getting around the 12 x 12 x 12 rule since it was instituted.

Nachi Cocum is our go to for a relaxing beach day.(for 2 decades now) But like somebody already stated, you want to book it ASAP, as it is so relaxing due to the 125 guest per day limit On a busy day in Cozumel, the 123 person limit can be hit pretty quick. Whenever we book a cruise to Cozumel, booking our day at Nachi Cocum is ALWAYS our first thing to be checked off our to do list. (usually 10-12 months out) But we have been there on sloiw days when there were only 10-20 guests on property and those days were heavenly. (so don't assume they will be sold out)

I just wonder how deep the Sargassum was built up around the nets surrrounding the Krazy Lobster? I really wish I would have bookmarked the you tube video from last year somebody posted , where the Sargassum just outside the netting was so deep, 2 foor long Iguanas were walking across the top of it, as if it were dry land. And there still was alot of clumps of Sargassum floating around inside the nets.

The ,one time we went to Roatan, we did a trip to the Iguana farm then to Werst Bay beach. The snorkeling right from shore there was amazing. (Only snorkeling I enjoyed more was from a catamaran in Grand Cayman with a great guide) I can guarantee that any snorkeling from the free Carnival area won't be close to the experience of a true reef that close to shore.

So apparently from what I'm reading in this thread, the food on the newest Excell ships is top shelf, while the rest of the line has been left to fall to "Meh" levels at its best?!?!?!? And seemingly everybody is OK with that? I know watching some you tube videos of the Mardi Gras and Celebration, the new added free lunch venues and specialty restaurants do look great. But having sailed two older ships last fall, I was shocked at how far the food quality (cuts, etc.) and taste and presentation had fallen from our pre-covid cruises. Hopefuuly these magical new menus I've been reading about in here do turn around the food quality FLEETWIDE, noit just improving offerings on your two newest ships. Because I used to enjoy the food on my Carnival cruises. Wasn't the best food I'd ever eaten, but was very good tasting with quality cuts of meat and ingredients. My last couple of cruises was food that tasted OK at best and for the most part looked terrible. (Especially on the Sunshine)

Jesus if Carnival could bring the dining experience back UP to Waffle House standards, THAT would be a change worth getting excited about. Switching from margarine to butter is not.

I'd be concerned with a waterpark, how long it will take to get everything up and running again after a multi-year shutdown in such an extremely hot and humid climate. (especially for a waterpark) I'm sure whenever they do decide to try and startup again, there will be alot of pools and parts that need alot of cleanup from mold and mildew from the high heat and humidity and alot of parts that need inspection and replaced from years of non-use in the same conditions. That's why, in certain situations, it would be better to keep running in a minimal way. than shutdown for any length of time and have too much recovery work to do. (I'd imagine months being shutdown in that kind of heat and humidity would be tough, but years might be extremely tough to recover from)

Never been to the Allegro, but usually alot of the other day pass resorts run snorkel excursions directly from that location by boat. (for me from Nachi Cocum like 15 ,minute ride out to a reef area, then back after snorkeling for a bit) Was super easy for me to leave for a couple hours in the middle of the day and let DW stay and relax on her lounger by the ocean while I was awy swimming with Groupers, etc. By that mode/ your timeline will work perfectly easily. If you have to meet your excursion at some other location you'll have to add in any additional driving time into your day getting from the Allegro to your excursion and back to the ship, versus just the trip from your pier to the Allegro and back. Not sure where the Allegro sits on the island, but depending on its locatiuon to your pier or excursion's location, it might eat up a bit of your day. (For us, just the ride to Nachi Cocum, from the Carnival pier [the closest] takes 20 minutes each way. When we've docked in town during comnstruction it was over 30-40 minutes each way to Nachi Cocum.)

DW and I have taken a few cruises on her since the Pandemic. For us we just need a ride and be dropped off and picked up at the pier. We are the same about trying to avoid flights as much as possible. But we take quickie weekend cruises to the Bahamas on the Sunshine, but if at all possible we prefer to drive down to Tampa or Jaxsonville or even Port Canaveral for better ships and port selection. Our last cruise on Sunshine in September was crowded, poorly staffed (although well after covid more out of cutbacks) and generally a poorer experience than on other ships since the pandemic. The state of the ship has deteriorated alot in the last few years. Our balcony on that cruise had alot of rust, a hole in the floor and the view from our balcony was to rusted equipment all around and below our cabin. (I can't imagine how the rusty winches for the lifeboats could actually work anymore) Whenever I used a public restroom around the ship, the dividers were all extremely dirty/crusty around the corners/edges due to poor cleaning. (which again seemed to be from understaffing due to cutbacks) The food quality was bad, but after cruising the Pride out of Tampa a few weeks later, the Sunshine's quality was worse than the Pride. Carnivals quality has decreased linewide, but it was much more noticeable on the Sunshine. I look at it like hotels. If I drive to Tampa I can stay at the Marriot, Holiday Inn or a Days Inn. I'll get a great room, service and super good breakfast at the Marriot, but pay for it. I'll get a decent room, decent breakfast and decent service at a Holiday Inn and pay a bit less. I'll get a room, get some "food" and very little service at the Days Inn, but I will be staying in the city I want to visit. If you cruise Carnival you can cruise the newest ships and get a closer to Marriot experience or do the Sunshine and get the most beat down overworked crew and the most dilapidated ship. (and understand, when I talk about the ship, I don't have anything against older ships, I actually prefer the older ships, usually. Thus cruising the Pride out of Tampa, or the Fantasy class out of Jaxsonville over the Sunshine in my own backyard)